What's on your mind today?

[Recusant]

Equal is a matter of magnitude or quantity. Coequal is a matter of mutual equality (social) or mutual sameness. I suppose the latter is often, if not always, a special case (or subset) of the former. EDIT: messed up the former/latter order. Fixed. A shot of tar and a shot of bourbon may be equal quantities of fluid, but drinking one is not coequal to drinking the other.

Don't take my word blindly though - this understanding hangs on the butt-hairs of my intuition, and so the fact that I would have used these words thusly... Well... There are better sources when it comes to the very fine points of English.

Your explanation is good, thanks...So coequal implies having equal status within different systems, while equal implies having equal status within one system, right?

For example: The legislative branch is not equal to the executive branch because they have different duties, responsibilities, and structures. However. They are coequal because one is not more important than the other, and they also have checks and balances.

This makes sense to me now. Earlier I had to really think about it, and the Webster definitions just made it worse.

Now my head hurts.

I'd say Asmodean has given a fine delineation of the terms. Coequal has a more specific meaning than equal. Equal can convey the same meaning as coequal, but the reverse isn't necessarily the case, as for instance in mathematics, where the term coequal is superfluous. Coequal is generally used when referring to people or their institutions, while equal has broader applications. If this wasn't wooly and boring enough, hold my beer:

Apparently the distinction goes back to the original Latin, where coæquālis means "of equal age, companion in age," while aequus/aequālis means "level, even, just." In English, the meaning of coequal broadened somewhat, while never becoming fully equivalent with equal. (Inference from etymologies given in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

[Sandra Craft]

I've been binge-watching the old, b&w Perry Mason series, and only just found that William Hopper (who plays Paul Drake) was Hedda Hopper's son.  For some reason this is blowing my mind.

It's weird when we learn of these associations, isn't it? Just the other day I learnt the younger brother of the "father of American psychology" William James (who had a lot to say about memory, even if outdated now) was none other than the novelist Henry James. What a prominent family...It blew my mind as well. 

And here's something else, Alice James, the somewhat well-known diarist, was their sister.

[xSilverPhinx]

I've been binge-watching the old, b&w Perry Mason series, and only just found that William Hopper (who plays Paul Drake) was Hedda Hopper's son.  For some reason this is blowing my mind.

It's weird when we learn of these associations, isn't it? Just the other day I learnt the younger brother of the "father of American psychology" William James (who had a lot to say about memory, even if outdated now) was none other than the novelist Henry James. What a prominent family...It blew my mind as well. 

And here's something else, Alice James, the somewhat well-known diarist, was their sister.

I'm not familiar with Alice James' work, but that's something Google can fix.

[Biggus Dickus]

Equal is a matter of magnitude or quantity. Coequal is a matter of mutual equality (social) or mutual sameness. I suppose the latter is often, if not always, a special case (or subset) of the former. EDIT: messed up the former/latter order. Fixed. A shot of tar and a shot of bourbon may be equal quantities of fluid, but drinking one is not coequal to drinking the other.

Don't take my word blindly though - this understanding hangs on the butt-hairs of my intuition, and so the fact that I would have used these words thusly... Well... There are better sources when it comes to the very fine points of English.

Your explanation is good, thanks...So coequal implies having equal status within different systems, while equal implies having equal status within one system, right?

For example: The legislative branch is not equal to the executive branch because they have different duties, responsibilities, and structures. However. They are coequal because one is not more important than the other, and they also have checks and balances.

This makes sense to me now. Earlier I had to really think about it, and the Webster definitions just made it worse.

Now my head hurts.

I'd say Asmodean has given a fine delineation of the terms. Coequal has a more specific meaning than equal. Equal can convey the same meaning as coequal, but the reverse isn't necessarily the case, as for instance in mathematics, where the term coequal is superfluous. Coequal is generally used when referring to people or their institutions, while equal has broader applications. If this wasn't wooly and boring enough, hold my beer:

Apparently the distinction goes back to the original Latin, where coæquālis means "of equal age, companion in age," while aequus/aequālis means "level, even, just." In English, the meaning of coequal broadened somewhat, while never becoming fully equivalent with equal. (Inference from etymologies given in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Ah, thank you for that as even the distinction you laid out in the original Latin helped clarify this even more for me, and I agree Asmo did do a wonderful job, but I do apologize as I think I spilled your beer

This all came about yesterday afternoon during a video conference I was on, the meeting host was discussing some ERP software programs and the company platform. We were just over an hour and a half into the call, and although I was listening to the host, I was a bit more absorbed in what was displayed on the screen when I heard him say something more or less to the affect of,..."these are not only equal, they are coequal".
That caught my attention, and I even interrupted the host and asked him to repeat what he had just said, but rather than repeating he took a somewhat different route to convey what he was trying to explain, but I remember thinking the phrase "these are not only equal, they are coequal" was not the correct usage at all.

It stuck in my head, and I even wrote it down in my notes, it just bugged me for some reason.

Now I feel liberated.

[Recusant]

Sounds like the term he was searching for was "superequal." 

[billy rubin]

thats the most unique thing ive heard all day

[Tank]

Well I now own a sewing machine! It's fun. So now I have to find a pattern for face masks

[jumbojak]

Singer? Brother? Dare I say... Huskvarna?!

[Dark Lightning]

My wife has five sewing machines. The latest is a Babylock Destiny. It cost more than every tool I own...and I can fix my vehicles with some and build homes with some. And then there are the carving tools. SMH

[hermes2015]

Well I now own a sewing machine! It's fun. So now I have to find a pattern for face masks

You just have to watch Making the Cut to get some inspiration.

[Sandra Craft]

Well I now own a sewing machine! It's fun. So now I have to find a pattern for face masks

They're all over YouTube.  I like this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm_NmpdgWWA&list=WL&index=10&t=0s

[Tank]

Singer? Brother? Dare I say... Huskvarna?!

Cheap and simple Brother LS14s

It does what it says on the tin

[Tank]

Well I now own a sewing machine! It's fun. So now I have to find a pattern for face masks

They're all over YouTube.  I like this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm_NmpdgWWA&list=WL&index=10&t=0s

Brilliant! Thank you for posting this!

[Biggus Dickus]

Well I now own a sewing machine! It's fun. So now I have to find a pattern for face masks

They're all over YouTube.  I like this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm_NmpdgWWA&list=WL&index=10&t=0s

Brilliant! Thank you for posting this!

Hey Tank,

My sister in-law has been making these for weeks, she works in the healthcare industry so she has been making them not only coworkers, but friends and family, my wife and her coworkers.

The one change she made was adding a slot were you can remove the pipe cleaner, wire, or whatever else you use to mold the mask tight against the bridge of the nose as washing was causing them to get twisted or move within the layers.

Here's a picture of some of the masks she has made, and the tweezers in the photo show were the slot was added so you can take the pipe cleaner out when washing or to change it.

She also makes some of her masks with the elastic, and some with ties...I like the elastic for short term wearing as I can put it on and off quickly if going to the store or market, but the ones with the ties like in the video seem to me to be more secure for longer wearing. Plus they fit a wider range of heads shapes, or hairstyles.

[Tank]

Well I now own a sewing machine! It's fun. So now I have to find a pattern for face masks

They're all over YouTube.  I like this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm_NmpdgWWA&list=WL&index=10&t=0s

Brilliant! Thank you for posting this!

Hey Tank,

My sister in-law has been making these for weeks, she works in the healthcare industry so she has been making them not only coworkers, but friends and family, my wife and her coworkers.

The one change she made was adding a slot were you can remove the pipe cleaner, wire, or whatever else you use to mold the mask tight against the bridge of the nose as washing was causing them to get twisted or move within the layers.

Here's a picture of some of the masks she has made, and the tweezers in the photo show were the slot was added so you can take the pipe cleaner out when washing or to change it.

She also makes some of her masks with the elastic, and some with ties...I like the elastic for short term wearing as I can put it on and off quickly if going to the store or market, but the ones with the ties like in the video seem to me to be more secure for longer wearing. Plus they fit a wider range of heads shapes, or hairstyles.

That's a good idea about the wire being removable.