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#53853 - 01/29/02 10:15 AM Re: transom v. fanlight
maverick Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/15/00 Posts: 4757	da clue's in da name.... fan·light (făn'līt') n. Architecture. A half-circle window, often with sash bars arranged like the ribs of a fan. Chiefly British. A transom. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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#53854 - 01/29/02 10:44 AM Re: transom v. fanlight
Rubrick addict Registered: 05/18/00 Posts: 679 Loc: Somewhere outside New York	fan·light (f?n'l?t') n. Architecture. A half-circle window, often with sash bars arranged like the ribs of a fan. Chiefly British. A transom. Ah!! This explains that old British film - Gassie by fanlight I don't usually confuse my words but in your exception I'm willing to make a case
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#53855 - 01/29/02 10:46 AM Re: transom v. fanlight
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13658	I thought it would be something like that. So Xrefer had it backwards and wrong, both. What the USns call a fanlight the Brits call a transom and what USns call a transom the Brits call ___________.
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#53856 - 01/29/02 11:03 AM Re: transom v. fanlight
maverick Carpal Tunnel Registered: 09/15/00 Posts: 4757	Not sure about that, Faldage. I recognise both descriptions as denoting windows over doors, but my mental image of a fanlight is always semicircular, whereas t'other suggests a rectangular shape. Rubrick, thanks for that vote of condfidence - I aim for the exceptional, but sometimes miss my mark
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#53857 - 01/29/02 11:16 AM Re: transom v. fanlight
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13658	a fanlight is always semicircular, whereas t'other suggests a rectangular shape. I think USns always think of the transom as being openable. Dunno if that holds for fanlights, too.
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#53858 - 01/29/02 12:00 PM Re: transom v. fanlight
Sparteye Pooh-Bah Registered: 01/05/01 Posts: 1773	I think USns always think of the transom as being openable. Well, not quite. My house has a painful* number of transom windows, none of which open. *because it's very hard to find window treatments for them
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#53859 - 01/29/02 12:02 PM Re: transom v. fanlight
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13658	think of the transom as being openable Well, at least theoretically.
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#53860 - 01/29/02 12:17 PM Re: Xrefer Americanisms
musick Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/24/00 Posts: 2658 Loc: Chicago	Must I continually correct myself? Yes! Or someone will do it for you... I meant A figurative high pitched voice not a real high pitched voice. Well, why didn't you say so I was going to say "...the whimpy nasal sound of the french..." but I didn't want to insult a whole nation.One and a half, actually®.Hi, belM Must I be scrutinized by every Tom, Dick, and Jazzo?Yes! But it'll be alright, nobody really® cares... I'm glad you left Harry out of this, he's sensitive *that way.
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#53861 - 01/29/02 12:20 PM Re: transom v. fanlight
of troy Carpal Tunnel Registered: 10/17/00 Posts: 5400 Loc: rego park	I am tempted to log off, and create a new user name... Casandra! didn't i say-- back at the beginning..transom windows are, i think are different than fan lights.. a fan light is a semi circle window above a door.. and it is fixed. a transom is rectangluar, and opens by turning on a pivot and this goes to you too dr. Bill... i pointed out i only really knew transom being used in the idiom "to come in over the transom"-- ie an unsolicited manuscripts.. same post back at the beginning.. i would edit that to say a transom doesn't have to open.. and sparteye- the correct window treatment requires a little bit of artistic skill. go to craft shop and buy 1) glass etching kit or 2) glass paint kit. either etch a pattern on the glass (etch glass passes light, but cut down on glare..) or using "glue on" strips that look like lead, create (buy/copy)a stained glass design. a real big advantage is.. transoms are fairly high up, and no one gets too close, so it looks good even if its not perfect.. You can practice on basement/ ground floor windows.. or on drinking glasses.. plain jane Libby's etch up nicely! _________________________ my other obsession
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#53862 - 01/29/02 12:26 PM Re: transom v. fanlight
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Registered: 12/01/00 Posts: 13658	a fan light ...is fixed. a transom ... opens by turning on a pivot Yeahbut© you're one of USn, helen. What do the Brits say?
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