In message , Ed Rasimus
writes
(Just as an aside, how many times have you heard the word "gravitas"
used in any context before the summer of 2000? Can you say "talking
points" and "sound bite"? I knew that you could.)

Actually, if you're an Iain M. Banks fan, he got quite fond of
"gravitas" as a starship naming convention in his science fiction, and
that certainly predates 2000.


Interviewer: Do you have a favourite starship name?

Banks: "No I've got an entire class of starship names - the Gravitas
series!. Someone comments on starship names being somewhat lacking in
gravitas and suddenly you get all these ships - Stood Rather Far Back
When The Gravitas Was Handed Out. Not Very Much Gravitas Here and the
Zen one which is called Not Very Much "You Know What" Definitely a
Gravitas name, but it doesn't mention the word gravitas. They're
building up faster than I can use them." He laughs. "Gratuitous starship
naming - it is a problem, but I'm coping with it."


--
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Julius Caesar I:2

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk