Frisbees
Was the frisbee named after a guy named Frisbee, or Whammo?
———- from Milton Bradley ofSpringfield, OR
Neither. Frisbee is a Latin word, meaning “Convoluted Spiral”, and refersto a truncated hyperboloid, a three-dimensional representation of thealgebraic function x=2y squared over z, where z is an irrational number thatis currently behaving somewhat normally. The lightweight discus thatcollege students throw to irritate the rest of us got its name from aparticularly athletic mathematician who was apparently “on something” at thetime. This was back in the late sixties, when psychic voyagers were therule, not the exception. The slang word to describe this was “beingwhammed” and the expletive to describe an insight, was “Whammo!”
Neither. Frisbee is a Latin word, meaning “Convoluted Spiral”, and refersto a truncated hyperboloid, a three-dimensional representation of thealgebraic function x=2y squared over z, where z is an irrational number thatis currently behaving somewhat normally. The lightweight discus thatcollege students throw to irritate the rest of us got its name from aparticularly athletic mathematician who was apparently “on something” at thetime. This was back in the late sixties, when psychic voyagers were therule, not the exception. The slang word to describe this was “beingwhammed” and the expletive to describe an insight, was “Whammo!”