Calvert Guthrie wrote:
>Language usage discussion is always interesting to me....
>
>Sheldon wrote:
>>>>"Normal" is a slippery term, subject to change as norms change. It's
>>>>a bit like "ordinary" or "regular."
>
>The slope is always slippery and almost always leads to a weakening
>of the language.
>We tend to clip off additional words so adjectives become nouns.
>The weaker adjectives make for weaker new nouns.
>
>>>>You still occasionally see misguided folks refer affectedly to
>>>>high-wheelers as "ordinaries" even though that style of bike went out
>>>>in the century before last.
>
>A happenstance of recent High-wheeling history leads me to disagree
>with you on this example. These bicycles are currently out of style, yes.
>But among those who ride them the term is in common usage.
>The Wheelmen are scholars, conservators, and reenactors so the term
>serves well in distinguishing ordinary bicycles from safety bicycles as
>it has since the mid 1880s. The Wheelmen have revived "ordinary" and
>if your going to discuss these bikes you may as we be comfortable it.
>The term "high-wheeler" which is better descriptive of the bicycle, is
>widely used, too, of course.
In a re-enactment context, I can accept archaic terminology with no
problem. In normal contexts, however that usage is confusing and
> >>>I'm fighting a rearguard action to try to maintain the traditional
>>>>meaning of "platform pedals" but I'm not sanguine for the future, now
>>>>that there's only one real platform pedal in production, the MKS GR-9.
>
>>>>I'd like to bring back the use of "'traps" for toe clips, but nobody
>>>>understands this idiom anymore, hélas.
>
>I'd like that one revived, too.....except it doesn't seem right to say
>"in your traps"instead of "in your clips"...
It seems OK to me, that was standard usage when I was first getting
into using traps.
>.."on your traps" is ackward.
And doesn't make any sense. If you step on them, they get squished out of shape.
I think folks may be confused about the origin of the term "rat trap" because these days it is only used as an adjective, describing a type of pedals.
Originally, "rat trap" was a noun, a slang term for "toe clip."
"Rat-trap" pedals are pedals that are designed to be compatible with
toe clips. It seems that in more recent usage, the term "rat-trap
pedal" has lost its original logic, and has just become a term for a
retro-style toe-clippable pedal.
>"Clips" and "clipless" sound too much alike especially in a cross wind.
I agree these are awkward. "Clipless" pedals and "Cotterless" cranks are negative definitions. Literally speaking could also be applied to plain pedals and one-piece cranks as well. This is a real source of confusion, especially when you "clip in" to "clipless" pedals.
I don't have a good solution for this.
> >>>I'm still standing firm in my condemnation of "brake arch" and
>"crank arm!"
>
>Why?
I believe that "brake arch" is a result of poor translation from the Japanese. It first reared its ugly head in Shimano documentation.
The correct term is "caliper" not "arch." The term "caliper" comes from a sidepull brake's functional resemblance to an outside caliper used for measuring various objects. Brake calipers, like measurement calipers, have a pivot that allows the arms to move together and apart. An arch, on the other hand, is a rigid structure, with only a crude visual similarity to a brake caliper. I believe that somebody in Japan, probably somebody who didn't know much about mechanics, chose the Japanese equivalent to "arch" to describe this part on existing bikes. Shimano then translated this ill-suited term into English. Caliper brakes were an English invention. The name is descriptive of the function, and they've been called "caliper" (or "calliper") brakes in English for a century. I think it is silly to change the established English term because some foreigner made a mistake.
I would consider "arch" to be an appropriate term for the rigid part of a center-pull caliper, the part that bolts to the bike and supports the two arm pivots.
"Crank arm" is redundant. In all cases where it is used, "crank" or "arm" alone would suffice.
I hate, abhor and detest useless, un-necessary redundancies that serve no useful purpose or function.
Sheldon "Derailer, Not Derailleur" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
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