OP
Channel migrants: man in flippers attempts channel swim
- Thread starter Graeme Fraser
- Start date
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edwants2dive
Glowstick
AfterDark
Contributor
edwants2dive
Glowstick
He's a pin ball wizardFlippers are on pin ball machines, fins are on feet.
There has got to be a twist
A pin ball wizard,
S'got such a supple wrist
OP
He's a pin ball wizard
There has got to be a twist
A pin ball wizard,
S'got such a supple wrist
Classic!
David Wilson
Contributor
There have been half a dozen or so national standards for the manufacture and testing of fins. Those published outside the English-speaking world come with an official English translation of their title. German Standard DIN 7876 of 1988, entitled Tauchzubehör. Schwimmflossen. Maße, Anforderungen und Prüfung in German, has the English subtitle Diving accessories for skin divers. Flippers. Dimensions, requirements and testing. Soviet / Commonwealth of Independent States Standard of 1977 Ласты резиновые для плавания. Общие технические условия in Russian is subtitled Swimming rubber flippers. General specifications in English. The US military specification MIL-S-82258 of 1965 on fins refers to their blades as "flippers".
The use of the alternative term "flippers" for "diving fins" goes right back to the earliest days of "skin and scuba diving". Are the prescriptive linguists here suggesting that this popular 1961 diving book should now be retitled?
Diving isn't alone in having its share of language purists. I expect plenty of art historians will wince when they hear divers using the term "deco" to shorten the word "decompression" and "Hogarthian" when they are referring to William Hogarth Main. The use of the terms "deco" and "Hogarthian" in the history of art long precedes its use in diving and references "Art Deco" in the case of the Chrysler Building:
As for the adjective "Hogarthian", art aficionados are likelier to be referring to the works of English painter, satirist and cartoonist William Hogarth (1697-1764):
The use of the alternative term "flippers" for "diving fins" goes right back to the earliest days of "skin and scuba diving". Are the prescriptive linguists here suggesting that this popular 1961 diving book should now be retitled?
Diving isn't alone in having its share of language purists. I expect plenty of art historians will wince when they hear divers using the term "deco" to shorten the word "decompression" and "Hogarthian" when they are referring to William Hogarth Main. The use of the terms "deco" and "Hogarthian" in the history of art long precedes its use in diving and references "Art Deco" in the case of the Chrysler Building:
As for the adjective "Hogarthian", art aficionados are likelier to be referring to the works of English painter, satirist and cartoonist William Hogarth (1697-1764):
Nitpick of the day (and I'm sure I've commented on this once before): what's lost in translation here is that Russian mammals all have ласты so the term is used consistently; it is плавники -- fins -- that is incorrect. English just has it back-**swards.
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