stall - podictionary 775

I drive a car with a stick shift and a clutch. I’ve been teaching my daughter to drive and I think what she hates most is stalling in traffic. Since most people drive cars with automatic transmissions I’ll explain that to stall a standard what you need to do is engage the engine—which is running at or near idle speed—with the wheels—which are stopped, without giving the car time to get rolling. The engine stops too. Instead of moving away from an intersection after the light turns green, as the driver behind you expects, you stand still. Your face reddens, you fumble with the ignition and try again; even more likely now to stall since the pressure is on. It’s that standing still that gives this event the name stall . The etymological sources give a bewildering spider-web of related words but seem to connect this kind of stalling of a car to the stall a horse might stand in. It’s the standing still that counts. Among the many twists and turn...