>>>>>>Just a thought - Just imagine if we still a 8" floppies and you had to order VS 2012 on them.
>>>>>>It would cause a bit of a stir when a semi pulls up to make the delivery.
>>>>>
>>>>>Pardon the uninitiated, semi-what? Semicircle, semicolon, semiprecious stone, semiquaver, semitone, semiconductor...?
>>>>
>>>>Semi-articulated (but I know you were kidding)
>>>
>>>I have seriously omitted all that weren't nouns from the list, no kidding.
>>>
>>>I just can't get over something so big being called half. And nobody really knowing what's the whole that it's half of.
>>
>>But 'semi' can mean 'partial' - not just 'half'
>>
>>To comply with the latter meaning you would have to nail another house onto all currently 'semi-detached' ones :-}
>
>So it's not a half-truck, it's a half-done-something-to-a-truck? I'm really semi-initiated...

I'm not real sure where it came from, but we really only refer to the truck part as being a 'semi'.

Maybe this will help?
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/77115