Talk:Rim

How can a rim be thick? Do you mean the Discworld itself? But isn't the rim the top of anything? Marmosetpower 12:23, 18 March 2012 (CET)

Pretty sure it means the thickness in a cross section, implying that the Disc is thicker in the centre than at the rim - think of a spinning top. Well, it is already if you count the height of Cori Celesti, but it may be lower in the centre on the obverse as well. Hapenny 19:17, 17 April 2012 (CEST)

But a rim is defined as an edge-the thickness of the disc would be length of a whole side. A rim can only exist on the obverse or reverse. Marmosetpower 16:05, 13 May 2012 (CEST)

So car tires must be infinitely narrow? How can we tell if spectacles are rimless or not? Old Dickens 16:21, 13 May 2012 (CEST)

When have you seen tire having rims, Old Dickens? Rimless spectacles are spectacles without a border (or frame) so this fits in with my definition. Marmosetpower 18:40, 13 May 2012 (CEST)

Does anyone know in which book it says the rim is 30 miles thick? I am wondering if maybe this is an example of publishers changing things when they print the American editions.--Zdm 18:09, 13 May 2012 (CEST)

The New Discworld Companion mentions it in the Discworld article. I'm not sure it shows up in the books otherwise.
Does anyone else understand this idea of two-dimensional rims? Reality is getting thin here. Old Dickens 18:48, 13 May 2012 (CEST)

Take a spinning top. Cut it in half. The middle- the hub- is obviously thicker than the edge. It so happens that the thickness of the Discworld's edge is thirty miles. Things are not two-dimensional in real life, Marmosetpower! Only in mathematics. Stanley Howler 19:22, 14 May 2012 (CEST)

Yes but that's not the rim, thats the edge. The rim is the line on the top of the edge. --Zdm 00:40, 15 May 2012 (CEST)

A long, dull comparison of edge and rim:

. . . (derived from Dictionary.com and the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.)

edge noun, verb, edged, edg·ing. noun 1. a line or border at which a surface terminates: Grass grew along the edges of the road. The paper had deckle edges. 2. a brink or verge: the edge of a cliff; the edge of disaster. 3. any of the narrow surfaces of a thin, flat object: a book with gilt edges. 4. a line at which two surfaces of a solid object meet: an edge of a box. 5. the thin, sharp side of the blade of a cutting instrument or weapon.

In the OED: III A boundary, a margin...the brink or verge of a bank or precipice, but also: II The narrow surface or side of a thin object.

rim noun, verb, rimmed, rim·ming. noun 1. the outer edge, border, margin, or brink of something, especially of a circular object. 2. any edge, margin, or frame added to or around a central object or area. 3. the outer circle of a wheel, attached to the hub by spokes. 4. a circular strip of metal forming the connection between an automobile wheel and tire, either permanently attached to or removable from the wheel. 5. a drive wheel or flywheel, as on a spinning mule.

In the OED: The outer edge of a wheel, connected by the spokes to the hub, on which a tyre may be fitted...A hoop-shaped band of wood forming the outer frame of a sieve, musical instrument, etc.

So there is considerable crossover in the use of both words, things being both edged and rimmed with solid material, having raised edges or thick rims, but the general tendency seems to be for the border line to be the edge with a rim being a solid frame around it.
Old Dickens 04:37, 20 May 2012 (CEST)