Plumb

On Saturday afternoon three boys, about 11 or 12 years ,old had been playing marbles on the spare block on the corner of the street under a somewhat leaden sky. Their bikes were laying in disarray and they were sitting around in the dirt just chatting having lost interest in their game of "Big Ringy".

"A man is coming next week to plumb up our new bathroom." says Tommy.

"My Grandad has a plumb line but I have never seen him use it" says Billy "it has a good piece of string on it but he won't let me have it. He says it is too good as a plumb line."

Johnny pipes up "My grandfather has a plumb bob and I have seen him use it to plumb up the new trellis that he was building to grow a grape vine on."

"OK smarty" says Billy "what is the difference between a plumb bob and a plumb line?" Johnny and Tommy just shrug their shoulders and start to pack up their marbles. Just then another boy arrives on his bike. "Can I join in?" asks Llewy. "Too late!" the three boys answer in unison "we are finished and going home."

"Hey Llewy" calls Billy, "you reckon that you know everything. How do use a plumb line?" Llewy puffs his chest out as he rises to the occasion and proudly says "My Dad has a plumb line, it was his father's and he used it when he was a sailor. It has a big weight on the end and ribbons tied every six foot along it. He used to fathom the depth of water so the ship.... "

Before Llewy could finish Billy cut him off "Listen smarty I know what a plumb line looks like and there are no ribbons on my Grandad's, in any case he was a bricklayer not a sailor." Llewy stands indignant "I know the plumb line was used to check how deep the water was so the ship did not run aground. Dad said that each ribbon is a fathom apart so I do know what I am talking about!"

Tommy can't hold back any longer and blurts out "you are all mad, I said a man was coming next week to plumb up our new bathroom. He is going to connect the water pipes and drains. I don't know what building a trellis, sailing a ship or laying bricks has to do with that!" Tommy collects his marbles and heads off home.

All four boys are good mates, in the same class at school and all quite good students and keen on learning. On Monday morning Mr Jones starts off the class with his usual question about activities of the weekend. Billy is first to put up his hand. "Yes William" says Mr Jones, what experience do you want to tell about. Billy starts, Billy is a bit of a smarty "Well there were four of us and we were having a plumb conversation..."

A giggle from the back of the classroom and then "Little Jack Horner sat in the corner...." then another voice "and did someone hit you plumb on the nose?"

"Quite up the back, let William finish, well William carry on. Billy thinks he had better curb his smarty approach and goes on "Well Tommy was telling us about a man coming to plumb up their new bathroom and the conversation went from there to plumb bobs and plumb lines..." another interjection from the back of the class "and plum pies..."

Mr Jones has had enough and calls the class to order. Mr Jones who is always looking for something that might become an English lesson says "I am hearing what might be homonyms and homographs and maybe even homophones. The class looks dumbfounded. Mr Jones starts again "Let's go back to what Tommy said, The plumber is coming to connect the water to the new bathroom. How did it get from this to plumb bobs and plumb lines?"

"No" says Johnny "Tommy said that a man was coming to plumb up their new bathroom. Just like I seen my Grandad plumb up the new trellis he was building using his plumb bob, and Billy said his Grandfather had a plumb line that he used in bricklaying. Then Llewy came along and we asked him if he knew the difference between a plumb bob and a plumb line. Llewy started talking about measuring the depth of water for a sailing ship until Tommy explained that he was talking about the water pipes to his new bathroom."

Mr Jones was interested in Llewy's knowledge of sailing ships "Llewellyn, tell the class about using a plumb line to measure water depth." Llewy tells the class about the rope with a large lead weight on it with pieces of ribbon tied at 6 foot intervals and how it was his grandfathers job to drop it over the side holding it taught and then pull it up counting the number of ribbons that had been in the water.

Tommy cut in "This all started from my new bathroom. What has sailing ships, a new trellis or bricklaying got to do with that?" Mr Jones quietly explained that the connection was the word plumb and not the fruit to you boys up the back. Billy "That's why I said we were having a plumb conversation."

Mr Jones thought for a while and thinking these boys are too young to understand an explanation of derivation of words he stated. "as you boys continue with your education make sure that you study history, chemistry, learn the English language well and study Latin. Then if you can put together ancient Roman history, Latin and the work of Mendeleev you will understand the connection between the words."

Clues:

· The roofs of Roman buildings were constructed of a corrosion resistant malleable material which is very heavy. They went on to use this same material for water pipes.

· Mendeleev developed a tabulation of elements using their Latin names to create two letter symbols for each element.

Lindsay Threadgate May 2012