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Where does 'pushing the envelope' come from? ... [Q] From Claire Walsh (related questions came from Clive Pullinger, Linda Webb, Brian MacWhinney, Sue McCoy, and others): I’ve always been puzzled by the phrase pushing the envelope; it’s an incongruous image that doesn’t seem to have any relationship to its meaning.
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www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pus1.htm
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That envelope is the description of the upper and lower limits of the various factors that it is safe to fly at, i.e. speed, engine power, manoeuvrability, wind speed, altitude etc. By 'pushing the envelope', i.e. testing those limits, test pilots were able to determine just how far it was safe to go.
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www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/push-the-envelope.html
www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/push-the-envelope.html
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In Reply to: Pushing the envelope posted by Word Camel on October 30, 2003 ... : The expression "pushing the envelope" is very common right now in the US, at least in New York. It does mean pushing the boundries. Perhaps the poster substituted "move" for "push". Unfortunately I don't know the origin of the term.
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www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/25/messages/679.html
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Flight envelope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In aerodynamics, the flight envelope or performance envelope of an aircraft refers to the capabilities of a design in terms of airspeed and load factor or altitude. The term is somewhat loosely ap...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_envelope
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[This is a fast-access FAQ excerpt.] "Push the envelope" is now used figuratively to mean "stretch the boundaries". (The image is not of pushing a mailing envelope across a desk: those who push this sort of envelope do it from within.
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alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxpushth.html
alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxpushth.html
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"Pushing the envelope" is a term used by test pilots when they are pushing new aircraft past their designed limits. This paper demonstrates that by careful mailings (pushing the envelopes - literally), we can collect more and better data than usually possible.
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www.indiana.edu/~csr/boston.html
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StartupFutures.com » Blog Archive » Michael Arrington: Is FeedBurner Pushing the Envelope on Trust?; February 25th, 2006 at 10:29 am ... It would be a different story if they were pushing ads but they are only pushing their business which is necessary for them to thrive.
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www.techcrunch.com/2005/12/07/is-feedburner-pushing-the...
www.techcrunch.com/2005/12/07/is-feedburner-pushing-the-envelope-on-trust/
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Admittedly, all of this assumes that Huckabee doesn’t end up delivering the nomination to Rudy Giuliani (a possibility that seems to be keeping Ramesh up at night), whose own unique blend of envelope-pushing and orthodoxy would create a Republican Party that I would have great difficulty supporting.
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rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/11/pushing_th...
rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/11/pushing_the_envelope_1.php
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The secret behind each house's exceptional energy efficiency lies in a well-insulated airtight envelope. The walls and roof incorporate structural insulated panels (SIPs) that keep indoor heat in during winter and outdoor heat out during summer.
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www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/v38_1_05/article08.shtml
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