Pam, Ralph, Steve,

The closest I'm getting to what I thought I meant is,

"withe (2) or wythe or tier (USA) One leaf of a cavity wall or hollow
wall or a half-brick thickness of a wall bonded into solid brickwork."
-Penguin Dictionary of Building.

If I am not correct, I might be sort of accidentally almost accurate in
this instance...since I was describing a rubble stone wall that was
only two stones thick, and one could infer that each stone was half the
thickness of the wall.  Damned smart-assed college boyz.  No mason or
would have caused me to go looking up a word I learned in the field
from some guy who picks up stones, smears a little mortar and places
the stone without a whole lot of supervision from linguists.

Still, I suppose I'll have to backdown and substitute another word or
description.  Funny though.  The point that the wall is kind of
insubstantial and may not survive much longer if someone doesn't keep
up with the repointing is getting lost in the discussion of the meaning
of a word.

-jc

On Friday, August 1, 2003, at 07:27  AM, Stevenson, Pamela wrote:

> John -
>
> I went to dictionary.com (cuz my paper one is packed away in office
> stuff), and there's no mention of thicknesses.  There is an
> architectural reference, on which ][<en may be able to elaborate.  The
> site sent me to withe (which the spell checker doesn't like, BTW.
> Kept correcting it to "with".
>
> withe
>
> \Withe\ (?; 277), n. [OE. withe. ????. See Withy, n.] [Written also
> with.] 1. A flexible, slender twig or branch used as a band; a willow
> or osier twig; a withy.
>
> 2. A band consisting of a twig twisted.
>
> 3. (Naut.) An iron attachment on one end of a mast or boom, with a
> ring, through which another mast or boom is rigged out and secured; a
> wythe. --R. H. Dana, Jr.
>
> 4. (Arch.) A partition between flues in a chimney.
>
> - Pam
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, August 01, 2003 8:01 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject:
>
>
> John,
>
> According to Ralf, that is the correct way to spell that wythe-a-majig
> thing. I would think that word can be found in a dictionary.
>
> Steve
>
> ============================================================
> From: John Callan <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 2003/07/31 Thu PM 09:58:33 EDT
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Oh... I used the word "wythe" in a report and got the comment that the
> reader had never heard the word.  I use the word to describe the
> thickness of a masonry wall...two wythes, two stones or bricks wide,
> three, three wythes... am I spelling it wrong, or making up words?
>
> -jc
>
> --
> To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
> uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
> <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
>
> --
> To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
> uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
> <http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
>
>
John Callan, Architect, Inc.
Historic Preservation and Museum Services
784 Deerwood Circle
Lino Lakes, Minnesota  55014-5433

(651) 486-0890
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