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Joined: Mar 2005
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In the old days of engines, that had distributor caps, the mechanics all refered to the capacitor as a condensor. There is also a tendency umong many to call an engine a motor. Guess that started with "What size engine do you have in that motorcycle". Alan--
Alan-- If it was easy, anyone could do it.
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That would be 1500cc,1300cc,1100cc and 80 cui engines with 12v starter motors Allen =8^) Rod
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Joined: Jan 2003
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There is also a tendency umong many to call an engine a motor. Why not? Websters Main Entry: 1mo·tor Pronunciation: 'mO-t&r Function: noun Etymology: Latin, from movEre to move
1 : one that imparts motion; specifically : PRIME MOVER
2 : any of various power units that develop energy or impart motion: as a : a small compact engine b : INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE; especially : a gasoline engine c : a rotating machine that transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy
3 : MOTOR VEHICLE; especially : AUTOMOBILE - mo·tor·dom /-d&m/ noun - mo·tor·less /-l&s/ adjective
Bob Badger Construction & Maintenance Electrician Massachusetts
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I used to work on a large piece of German Equipment made in the early 70s.
The control panel switch for the lighting was labeled "Luminaires" It seems that the British IEE's adoption of luminaire was to bring us into line with some supposed European standard. The 15th Edition of our Wiring Regs. in 1981 was the first which was modeled on a common European format. I'm still waiting for somebody to come up with any sort of logical explanation for adopting luminaire to "conform" with European nomenclature when we all speak different languages anyway..... In the old days of engines, that had distributor caps, the mechanics all refered to the capacitor as a condensor. Or a condens er. That's the old name which was in use before capacitor. If you look back at any early radio manual you'll find that it refers to condensers rather than capacitors. There is also a tendency umong many to call an engine a motor. That's not so common in British usage. Over here though, motor is sometimes used as a colloquialism for a complete car (i.e. "motor car"), e.g. "He just bought himself a nice motor." The usage is somewhat regional and often regarded as rather "downmarket" though.
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Joined: Dec 2001
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The condensor/condenser thing is very similar to the German word Kondensator (piece of Trivia: German is the only language I know that regards nouns as names and spells them upper case first letter).
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Joined: Aug 2001
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German is the only language I know that regards nouns as names and spells them upper case first letter I did German for a while in school (sorry to say I've forgotten most of it now ), and it always looked as though it had a lot of surplus capital letters! But as mentioned already, those terms made by just joining three, four, or ten other words together really look intimidating. I seem to recall learning a massive German word which translated as "speed limit."
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Joined: Oct 2004
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I work with a pair of Kinoton 35mm projectors at UC Irvine in So. California. They are made in Germany and the manuals and data plates are in German. I've had to learn a few new words: Tonformatumschaltung = Sound Format Projektoren = Projector Bildformate = lens format (?) Objektivrevolver = lens turret Bildmaskenwechslern = aperture changer Xenonkurzbogenlampe = Xenon lamp (I may have that spelled wrong..) (All above come from the translations in the service manuals.) There's more, but you get the idea. It has been quite educational.
Stupid should be painful.
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I may have spelled that wrong How can you tell? [This message has been edited by iwire (edited 12-31-2006).]
Bob Badger Construction & Maintenance Electrician Massachusetts
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How come youse guys axe such tuff tings?
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Joined: Jun 2004
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Disclaimer: I am not talking to anyone in particular, just sharing a few thoughts.
I belong to a flight discussion board where people start flame wars because of improper grammar or spelling. I agree that you should use good grammar and spelling, but forums aren't an English lesson. As long as I can understand what someone is saying, it's okay with me. If I can't understand, I'll ask them to try to explain it again. It gets annoying when I open a thread and it's followed by 10 posts that people are critiquing grammar, rather than answering a question.
This site is one of the best when it comes to not pointing out small stuff.
Of course, I have my English follies, such as using "i" instead of "I," or missing a key when I type, or switching letters (spennilg instead of spelling).
As far as spelling receptacles, it might seem weird that someone doesn't know how to spell something they use every day, but sometimes people are oblivious to the fact that they are spelling something wrong, because it looks right to them.
After all, when I was in first grade and I didn't know how to spell something out, I was told to "sound it out" it works okay for words like cat and dog, but try to spell out "asthma" and you might get "azma" or school would become skool.
I got a spell checker on my Firefox, and it's amazing how many words I miss, mostly because of a typo or missing a key.
Just some food for thought.
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