So, I used a word wrong.
The sun at its highest point in the midday sky: I used the word “apogee”.
Then I looked it up and found out I was wrong. So, I guess I’ll have to change it.
Wondering though: Did I just completely pull that out of my ass, or is it a common misuse of the word? IF it is a common enough misuse of the word, is it common enough to qualify as an informal alternate meaning? A charming colloquial? Through searches, I was able to find more than a few examples of people misusing the word in the same way that I misused it.
What’s the consensus here:
A valid case where the technical meaning and the common usage are at odds?
Or just plain wrong and ignorant?
(I’m trying to salvage an otherwise decent lyric!)
The word “apogee” is rarely used in spoken English in the US unless the user is an astronomer (an amateur or a professional),an astrophysicist or someone involved in the space programs. It’s more a literary word than one used in daily speech. If you used it incorrectly (or even correctly) most people would either ask you its meaning or simply listen to what you are saying later in the sentence to see if they could infer it.
No, zenith is the point 90 degrees directly above you. The Sun never gets there unless you’re in the tropics. The proper term would be “meridian”. The meridian is an imaginary line that goes from the horizon directly north, to straight above, and then back down to the southern horizon. Noon is defined as when the Sun crosses the meridian, hence morning is ante-meridian (a.m.) and afternoon is post-meridian (p.m.).
Personally, I’ve never heard the word apogee except in academic contexts. Frankly I’d be shocked to hear anyone who’s not an astronomer use it, let alone use it wrong.
Yeah, I’m going to end up changing it.
Being wrong by mistake is one thing, but being knowingly wrong- then doing it over and over again- nah, I’m just going to change it.
On some level, I knew that starting a “how wrong is this?” Thread just meant that I was fighting what I knew to be the proper course.
I derive it from “peri” in other words with Greek roots, such as periapt, peristalsis, perimeter, and so on.
By the way, Peter Schickele narrates PDQ Bach’s “Classical Rap” and throws out the following bit of charming modesty:
“So, anyway, now hear the sound
Of the very best rapper for miles around.
Yes, I’m the fellow who’s where it’s at
There’s absolutely no denying that
Yes, I’m the apex, I’m the best
I’m considerably better than all the rest
The acme, the zenith, the tippest to the top
The nec plus ultra, the hippest to the hop
The summit, the pinnacle, the highest of the high
The apogee of rappers, that’s I.”
apo·gee noun \ˈa-pə-(ˌ)jē
: the highest point of something
: the point in outer space where an object traveling around the Earth (such as a satellite or the moon) is farthest away from the Earth
That doesn’t apply to the sun at midday? I can see it not applying to the sun at clock-midday because of timezones and so forth, but isn’t the “natural midday” by definition the moment when the sun is highest in the sky, the highest point of its daily trajectory?
Seems a bit weird to apply it to a heavenly body that doesn’t circle the Earth, though. The word literally means “distance from the Earth”, and has a very specific astronomical meaning. I can see plenty of potential poetic or metaphorical uses for it, but I’d have to say that this ain’t one.
It’s all a matter of what is mathematically easier to describe. When the math is easier with the Sun in the center (or in a center) we put it there; when it’s the Earth, or Jupiter, or Io, that’s what we use.
Then again, what my Physics teacher used to say is “we are engineers because we know how to change the frame of reference”; being able to change it back and forth so the total work is simpler may be an engineery thing.
Most, if not all, of the online dictionaries found by OneLook Dictionaries seem to give something like “highest point” as one of the meanings. The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary does not even mention the astronomical meaning (which is, of course, rarely used in practice, rarely even by real astronomers I should imagine).
I just wrote up an essay describing the correct usage of apogee and perigee (as I understand it), but then before clicking on “Submit”, I considered it prudent to read up on it in Wikipedia to make sure I’m not missing any important details – and discovered I still had it largely wrong.
I think it’s incorrect to use apogee in reference to the sun. The earth has an aphelion and perihelion once each year. The moon has a perigee and apogee each month. From a given point on earth, the sun has a point where it is highest in the sky (or indeed at the zenith for a given latitude in the tropics for each day).
No. Consider watching a fireworks display. A rocket, at it’s apogee, is not overhead at all, but just at the highest point of its arc. If you are far enough away, it is quite close to the horizon, but still at its apogee. There is an astronomical date on which the earth and the sun are at apogee, but it might occur in the middle of the night where you are, and the sun is invisible to you, but still at apogee.
