I pontificated:
>>"Crank arm" is redundant. In all cases where it is used, "crank" or
>> "arm" alone would suffice. >>
>
>"Crank arm" is redundant, but it is unambiguous. "Crank" isn't bad, but
>"arm" is quite a bit ambiguous. "I broke my stem during the ride" is
>unambigous. But saying, "I broke my arm during the ride" is quite
>ambiguous. Should we send an ambulance or order a new bike part? --- And my
>wife wife might wonder what the heck I was doing if I told her that I broke
>my crank. ;-) I'll stick with "crank arm" for now, even though it's
>redundant.
This "ambiguity" doesn't arise in real contexts. The term "arm"
wouldn't be used in this sense by any reasonable person unless it was
obvious that the crankset was the subject under discussion.
>In an attempt to put a "classic" angle on this bike language topic, how about
>the term "alloy". From as long as I can remember, the bike industry has used
>the term "alloy" to mean aluminum alloy. Well, steel is an alloy, too. Not
>too many iron frames going down the road! How did "alloy" come to only
>apply to aluminum alloy?
I've got a couple of theories about that. One is that it's a shortened form of "aluminum alloy" or "light alloy." There also used to be various proprietary aluminum alloy brand names that were used in the industry, such as "Duralumin/Dural" and "Hiduminium."
My other theory is that it's a way around the aluminum/aluminium controversy.
I've broken myself of the habit of using the term "alloy" thus, but don't make a habit of correcting others for the use of this term...it's not nearly as bad as calling a saddle a "seat" after all!
Sheldon "Pedantic Blather" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
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