Antoni Wroblewski pointed out"Interestingly things that run on caterpillar tracks like tanks and diggers are called 'track laying vehicles' in legal parlance. No doubt they were 'pulling a fast one'."...They're called "track laying" vehicles because that's exactly what they do. They carry a track around the outside of the wheels, and lay down the track as they go, which the wheels then run overrather than the possibly unsuitable terrain underneath.The question rather is why they're called "caterpillar tracks", when caterpillars walk on legs, rather than on wheels. In fact they weresupposedly originally called caterpillar because they crawl along like a caterpillar. Except thatcaterpillars don't. One half walks a bit, stretches, then the other half catches up andthe caterpillar bunches up in the middle.Slug or snail would probably be a more apt metaphor for the way they crawl along. Except that the Slug Traction Corporation, or SlugInc. don't have quite the same ring to themsomehow.michael adams...
Michael Adams ● 4023d