At risk of pointing out the obvious, dictionaries are a great way of resolving the meaning of words. According to Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary... ferrule \Fer"rule\ (? or ?; 277), n. [Formerly verrel, F. virole, fr. L. viriola little bracelet, dim. of viriae, pl., bracelets; prob. akin to viere to twist, weave, and E. withe. The spelling with f is due to confusion with L. ferrum iron.] 1. A ring or cap of metal put round a cane, tool, handle, or other similar object, to strengthen it, or prevent splitting and wearing. 2. (Steam Boilers) A bushing for expanding the end of a flue to fasten it tightly in the tube plate, or for partly filling up its mouth Judging from these, I would expect that the word "ferrule" refers strictly to the outer sleeve and not the other half which inserts into the sleeve. However, careful research on www.everything2.com (the website for the eclectic in all of us) turns up the fact that in fishing rods, the term ferrule does, in fact, apply to both the male and female halves of the coupling. Sadly, it would appear that without a definitive ruling as it applies to paddles, we will only be able to speculate endlessly on the topic -- much like the debate about rudders & skegs *chuckle*. Jeff Hayes Settling nothing but doing it in an authoritative fashion... *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Thu Jan 11 2001 - 15:15:38 PST
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