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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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3rd May 2018, 6:08 pm | #141 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
But aren't the Americanisms derived in part from those original settlers who arrived on the Mayflower, and therefore straight from Old English where they have remained unchanged as Old English in England evolved into New English?
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3rd May 2018, 10:05 pm | #142 |
Octode
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
Yes, a lot of Americanisms are older than their modern British English equivalents. But I think you mean "Early Modern" English, similar to that found in Shakespeare and the King James Bible.
-------- One thing that can cause serious confusion is the use of the casual abbreviation "mils" for millimetres, which means 1/1000 inch (a thou') in the USA. A factor of 39.37 is quite a big error... |
4th May 2018, 8:55 am | #143 | ||
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
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But then, why not? It must make things difficult for people learning English! (Which games have umpires, and which games have referees?) Quote:
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4th May 2018, 2:07 pm | #144 |
Hexode
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
Well spotted Kalee20!
Beginning a sentence with a conjunction when I was at school was verboten in every sense. You could receive a severe castigation from not only your form teacher but, if you persisted, a thrashing from the headmaster. Apparently it is accepted practice these days & in the past. And let every other power know that this hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house. (John F Kennedy) I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But, this wasn't it. (Groucho Marx) I'm afraid I still find the new trend of beginning nearly every sentence with "So...." puts my teeth on edge.
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4th May 2018, 2:15 pm | #145 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
"So" isn't a new trend, it's been used for yonks and yonks so far as I can remember, I still use it.
Lawrence. |
4th May 2018, 2:25 pm | #146 |
Octode
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
I've heard starting a sentence with hopefully was banned by the house style of one of the bigger American papers (New York Times or Chicago Tribune?), & this had a knock on effect with general speech.
My Kenyan / Ugandan wife has some odd uses of English, calling small coffee tables stools & thin gravy soup! |
4th May 2018, 2:53 pm | #147 |
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
Flashlight did indeed come from the dire zinc/carbon cells of the day, America (talking english) is too young to have used (wood and tar) torches to any great extent. Lanterns would have been the light source before batteries.
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4th May 2018, 3:02 pm | #148 |
Nonode
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
I don't mind new terms coming into use when this makes the meaning clearer or avoids doubt and ambiguity.
"Flashlight" is IMHO acceptable since it makes the meaning clearer and avoids confusion with oxy-acetylene torches used for metal working or propane torches used for applying bitumastic roofing. Likewise I avoid terms which have different meanings in different English speaking cultures. "paraffin" in the UK means a non volatile liquid fuel, commonly used in portable lamps and heaters. In the USA it means the solid wax from which candles are made. In other countries it can mean a highly purified type of oil used medically. Better therefore to refer to "kerosene" or to "candle wax" or to "medicinal paraffin" In the UK a vest is a garment primarily intended to be worn under a shirt. In the USA it means a sleeveless waistcoat or jacket. Better therefore to refer to "undershirts" or to "waistcoats" especially in an international context. Not so sure about valves versus tubes, since either term could be confused with valves for controlling water or gas supplies, or with tubes that convey fluids. Usually the context makes the intended meaning clear, but if in doubt ensure clarity by use "electronic valve" "radio valve" "receiver tube" |
4th May 2018, 5:31 pm | #149 |
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
Last night an English BBC correspondent reporting on a current American story (which I will not mention) for BBC News said that someone had poured 'kerosene' on a fire. I would have preferred 'petrol', as that is the usual English usage for the metaphor. Many older English folk may not know what kerosene is.
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4th May 2018, 5:38 pm | #150 |
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
We never used tube instead of valve, generally speaking, although we did use plate for anode in the very early days.
Tube can be preceded by other words, such as discharge or picture. On it's own it refers to the latter. |
4th May 2018, 5:48 pm | #151 | |
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
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"The next station stop" used by the onboard announcers is my big rail-related vocabulary-hate. |
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4th May 2018, 5:55 pm | #152 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
I've still got a can of white gas kicking around somewhere. (whoops)
Lawrence. |
4th May 2018, 6:32 pm | #153 | |
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
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Even back in the 1960s my late father would refer to "Kero" when talking about the 32-second fuel he was ordering for our central-heating. [Why are heating-oils still classified as 28- 32- and 36-second grades? I'm sure there are more modern designations] I'm more familiar with AVGAS and AVTUR or Jet-A1. The UK military also had "Combatgas" for its general-purpose road-vehicle petrol. Paraffin? Anyone remember the "Pink Pongos" who advertised Aladdin paraffin, and "Boom boom boom boom: Esso Blue!" ?? |
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4th May 2018, 6:35 pm | #154 |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
Used get our paraffin from the Esso blee dooler.
Lawrence. |
4th May 2018, 6:51 pm | #155 | |
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
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4th May 2018, 8:39 pm | #156 |
Nonode
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
G6 Tanuki, Kerosene is surely 28 seconds. Diesel (when sold with the red dyeat any rate) is 35 seconds.
Paraffin is thinner than kerosene, so lower viscosity number, but not sure offhand what. I have all the reference books, but not looking right now. I have an oil burning Rayburn with vapourising burners, and apparently id must NOT contain any red fuel as the burners will not work. I think this is an exaggeration, but they would certainly smoke badly if too much were present. I think they are Redwood No. 1 seconds used for such fuels. Les. |
4th May 2018, 9:02 pm | #157 | |
Dekatron
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
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I always thought the difference between paraffin and kero was that paraffin [intended for stoves/heaters whose combustion-gases would be released into the house] had more of the nasty sulphurous stuff distilled-out. "They asked me how I knew It was Esso Blue ?? I of course replied With lower grades one buys Smoke gets in your eyes. ." We never had paraffin heaters at home: the nearest we got to such things was a wheel-aboutable Calor-gas "Super Ser" heater used to keep the frost out of the sunlounge. To this day I don't like combustion-heaters whose air-supply and combustion-exhaust are into living spaces: in a straight fight-for-oxygen between us air-breathing mammals and a combustion-device in a closed space, the mammals will always lose. |
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4th May 2018, 10:51 pm | #158 |
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
I am so borrowing that .....
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4th May 2018, 10:56 pm | #159 |
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
Oxygen consumption competition is bad, but partial combustion leading to carbon monoxide is far, far worse from the viewpoint of the mammals.
David
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4th May 2018, 11:12 pm | #160 | |
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Re: Vintage technology terminology
Interesting here are the differing perceptions of the precedence of different terms for the same object.
For example, flashlight was the original name for the battery-electric handheld lamp, for reasons already mentioned. In the British-influenced world, the name “torch” was evidently purloined from the long-established handheld combustion lamp – not unreasonable considering that they did similar jobs. But when the term “flashlight” entered the UK lexicon, it was perceived as the newcomer and by some as an interloper. At least basis my experience, if one used the term “torch” in the USA, then it was taken to mean the old combustion lamp, not a flashlight. I must admit that having lived in several countries, I tend to have a (largely unconscious) mix-and-match approach, choosing what I think are the most appropriate terms, sometimes to the chagrin of SWMBO. So our car has a trunk, and I fill it with gasoline, even though boot and petrol are normal here in NZ. I walk on the sidewalk (footpath), and cross the road on a crosswalk (pedestrian crossing here, but that sounds, well, ….so pedestrian). And I endeavour to buy ground beef at the butcher’s shop, although after being met by too many blank stares I have reverted to steak mince. On the other hand, that rotative traffic mixing and impedance matching device could come out as either a roundabout or a traffic circle. An aspect of having one’s formative years in a small and remote country like NZ is that as well as local terminology, we were well exposed to both UK and American terminology through radio and TV programmes, literature, movies, and so on. So much, although certainly not all of the alternative names and expressions were known when one arrived upon those shores. Conversely, names and expressions peculiar to NZ were hardly known at all, and one soon dropped them from the daily vocabulary. South Africa had its own set of unfamiliar terms, though. Mostly NZ followed British practice, but not always. For example, “wireless” meaning radio in general or radio receivers in particular was not unknown, but radio was the normal and widespread term. The sidewalk was called a footpath, because often, outside of inner urban areas, that is what it was, an unimproved or perhaps gravelled pathway by the roadside. I understand that “pavement” for sidewalk in the UK stemmed from the fact that often city sidewalks were paved or otherwise improved whilst the roadway was not. As observed upthread, in the USA, pavement refers to the road surface. I’d argue that sidewalk is unambiguous everywhere. Quote:
It was named paraffin because in the old days, the specific requirements for a fuel suitable for use in flueless, wick-fed, domestic burners were most easily obtained by taking the kerosene cut from highly paraffinic crude oils. Thus, the product was, chemically speaking, very rich in paraffins whilst having very low aromatics and naphthenes contents. Development of refining techniques later allowed premium kerosene to be obtained from a much wider variety of crudes. Whilst paraffin is a subset of kerosene, the terms are not interchangeable, although that mistake is sometimes made. An odd consequence was that in South Africa, power kerosene was referred to as power paraffin, a real oxymoron, as power kerosene (quaintly tractor vaporizing oil in the UK) is quite aromatic. That excursion into petroleum technology may be well off-topic for this forum, although as a sliver of a defence, I’ll record that kerosene is sometimes mentioned as a cleaning solvent for electronic parts. Highly aromatic power kerosene would have much greater solvency than highly paraffinic premium kerosene, but is directionally less desirable on the H&S front. The basic rule with petroleum solvents is to use a product that is no more volatile nor more aromatic than actually needed. So for example use LAWS (low aromatic white spirit) rather than HAWS (high aromatic white spirit aka mineral turpentine). Cheers, |
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