Don't be too dogmatic. They are called cotter pins in Britain. What you describe as wire doodads are always called split pins here. The manufacturers call them split cotters but nobody else does. A cotter is a Scottish farm labourer living in a tied cottage. Two nations divided by a common language again.
Stuart Tallack in West Sussex
>
>Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 15:34:23 -0500
>From: "David Bean" <beandk@rcn.com>
>To: "CR List (E-mail)" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Subject: [CR]Cotters
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>
>BTW, the pin-shaped wedges used to secure crankarms to the bottom bracket
>spindle are called simply "cotters." Cotter pins are the half-round wire
>bobby-pin-type doodads that you bend with pliers to secure. (I always
>replace cotter pins with old nails, just to be safe...:)
>
>David Bean
>Arlington, MA USA
>beandk at are-see-enn dot com