(no subject)

[jack]

Have I asked this before? I know I was *going* to ask it.

How do you use "gross" and "net"? In the context of tax and weight, they are well defined, meaning "before tax" and "after tax", and "with packaging and lorries" and "without" respectively respectively.

I had gained the impression that "net" meant "resultant", and correspondingly assumed "gross" meant "before modifications".

And then I saw the weight example, and was told that "gross" simply meant the larger, the one with the extras, and "net" the one without.

Then I saw someone describe the weight example from the point of view of the people wanting the end product, when "resultant" would be a good description after all.

Etymologically it seems "gross" came from "big" and "net" came from "neat" (in latin). I'm not sure of their later path.

I'm sure I've heard "net effect" to mean "resultant effect, the effect remaining when everything else has cancelled out" and want to use it in that sense, but is that a valid usage?

I couldn't find it discussed anywhere.