Gordon wrote; (SNIP) >I think most of us knew what Chuck Holst was referring to. If one bothers >to read his posting and his nice contribution to the paddlewise web site >," Making a Greenland Paddle", it is quite clear. Yes, I guess we could all >sit back and make everyone define everything like kayak, is that a puddle >jumper, white water,ocean, etc. We are not computers and the natural ebb >and flow of conversation depends on some good will and acknowledgment of >the context. It is easy to nit pick! > I disagree. Nit picking challenges the intellect. Nick's asks a valid question. I have heard the same boat or paddle described several different ways on this and other mailing lists. The abstraction "Greenland paddle" may be based upon a person's observations or what he or she has been told but who is to say the background for the abstraction has validity. Often ignorance forms the foundation for the observations. The lack of consistency may be the most consistent aspect of how we name these things. A common response to a question like Nick's is "I know what it is" or "Most people know what it is" but how often is that true? One example is the Euro style paddle. Most people assume that the Euro style paddle has flat blades simply because that is what most they have seen and they also assume that they cannot generate lift because all airplane wings they have seen have been foil shapes. So, when someone talks about a Euro style blade generating lift they assume such a thing cannot occur. That Euro style blades can and do have foil shapes and can actually be better at generating lift in some circumstances than other types cannot be examined or considered because the object is improperly defined. Not very important? Could be if you are plunking down a couple of bills on a paddle that really isn't what it was supposed to be. Cheers, John Winters Redwing Designs Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft http://home.ican.net/~735769/ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Aug 11 1998 - 06:03:36 PDT
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