Posted by John Nichols on June 05, 2004 at 17:46:54 from 165.91.196.181 user Mcneacail.
In Reply to: Mouse or Lash? posted by Jonathan Labaree on June 05, 2004 at 14:39:09:
Jonathon,
I disagree, Knight makes the point in the OED section that mousing is also placed to stop the hook opening up under the load, which is a simple mechanical issue. Two sister hooks would not stop the opening - merely improve the statisitcal chance that it would be less likely (related to the chances that 2 pieces are less likely to fail than one - at the same time.) But one still has to stop the hooks opening hence I would say Ransome used a correct definition - but interestingly it should also be added to the OED to clarify the idea.
Your return thoughts eagerily awaited.
John