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Old 06-July-2005, 08:20 AM
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Meteora Meteora is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Avatar28
Technically steam IS invisible. However, a dictionary's job is to report also the common usage and meaning of a word. Thanks to so many people not realizing that true steam is invisible, the common name for the cloud of condensed water droplets you see is, indeed, steam. Therefore the dictionary will (or should) also give that definition. Like it or not, it's part of the evolution of language.
Now that I actually think about what I said in the first place, I did mention that the water droplets are "commonly called" steam. In meteorology, water vapor has a very specific definition. Gas. Period. As for "steam," it's on its own.
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