Discussion Groups / English Usage / August 2009

In March this year we had a discussion about the uses of "porch" in AmE
and BrE:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/alt.usage.english/browse_thread/thread/822a8aad
a3b3630e/ba424d683b26e219#ba424d683b26e219
or http://tinyurl.com/lddg93

We can add to the types of "porch" the one that was fitted to the
International Space Station in July.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/07aug_spaceporch.htm

   Space Porch Open for Business
   
   August 7, 2009: The International Space Station has a new
   "engawa"—and it's open for business.
   
   Engawa is Japanese for "porch," and while that might seem like a
   strange thing for a space station to have, researchers have been
   looking forward to the addition for a long time. Space shuttle
   Endeavour delivered the Japanese-built platform to the ISS on July
   22nd and astronauts attached it to Japan's Kibo science lab a day
   later. Now, when a science experiment requires a dose of hard vacuum
   or radiation, it can be set "out on the porch" for exposure.
   ....