Whats with all the fettling talk around here?

[Pat Barry]

Lets call it tuning. Fettling is misused.

Here is some evidence of this:

Merriam Webster (a trusted authority)

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Or this from Wiktionary (maybe, not so trusted authority)

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OK - maybe if we're talking about tuning your bike over in England.

Or this from Dictionary.com
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Lastly this from the World English Dictionary (sounds made up if you ask me)

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So, lets drop the fettling talk and use a word that makes sense such tuning for example, or adjusting, or tweaking, or fixing, or repairing, or dropping -- please something a bit more descriptive than fettling.

Thank you - its been a very long winter and I have reached my limit. When did that groundhog say spring would be here?

[David Weaver]

You're fettling our words!!

[Tom McMahon]

fettling knife
http://www.dickblick.com/products/kemper-fettling-knives/

[Jim Koepke]

I've tuned my guitar when I played it. I use to tune my old cars. Newer models do not seem to need all the adjustments and work the older models required.

My thoughts on "tuning" a plane is the periodic maintenance needed during use and sharpening time.

Fettling to me involves removing metal. Oxidized metal removal is still removal of metal.

My dictionary doesn't agree with yours:

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English is a very fluid language. It is it blessing and its curse. It is often said Great Britain and America are separated by a common language.

When it comes to working metal was one used before the other?

Now if you want to get upset about word usage here are two that grate on my ears:

Forte as a strong point was so often pronounced "fortay" it has become accepted in some/(all?) dictionaries.

A scupper is an opening at the side of a ship or building to allow water to escape from the deck or roof. A source indicate in the 1970s people started using it in place of scuttle to designate the deliberate sinking of a ship by its captan & crew.

Besides, a word like fettle allows me to say things like "full metal fettle to the sole and back."

jtk

[Andrew Bell]

I think the term fettle is apt, the initial health reference above is a noun describing the state of something being fine or essentially post-fettled (verb)

The Oxford dictionary (online) contains the origin of the verb form of fettle as such:
late Middle English (as a verb in the general sense 'get ready, prepare', specifically 'prepare oneself for battle, gird up'): from dialect fettle 'strip of material, girdle', from Old English fetel, of Germanic origin; related to German Fessel 'chain, band'.

Given that many planes come in a format that is not prepared or ready to work, fettling is more than tuning but preparing it for battle.

[david charlesworth]

Page two of the Webster entry had "to prepare and to make ready" Later sanding away the join line on pots etc I think it was also something done to the sharp edges of castings, and post war Stanleys had plenty of those.

It seems a fine word to me!

David Charlesworth

[Joe Bailey]

It seems a fine word to me!


So glad you chimed in - it seems you're the perfect person to defend its usage!

[george wilson]

The word scuttle in sinking ships has been used for many centuries. Piano Forte was used in the 1500's to describe the newly invented piano in Italy. Piano forte means "soft and loud". And forte is pronounced for-tay. When is it not?

The piano forte was well ahead of its time. It took many years for music played on keyboards to cease using "step dynamics"(shifting in another choir of strings,or removing a choir),and begin using "swells" of volume. Until the 18th. C.,music was architectural in nature. In the late 18th. C.,it became romantic(As in musically describing storms,conflict,etc.). Then,swelling volume,which the piano is capable of,spelled the end of the harpsichord.

[Mel Fulks]

Piano forte means "soft and loud". And forte is pronounced for-tay. When is it not?

When it refers to strength is is "fort" not for-TayTay

[Mel Fulks]

Oops ,that was supposed to contain George's name and some quotation marks. The internet is broken!

[Jim Koepke]

The word scuttle in sinking ships has been used for many centuries.

Yes.

Using 'scupper' as a verb is more recent when referring to sinking a ship. Tossing something though the scuppers is a way to get rid of something at sea.

"Give that to the scuppers" may have been one way to suggest getting rid of something.

The English language is evolutionary and revolutionary. Not sure if it is true, someone once told me the French have a thing for language purity and even have a group with the purpose of keeping the national language unchanged by current or popular trends.

jtk

[Winton Applegate]

I was going to come up with THE PERFECT TERM
but
the best I could do so far is hot rod lingo "blue printing"
or how about "spec. ing".
just doesn't have the same ring as Fettling
I am going to go have some coffee and . . .
. . .hey I could have some espresso !
I have those French beans . . .
SWEET !
. . . . . .

[Joe Bailey]

Forte as a strong point was so often pronounced "fortay" it has become accepted in some/(all?) dictionaries.
jtk


And forte is pronounced for-tay. When is it not?

Gentlemen
We are conflating two distinct words -- one is a noun, the other an adverb/adjective
So you're both right.

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[Jim Koepke]

Gentlemen
We are conflating two distinct words -- one is a noun, the other an adverb/adjective
So you're both right.


My English teacher said "Fortay" was for music and "Fort" was for strength.

But you are right, both are used and no matter what way it is said, half the listeners won't like it.

jtk

[Mel Fulks]

It is true that fortay is seldom used correctly, and it's also true that using it wrong won't get you jail time.

[Winton Applegate]

http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy298/noydb1/IMG_2522_zpse946f8b3.jpg (http://s801.photobucket.com/user/noydb1/media/IMG_2522_zpse946f8b3.jpg.html)


ahhhh there we go !


Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer
had this one
http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy298/noydb1/IMG_2521_zpse5d35e16.jpg (http://s801.photobucket.com/user/noydb1/media/IMG_2521_zpse5d35e16.jpg.html)
Some go for all that.
I don't want mine fettled with.
No foam, no chip breaker, no extra stuff to dilute the experience.
Unless your eye balls clack together and you see a spark . . .
well any way back to the termanoknowledgy.
On further , enhanced, consideration I have arrived at The Fact that this cannoa' be resolved with out the help of our brothers from across the pond, or across the world.


For proper expression I think we must form a comity that includes at least a few Brits, Scotts and Aussies (not in any particular order mind you ) and the more disorderly the more interesting come to consider it.


Probably will include a few key technical terms like . . .
well to illustrate here is some technical space ship lingo from Red Dwarf
"The minute I step through that door I get enough watts up my jacxy to light up my whole labootle.
That's not quite right I will let them tell you :



So where are they? - Dunno.
Gone.
Scarpered.
- Maybe I should take the Fifth.
- I'd take the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth, too.
I've got to find these nanos to corroborate our story, otherwise who will believe our defence? Meths drinkers and the Corn Circle Society.
I need your help, man.
- Me? - Who else will help? I'm confined to quarters.
The minute I go through that door, I get enough watches up me jacksie to light up Bootle.
Considering what the future has in store for your jacksie, a couple of zillion volts will be easy street.
Why have the nanobots put us in this situation? In the past, they've only ever done things which have benefited us.


I couldn't find the scene on You Tube but you can watch it for free on Amazon Prime Season 8 first episode, fifteen minutes in.

[Winton Applegate]

I shouldn't but I will.
You knew that.
When Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer can't get something to work she comes and gets me. Mechanical things not the check book balance you understand.
I fix it. It is what I do.
She used to say "What did you do"?
Usually people don't understand if I explain it to them.
So
I have taken to saying (edited for sensitive constitutions) :
I . . . F___ed with it until it worked.
They seem to be satisfied with that explanation much better and it saves me time going through a whole thing that makes them stare at the ceiling and yawn anyway.
She came home so proud of herself one day.
I said what?
She said I fixed the printer at work ! ! !
I said really, COOL !
What did you do ?
She says "I . . . F___ed with it until it worked."
Apparently her boss asked her what she had done to fix it and she replied the same. Her boss, a hard core female attorney who uses the term quite frequently in the office (see what I mean; a versatile and universally understood term by nearly all) was impressed with her resourcefulness.
That's my gal !
So see the F word is pretty descriptive. Might come out , on top , in the end.
No fun intended.

[Winton Applegate]

forte is pronounced for-tay. When is it not?
next you are going to tell me coupe is pronounced koopA and not koop.
:)

[Winton Applegate]

Loud

"fort"

Oops
(that's ok we'll ignore it. just go in the next room if you have to do that)

[Winton Applegate]

Q says she is taking the espresso away from me and I have to stop now and she has work for me to do so . . .

(sound of computer's electrical cord being yanked out of the wall receptacle)

[Pat Barry]

I shouldn't but I will.
You knew that.
When Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer can't get something to work she comes and gets me. Mechanical things not the check book balance you understand.
I fix it. It is what I do.
She used to say "What did you do"?
Usually people don't understand if I explain it to them.
So
I have taken to saying (edited for sensitive constitutions) :
I . . . F___ed with it until it worked.
They seem to be satisfied with that explanation much better and it saves me time going through a whole thing that makes them stare at the ceiling and yawn anyway.
She came home so proud of herself one day.
I said what?
She said I fixed the printer at work ! ! !
I said really, COOL !
What did you do ?
She says "I . . . F___ed with it until it worked."
Apparently her boss asked her what she had done to fix it and she replied the same. Her boss, a hard core female attorney who uses the term quite frequently in the office (see what I mean; a versatile and universally understood term by nearly all) was impressed with her resourcefulness.
That's my gal !
So see the F word is pretty descriptive. Might come out , on top , in the end.
No fun intended.
Oh, I see now, Fettled is an acceptable form of the verb f_____d. Thanks so much Winton.

[Joe Bailey]

Winton,

You may want to consider throttling back on your espresso intake.