Bulb gone or faulty lamp

[Harry Bloomfield]

Lamp holder - numerous other examples from a google, but - https://www.lampspares.co.uk/lampholders/

 

[winston1]

In Australia they are called globes. Don’t know if they have globe holders though.

 

[SUNRAY]

Lamp holder - numerous other examples from a google, but - https://www.lampspares.co.uk/lampholders/

That's great, Thanks Harry but you'll excuse me if I don't bother looking. If I could be bothered, I'd be able to find just as many listings of bulb holders.
Just to clarify my statement is all about what they always used to be called and the confusion created by someone (probably someone who didn't know what he was talking about) somewhere in the mist of time using a different term to others and like so many things in our lives the meanings of words change, as do the titles of things.
So now we are at the situation where the use of lamp basically describe nothing and half the population receive criticism for using the term which they have always correctly used.

 

[ericmark]

A lamp holder is normally called a spigot. Although it could of course be a chain from the ceiling.

As soon as one considers non electric lighting devices it becomes clear a lamp is whole device.

Always been a bicycle lamp, not a fitting, or luminary or any other word.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Always been a bicycle lamp, not a fitting, or luminary or any other word.

and if the filament broke you would be asking for a bulb or a lamp bulb, to replace it.

A paraffin light is called a paraffin lamp.

I have never heard a pro ask for a BC or ES bulb holder, only a lamp holder.

What it proves, is that it depends very much on the context, what you call the very same item.

 

[SUNRAY]

A lamp holder is normally called a spigot. Although it could of course be a chain from the ceiling.

As soon as one considers non electric lighting devices it becomes clear a lamp is whole device.

Always been a bicycle lamp, not a fitting, or luminary or any other word.

There have been all sorts of lampholders, usually dependant on the style of lamp and importantly the location. The spigot was very common in our domestic situations, looking round some of our historic attractions they appear all over the house (especially in the servants areas) as parking places as one walked around carrying a lamp in the dark hours, another version has been some sort of ring for the lamp to rest in which was popular in America and wild west. The spigots and rings often included a curved polished plate to reflect the light forwards.
Aboard ship the apeture I mentioned earlier was common in the heyday of sailing ships as were a cage (sometimes glazed too) which the whole lamp fitted inside (rather like a candle storm lamp) hanging from a hook in the ceiling or a horizontal rope or chain to provide light in an open space such as on deck. Marine navlights were a special case, enabling the lamp to remain upright but leaving the light in the prime focus of the static lenses.

 

[JohnW2]

... and what do you do with a bulb - you plug it into a lamp holder

That's true, and I spent decades of my earlier life wondering why - since those were the days when 'lamps' were things like table lamps, standard lamps, headlamps etc. etc. - and no-one would have dreamed of using 'lamp' to describe the part of those items which produced the light.

Even today, go into a retailer and ask for a 'lamp for your table lamp', or a 'lamp for your headlamp' and look at the faces of those you are addressing

I have never come across a bulb holder..

Mr Google seems to have done better than you (note the quotes around the search term)..

... although, admittedly, many of those 3.2 million hits are actually "light bulb holder".

Kind Regards, John

 

[SUNRAY]

and if the filament broke you would be asking for a bulb or a lamp bulb, to replace it.

A paraffin light is called a paraffin lamp.

Yes perfectly correct descriptions, especially in the hardware shop (think 2 Ronnies sketch)

I have never heard a pro ask for a BC or ES bulb holder, only a lamp holder.

50 years ago if a pro wanted a holder for a bulb he would have asked for a bulb holder, it would not have occurred to him ask for a lamp holder, if he did the assistant would have started asking questions.

What it proves, is that it depends very much on the context, what you call the very same item.

Not realy, a bulb holder holds a bulb and could have been fitted in a lamp.
There have always been other names for some fittings, for example Batten holder would have usually included something else such as 'home office' or 'angled' but not the word 'bulb'.

 

[JohnW2]

There have always been other names for some fittings, for example Batten holder would have usually included something else such as 'home office' or 'angled' but not the word 'bulb'.

True - but, as I just wrote, Mr Google knows, today, of literally millions of things called "light bulb holders".

I know I will get probably get flak for saying this, but it is a very good example of "we all know what is meant" (in the context concerned) - such that, at least in my opinion, life is too short to spend time worrying/arguing about the terminology!

Kind Regards, John

 

[SUNRAY]

True - but, as I just wrote, Mr Google knows, today, of literally millions of things called "light bulb holders".

I know I will get probably get flak for saying this, but it is a very good example of "we all know what is meant" (in the context concerned) - such that, at least in my opinion, life is too short to spend time worrying/arguing about the terminology!

Kind Regards, John

I agree as long as we do know however if someone were to ask the question 'What lamp do you recommend?'...

The answers start arriving

Sadly the answer required can also have been

 

[JohnW2]

I agree as long as we do know however if someone were to ask the question 'What lamp do you recommend?'...

Sure, that's why I added "(in the context concerned)". If the intended meaning was not clear from the context of what had preceded that question, then one would (unless one was an idiot) seek clarification before answering (possibly inappropriately).

If a vehicle mechanic told me that he was having problems using "a socket", I doubt that I would think he was talking about a BS1363 socket, a soil pipe socket, the socket of an artificial limb etc. etc. !

Kind Regards, John

 

[SUNRAY]

Sure, that's why I added "(in the context concerned)". If the intended meaning was not clear from the context of what had preceded that question, then one would (unless one was an idiot) seek clarification before answering (possibly inappropriately).

If a vehicle mechanic told me that he was having problems using "a socket", I doubt that I would think he was talking about a BS1363 socket, a soil pipe socket, the socket of an artificial limb etc. etc. !

Kind Regards, John

So which socket on a car ar you thinking about?

 

[JohnW2]

So which socket on a car ar you thinking about?

Again, we're down to context, but if he had been talking about his use of various tools (when working on vehicles), I would have a pretty good idea!

I don't really know why I confused my example in that way! It would have been more sensible to stick with things electrical, and a direct equivalent of the example you gave - if I asked an electrician (who was going to do work on my electrical installation) what brand of sockets he/she recommended, or if the electrician asked me what type of sockets I preferred, I doubt whether either of us would be thinking that the other was talking about tools used in a workshop, plumbing fittings or artificial limbs!

As far as I am concerned, in terms of words like "lamp" and "socket" (and many others - even "drug"), it is nearly always EITHER clear (from context) what is almost certainly the intended meaning OR that there is uncertainty about intended meaning (hence a clarification needs to be requested). However, anyone who wants an argument can argue about that, since - very rarely, it will 'go wrong'

Kind Regards, John

 

[FrodoOne]

In Australia they are called globes. Don’t know if they have globe holders though.

Here, they may be called "Light Globes" - but, not just "Globes"
The term "Globe" - by itself - usually refers to a three dimensional miniature representation of the Earth.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Here, they may be called "Light Globes" - but, not just "Globes"
The term "Globe" - by itself - usually refers to a three dimensional miniature representation of the Earth.

I remember an elderly uncle, who in the 1950's would refer to a lamp bulb, as a 'globe'. In stuck in my memory, because his was the only time, only one I had heard them called a globe.