Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Watery Wednesday: Weir





http://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/

These are weirs, says the water engineer.

I only knew a weir in theory that there is such a word when I played Scrabble.

A weir (IPA: /wɪɚ/) (also known as a lowhead dam) is a small overflow-type dam commonly used to raise the level of a river or stream. Weirs have traditionally been used to create mill ponds in such places. Water flows over the top of a weir, although some weirs have sluice gates which release water at a level below the top of the weir. The crest of an overflow spillway on a large dam is often called a weir.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weir

I used to grit my teeth when we had to drive miles and miles, and walk miles and miles to see an engineering structure. Not any more, we met an engineer's kid, and he descibed the same feeling as me. Much later, I met an engineer's wife, and she too, talked about the same thing. Now, I just follow along, as we drive and walk miles and miles.

There is a Chinese saying, JIA JI SUI JI, meaning, marry a chicken, follow a chicken,
JIA GOU SUI GOU, marry a dog, follow a dog.

4 comments:

Ginny Hartzler said...

Gosh, a picture of an actual weir!! like you I have heard the word, but didn't know what it meant at all! So I am now a bit smarter today than yesterday! I wonder how common they are, I've never heard of any around here.

Randi said...

Very interesting post - I have learned something new!

The JR said...

Neat post. Cool sayings.

Unknown said...

When I first saw the word on your post, I thought you were speaking German. :-) Nice post. I learned something.

I think I will pass on the mud packs. I can't afford expensive. :)

I'm glad you got to have your son. My children bring me so much joy (usually).