AEROplane???
 

Having just been chastised by Stiknruda for my colonial spelling of the aeronautical sort, I have a couple of questions to pose to the group at large; to whit:

1. Why is it spelled (not "spelt"!) AEROPLANE?

2. Following whatever logic transpires from 1 above, why is it not spelled AEROCRAFT?

3. Why is it an AERODROME but also an AIRPORT?

4. Who invented the damn things in the first place (Sir Percy missed his chance, unfortunately)

5. Doesn't whoever invented a thing get to call it whatever the hell he wants and spell it that way, too?

I relinquish the floor and await the educated and lively debate to follow...

Pitts2112

Just so you know what to expect.....;)

I was also told (a few years ago..!) that it was not a plane, but an AEROplane. It now annoys me when people say plane, and I now say aeroplane all the time.

Will go for answer to number 2, and that's that it's aeorPLANE as the plane is the wing, which is the magic bit of it all.

tKF

Sorry, tKF, but it's back to styduying for English A levels for you. Nice try but the argument doesn't hold water! And isn't nearly clever or humorous enough for this forum!

Pitts2112 :-)

1. Why is it spelled (not "spelt"!) AEROPLANE?
Because it uses an aerodynamic plane (as in mainplane, or wing) to generate lift.


2. Following whatever logic transpires from 1 above, why is it not spelled AEROCRAFT?
Because it is a craft which travels through the air air - craft!


3. Why is it an AERODROME but also an AIRPORT?
An aerodrome is a place where aeronautics takes place. An airport is a place where people arrive from the air - just like a seaport.

4. Who invented the damn things in the first place (Sir Percy missed his chance, unfortunately)
A moot point, personally I think that M. Bleriot deserves the most credit for coming up with the form of aeroplane that most of us now use.


5. Doesn't whoever invented a thing get to call it whatever the hell he wants and spell it that way, too?
Avion !



Incidentally, the word "airplane" is correct American english but is not equivalent to "aeroplane", it is equivalent to "aircraft". So, a helicopter is an airplane!

G

i dnt do english no more so dnt need to study4it do i? or even styduy?

tkf

Now that's much better, tKF! :p

I'm with you, G, these darn Yanks want everything their way all the time!

Genghis Dear chap
 

I think you'll find that the accepted father of modern aeronautics and someone who informed M Bleriot as to the shape and form of his aeroplane .............was...................is....................... .....
























Me!





Sir George Cayley

The air is a navigable ocean that laps at everyones door

I believe that the correct term is aircraft, since I had it beaten into me by various QFI's that the term plane, or any derivation thereof was unacceptable since a plane was something that carpenters used

Well, Colonel, I remember the days when bastard referred to a carpenter's file ...
...now, it seems, it refers to a the offspring of an unmarried couple.

I think carpenter's terms ill-find their way in to all sorts of modern linguistics.:hmm:

Plane wrong... plain right, except in woodworking circles...

AEROPLANE please or aircraft... well, as you are a Yank, airplane aint quite so bad as plane...

Bastard - thought that was for metalwork, one lives and learns...

And on a related topic, is the shortening of helicopter helo or heli, and why does no-one who actually flies one call it a chopper? :confused:

I believe the difference is that an airplane is made of aluminum whereas an aeroplane is made of aluminium.

(unless they're made of anything else of course)

Ah, now there's a problem in itself. Sir Humphrey Davey, who discovered the process for extracting this wonderful lightweight metal named it ALUMINUM.

The Royal Society, deciding that new elements should end with "ium", renamed it ALUMINIUM.

Our American cousins however, had the courtesy to continue respecting the original British scientist's name for it.

Strange world we live in isn't it!

G


N.B. Whirly, I have a chopper, it is made of steel and hickory and it's used for truncating trees. It has flown on several occasions, but only when the handle gets wet - and once when it came off!

N.B.B. Sir George, would I be right in thinking that your illustrious ancestor used the term "aerial carriage"?

Further to the point, why is it that Little Nellie is an "autogiro" and not "autogyro". Sounds to me more like a machine for making Post Office payments.

Have we Brits got all huffity puffity again?

G the E
 

That would be "Gentlemans Aerial Carriage" I think you will find.

But then that would lead me on to talking about my footman and his pay claim, which would lead to blood pressure, which would lead to the Leech Doctor.

So I won't go there.

:\

Anyway what do you mean "ancestor?" I'm only just over 150

Sir George Cayley

When it comes to them things that fly with a non-powered rotor, are they gyros, autogyros, autogiros, gyrocopters, gyroplanes, or what? :confused:

I stand to be corrected, but I believe that the accepted terminology is either gyroplane or gyroglider - the latter being towed rather than using an engine.

G

why not rotorcraft?

I think the term "aircraft" is used for ANYTHING that flies around, including balloons, etc. Therefore airplane or aeroplane (either one?) can be used for fixed wing aircraft.

language is a strange thing :ugh:

Westy

P.S. in German:
aircraft = Luftfahrzeug
airplane = Flugzeug
helicopter = either Hubschrauber, Helikopter or "Drehflügler" :yuk:

and right too. How would all the other (pre-USA) elements sound if they were spelled the "American" way...

Lithum
Sodum
Potassum
Magnesum
Titanum
Chromum
(at such a late hour, these are the only metals I can think of)
Oh, also
Berryllum
Tritum
Helum
Potassum
Calcum
Scandum
Vanadum
Gallum
etc
etc...

(OK, so some might be post-USA, but I am neither a chemist nor a historian)