TriangleP wrote:
JDK would probably be a bit more helpful than the rest of us regarding the language differences just for his personal experiences in this matter, if he might chime in....or PM him.
Here I am.
Stephan Wilkinson wrote:
My editor is questioning the use of the word "handed"...
Question: Is he right to do so? I have always referred to "backward-rotating" aircraft engines as "handed," but perhaps it's a British word that's little-known among U. S. aviation people. Or perhaps my use of it is flat wrong.
As a writer, editor and proof reader, and regularly having to differentiate between four (sometimes more) Englishes, this has intrigued me and I've been doing a bit of checking (so first off, I didn't have an answer in my style sheets, which is often the case for this kind of thing!). Although I've not found a source that is fully definitive, I've enough results aggregated that would be enough for me to make a decision in proofing. Some brief comments:
Second comment would be your editor was right to query it, although I might not have picked it up.
Good modern technical American
seems to be "Counter-rotating propeller", but I'd suggest not unambiguous enough in itself - so I would take:
"has a handed Allison engine, possibly from a P-38, to match the original airplane's 'backward' prop rotation."And recast it to:
"has a counter-rotating Allison engine, probably from a P-38, to match the original airplane's ('reversed' to normal American use) prop rotation."And that too can be debated, but it's crystal clear, I suggest, we have a prop and engine going the other way to US engine standards.
British English would be:
"has a left-hand tractor Allison engine, possibly from a P-38, to match the original aircraft's prop rotation.""Handed" and related terms are normal British English and
historically used in the British Commonwealth. However in modern aviation, outside the UK, as touched on by the Inspector, it has mostly been replaced by the American terminology, with the prevalence of American engines and associated documentation.
"Handed" as has been said simply shows that an item has a bias and isn't symmetrical or able to be used in either direction. Beyond a general classification, as per the 'handed light cluster' mentioned by Dave Smith, it's too little - you may as well as say "most of the world's population are handed", without differentiating in the actual useful data of how many are right handed, how many left, and how many aren't included as they are genuinely ambidextrous.
So you would always state, as has again been mentioned that something is 'right handed rotation' or vice versa; but that is still not fully unambiguous (remember all those group pictures with "the person on the left in the photograph"?).
The best term for
period British English and as is used in the RR system (including IIRC, on the RR Griffon & Merlin dataplates) "right-hand tractor", "left hand pusher" - or the variants, as Rich, our US expert on British oddities has already said... These are defined terms with a clear meaning in original use.
But a fellow (Australian) aviation writer and pilot found several of the W.W.II era technical aviation terms I used in a couple of articles, such as RH tractor, completely alien. Got to watch for the archaic.
The Inspector wrote:
Since most American reciprocating engines (and most jet engines too) on aircraft turn 'clockwise' (in the pilots viewpoint) that is considered 'normal' in most of the world that uses American built engines on their aircraft.
As anyone involved in precision working of any kind knows, there's nothing more dangerous than a non-comprehensive 'normal'.
The Inspector wrote:
Lots of aircraft engines built in England, France, Italy, Russia, and other nations over the years turn counter clockwise' when viewed from the pilots perspective. Automotive engines turn 'counterclockwise' or you'd have four reverse gears and a single, REALLY low forward gear because of transmissions and third members.
The inability for some to grasp this 'norm' (or never made aware of it) in aviation leads to some serious problems, a good example would be the BRITISH MIDLAND 737-400 crash in Jan of 1989. Since it was a new subtype and uses digital flight info displays (FADEC) instead of steam gages when the left engine started coughing up parts on descent with the noise makers retarded, the pilot asked the FA to look out the cabin windows and tell him what she saw, the FA, facing the AFT END of the cabin looked out the windows, saw the left engine flaming and said ''ere, it's the right one innit' because she was looking to HER right,
While not debating the truth or not of that case (see the earlier post) there is a perfectly good system that was used in aviation until ambiguity was brought in. The maritime system, as in many other aspects of aviation has the problem solved with 'port' and 'starboard' which relate to the vehicle (ship or aircraft) not a person's left or right. And that's very obviously why we still have red
port and green
starboard lights - whatever they get called - on aircraft - following marine practice.
k5dh wrote:
We could have some fun with that! There are many British automotive terms that are "foreign"
to us Yanks:
...
A car with a retractable soft top is a drophead coupe'.
Fun we can have! Think drophead coupe's archaic even in the UK now. Any Brits care to comment?
Quote:
A four-door car with a fixed metal top is a saloon.
EDIT - CORRECTED: As it is here in Australia, where the [British] 'estate' is a [US] 'station wagon' - classic Australian with one British term, one American for layout variations on the vehicle.
Of course no-one else has 'Utes' (from Utility) while the wonderful 'Charabanc' has pretty much disappeared, 'coach' and 'bus' are merging, with 'omnibus' gone, while 'truck' is a shifting signifier and 'lorry' is on the way out due to the Americanisation of British English.
Quote:
The fuel/air mixture is ignited by sparking plugs.
I'd see 'spark plugs'. Again anyone else care to differ? That's related to the reversing of terms by shortening - such as '(car') 'shock absorbers' becoming 'shocks', and in aviation what's an 'anti-g suit' becomes a 'g-suit'.
Quote:
The fuel tank contains petrol.
A good differentiator when the supply choice is petrol, diesel and LPG ('gas').
Stephan Wilkinson wrote:
Several years ago, I was driving around England on a travel-magazine assignment, and everywhere I saw signs saying "Boot Sale Saturday," I was surprised to find that there were so many Brits looking for shoe bargains, but I finally realized it meant what we'd call a "trunk sale," if there were such a thing. It's the Brit equivalent of a yard sale, and since they don't have yards, for the most part, they sell the odds and ends out of the open trunks of their cars, parked in convenient turnoffs. Live and learn.
The US 'trunk' is obviously derived from the 'steamer trunk' style large piece of luggage strapped to the rear of cars up to the 1930s, and often able to be removed as a unit, rather than having a case inside an integral storage area. 'Boot' comes from the same origin, but from the storage area on horse-drawn coaches; I'm not clear on the origin of why 'boot', I'd guess it might be where boots for the muddy roads of the period could be stored during the journey - but a guess only.
The British car boot sale really developed in the 1980s and is a late reflection of the lack of yards (or of the fencing of British gardens to turn that in it's head) as Stephan's noted,
coupled with a tipping point from the foot-travel local 'jumble sale' to the heavy car-using society required for a car boot sale.
As an Australian married to a Canadian, we can unintentionally confuse the he!! out of friends when talking about getting gas/petrol, parking in the 'lot' or 'car-park', leaving on the 'sidewalk' or 'pavement' and opening the 'trunk' or 'boot'. With, as they say, amusing results.
All very odd byways, and beats working, which is what I should've been doing...!
Regards,
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