MSGID: 1:153/716.0 f7bd4ac0   
   REPLY: 2:221/6.0 5f71866c   
   CHRS: IBMPC 2   
   Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
    AK>  2. "a shirt so white it must have been running off the   
    AK>  mains"?   
      
    AH>  The whiteness of his shirt was dazzling, like that of   
    AH>  a bright light... from which I conclude he could afford   
    AH>  to have it professionally laundered.   
      
    AK>  What is "mains"?   
      
      
               In UK & Canadian English it's the supply point for the   
   distribution of electrical power (or water) to a building... hence my   
   comparison involving a bright light.  I imagine the author was thinking of the   
   brightness or potential brightness of lighting powered by such an external   
   source as opposed to that of candles, gas lamps, or the battery-powered   
   flashlight I had as a child....  :-Q   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
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