The Story of the First Lawn Mower

The Story of the First Lawn Mower Formal lawns made of short, well-maintained grass first appeared in France around the 1700s, and the idea soon spread to England and the rest of the world. But the methods of maintaining lawns were labor-intensive, inefficient or inconsistent: Lawns were first kept clean and tidy by having animals graze on the grass, or by the use of scythe, sickle, or shears to hand-cut the grass lawns. That changed in the mid-19th century with the invention of the lawnmower.   Machine for Mowing Lawns The first patent for a mechanical lawn mower described as a Machine for mowing lawns, etc. was granted on August 31, 1830, to engineer, Edwin Beard Budding (1795-1846) from Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.  Buddings design was based on a cutting tool used for the uniform trimming of carpet. It was a reel-type mower that had a series of blades arranged around a cylinder. John Ferrabee, owner of Phoenix Foundry at Thrupp Mill, Stroud, first produced the Budding lawn mowers, which were sold to the Zoological Gardens in London (see illustration). In 1842,  Scotsman Alexander Shanks invented  a 27-inch pony drawn reel lawn mower. The first United States patent for a reel lawn mower was granted to Amariah Hills on January 12, 1868. Early lawn mowers were often designed to be horse-drawn, with the horses often wearing oversized leather booties to prevent lawn damage. In 1870, Elwood McGuire of Richmond, Indiana designed a very popular human pushed lawn mower; while it wasnt the first to be human-pushed, his design was very lightweight and became a commercial success. Steam-powered lawn mowers appeared in the 1890s. In 1902, Ransomes produced the first commercially available mower powered by an internal combustion gasoline engine. In the United States, gasoline powered lawn mowers were first manufactured in 1919 by Colonel Edwin George.   On May 9, 1899, John Albert Burr patented an improved rotary blade lawn mower. While marginal improvements have been made in mower technology (including the all-important riding mower), some municipalities and companies are bringing back the old ways by using grazing goats as a low-cost, low-emission mower alternative.

Depreciate vs. Deprecate

Depreciate vs. Deprecate Depreciate vs. Deprecate Depreciate vs. Deprecate By Maeve Maddox The words depreciate and deprecate are from different Latin originals, but the difference in meaning between them is being eroded in popular usage. Depreciate is from Latin depretiare, a combination de (from) and pretium (price). â€Å"To depreciate† is to become less in value. Example: â€Å"It’s often said that a car depreciates as it is driven off the dealer’s lot.† Depreciate is used transitively with the meaning, â€Å"to lower the value of.† Example: â€Å"The latest crisis depreciated the currency.† Figuratively, depreciate means, â€Å"to belittle or disparage.† For example, â€Å"No matter what I do, he depreciates my efforts.† Deprecate is from Latin deprecari, a combination of de (from, away) and precari (to pray). â€Å"To deprecate† something was to â€Å"pray it away.† The word entered English in the 17th century with the meaning, â€Å"to pray against evil, to pray for deliverance from.† For example, one might go to church to â€Å"deprecate God’s judgment,† that is, pray that it might be averted. Deprecate has the secular meanings â€Å"to plead earnestly against† and â€Å"to express earnest disapproval of.† For example, â€Å"We deprecate the harsh action taken against the local population.† Speakers do not always see a difference between depreciate (to belittle) and deprecate (to disapprove of). Because the distinction is a fine one, the words have become mixed up. As a plain verb, deprecate is not as common as it was in the 19th century, but its present participle form occurs in the popular adjective self-deprecating. As defined at the online Oxford Dictionaries site, self-deprecating means â€Å"modest about or critical of oneself, especially humorously so.† Here are two recent examples of the usage: The iconic comedian [Joan Rivers]  passed away today at 81, but she leaves behind a legacy of unrestricted humor and self-deprecating wisdom. â€Å"Humor is an amazing quality to have,† Kunis told  Glamour. I like sarcasm, satire, self-deprecating humor.† In researching this post, I found several depreciatory comments directed at speakers who write self-depreciating instead of self-deprecating. The sarcasm that accompanies some of these comments is misplaced. According to the Ngram Viewer, self-depreciating predates self-deprecating by 20 years. For about 100 years, beginning in 1845 and continuing until the 1940s, self-depreciating is the more common term; then, self-deprecating soars to its modern ascendency and self-depreciating plummets. Etymologically speaking, self-depreciating is the better choice, but self-deprecating has triumphed in standard speech; self-deprecating is the version to use if you don’t want to seem ignorant. Merriam-Webster, by the way, defines self-deprecating as â€Å"given to self-depreciation.† Computer science has found a new use for deprecate: deprecated (adjective): Used typically in reference to a computer language to mean a command or statement in the language that is going to be made invalid or obsolete in future versions. Examples of deprecated in the context of computer science: A program element annotated @Deprecated is one that programmers are discouraged from using, typically because it is dangerous, or because a better alternative exists. Compilers warn when a deprecated program element is used or overridden in non-deprecated code. Apple has officially deprecated Java, the cross-platform runtime environment developed by Sun and now owned by Oracle, and the company has decided not to include Adobe Flash technology on its new super-slim MacBook Air notebook computers. Bottom line: to deprecate is â€Å"to disapprove,† but in â€Å"self-deprecating,† it means, â€Å"to belittle.† In the world of computing, deprecated means â€Å"phased out† or â€Å"soon to be phased out.† Depreciate is for talking about loss of monetary value. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:10 Grammar Mistakes You Should Avoid8 Writing Tips for Beginners20 Slang Terms for Law Enforcement Personnel