Faith Hill and Physics

Today we were talking circular motion in class.  I am alway careful to define the confusing words centrifugal and centripetal in terms of their Greek origins (center fleeing vs. center seeking).  Then, I point out a pet peeve: that the 'words' centripical and centrifical do not exist!  I always claim that people use these non-words to hedge their bets since they don't know if something is centripetal or centrifugal.

Today, student SH exclaimed:  "So Faith Hill is wrong!?"  To my perplexed look, she said "You know, that song "This kiss This kiss"?`  So we did a quick internet search and, indeed, it appears that Ms. Hill does say "centripical motion".  She also says that it's like "perpetual bliss" and we all know that perpetual motion is doomed to fail eventually.  Hey!  What is she saying in this song?  Starting to get suspicious about the nature of the song, I scanned the lyrics more closely and found that it's "impossible", "criminal", and "unsinkable".  Only now do I remember that, just like the movie Titanic, country music is supposed to be bittersweet...

Irene cautioned me against using any old site for lyrical content, so (surprise surprise), it turns out various sites will say the Faith Hill lyric is "centrifugal" (a real word but doesn't really fit with the song) but it sounds like "centripical" to me when I listen to the video!

I ended the class singing "You Spin Me Round" much to the amusement of several students...