terminology (long and dull, sorry)

[Susan Kline]

Honored and Respected Sir --

You have hit the nail on the proverbial (what is that thing we hit it on?)
(flat-top, bumper cushion, whack-spot, header thingamabob?) and I can only
thank you for your insights and retire the field, enlightened.

Why, on the matter of Cristofali alone you have totally won the day. Did I
not greet with delight the dichotomy, as sententious statements were made
about a misspelled historic figure? But that's another list, another era ...

I have, however, been told that "whippen", though American all right, dates
only from the time a Journal article-writer invented it and consistently
used it for awhile. One has to ask someone who is old enough to remember
this, and also happens to _notice_ spellings ... 

As to the telling thing -- handsome is as handsome plays, I always say,
which I'm sure indicates agreement somewhere along the line. Great minds, etc.

Yours faithfully,

Susan

P.S. Merle Mason did right a reely fun book. {{  :-->  )

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At 09:34 AM 8/11/97 -0400, Jim wrote:
>My Dearest Ms Kline;
>  There is a hallowed tradition  within the piano community, manufacturers as
>well as techs, to name piano parts and their purpose with obfuscatory
>nomenclatures.  
>  Any attempt to standardize such will be, and is, doomed to failure.  Would
>we even want to do so ?!  Why just think of the hours of discussion on
>whether we use a  (1) balance rail, (2) balancier (3) repetition rail, (4)
>repetition lever;  And the hours we can spend on whether we use a  (1)
>pinblock, (2) wrest plank, (3) pin plank.  I can not leave out one of my
>favorites the infamous 'stretcher', you know the one we like to scratch with
>many different and creative techniques ?  What is this really called? is it a
> (1) frontal bar, (2) front bar, (3) front rail, (4) front beam, (5) upper
>beam, (6) stretcher, (7) stiffener bar, (8) cornice, (9) bellyman
>strip.........??
>  The name 'wippon' as used on this list told everyone what the person was
>speaking of, although this is the British spelling of 'wippen'.  This in
>itself is not unusual as the poster was British.  It does serve to point out
>though the naming inconsistencies so rampant throughout pianodom.  Besides,
>isn't it really called a 'whippen'?
>
>  Throughout recorded time we have gotten by with ......."you know that
>little do-hickey that is connected to the thing-a-ma-jig  which pops out,
>allowing the knocker to fall back from the wire so the back block can hold
>it.
>  I bet everyone knows exactly what I am talking about here, and that is
>kinda scary....huh?  We must remember that we are the same group that can't
>decide whether 'Christofori' or 'Cristofori' is correct !
>  Even Merle introduces inconsistencies in the book you mention....for
>instance what is the "waste end" of a string?
>(from the book and quoting you)
>"Duplex scales: <snip> some piano manufacturers have divided off the rear
>waste ends of the strings in lengths representing an _aliquot_".  
> 
>And speaking of "rear" where is "rear" located on a piano? An upright?, A
>grand?
>  No My Dear Susan we much would prefer stumbling along using such terms as
>do-hickey, thing-a-ma-jig and the well known "thingummy" , which you used and
>mispelled , by the way. :-).  ('thingummy', often misused abbreviation, in
>place of the more technically corecct 'dabgumm'...corecct spelling of
>'thingummy' is that 'damnoledabgumm'.)
>  Solutions to this problem of nomencalture are many but the telling thing
>is....can we get the parts to do what they do best, as best they can do
>them?, whatever they are called.
> Just some further thoughts on nomeclature.
>Jim Bryant (FL)
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Susan Kline 
P.O. Box 1651
Philomath, OR 97370
skline@proaxis.com

"Enormous amounts of information are availabble, including, however, very
little reliable data on what it all means."
			-- Ashleigh Brilliant