P3D "Terminology..."

[ddd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi!

A few ("HA!") lines to clarify,...

>> Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 04:25:13 -0500 From: roberts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (John W Roberts)wrote: the >>HiFi in "VHS Hi Fi" *does* refer to sound.

  Way back in the '80s, while shopping for a VCR, i was told by a salesman (_Not_ a good source of tech info, i know,) that HiFi was special circuitry that helped clarify the picture detail, kind of like dithering. Since i've seen 'HiFi'- labeled non-stereophonic VCRs, i'm trying to find out the true definition as used ca. 1987. Thanks for the info, John!


 
>> Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 14:59:50 -0800 (PST) From: Bruce Springsteen To: apec maillist , Subject: P3D >>Typo Alert and Words, Words, Words Message-ID: >><19990123225950.5844.rocketmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:... I like words.

  Us too! I mean, we must, to spend longer than most of us can speak (two fingers typing school for me) changing an intangible like thoughts into a cryptic bunch of squiggles representing ideas onto a screen, bypassing the way we communicated to each other throughout history (orally and motionally[sic]) up until the first cave paintings (provided those really weren't Man's first attempt at 'decorating'). Ain't it neat? 
  Words are cool, but they really are a means to an end.

>>I like truncating words, like "phone" for "telephone", or "stereo" for "stereography",  "stereographic", >>"stereothisandthat". Saves time. But it tends to exclude stereo-outsiders and people for  whom English is >>unfamiliar.

  Well, yes and no. Saves time, yes, but also means the same thing as the longer word.Not as grammatically proper, maybe, but neither are most people (though we should all try our best). The important point is, We're verbally creating an image of an item or a concept. Ask a child whose command of English isn't that of an adults to 'get the phone', and it will go right to it, providing he or she has ever consciously noted _what_ 'phone'  is, and not rationalizing that we've asked for an object defined by the American slang abbreviation of 'telephone.' Same as the Swiss girl i knew whose command of our language was poor at best.
  We as a people tend to speak in the manner that gets our ideas across in the quickest and/or clearest way. (That's Darwinian for you. Who's more likely to survive: Ug, who stands, points, and says, 'We should flee because a Sabre-Toothed Tiger, [forthcoming] Latin name *omitted cuz i don't know it right now* is approaching and we are all in imminent danger!!'  or Nog, who points and yells,'Tiger!!!' and beats feet?)  That's how 'phone' works now, and that's also how 'stereo' got to mean 'stereophonic'. _Public familiarity._ 
   Herbert McKay was correct & proper in his use of large words, but wasn't he kind of 'preaching to the converted?' I mean aside from his magazine columns where i'll bet his use of such words was limited, wasn't he speaking to those of us to whom Stereography was an interest (those who were interested enough to learn more by reading his books)?  Sure,  _we_ know these terms (OK,maybe not all), but the general populace who doesn't deal with stereoscopy like we do is stumped by their meaning. Why? _Because people use the shortest possible wording, and don't/won't spend the time to decipher  an unfamiliar term!_  Remember 'phone'?  This is also how '3D' came to mean 'ray traced two dimensional computer renderings of a three dimensional world.'
  I commend "Mr. Springsteen" on his use of stereographic terms, real or imagined, that transmits the ideas we as a group are so interested in.



>>Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 17:32:16 PST From: "Ray Moxom" To: photo-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  >>Message-ID: <19990124013216.10003.qmail@xxxxxxxxxxx> . Having previously been told that the  French name for stereo photography was "la photo en relief" we used this term. The result was >>a blank  face and a shrug of the shoulders. The word stereo photography was of little help. Another >>French  couple came along and joined the discussion with the suggestion that our cameras were for "3D". >>There  were smiles all around, we all understood the term 3D. Its a pity that the term 3D has been >>stolen by so  many others (3D Sound etc). However it may well be the term that is best known and >>understood in all  languages. Any comments on this from our German, French and other non >>English background  members. Ray Moxom, Sydney Australia


Exactly! Great points! 


>> Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1999
>>                 23:59:10 +0100 From: abram klooswyk To: photo-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  Message-ID: >>	 	 <36ABA5BE.3577@xxxxxx>
>>                 ddd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote (PHOTO-3D Digest 3171, in an unsigned posting): >Historically,
>>                 'stereo' meant 'stereophonic' As the Stereoscope came half a century before stereophony,
>>                 doesn't the historical sequence is a little different ?

  Yes, it's illogical, but what does Public Opinion ever have to do with logic? ;-)
But then again, what _did_  the public call it? We know what writers called it because that's the only surviving record we have now, not the spoken word of people who were alive then. People may well have referred to it as 'pancakeaxelsnithy' for all we know. The only way we'd know is if a writer, whose duty (presumably) would be the factual reportage of his subject, might use colloquialisms and dialect a'la James Whitcomb Riley and deemed to not use the proper & correct terms as their editors and the literate public who comprised the core audience would demand. Considering the fact that 'pancake...' isn't the general term we hear spoken today, i doubt that's the common term used by everyone else then. But, Hey, i wasn't around then, so i dunno.

	>>More misinformation, uncorrected, that helped confuse the publics facts. 
	>>Which misinformation ??? :-) Abram Klooswyk


  Just like a common term we _do_ hear today when referring to a stereocard viewing device: 'stereopticon.'
Due IMHO to the 'misinformation' of someone hearing the term misused when talking about said device (A Foghorn Leghorn cartoon comes to mind- but then again the character who misidentified it was rather an idiot,...). In this context i define 'misinformation' as _verbally transmitted_ incorrect terminology. That's how people come to pick up identifying terms.
  Again, that's where WE come in. Use the right terms whenever we can comfortably get away with it in a social setting (no H. McKay tonguetwistersat a meeting of 'Guys Who Beat Up Smarmy Eggheads Anonymous') but don't be afraid to just say 'stereo' (hmm, sounds kinda catchy!).

 A typical conversation of mine:
	Me:"Here's  a stereo picture- check it out!"
	They:" You mean it makes music? (or some such, ...)
	We: "Hahahahahaha!!"
	Me: "No, like 'stereoscopic'. It's means 'solid sight' like 'stereophonic' means 'solid sound'.
	      You gotta have two different views like yer own eyes, like two different speakers fer yer ears.'
	They:"Really? Wow,..."

Now they just might remember the kernel of info that is basic but factual, and i didn't confuse them by introducing '3D' which they probably know from computers.

Whew.
*Yawn* I'm tired now, as must be the parishoners :-).

*signed*
-I'm-really-not naturally-this long-winded,
t (preaching to the converted) c




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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 3176
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