Talk:glacial speed

RFD discussion: May–September 2020
SOP. "glacial progress", "glacial pace", "glacial rate", "the speed is glacial", etc. PUC – 16:16, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
 * But the sense “very slow” of the adjective is derived from the figurative use of glacial speed, not the other way around. If anything, it is the literal sense that is SOP, not the figurative one.  --Lambiam 17:54, 6 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't personally see a reason to think that the "very slow" meaning of "glacial" must be from the specific phrase "glacial speed" rather than from the general association of slow movement with a glacier. Mihia (talk) 00:46, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * But the sense "very slow" for glacial isn't quite universal. "That car is glacial", "The clerk was glacial", "This medicine is glacial to work": none of those make sense. The geological sense was added by User:SemperBlotto btw. Alexis Jazz (talk) 06:45, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * I don't see how the non-universality of the figurative sense is evidence that it comes specifically from the phrase "glacial speed", if that's what you mean. Mihia (talk) 14:14, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * No, it's evidence that "glacial" doesn't mean "very slow" in every context. In fact, it would seem to only mean that in some rather limited context. (progress, pace, speed, rate) Without a word like that, it doesn't mean "very slow". Alexis Jazz (talk) 18:50, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * If usage is thought limited enough, then an appropriate label can be added to the sense at glacial. As long as there are more than a couple of possible collocations, which there are, and given that I think these cannot be precisely circumscribed, a single explanation at "glacial" is preferable to having separate entries for all the possibilities, IMO. Mihia (talk) 19:28, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Google turns up "Bottas drove well but the car is glacial compared to the others." Glacial is polysemous and still moderately non-literal in this sense (it hasn't completely ossified), but I would be hard pressed to say "rather limited".--Prosfilaes (talk) 13:57, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
 * that was written on a forum and not part of any well-written piece. And I think it's a rather odd line. The car is glacial? Without context I'd think the air conditioning was stuck at the highest setting. Alexis Jazz (talk) 15:40, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Languages are not limited to their use in formal writing. I can't really think of any case where I'd take "the car is glacial" to mean it's freezing cold, but again, polysemy does not necessarily imply we need an entry; "the car is green" has at least three different meanings and the fact that "the car is not broken in yet" would be an unusual one does not make phrases using that sense of green not SOP.--Prosfilaes (talk) 17:36, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
 * You are right that languages are not limited to their use in formal writing, but we wouldn't accept an entry because someone on the internet once said something. Searching Google for "car is glacial", I get 14 results. 8 of those refer to glacial white or glacial silver, a color. One refers to temperature: "good thing the AC in the car is glacial". The other 5 are mostly forums using glacial to refer to speed:
 * "The acceleration of the car is glacial on highways and overall it is woefully unsatisfying by hitting sixty miles per hour in 12.7 seconds." (glacial refers to acceleration)
 * "The reload time on the T7 car is glacial." (glacial refers to time)
 * "Every movement, from bed, to chair, to bathroom, to car, is glacial." (glacial refers to movement)
 * "If 60mph in 4.7 and 1/4 mile in 13-14 seconds is slow with a car that is fantastic at handling then they must have very high standsrds and must think that your car is glacial, do you?" (glacial refers to car)
 * "Bottas drove well but the car is glacial compared to the others." (glacial refers to car)
 * Glacial (when it means "very slow") really tends to refer to things that aren't tangible. Speed, movement, acceleration. I wouldn't bet on whether "glacial" referring directly to something tangible could be attested. Alexis Jazz (talk) 01:50, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
 * It's not a formal cite, but it is an example of English usage. It tends to refer to things that aren't tangible, but that's not a justification for keeping glacial speed; at best, that's an argument for a note on definition.--Prosfilaes (talk) 14:16, 9 May 2020 (UTC)


 * Some ngrams: . --Dan Polansky (talk) 08:18, 7 May 2020 (UTC)
 * All 19th-century GBS results for "glacial progress"|"glacial speed" are non-figurative. --Lambiam 19:41, 7 May 2020 (UTC)


 * Delete, adequately covered by glacial. bd2412 T 02:40, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete, SOP. - TheDaveRoss  12:34, 8 May 2020 (UTC)


 * Delete, SOP. Like Mihia, I don't buy the idea that this sense of "glacial" originated from "glacial speed" (I would expect other collocations to have been earlier...). - -sche (discuss) 06:32, 9 May 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete per -sche. --Uisleach (talk) 20:51, 3 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Deleted. - -sche (discuss) 02:08, 27 September 2020 (UTC)