Getting medieval on society

[Sethomas]

Hey, one time I happened upon the Wikipedia article for "Set-off (architecture)" and it was just a copy/paste job of the Encyclopedia Brittanica article in public domain. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever read.

In architecture and masonry, the term set-off is given to the horizontal line shown on a floorplan indicating a reduced wall thickness, and consequently the part of the thicker portion appears projecting before the thinner. In plinths, this is generally simply chamfered. In other parts of stonework, the set-off is generally concealed by a projecting stringer. Where, as in parapets, the upper part projects (is "proud of") the lower, the break is generally hid by a corbel watertable. The portions of buttress caps which recede one behind another are also called sets-off.