| 词源 |
Old Probabilities. Americans have been having fun with the weatherman for several centuries now. Knowing that weather forecasters always hedge their bets with a “probability” (“There is a probability of rain tomorrow”), they dubbed such prognos- ticators Old Probabilities in the late 19th century. The term is first recorded in 1873 for the superintendent of the weather bu- reau in Washington, D.C. Old Probs was the nickname of Cleveland Abbe (b. 1838), the first American to make daily weather predictions. Today, weather forecasters are even vagu- er, generally saying “there is a possibility.” |