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Pushing the envelope

 
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Blossom



Joined: 30 May 2005
Posts: 291
Location: Beijing China
PostPosted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 3:37 pm    Post subject: Pushing the envelope Reply with quote
Six villagers were killed and 48 injured, eight of them seriously, in the clash in Hebei's Shengyou village on Saturday, said the Beijing News, a state-sanctioned newspaper known to push the envelope in reporting.

What does *pushing the envelope* mean?

Can anyone help, please.
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Bob S.



Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 9:34 am    Post subject: Re: Pushing the envelope Reply with quote
Blossom wrote:
What does *pushing the envelope* mean?

An "envelope" is your boundaries, your maximum and minimum limits.

The term comes from aviation. For any particular airplane, for a given altitute, there is a minimum speed (any slower and it will fall out of the sky) and a maximum speed (the limits of the engine speed and power to push through air resistance). Different altitudes have different limits because of different air densities. If you were to make a graph chart, plotting height vs. speed, it would sweep out a loop that shows the aircraft's "operational flight envelope". Of course test pilots and aircraft designers like to see if they can make the aircraft go a little beyond the edge of its theoretical flight envelope (go just a little faster, climb just a little higher). So, to go just a little beyond the limit, to in effect make a new limit (that other people can later follow), is called "pushing the envelope".
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Blossom



Joined: 30 May 2005
Posts: 291
Location: Beijing China
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 1:49 pm    Post subject: Envelope Reply with quote
Ooh! Thanks. Very clear. I understand.

Thanks.
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Bob S.



Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
You're very welcome.
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