Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

 AK>  2. "a shirt so white it must have been running off the
 AK>  mains"?

 AH>  The whiteness of his shirt was dazzling, like that of
 AH>  a bright light... from which I conclude he could afford
 AH>  to have it professionally laundered.

 AK>  What is "mains"?


            In UK & Canadian English it's the supply point for the distribution
of electrical power (or water) to a building... hence my comparison involving a
bright light.  I imagine the author was thinking of the brightness or potential
brightness of lighting powered by such an external source as opposed to that of
candles, gas lamps, or the battery-powered flashlight I had as a child....  :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+