Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 16:51:24 -0400

From: Bob Haas rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HAMLET.UNCG.EDU

Subject: Re: push the envelope etc



Ann,



The phrase, to my knowledge, came into popular use following the

publication of Tom Wolfe's _The Right Stuff_, the story of the Mercury

Astronauts and the ranks of test pilots from which they were drawn. The

pilots talked of "pushing the edge of the envelope," i.e., the edge of the

aerodynamic envelope which kept them aloft. Sometimes they lost their

envelope, and their planes became non-aerodynamic--just pieces of metal

twisting around in the sky until the pilot either (or his plane) regained

control or smashed into the ground. The pilots Wolfe discusses date back

to just after WWII, when aerodynamic engineering became more technical and

deadly. The book came out . . . 1980? I read it in paperback in '84

after seeing the Phillip Kaufman movie, which is very entertaining in its

own right.



Bob Haas

UNCG Department of English

rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hamlet.uncg.edu



"No matter where you go, there you are."