Date:    Tue, 7 Apr 1998 13:04:23 -0700
<br>From:    "A. Vine" <avine[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ENG.SUN.COM>
<br>Subject: Re: more on non-negative "un"
<br>
<br>Larry Horn wrote:
<br>>
<br>>         So much for thawing and freezing.  Now what of the missing
<br>> "unmelt"?  If melting is akin to thawing, the transmutation from a solid
<br>> (or frozen) to a liquid (or unfrozen) state, why don't we have redundant
<br>> "unmelt"  alongside "unthaw"?  The answer is that  melting is in fact
<br>> crucially unlike thawing:  while a thawed object, say a turkey, is a
<br>> temporarily frozen theme or patient which returns to its unmarked state,
<br>> retaining its physical integrity, the integrity of a melted theme or
<br>> patient may be affected or even destroyed by the change of state.  A thawed
<br>> turkey is still a turkey (indeed, a turkey par excellence), a thawed lake
<br>> still a lake, but a melted ice cube, snowman, or wicked witch is not simply
<br>> a different form of the same object, but essentially a puddle of one kind
<br>> or another.  Notice too that where things freeze up and thaw out, they melt
<br>> away.  If I come to your door complaining that I'm frozen stiff, my
<br>> reaction might differ considerably depending on whether you offered me a
<br>> brandy to help me thaw out or a potion to help me melt away.
<br>
<br>I wouldn't completely discount "melt down".
<br>
<br>Andrea
<br>Software internationalization
<br>Sun Microsystems
<br>
<br>--
<br>--------------------
<br>bite the wax tadpole
<br>