Technical terminology discussion

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mayanees said:
Agreed.. but it does separate the knowing from the unknowing.
I once came across a highly regarded City Manager who was touted as being electrically savvy. But the first words out of his mouth gave him away.
He told me that the City had a 69kVA loop around the perimeter of the City. He meant to say 69kV. But it clued me in that he didn't know electrical.

(My favorite word when I came to my first Electric shop in 1982 was motor peckerhead :) )
The juvenile in me loved it.
JM
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How about monkey-dung?:D

PM's are routinely mix kVA and kV. Hey, that is NOT their field so I just leave it alone.
 
tonyou812 said:
One time I had a helper ask a customer where he wants the "Fart Fan" installed. I just gave him a "Death stare" for about a solid minute and said "a what fan". I absolutely hate that term for an exhaust fan. It sounds so low brow.
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Was that death stare a Captain Kirk one? :D

Another thing I hate is when people (especially the media) refer to a power fuse blowing, or a line down, or the flashovers from earthquakes as "transformer explosions." Like in these videos: LINK 1 and LINK2

I don't like how the NEC seems to have a lot of Code sections that refer you to another, which bounces you back to another point in the original section.

Or when the Code, despite it's disclaimers, forces itself into a design document (think Decora switches on disposalls. )
 
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Besoeker said:
I don't have any particular problem with acronyms as long as they are in common use between people in the same field and the probability of misunderstandings is minimal.

What I do have a bit of a hang up over is the incorrect use of abbreviations.
For example, the unit of power commonly used is the kW. It isn't kw or KW or Kw.
I don't know quite why it bothers me as much as it does. Maybe, as qualified individuals in the field we should know the correct terms. Getting them wrong does not reflect well on us.
I try to make sure that any documentation that goes out from our company gets it right.
Pedantic for sure, but with some justification in my opinion.
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That is not as bad as mW or MW where each MEANS are valid but magnitude diference. It perhaps has to do with that when an electrician is trained the fundamentals how the system of quantities and units is not explained nor is the reason and importance of capitalization.
 
weressl said:
I know, I know... and I was not ridiculing you but the intent itself.:D
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I know, I guess I could have put a smiley face after my post.:smile:

Guess it's kind of like the kook at the city council meetings that trys to sound like a lawyer and all he does is come off sounding like an idiot.:smile:
 
weressl said:
That is not as bad as mW or MW where each MEANS are valid but magnitude diference. It perhaps has to do with that when an electrician is trained the fundamentals how the system of quantities and units is not explained nor is the reason and importance of capitalization.
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Yes, the mW and MW distinction is a valid point. You might expect the context to make it clear which unit was intended but that doesn't excuse its misuse.

I agree - it probably is related to training to some extent. Maybe there is an element of sloppy writing too.
 
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