Is "flipper" really the wrong word?

[Sam Miller III]

No interest = post deleted

 

[boulderjohn]

Whenever one of my students uses the word "flippers," I tell the class that there are some people who for some reason get upset if you use that word rather than fins. I personally don't care, but I want them to know that some people might so they are ready when it happens.

As Sam Miller said above, the mask was once called goggles, but we tend to go with mask now. I don't know if this is a wide spread usage, but I personally differentiate between goggles and masks. For me, the difference is that the scuba mask includes the nose, while swim goggles do not. Again, mixing up the terms doesn't really matter one bit.

As for oxygen, that has never been a different way to say "air." If some uninformed person refers to divers using oxygen (as in the case of apparently 100% of newspaper reporters), I don't make a big deal of it, but I of course make sure that students understand the difference. They don't want to go into a shop asking for scuba tanks filled with oxygen unless they really mean it. Of course, a shop that will fill a tank with pure oxygen is probably going to make sure that is what you really want it and are qualified to use it, but you don't want to go in sounding like an idiot.

 

[ScoobaChef]

Mine both say 'M' -- very confusing since I don't have a Middle foot. Ah, I suppose that's what I get for being cheap and not buying the split flippppers.

Ah no sir, you are confused. Those type of flippers are for cenote diving in Mexico. They go on your hands.

 

[kelemvor]

Next we'll have people referring to gas pressures like it was a place to get a beer...

 

[Goodtime Adventures]

In Holland the word for fin is actually flipper. No beer fines for the Dutchies then!

 

[Diver0001]

In Holland the word for fin is actually flipper. No beer fines for the Dutchies then!

The actual word is "zwemvlies", which if you translate it literally to English says "swimming membrane"

R..

 

[dfx]

The actual word is "zwemvlies", which if you translate it literally to English says "swimming membrane"

R..

Also called zwemvin (swim fin) and probably just vin (fin, of a fish), or flipper. In Flanders apparently also called "palm trees"

Zwemvin - Wikipedia
Compare: Swimfin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So looks like Dutch has a similar problem. In German, fin (of a fish) translates to Flosse, while a diving fin is called Schwimmflosse (swim fin, same deal as in Dutch) or Taucherflosse (diver's fin) but generally referred to just as Flosse. There's no equivalent of "flipper" in German, the respective limbs of aquatic animals are also called Flosse, even though there are some technical terms for the different limbs of whales, one of which is Flipper used for (only) the pectoral flipper (while the dorsal one is called Finne and the tail one is called Fluke). But those terms aren't used by or even known to the general population and are specific to whales only. Limbs of seals etc are still called Flosse.

 

[Lemna]

In Flanders apparently also called "palm trees"

From the French "palme de plongée", just like the tuba

 

[Skittl1321]

People who have a problem with flipper are just looking to be elitist- to prove they are "better" at diving than someone else because they say fin. (I usually say fin, but will say flipper on occasion. I grew up saying that, it's a hard habit to break.) The words mean the same thing.

Saying oxygen instead of air is just wrong. If you put on flippers instead of fins, your dive is going to go fine. If you put on a tank of oxygen instead of air, things will likely go very wrong.

 

[300bar]

And I thought this was flipper