Astronauts Have Made Egress From The Spaceship

 We have a short discussion about the recent "rescuing" of the astronauts that experienced a much longer trip to space than planned.

The word of the episode, "egress", has the definition and origin discussed, since that was one of the technical words used during the live broadcast of the capsule returning to earth. This word has more meaning than just "exit".

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Any views expressed on this podcast are those solely of the hosts and is for entertainment purposes only. None of the content is medical advice or financial advice.

Special thanks to Tim Wright aka CoLD SToRAGE for his permission to use the song Operatique.

Transcript

I Hate Talking: 0:29

-- Welcome to episode 50 of I Hate -- Talking. Hi everyone. So today's word or phrase comes in response to the past successful splashdown and the astronauts returning to Earth from the space station after their eight-day trip. Mm. It was supposed to be 8 days. Oh, I was actually 9 months. That's tough, yeah. So the kids and I were watching some of the extra live coverage that happened after the splashdown where they actually were bobbing in the water for probably about 20 minutes while they were waiting on the ship to get to them. And there were some smaller boats that were making sure everything was going according to plan and then the larger ship showed up to actually retrieve the capsule and bring that on board and then Open the hatch so that the astronauts could egress the capsule. OK, so they did that on the ship. They did that on the ship. They had a little area that actually the capsule sat on, I think they referred to it as the nest. And that is where the capsule sat on the ship and they even had some different things that could traverse the deck of the ship so that they could pull the capsule right up to a elevated deck so that the hatch was basically at that same level of the deck and they could egress the capsule. OK, and I assume that's our word for the day. Egress, yes, that is correct. So I was a little bit perturbed because the anchor that was describing this was using a lot of technical terms and doing a relatively good job of explaining what they meant in terms of regular everyday language that a non-rocket scientist might use, but then egress was not an example of that. They basically said it's another word for exit. But it actually is a very specific word and it is specific to people that are walking when they are leaving a particular area. Huh, OK. That's not what I would have expected it to mean. So, what would you have expected it to mean? Hearing egress, it makes me think of like digress, but using it in the context of exiting something, I would think how digress means you're going away from the main point. I think like egress, maybe that means you're exiting the main parcel or something like that. So I think you're on a little bit of the right track. I don't know if digress would actually be the same root word or the same root meaning. I guess we can check on that as well for this particular episode. But basically, like I said, that anchor said that egress is another word for exit and it, it is listed as a synonym and they are very similar. They actually have one of the same two root words within it. But both exit and egress both come from Latin. On the word technical term egress, it comes from the Latin word X, which means out and gradda, which means to step. So that became then combined into e grade or egress, and that means literally to step out. So it is some method of leaving a place. But it is normally used in a manner where you are actually walking and stepping from one place to another in terms of leaving in that fashion. OK. So if we compare that to exit, it still has that same root word in LatinX, which is out, and ire, which means to go, so that came to be combined into Xier and then became exit. So that is a more general word that just means that to leave one place. So you could use that in terms of a exit ramp. But an exit ramp on the highway is not going to be egress because typically you're not going to use an exit ramp on the highway to walk off the highway. OK, so the astronauts did egress cause they stepped out of the capsule, right? Correct, and that would be the rocket scientist term to use as well as a very specific word to use in terms of people exiting somewhere on foot. OK. So that is egress and exit and the distinction between the two. And again, sort of the importance of words that we want to emphasize on this podcast is just that if the words really did mean the same thing, that there would not be two words, but because there are two words, there is some nuance in between the meanings and it can actually give a lot of context in terms of what you are describing. So let's check digress and see if that has any relationship to that root word in egress. Or maybe it's Greek, who knows. So it does come from Latin and it is the same root word grada to walk or to step, and then it is used with the preceding Latin word die, which means aside. So basically you are stepping aside, literally. So in speech, you are digressing from the main point and stepping aside to some other subject. OK, there you go. Just like we did right now to define that word. Cool. Lots of interesting Latin roots in this particular episode. So that is our word or phrase of the episode, egress officially, but then also we touched on exit and digress. So the astronauts did return safely to Earth. It will be interesting to see in the coming days and weeks if they have any particular commentary on their trip and the fact that it was much longer than anticipated. I've actually already seen some People commenting on various social media sites and headlines and news sites that a lot of the headlines and news organizations are helping this that the astronauts were quote unquote rescued, but that there was really according to these people that were making the comments, no immediate danger. And even some speculating that the astronauts enjoyed the extra stay, don't know how true that is but interesting to see what will be the astronauts themselves commentary on this particular subject in terms of how they feel about returning to Earth and if they are ready to go back into space in the near future or not. So we're gonna end it there. This is going to be a much shorter episode than normal, but we did want to touch on just that recent event as well as a word related to it. So, from your friends at I hate Talking, until next time, remember, it is only through talking that we begin the journey to understanding.