OT tragicomedy

Excerpt from Colombo Times...

On 26th Dec '04 early morning several hrs before the catastrophe
happened, Honolulu Tsunami Monitoring center have been trying to call
our Meteorological Dept. monitoring center in Palekelle and Colombo but
failed. They also got in touch with presidents' office however it was
informed that she's out of the island on a private vacation.

Finally they called Prime minister's secretariat, but Prime minister
was out on his morning walk. Thinking at least it's best to keep him
vigilant on this, the Honolulu officials left the message with the
person who picked up the phone to inform Prime minister that there's a
Tsunami coming from Indonesia.

On prime minister's return, the operator told prime minister about the
call, said T. Sunami from Indonesia is arriving in 2 hrs. Prime
minister promptly took action to send a delegation to Katunayake
Airport with name boards ' Welcome Mr. T. Sunami - Indonesia'.
Ramapriya

"Ramapriya" wrote in message
oups.com...
Excerpt from Colombo Times...

The only problem I have with this story is that I don't see how it could
have happened. Why would the operator write down T. Sunami? The Hawaii
Tsunami Center would not have pronounced it that way. I also wonder why the
Tsunami Center would call the Prime Minister and not some disaster relief
agency in Sri Lanka. I suspect that this is an urban legend, possibly
started by the PM's political opponents, that got picked up by the
newspaper.

On 7 Jan 2005 05:14:32 -0800, "Ramapriya" wrote:

T. Sunami from Indonesia is arriving in 2 hrs.

Thank you for that! Is it really true, or is this an internet hoax?

If true, it reinforces my belief that renaming tidal waves as tsunamis
was a really really stupid thing to do. We all knew what a tidal wave
was! And I bet the secretary of the prime minister of Sri Lanka knew
also.

Anyhow, the secretary would never have erred in thinking that Mr. T.
Wave was arriving in two hours ...


-- all the best, Dan Ford

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Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
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I did not know what a Tsunami was until this incident, and I am sure I am
not the only one. It is possible that the story may be partially true, but
I don't believe it entirely.


Cub Driver wrote in
:

On 7 Jan 2005 05:14:32 -0800, "Ramapriya" wrote:

T. Sunami from Indonesia is arriving in 2 hrs.

Thank you for that! Is it really true, or is this an internet hoax?

If true, it reinforces my belief that renaming tidal waves as tsunamis
was a really really stupid thing to do. We all knew what a tidal wave
was! And I bet the secretary of the prime minister of Sri Lanka knew
also.

Anyhow, the secretary would never have erred in thinking that Mr. T.
Wave was arriving in two hours ...


-- all the best, Dan Ford

email (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum: www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum: www.pipercubforum.com
the blog: www.danford.net

"Andrew Sarangan" wrote in message
1...

I did not know what a Tsunami was until this incident, and I am sure I am
not the only one. It is possible that the story may be partially true, but
I don't believe it entirely.


If you didn't know what a tsunami was and you took the message described in
this story would you write the name as "T. Sunami", or would you write it as
"Sue Nommy"?

Cub Driver wrote:

If true, it reinforces my belief that renaming tidal waves as
tsunamis
was a really really stupid thing to do. We all knew what a tidal wave
was! And I bet the secretary of the prime minister of Sri Lanka knew
also.

Actually, I believe tsunami is one of those weird hemisphere-dependent
words that depends on where the event occurs. Just like "typhoon" in
east Asia and "hurricane" in North America. So I don't think it's a
renaming. If one of those things hits California it'll probably still
be called a "tidal wave".

Jim Rosinski

Actually, I believe tsunami is one of those weird hemisphere-dependent
words that depends on where the event occurs. Just like "typhoon" in
east Asia and "hurricane" in North America. So I don't think it's a
renaming. If one of those things hits California it'll probably still
be called a "tidal wave".

Likely, but not correct. Tidal Waves are large waves caused by normal
tides. Tsunamis are waves caused by geographic changes on the ocean
floor.
Mike Alexander
PP-ASEL
Temecula, CA

Flyin'8 wrote:

Actually, I believe tsunami is one of those weird
hemisphere-dependent
words that depends on where the event occurs.

Likely, but not correct. Tidal Waves are large waves caused by
normal
tides. Tsunamis are waves caused by geographic changes on the ocean
floor.

I wasn't certain of my original words, but this I'm sure is wrong.
Webster's Ninth Collegiate Dictionary gives as a synonym for tsunami:
TIDAL WAVE. And defines "tidal wave" as: "an unusually high sea wave
that sometimes follows an earthquake". And "an unusual rise of water
alongshore due to strong winds". Tidal waves have nothing to do with
tides.

Jim Rosinski

Tidal waves have nothing to do with
tides.

Actually, true tidal waves have everything to do with tides, and can
be huge (and come in twice a day). When the incoming water from the
tide is focused in an inlet of the proper shape and orientation, the
resulting pile of water can get very high. It happens twice a day and
is called a tidal wave.

Jose
--
Money: What you need when you run out of brains.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Flyin'8 wrote:

Actually, I believe tsunami is one of those weird hemisphere-dependent
words that depends on where the event occurs. Just like "typhoon" in
east Asia and "hurricane" in North America. So I don't think it's a
renaming. If one of those things hits California it'll probably still
be called a "tidal wave".


Likely, but not correct. Tidal Waves are large waves caused by normal
tides. Tsunamis are waves caused by geographic changes on the ocean
floor.

That's the distinction made recently, but it wasn't so clear formerly.
My 1963 Funk & Wagnalls gives the definition of tidal wave as:
"1. Any great incoming rise of waters along a shore, caused by
windstorms at sea or by excessively high tides. 2. A tsunami.
3. A great movement in popular feeling, opinion, action, etc."

And under tsunami it mentions that it's sometimes also called
a "tidal wave."

Webster's in 1913 gave the following for tidal wave:
"n : a huge destructive wave (especially one caused by an
earthquake) [syn: tsunami]"

But I agree that an earthquake induced ocean wave hitting
California would now be categorized as a tsunami.