Language & Grammar discussion

My writing group and I had some discussion yesterday over the proper use of "Span." I wrote that the two men "spanned nearly 7 feet in height." Most everyone was confused and said they thought that span can only be used to describe width, not height. I decided to change it because so many were confused, but I do believe span can be used in the sense I used it. What say you?

It seems strange to me, with a tinge of the archaic, although I don't know why.

Ruth, thanks. the story is a heroic fantasy tale so I was hoping for an archaic feel to it.

I have seen spanned used to describe the height of both horses and buildings but do not believe it is very common.

thanks,

What about the phrase "spanning the globe." Not necessarily width, that.

Absolutely. Thanks for that one. I'll remind the group of that.

It seems perfectly clear that they averaged 42" each in height.

They? (Damn those antecedent-less pronouns anyway!)

Newengland wrote: "They? (Damn those antecedent-less pronouns anyway!)"

Ha Ha, Actually, N.E. and Charles, I wondered for a moment if the men concurred on the seven foot measurement. I guess it is one of those sentences that should be replaced with an easier construction.

Doug

I would use "stood nearly seven feet tall" or, "at seven feet, the two men towered over...."

But Charles owns the sentence, not me. That's the beauty of being a writer.

Actually a span can be curved so it does not always fit for straight line measurements or reference.

I am studiously saying nothing about this thread.

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I forgot how to do that, but I get your point.

Mysterious like the disappearing dot on the first Mars picture.

Dots used to disappear when I bought a box at the Saturday matinees, too.

That's eerie. My M & M s did too. All the brown ones first.

I could never discern color in the theatre (and the Dark Knight wasn't even playing -- The Incredible Escape was).

Red loses color perception first but starts to look dark gray at about .2 lux. You can still see it when brown disappears at about .1 lux because it is a wavelength absorbing mixture, depending on the individual eye and background color. That is very simplified, but you can wikipedia it for more info.

I always wondered what my left-eyed lux is. It's my weaker eye. That's the God's honest lux....

We don't all have the same luxury.

... or tax.