>the important thing is this general mathematical rule: if x>0 and y>1 then x*y>x. (Where is Einstein when you need him?) <bg>
>
>Please read my last message to Tamar, Message#976144

"Slowness" is not a physically measurable thing. It's a matter of perception. Therefore I think your physical analogy doesn't necessarily hold. Probably the source of confusion is that "slow" correlates to "fast", which can (in most cases) be measured as velocity.

So I would allow for "ten times slower" to mean "has a speed equal to the speed of the other divided by ten" (which is actually a clumsy way to say "ten times slower"). Language needs such things, and will create them despite what we may want.

There are other things in language that I find much more lacking sense, like inventing term "athlete" for any person engaged in a (professional) sport, which is most cases doesn't have any connection with athletics, inventing "restrooms" for people who aren't actually tired at all, using obviuos adjectives as nouns ("We've been to a musical last night" "A musical what? Musical chair?")... well, you've seen a lot of these signed by yours truly here during the last few years :).