Not at the start. There was a time, well within my memory (and that of a good few others here) when the 'correct' (essentially only) term was 'bulb' or 'light bulb'. In terms of what was 'correct' at the time, the first people who started using the world 'lamp' to refer to the item in question were therefore surely 'wrong' - and, by your reasoning, should have been corrected?
Indeed. As I said, it's so daft that I find it hard to imagine bhow it ever 'started'!
You may recall that a year or two ago, when we were having this same discussion, I did a couple of experiments. I went into Halfords and asked for a lamp for my headlamp - and was treated as if I were crazy. I then went into Homebase (next door, as it happens!) and asked a member of staff where I could find 'lamps' - and you can probably guess what section of the store I was directed to! I then asked a different member of staff where I could find a lamp for my table lamp - and, again, were treated as if I were crazy!
If that's how it came about, then yes.
The general public tend to just ignore (or, more likely, not even be aware of) these 'changes'. Whilst "luminaire" is now widely used in the electrical industry, and the regs, over here, I doubt whether any significant proportion of the UK population even knows what it means, let alone use the word! The same, I suspect, with 'lamps'.
Indeed, and I doubt that many people outside the industry here know either, and probably just think it sounds like "something foreign." Most of the friends to whom I referred were in some way in technical circles, and still couldn't see the point of the change.
You seem to be implying that "many wrongs make a right". As I said, the first electricians to start using the word (even if 'for good reason') were "just plain wrong" in terms of the correct terminology of the day. Since they seemingly weren't 'corrected' at the time, the fashion spread!
Of course not, but these are two different issues. As for 'understandable', it comes down to the question of 'by whom' - as I keep saying, I doubt that "lamp", "low voltage", "luminaire" etc. are ('correctly') understood by the majority of the general population.
Have electricians always called it that?
Well it is clearly not a CAT thisThe next time you're in a customer's house and there's one of these -
on the couch, say "Oh, what a lovely little cow".
What difference does it make?
I agreed. They should have been but it's too late now.
Quite, but it is not I who am saying they should not be corrected.
Well, I know that is a pet hate of yours. I have many.... and you know that "continuity testing" niggles me and offends my upbringing
Some evolution of language is desirable. It would be a bit silly if we will still calling all the motorised vehicles on the roads "horseless carriages" - which was once the 'correct' term, wouldn't it?
I think you're thinking of someone else - I never refer to "the time characteristic". I talk specifically about an electrical "continuity test" - which ('correctly') is a qualitative (actually dichotomous) test, the result of which is either 'Yes' or 'No' (according to an arbitrarily defined cut-off resistance). A quantitative "low resistance measurement" is just that - a (low) resistance measurement - not a 'continuity test'.Well, I know that is a pet hate of yours. I have many. ... I know you refer to the time characteristic but that is not the only definition of continuity. Does it also mean continuous in a physical sense?... and you know that "continuity testing" niggles me and offends my upbringing
Not really, if that's what we called it that's what we would accept.
Sorry, I thought that was why you didn't like the term.
Yes, but once continuity has been established the resistance is noted.
fair enough. To have stuck with 'carriage' would probably have been reasonable - but "horseless" would be a bit silly in 21st (or second half of 20th) century, wouldn't it?
If they are genuinely 'new' names, then that might be reasonable. What I find unfortunate is when the so-called 'new name' is a name which always has had (and continues to have) a totally different meaning (e.g. lamp).
If the magnitude of the resistance is measured, it's a resistance measurement, not a continuity test.
Yes, but if the actual resistance is being measured (rather than Yes/No for above/below some specified measurement) then it is a resistance measurement, not either of those other two things.
Look at how in this case each of those terms came to be the preferred term for the same thing in places which were, to some extent, developing the English language separately at the time: The British railway carriage vs. the American railroad car.
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