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Terminology
Oct 9, 2021 08:25:04   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
People should think a bit more before naming things. Amazon has a sale on "Workstations." "Work" implies a job, effort, something that must be done. A "station" is place you're assigned to be - stuck for hours. What Amazon is selling are computer desks. Maybe calling them workstations makes people feel like they aren't wasting their time while they play games and watch kitten videos. I don't do any work at my computer - not since I retired. It's all optional and enjoyable.

Another really bad term is "lockdown." That's a term you hear in movies when there's a riot in the prison. No one came along and locked me in my house. An alternative I've heard is "staycation." Stay at home, relax, and stay safe.

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Oct 9, 2021 08:30:37   #
lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA
 
jerryc41 wrote:
People should think a bit more before naming things. Amazon has a sale on "Workstations." "Work" implies a job, effort, something that must be done. A "station" is place you're assigned to be - stuck for hours. What Amazon is selling are computer desks. Maybe calling them workstations makes people feel like they aren't wasting their time while they play games and watch kitten videos. I don't do any work at my computer - not since I retired. It's all optional and enjoyable.

Another really bad term is "lockdown." That's a term you hear in movies when there's a riot in the prison. No one came along and locked me in my house. An alternative I've heard is "staycation." Stay at home, relax, and stay safe.
People should think a bit more before naming thing... (show quote)


I know "Workstation" to mean two things. (1) One is a computer used at a place of work. Often with special features or features removed for its specific use. (2) Other is a desk to place a computer on, such as (1). I know it is confusing. I would guess these terms are though up by marketing people and not engineers.

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Oct 9, 2021 08:44:36   #
jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana
 
Everyone uses these phrases now. “Staycation” is the one that makes no sense--I detest that word.

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Oct 9, 2021 08:48:47   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
jaymatt wrote:
“Staycation” is the one that makes no sense--I detest that word.



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Oct 9, 2021 14:17:19   #
RiJoRi Loc: Sandy Ridge, NC
 
jaymatt wrote:
Everyone uses these phrases now. “Staycation” is the one that makes no sense--I detest that word.


Considering it consists of "stay" and "vacate" smooshed all together, it is oxy-moronic at best! 😉

--Rich

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Oct 10, 2021 05:33:00   #
Canonuser Loc: UK and South Africa
 
RiJoRi wrote:
Considering it consists of "stay" and "vacate" smooshed all together, it is oxy-moronic at best! 😉

--Rich

After recently being stuck in massive traffic jams in and around holiday resorts in the South of the U.K., undoubtedly caused by people holidaying locally rather than going abroad, I found it far easier when describing these jams as being caused by ‘staycationers’ rather than ‘holiday makers who had decided to take their vacations locally rather than travelling abroad.’ A saving of thirteen words. I did actually do it once and someone replied, ‘You mean staycationers.’ So I guess that’s how the English language changes and lexicographers eventually include these new words into dictionaries.

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Oct 10, 2021 05:51:35   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
jerryc41 wrote:
People should think a bit more before naming things. Amazon has a sale on "Workstations." "Work" implies a job, effort, something that must be done. A "station" is place you're assigned to be - stuck for hours. What Amazon is selling are computer desks. Maybe calling them workstations makes people feel like they aren't wasting their time while they play games and watch kitten videos. I don't do any work at my computer - not since I retired. It's all optional and enjoyable.

Another really bad term is "lockdown." That's a term you hear in movies when there's a riot in the prison. No one came along and locked me in my house. An alternative I've heard is "staycation." Stay at home, relax, and stay safe.
People should think a bit more before naming thing... (show quote)


There was segment in Top Gear where Jeremy was stating such naming confusion but with regards to cars.
Some parts i could recall was him saying "Why do American call petrol, gas? Gas is air, petrol is not air it is a fluid".
Then something about indicators which indicate a direction the driver wants to turn being called blinkers and the gear lever which is connected to the gearbox being called shifter of a transmission.
Which creates confusion because transmission is what happens to radio signals and shifters are people who move house furnitures.

My own take on such would be the elevator also being called a lift. elevate and lift are both going up but those death boxes also move down. Same goes for the escalators. Should the ones going down be called de-escalators?

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Oct 10, 2021 05:59:22   #
David in Dallas Loc: Dallas, Texas, USA
 
Wallen wrote:
There was segment in Top Gear where Jeremy was stating such naming confusion but with regards to cars.
Some parts i could recall was him saying "Why do American call petrol, gas? Gas is air, petrol is not air it is a fluid".
.
"Gas" is short for "gasoline", which is the specific fluid used in internal combustion engines. To an American "petrol" is crude oil.

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Oct 10, 2021 06:08:21   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
David in Dallas wrote:
"Gas" is short for "gasoline", which is the specific fluid used in internal combustion engines. To an American "petrol" is crude oil.


and that Petrol would be from petroleum.

But of course they were just trying to funny and in that same note, then ker should be kerosene and die for diesel

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Oct 10, 2021 12:16:03   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
Wallen wrote:
There was segment in Top Gear where Jeremy was stating such naming confusion but with regards to cars.
Some parts i could recall was him saying "Why do American call petrol, gas? Gas is air, petrol is not air it is a fluid".
Then something about indicators which indicate a direction the driver wants to turn being called blinkers and the gear lever which is connected to the gearbox being called shifter of a transmission.
Which creates confusion because transmission is what happens to radio signals and shifters are people who move house furnitures.

My own take on such would be the elevator also being called a lift. elevate and lift are both going up but those death boxes also move down. Same goes for the escalators. Should the ones going down be called de-escalators?
There was segment in Top Gear where Jeremy was sta... (show quote)


Actually the term "gas" originated in England. I think it had something to do with copyright.

I stopped watching that trio. They got annoying. Jeremy went out of his way to ridicule Americans with absolutely no basis in fact.

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Oct 10, 2021 12:24:17   #
Wallen Loc: Middle Earth
 
jerryc41 wrote:
Actually the term "gas" originated in England. I think it had something to do with copyright.

I stopped watching that trio. They got annoying. Jeremy went out of his way to ridicule Americans with absolutely no basis in fact.


Yes, Jeremy is very annoying.

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Oct 10, 2021 12:32:09   #
Canonuser Loc: UK and South Africa
 
jerryc41 wrote:
Actually the term "gas" originated in England. I think it had something to do with copyright.

I stopped watching that trio. They got annoying. Jeremy went out of his way to ridicule Americans with absolutely no basis in fact.


ORIGIN OF GAS
First recorded in 1650–60; coined by J. B. van Helmont (1577–1644), Flemish chemist; suggested by Greek cháos “atmosphere”

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Oct 10, 2021 14:18:36   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
Canonuser wrote:
ORIGIN OF GAS
First recorded in 1650–60; coined by J. B. van Helmont (1577–1644), Flemish chemist; suggested by Greek cháos “atmosphere”


But referring to the liquid fuel used in most cars...

This is how I understood its origins.

From Wikipedia -
"Gasoline" is an English word that denotes fuel for automobiles. The term is thought to have been influenced by the trademark "Cazeline" or "Gazeline", named after the surname of British publisher, coffee merchant, and social campaigner John Cassell.

Since "Cazeline" or "Gazeline" were trademarked, the English couldn't use "gasoline," but I guess Americans could.

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Oct 13, 2021 08:21:43   #
petrochemist Loc: UK
 
jerryc41 wrote:
But referring to the liquid fuel used in most cars...

This is how I understood its origins.

From Wikipedia -
"Gasoline" is an English word that denotes fuel for automobiles. The term is thought to have been influenced by the trademark "Cazeline" or "Gazeline", named after the surname of British publisher, coffee merchant, and social campaigner John Cassell.

Since "Cazeline" or "Gazeline" were trademarked, the English couldn't use "gasoline," but I guess Americans could.
But referring to the liquid fuel used in most cars... (show quote)


I suspect this is a case of Wikipedia confusing the English language & American English. Internationally however the proper shipping name is gasoline. It is a legal requirement to have this name on the container when shipping within the UK or internationally.

Petrol was first used as a brand name by the company Carless (after it's founder Eugine Carless), the courts decided the name was too similar to petroleum to allow trade mark status.
Carless were one of the major suppliers of purpose made motor fuel in the early days. Despite this they remained a relatively small oil company. They are still making gasoline but no longer for normal road use - just supplying racing & calibration fuel sectors. They don't use the petrol trade name anymore, instead having a range of Hiperflo fuels for racing...
The cans of Hiperflo 300 (a 102 octane control fuel used by the British Touring Car Championship) I have at home all have 'Proper shipping name: Gasoline' on the labels, in addition to the brand name.

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