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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Native speakers in the Mother Country say "torch" when they mean "flashlight" and native speakers in the Colonies (USA and Canada) say "flashlight" when they mean "torch". Why?
PS: This question is prompted by my acquisition of the world's coolest flashlight/torch ... which never needs batteries (one shakes a magnet back and forth through a coil to generate electricity which is stored in a capacitor) and never needs a new light bulb (it has an LED instead). Like I said, totally cool!
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
native speakers in the Colonies (USA and Canada) say "flashlight" when they mean "torch".
we do?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
There were torches, flammable material on one end of a short rod long before flashlights. They were dangerous, and often could not put light where you needed it most, and if wind blew it out, it was hard to relight.
So there are a number of important reasons for regrarding "flashlight" as a better descriptive term.
Incidentally, a lot of users are stupid about extending battery life by not shutting it off quickly when they can see where they are going without it.
And now that there are natural gas torches for plumbing, etc, "torch" alone is ambiquous.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
it's seems fairly clear how both could develop. the device serves as an electrified version of a torch; while it operates by flashing the (source of) light on and off. the variation can be explained away due to the widening gulf between languages at the time of its invention.
-ron o.
ron's mantling obviousation: I claim the simultaneous post exemption
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Actually, as a transponder, I have never, ever, under any circumstances whatsoever, used the world "flashlight" except for in this post. Neither have I heard it used by anyone outside of the US or a US-trained bod who has wandered off the straight and narrow.
It is purely an Americanism as far as I am aware. The juxtaposition of meaning suggested above simply doesn't exist.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
transponder
n.
5TRAN(SMITTER) + (RE)SPONDER6 a radio or radar transceiver that automatically transmits electrical signals when actuated by a specific signal from an interrogator
Dear Capfka: who's your interrogator these days?
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
Try the adjectival noun form, STRANS "across" and POND "the water" plus -ER, a "thing" with the quality of.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Capfka: I will PONDer your evasion.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
It used to be common for flashlights to have a button that, when depressed, would temporarily light the bulb. It wouldn't click into an "on" position, so when you released your thumb the light would go out. Presumably this was for signalling with morse code. I suppose the military still uses this feature, but most flashlights I see now are simply on/off and have no signalling button.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Ok, what do Britspeakers call those, um, little wicker baskets on poles, wherein you can burn a real flame that ostensibly keeps mosquitoes away from your deck or other outdoor gathering place? I saw some in the store last night, labeled as torches.
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