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#53853 01/29/02 03:15 PM
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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.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.




#53854 01/29/02 03:44 PM
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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


#53855 01/29/02 03:46 PM
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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 ___________.


#53856 01/29/02 04:03 PM
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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


#53857 01/29/02 04:16 PM
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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.


#53858 01/29/02 05:00 PM
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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


#53859 01/29/02 05:02 PM
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think of the transom as being openable

Well, at least theoretically.


#53860 01/29/02 05:17 PM
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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.


#53861 01/29/02 05:20 PM
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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!


#53862 01/29/02 05:26 PM
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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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