[PW] 2 quotation questions

[Knigi at aol.com]

William Spinks _House drainage manual: A guide to the design and  
construction of systems of drainage and sewage disposal from houses_  (London 1897), page 
177:  
 
    When the water reaches the bend or overflow point 
    of the syphon it overflows into the tipping bucket, 
    which, when filled to its tipping point,  overturns and 
    throws out its contents into and through  the outlet 
    trap . . . . 
 
 
 

But Wren invented a tipping-bucket rain-gauge ca 1662; so the notion of  a 
tipping point, if not the actual phrase, is much older than 1897. See  Balthasar 
de Monconys _Journal des voyages_ 1665-66. 




Jay Dillon 
 
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In a message dated 2007-10-15 6:07:12 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
meye0539 at umn.edu writes:

A professor  is trying to find the origins of the phrase "tipping
point". All I've been  able to find is a reference to the 1960's sociologist
Morton Grodzins who  first coined the phrase in regard to white flight from
black neighborhoods.  Our faculty member is convinced that there must be an
earlier usage of the  phrase, perhaps related to scales or equilibrium. I
have looked in various  phrase/word origin reference materials as well as the
OED, but to no  avail.


 



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