"FUIXED"

dreamlx10
dreamlx10 Posts: 235
edited August 2007 in Road general
Could everyone stop saying "Fixie" please !! I hate to be pedantic but we are not yet Americans.
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Comments

  • dreamlx10
    dreamlx10 Posts: 235
    Sorry, that should be Fixed obviously. :lol:
  • how do we know that? :D you might be winding us up. :D
  • peejay78
    peejay78 Posts: 3,378
    should we say "fixed wheel|" instead of "fixed gear"?

    and while we on the subject - what about front and rear mech?
  • AndyGates
    AndyGates Posts: 8,467
    "wheel|"? Oy veh, my provincial pettiness already! T'interweb is global. Cope.
    Wanted: Penny farthing. Please PM me!
    Advice for kilted riders: top-tubes are cold.
  • peejay78
    peejay78 Posts: 3,378
    get thee back to the shippams factory from whence you sprung forth, vile devonian.
  • I like 'fixie'. It's an affectionate term for a class of bikes that deserves affection.

    Maybe I've just been in Australia too long - everything here ends it -ie.
    John Stevenson
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,610
    cept in aus you ve got to say a fixie eh?! with the whole australian question intonation thing going on......
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • :)
    John Stevenson
  • Surely if we're being pedantic it's "fixed wheel bicycle", lets not be having any of this modern "bike" nonsense. Anyway I much prefer my ordinary to this current modern fad for safety bicycles.

    I'll get me coat.
    "Swearing, it turns out, is big and clever" - Jarvis Cocker
  • dreamlx10 wrote:
    Sorry, that should be Fixed obviously. :lol:

    I thought you'd coined a new word there.

    FUIXED adj. of a fixed wheel bicyle that doesn't work any more. "My Langster is well and truly fuixed!"
    "Swearing, it turns out, is big and clever" - Jarvis Cocker
  • Big Red S
    Big Red S Posts: 26,890
    I have tried to call them 'fixeds' in the past, but I have some mental block about using a verb where there's supposed to be a noun.
  • Surely if we're being pedantic it's "fixed wheel bicycle", lets not be having any of this modern "bike" nonsense. Anyway I much prefer my ordinary to this current modern fad for safety bicycles.

    I'll get me coat.

    'Bicycle'? 'Velocipede', surely?
    John Stevenson
  • Noodley
    Noodley Posts: 1,725
    What is this "wheel" of which you all speak? :wink:
  • Eurostar
    Eurostar Posts: 1,806
    While we're being pedantic, can I say how much I hate the yankee term 'pace line'? What the blinking flip is wrong with 'chain gang'? Where did the septics get the idea that we needed a new term when there was a perfectly good one established years ago?

    Funnily enough, 'The Paceline' is also the name of the official fan club of Lance and Discovery. So it has to be a wrong 'un.
    <hr>
    <h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>
  • peejay78
    peejay78 Posts: 3,378
    septics?

    who are they?

    a weird cult addicted to savlon?
  • graham_g
    graham_g Posts: 652
    I'm going to see a (British) band tonight; they have two tracks on their album with Americanisms in the title - 'Bored of Math' and 'Married to the sidewalk' must grab the singer and express my disgust.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,313
    peejay78 wrote:
    septics?

    who are they?

    a weird cult addicted to savlon?
    :D

    septic tank = yank, a pejorative term for those who originate in America.
  • peejay78
    peejay78 Posts: 3,378
    ahhhh....

    to sophisticated for me.
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    FWB? Fixed Gear can also mean singlespeed whereas Fixed Wheel means precisely what it says - Fixed or Fixie is often too ambiguous IMO.

    Chain Gang - you mean Echelon - why use an English word when there's already a perfectly good French one?
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • NickM
    NickM Posts: 17
    Monty Dog wrote:
    ...Fixed Gear can also mean singlespeed whereas Fixed Wheel means precisely what it says...
    Fixed Wheel means precisely what it says only if you are riding a cycle with pedals attached via cranks to the hub, e.g. an Ordinary.

    Otherwise, Fixed Gear seems to me a perfectly accurate term for a chain-driven cycle with no freewheel (which might have one gear or more, depending on whether you have a Sturmey Archer ASC or some such).
    So you voted, and now you've got a government. I just hope you like it.
  • terongi
    terongi Posts: 318
    What is the matter with all of you?

    If you don't like certain words, don't use them. Use the ones you like instead.

    Complaining about the words other people use is just intolerance.

    By the way, if you want to be really PEDANTIC, then you would know that the word "pedantic" is an adjective to describe someone who is unduly concerned with rules and errors.

    As far as I am aware there is no "rule" against using american or australian slang words, nor is it an error. It's just something you don't like.

    So, you lot can't even get being pedantic right.
  • terongi wrote:
    By the way, if you want to be really PEDANTIC, then you would know that the word "pedantic" is an adjective to describe someone who is unduly concerned with rules and errors.

    As far as I am aware there is no "rule" against using american or australian slang words, nor is it an error. It's just something you don't like.

    So, you lot can't even get being pedantic right.

    From the Oxford English Dictionary:

    Pendant n. a person excessively concerned with minor detail or with displaying technical knowledge. Derivative adj. pedantic

    No mention of rules or errors.

    If you're going to be that picky, get your facts right first. :wink:
    "Swearing, it turns out, is big and clever" - Jarvis Cocker
  • terongi
    terongi Posts: 318
    The Oxford English Dictionary?

    THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY?

    For goodness sakes, I am clearly dealing with complete amateurs here.

    Every true pedant knows that you cannot rely on the Oxford English Dictionary. They gave up correct English years ago. You see, they include meanings and pronunciations and spellings of words based on common usage, NOT on what is actually correct.

    For example, every good pedant knows that you pronounce the word "controversy" with the emphasis on the first syllable not the second. But the OED now regards the latter as acceptable.

    Every pedant knows that margarine is pronounced with a hard "g" (as in "pedantic git"), because it was originally made from margaric acid (not marJaric acid), but the OED says that it is acceptable to pronouce it with a soft "g".

    I give up. I mean . . the Oxford English Dictionary? . . . honestly.
  • How do you define what is correct usage, or indeed spelling? Language evolves. You can't pick a particular point in time and say at that point English usage was correct at any other point it was/is/will be incorrect.

    Language has always evolved, if you were take the first English dictionary ever printed as your base line then you will find there are a lot of words that we need to use today that simply aren't in there. How would you cope then? Or do you pick and choose from different points in linguistic history?

    What particular date are you suggesting we stick to on the forum? I reckon the tenth century would be great. :wink:
    "Swearing, it turns out, is big and clever" - Jarvis Cocker
  • Eurostar
    Eurostar Posts: 1,806
    Steady on, don't tell the proles how people like us pronounce conTROVersy. These days it's one of the few ways a chap can tell anything about a fellow's people.

    Still, well done for pretending that the common way is acceptable.
    <hr>
    <h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>
  • terongi
    terongi Posts: 318
    How do you define what is correct usage, or indeed spelling? Language evolves. You can't pick a particular point in time and say at that point English usage was correct at any other point it was/is/will be incorrect.

    Language has always evolved

    I agree entirely. The flaws in my ludicrous dissertation about controversies and margarine demonstrate precisely that there is no absolute correctness in the English language.

    This brings us back round to the original post. If people say "fixie" and "paceline" and other people understand, then that's evolution and diversity of language. Rejoice!

    Some people just find it harder than others to get used to change.

    By the way, I think the correct 10th century spelling is "chayne gangghe".
  • Eurostar
    Eurostar Posts: 1,806
    I still hate 'paceline'. Typical yankee arrogance.
    <hr>
    <h6>What\'s the point of going out? We\'re just going to end up back here anyway</h6>
  • Big Red S
    Big Red S Posts: 26,890
    From the Oxford English Dictionary:

    Pendant n. a person excessively concerned with minor detail or with displaying technical knowledge. Derivative adj. pedantic

    Eh? I thought it was like a necklace?
  • Yeah. Alright, I'm dyslexic. A particular problem I have is that I just don't see spelling mistakes. I had to read that back about ten times before I spotted it.

    Mia Culpa.

    I promise to try harder in future.
    "Swearing, it turns out, is big and clever" - Jarvis Cocker
  • I promise to try harder in future.

    It won't help. It's an iron law of online discussion that when you're trying to be dogmatically prescriptive about language you become completely unable to see your own typos and inelegances of construction.
    John Stevenson