wind chill » windshield

Chiefly in:   windshield factor

Variant(s):  wind shield factor

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • Oh what joy, this hibiscus bloom has brought to me during this frigidly cold winter that we are experiencing. With the windshield factor, it is minus 41 below zero Farenheit in lovely southwestern Quebec. How I miss the warmth of the garden! (gardenbuddies.com)
  • Obviously, it will be the coldest when crossing the pass, where strong winds can make the wind shield factor even much worse than the actual temperature. (link)
  • On December 20, at noon, when this picture was taken on the McGill campus, it was -26 degrees with a windshield factor of -40. (link)
  • Compute how cold wind feels. Every microclimate depends on several factors that make the particular location warmer and less damaging to plants during freezes. The most important is the windshield factor. The following chart gives you an idea of how much draft can reduce the temperature or how much of a difference a protective blanket will make. (link)

Analyzed or reported by:

  • This was discussed in 1998 on alt.usage.english (the exact reference is missing)
  • commenter codeman38 (on this site)

Several people report online that they learnt the standard spelling and meaning of this term somewhat late in life. This is an example:

> I used to think that the wind-chill factor was the wind-shield factor, and that when you touched the windshield of your car, that’s what temperature it felt.

See also Winchell factor.

| 1 comment | link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2005/02/25 |

wind chill » Winchell

Chiefly in:   Winchell factor

Classification: English – questionable

Spotted in the wild:

  • Isn’t it just a tad convenient that Winchell’s factor of 80 is 1/100th of his date of deglaciation, which allows his scheme to match Hotchkiss’s minimum 100 years of age? (soc.history.medieval, Jun 12, 2003)
  • Much more freedom that way; allows you to wear pants in Kansas when the Winchell factor is 40 below. (alt.religion.kibology, Mar 2, 1999)

Analyzed or reported by:

Richard Fontana admits:

> I remember thinking (in third grade) that the Wind Chill Factor
> was the Winchell Factor.

Still on alt.usage.english, Maria Conlon analyzes:

> By the way, we also have a Winchell Factor, but we don’t pronounce it
quite that way. Anyway, I think the Factor is a creation of TV stations
that want to make even the weather more sensational a story than it is.

This eggcorn seems to stem from a pun, but some occurrences may be genuine.

| 3 comments | link | entered by piedrasyluz, 2005/02/24 |
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