wolit@rabbit.UUCP (08/19/83)
Contrary to the apparent tide of public opinion, I think "Sol" is a dumb name for our star. First of all, no one seems to know whether it's pronounced to rhyme with "doll" or with "dole." Secondly, "Sol" is a boy's name, which is gonna get a lot of girls ticked off. (On the other hand, as a boy, I'm not sure I like a big ball of hot gas automatically being named after one of us.) Also, given the role of our star in the development of our species -- it's either a distant ancestor, if you believe in evolution, or our Creator, if your a Sun worshipper (Judeo-Christo-Islamo types can flame to /dev/null) -- it seems a little informal to refer to it as just "Sol," rather than "Honourable Sol," or even "Solomon." Why can't we just go on referring to it as "the sun" (or "the Sun," if you will)? I mean, going metric is tough enough without also having to relearn old sayings like, "Sol rises in the east and sets in the west" and songs like, "Here come Sol." New Yawkers always refer to New York as "the city," even if they're in California at the time, and everyone knows what they mean. What are we risking by maintaining the status quo -- being considered parochial by Alpha Centaurians? I move that this discussion be continued on Vega, or at least on net.misc, if at all. Jan Wolitzky, Bell Labs, Murray Hill
bb@lanl-a.UUCP (08/20/83)
I like the word 'Sol'. It is Latin and it rhymes with dole.
It has sort of a majesty about it, probably because I have
never known anyone named Sol, so I associate it only with
the Sun, which is just what it's called, not what its name is.
It occurs to me that if boys might get mad about being named
Sol, every living male has reason to get upset about being
called Sun. [very bad, I know :-)]
The Milky Way is a wonderful name for our galaxy. I remember
reading somewhere (perhaps in Science 78) about a star cluster
or small galaxy discovered very close to the Milky Way.
The name proposed by the discoverers was 'Snickers'.
Can anyone verify?
b2 ...!ucbvax!lbl-csam!lanl-a!bbsilver@csu-cs.UUCP (08/29/83)
Meanwhile, the "local group" (of galaxies) is floating around out there without even a semblance of a proper name. Now's our chance to stick it with something pronounceable (unlike Sol) and dignified (unlike Milky Way, which is TOTALLY silly). I propose we call it "Fred" (with a LONG "e", of course). Comments to /dev/vega. :~)