Comments on: Imaginary dirigibles

By: Jill

Jill — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wonderful – I wonder how many fictions I’ve caused myself to believe are true? Quite often I dream things that seem entirely plausible, and believe them for hours the next day. Perhaps there are other dreamt events that I never realise are untre?

By: jeremy hunsinger

jeremy hunsinger — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

hmm, reading neal stephenson’s diamond age eh?

By: Francois Lachance

Francois Lachance — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hanna at join-the-dots has consulting Wikipedia entries and has been musing on the origins of the word “blimp”

See

http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~hmw26/join-the-dots/2004/05/29/etymology-of-blimp/

The comments offer further anecdotes of airship travel lore.

By: hanna

hanna — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hey Alex—my guess (for what it's worth) is that possibility 2 was the case. As for there being no evidence of "airship" being used in this way, the word "airbus" is most definitely used. Perhaps something was, well, lost in translation?

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jill: Actually, that might be the most likely source. I may have dreamed it and it became a false memory.

Jeremy: The timing is right–I probably read Diamond Age around that time. Though, as far as I recall Brunei wasn’t included in that. Though I might have combined it with stories of the Sultan’s private jets. (See here for an amazing plan of such a jet.)

Hanna: Had they used Airbus I would have recognized it as such. You are right, though: it wouldn’t be the first time an ad got mangled in translation–in this case from English-to-English, but that is sometimes the most difficult! I also thought the airline was exclusively Boeing, though.

I did page through my diaries, and at first glance find nothing. For a while, I kept a diary using the “wa-pro” provided by work. When I noticed the thermal paper I had printed this on was fading, I think I transcribed them. So I should at least be able to search through that relatively short piece. I’ve thought about transcribing some of my diaries from that time–in fact I even got a start on feeding them into a MT blog–but there isn’t enough there to sustain my interest. So for now, this will remain a mystery.

By: Francois Lachance

Francois Lachance — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Translation may not be the issue. This instance sighted by Alex is perhaps an example of regional
usuage. I have found one more example where “airship” references what looks like an “airplane”

Search string “airbus airplane Hong Kong”

Airship — the figure in this illustration to a Hong Kong newsletter item looks like what would be called an “airplane”
http://www.weather.gov.hk/publica/wxonwings/wow016/wow16e.htm

And for good mesure…

Search string “Brunei Hong Kong airship” nets
a reference to

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/3981/Origins.htm

which is a story not about flying between the two destinations but flying at each of them.