Jaunted

Suddenly, it seems, the travel writing industry has become smitten with the word as well. A couple of recent flight delays have caused an explosion of coverage on the issue of how long airlines can keep passengers cooped up in an airtight aluminum cylinder sitting on a tarmac. Right now, there are 4,499 stories on Google News that mention the word tarmac, soon to be 4,500. The New York Times has a listicle called "Surviving the Dreaded Tarmac Delay." The Daily Camera opines: "Trouble on the Tarmac: Sadly, A Bill of Rights is Needed." KTSP.com of Minneapolis/St. Paul has "exclusive video" of the flight that was stranded on a Rochester tarmac for five and a half hours.

I know that tarmac is simply the correct word to use to describe where the delayed airplanes are located, but could it also be that editors like the sound of it? It's a cool word, and while I thought it had some exotic etymology, like ancient Persian, tarmac turns out to be a portmanteau for tar-penetration macadam, a tar-and-gravel road surfacing material and, in the early 1900's, a trademarked term. Over the years, it has come to refer exclusively to the airport surfaces, though, most of which aren't even made of tar-penetration macadam.

No matter, we'll all get to type tarmac a few more times, maybe make up a few new slang words ("Yo, I got totally tarmacked at Newark last week,") and then we'll move on to the next important issue in the travel world.

[Photo: The Tension]

Related Stories
· Definition of Tarmac [m-w.com]
· Surviving the Dreaded Tarmac Delay [The New York Times]
· Airport Delays [Jaunted]