OT: Speed of light [was Re: Why not a Python compiler?]

[Jeff Schwab]

Erik Max Francis wrote:
> Jeff Schwab wrote:
> 
>> So what's the "double mistake?"  My understanding was (1) the misuse 
>> (ok, vernacular use) of the term "free fall," and (2) the association 
>> of weight with free-fall velocity ("If I tie an elephant's tail to a 
>> mouse's, and drop them both into free fall, will the mouse slow the 
>> elephant down?")
> 
> I presume his point was that physicists have a specialized meaning of 
> "free fall" and, in that context, the answer is wrong.
> 
> My point was, and still is, that if this question without further 
> context is posed to a generally educated laymen, the supposedly wrong 
> answer that was given is actually _correct_.  After all, surely the 
> technical physics meaning of "free fall" came _after_ a more common term 
> was in use, just as with other terms like "force" or "energy" that have 
> technical meanings in physics, but more abstract or general meanings in 
> the general parlance.  "Free fall" means something specialized to 
> physicists, but it means something more general to non-physicists.
> 
> A lot of these kind of "gotcha" questions intended to trick even 
> reasonable people into demonstrating technical ignorance have precisely 
> the same problem:  The desired technical context is not made clear and 
> so that the supposedly-wrong answer is not only unsurprising, but often 
> arguably correct.  This kind of stuff is little more than a semantic 
> terminology game, rather than revealing any deeper concepts.

Fair enough!