Re: An alternative to ST and AAT

Gerrit Hanenburg (G.Hanenburg@inter.nl.net)
Tue, 03 Dec 1996 17:20:53 GMT

Paul@crowleyp.demon.co.uk (Paul Crowley) wrote:

>> > I accept that there are all kind of ways of walking.
>> > The English language makes fine distinctions: saunter, stroll,
>> > shuffle, shamble, hobble, limp, totter, stagger, lurch, slouch
>> > drag, mince, prance, stalk, strut, swagger, sidle, roll, swing,
>> > amble, - and many more.

>> Those are general usage words. "Stride" in science has a specific
>> biomechanical meaning. Gerrit defined it for you in a previous post.

>BS. Gerrit, knowledgeable and praiseworthy as he may be, is not
>a scientific institution. It is not within his power to establish
>a "scientific . . meaning".Gerrit's account of bipedal striding
>was, in fact, quite confused and the whole purpose of my posts was
>to point out that it did not permit essential distinctions.

It does distinguish between different forms of bipedalism,only not by
using the words you mention above. The meaning of those everyday words
is too vague for scientific purposes.
Even modern humans have a lateral displacement of the center of
gravity of ca.4-5 cm from side to side, yet you do not want to call
them waddlers. When do you call somebody a waddler? When his center of
gravity moves beyond that distance? But not everybody knows that you
give the word exactly that meaning,and even if they do they may not
accept it.
Within the two main categories of bipedalism (alternating and
saltatorial) it is possible to specify subcategories by specifying
movements of the body or bodyparts.
For example,it is possible to distinguish between a person with large
rotational movements of the pelvic and shoulder girdles around the
vertebral column,and a person with a large lateral displacement of the
upper body without rotation. While both persons can be called waddlers
in everyday language,that term does not distinguish between their
specific patterns of movement.
By simply specifying biomechanical details you can distinguish between
the "waddling" of a chimpanzee and a penguin.

Gerrit