We call them “spiral staircases” yet rarely do they actually contain a single spiral - but they do have a helix. I guess “helical staircase” was just too much for people to care about as the term embedded in the 1600s. Previously they’d been winding stairs, screw stairs, and earlier yet just a “vice”, so common were they. Weird how language adapts to what’s easy rather than what’s correct.
> Weird how language adapts to what’s easy rather than what’s correct.
It’s not weird at all, it’s quite sensible. The purpose of language between people is not to produce correct sounds, it’s to facilitate some other activity or intent, so people will tend towards whatever manner of language makes achieving their goals the easiest.
It’s the same reason desire paths form: it’s less effort.
I kind of feel like in the old days, people weren’t really afraid of heights. Heights were fairly new, and exciting, and the consequences of falling were not well understood yet. It’s why you would see skyscraper construction workers jumping around and sitting on beams to enjoy a casual lunch thousands of feet up, without a care in the world.
Look, I know ads are the mechanism for some sites. And I don’t normally “this site gave my phone cancer”.. but on IOS with blockers, everything except the text on the site can go fuck itself.
Been to the top of the Eiffel, it was a long enough set of elevator rides to flirt with and eventually date a French girl. So that probably wouldn’t have happened on stairs.
Well, that certainly wouldn't have overwhelmed my fear of heights. /s
I'd probably physically lock up in a state of panic. My SO had to rescue me on a far less severe stairway last year when I freaked out at a third story height that was kind of open. Imagine what this could do to someone with vertigo.
33 comments
It also looks like a spiral when looking up or down.
> Weird how language adapts to what’s easy rather than what’s correct.
It’s not weird at all, it’s quite sensible. The purpose of language between people is not to produce correct sounds, it’s to facilitate some other activity or intent, so people will tend towards whatever manner of language makes achieving their goals the easiest.
It’s the same reason desire paths form: it’s less effort.
> with no safety barriers
A guardrail isn't a safety barrier? The photos of the staircase don't look like star wars walkways to me at all.
A dizzying array of adverts and popups.
Can't believe the resources that took for 'temporary', and that it lasted this long.
Been to the top of the Eiffel, it was a long enough set of elevator rides to flirt with and eventually date a French girl. So that probably wouldn’t have happened on stairs.
I'd probably physically lock up in a state of panic. My SO had to rescue me on a far less severe stairway last year when I freaked out at a third story height that was kind of open. Imagine what this could do to someone with vertigo.