1 Jan
2002
1 Jan
'02
4:16 a.m.
On Tue, 1 Jan 2002, Chris wrote:
I know the facts, and I know exactly why it carries
that name (much like
It's a nice analogy, but only partially relevant for this particular
issue.
I don't know what they're teaching kids these days, but in the time period
for which this list is relevant, mechanics did/do indeed refer to any
adjustable wrench of that particular design as a "Crescent Wrench". They
do NOT use the term "Crescent Wrench" to refer to any other style of
adjustable wrench, and would consider THAT misuse as comparable to
referring to a box-end wrench as a "socket".
Calling the connector in question an "Amphenol connector" (regardless of
who made that particular one) would, indeed be like using the
common term "Crescent Wrench" when referring to an "adjustable
wrench" (rather a vague, ambiguous name for it!)
But calling it a "Centronics connector", particularly when dealing with
sizes other than 36, would be like calling the same wrench a "Ford
wrench".
In the original post that was objected to, the writer referred to
"Centronics Ports". THAT was wrong. If he were to have said "ports with
50 pin centronics connectors", then it would be a trivial misuse, and
everyone would know what he meant (although some would DOUBT whether what
he was seeing was correct -"are you sure they're 50s?"). BUT, a
"Centronics PORT" means a parallel printer port as its primary and only
meaning, and the ports in question were obviously not that.
When it comes to wrenches and automotive analogies, I have a little
experience - I started and ran the largest independent Honda car repair
shop and wrote the book [literally] on Honda car repair. I'm upset at
what half.com,ebay, want for a copy of it.
One of the old classics of email "humor" mentions in passing a "Craftsman
10mm crescent wrench". Calling a wrench made by Craftsman a "Crescent" is
what you are talking about. Since the dimensions of such wrenches were
the LENGTH of the wrench, and Crescent didn't at that time label any of
theirs in metric units, the "10mm" is just weird.
In my garage, we had a box with a 150mm Crescent WANNABE, "rubber nails"
(steel nails for nailing rubber weatherstripping), spotted paint (sold in
a spray can by GM for repairing trunks), etc. for hazing the new parts
runners.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin(a)xenosoft.com