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Originally Posted by Dean
Hmm... I didn't know we were supposed to do that... Where is that maintenance schedule....
Are you sure Tolulene alone has an octane ratting? And why do flammable in inflammable mean the same thing??? Stupid english language...
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Damn the latin language for screwing up our english. The prefix 'in' can mean both 'within' and 'not' so the latin adjective inflammare (with the english suffix -able) describes an object which is combustible (can catch fire) not non-combustible.
Totally random theory, but back before the atomic elements were discovered, the brightest minds thought there were five elements, earth, air, fire, water and Captain Planet. Every object contained one or more of these elements. When something was lit on fire, it was releasing the internal fire. Fire wasn't something that happened to the object, fire was being released from the object and the flames are representations of the fire being released. The ash was an after effect of fire violently releasing itself into the wild. The thinking went something like ...
I have a stick that isn't burning (stick 1).
I have a stick that is burning (stick 2).
I put the stick 2 next to stick 1.
Now stick 1 is burning.
I take away stick 2, but stick 1 continues to burn.
Quod Erat Demonstrandum: both sticks contain the element of fire, because otherwise stick 1 would stop burning when stick 2 was removed.
Therefore, if something had the inner flame, it was liable to catch on fire if it got around other elements who's inner fire was being released.
Strangely enough, flammable wasn't even a word up until last century. The words inflammable and non-inflammable were used to describe objects that were combustible and non-combustible respectively. The French use the word ininflammable to describe non-combustible materials. How weird is that. The UK and the US have since popularly adopted flammable and non-flammable (or combustible and non-combustible) as safety guidelines, but inflammable and non-inflammable are still in usage. Its a language drift, and I bet we'll see inflammable and non-flammable fall out of popular usage altogether in the next 100 years or so.