# Common but incorrect names of things **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 11, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466 "2021-08-11T18:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![superwombat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superwombat/32/16616_2.png) [@superwombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superwombat)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/61 "2021-08-13T15:14:09Z")
This might be a local dialect thing. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/62 "2021-08-13T15:19:29Z")
> [@solost](#): > > What about all the things that are called by their common brand names, no matter what brand they actually are- Kleenex, xerox, band-aid, kool-aid, etc. does that count for the purpose of this thread? While I do find those interesting, we’ve had other threads on that topic. This topic is for generic nouns. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/63 "2021-08-13T15:23:02Z")
For electrical things, I often hear people refer to a wire as a cable, and vice-versa. A wire is a single conductor. It usually has a circular cross section, it’s usually flexible or semi-flexible, and it’s usually insulated. A cable contains two or more conductors that are electrically insolated from each other. The conductors in a cable are usually wires, but they don’t have to be, such as the case for a coax cable. And if they _are_ wires, it’s usually the case that all of them are individually insulated. But sometimes one of the wires will not be insulated, such as a ground wire. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/64 "2021-08-13T15:42:34Z")
> [@Dandan](#): > > Perhaps also called “the Hardstand?” As I understand it, a hardstand is an individual parking spot, while the apron is the entire parking area. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/65 "2021-08-13T18:09:59Z")
Railroad employees and railroad enthusiasts get very annoyed when people use the term “cowcatcher”. The proper term is _pilot_. On a tram, it’s called a _fender._ ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/66 "2021-08-13T18:21:53Z")
And aviation enthusiasts like myself get very annoyed when people talk about “the pilot” and “co-pilot”. It’s captain and first officer. Both of them are pilots. The captain is the higher ranking of the two and the one who’s in charge, but both of them are equally qualified to fly the plane. (Much of why I get annoyed by people calling the captain “the pilot” is that it implies the other person somehow isn’t a pilot, but merely some sort of apprentice or something). ---
**Author:** ![its\_the\_daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bb73d2/32.png) [@its\_the\_daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/its_the_daddy)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/67 "2021-08-13T18:40:19Z")
Mortar: “a short smooth-bore gun for firing shells (technically called bombs) at high angles” The mortar is not the projectile! ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/68 "2021-08-13T19:00:41Z")
I’m sure there’s something to the battery vs cells but I’m not sure when to use which one. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/69 "2021-08-13T19:04:24Z")
The AA, AAA, C & D batteries are all single cell batteries. A 9-Volt is 6 cells in one Battery. Each standard cell is around 1.5 volts. Hopefully that helps a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/70 "2021-08-13T19:13:55Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > The AA, AAA, C & D batteries are all single cell batteries. I’m pretty sure a battery is defined as two or more cells that are connected together. So an AA, AAA, C, and D are cells, not batteries and not “single cell batteries.” A car has something that contains six cells in series (for a 12 V system), so we call it a battery. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/71 "2021-08-13T19:17:15Z")
This might be different in the US, but A bride who gets married in church walks down the nave, not the aisle. The aisles are the bits at the side, separated from the nave by columns or pillars. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/72 "2021-08-13T19:38:34Z")
I’m not sure it’s different in the US so much as different usages of “aisle” . In church architecture, the “nave” is the middle portion of a church and the “aisles” are on the sides (often separated from the nave by pillars ). But in ordinary speech an aisle is a space for walking between rows of seats ( or shelves or a row of seats/shelves and a wall) - and that’s the aisle the bride is walking down. A bride isn’t by any definition “walking down the nave” at a outdoor wedding with rows of folding chairs - but we absolutely do talk about such a bride “walking down the aisle”. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/73 "2021-08-13T19:41:35Z")
**Standard definition** is “a container consisting of **one** or more cells, in which chemical energy is converted into electricity and used as a source of power.” From [Oxford Languages and Google - English | Oxford Languages](https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/) I bolded the “one” for clarity. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/74 "2021-08-13T21:59:14Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > And aviation enthusiasts like myself get very annoyed when people talk about “the pilot” and “co-pilot”. > > It’s captain and first officer. Both of them are pilots. And in the navy, they prefer to be called “aviators” (“pilot” has a nautical meaning that long predates the Wright brothers). ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/75 "2021-08-13T22:36:12Z")
Interesting, on my carrier I recall the “pilots” and flight crews reporting to their Ready Rooms. I remember hearing Pilot often and aviators rarely. Also in the Navy on the ships we had Helmsman, but no pilots on the bridge. Possibly the small boats had pilots. I was just a lowly Electrician Mate in Engineering though so maybe that was Airdale jargon. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/76 "2021-08-13T23:04:27Z")
Things may have changed over the decades. My information is second-hand, from relatives who were WW2 veterans. When my dad was in the Army Air Force, the pilot commanding the aircraft was usually a Lieutenant, and might be a Major or a Colonel. I doubt if they insisted on being called “captain”. I also remember that Dad would occasionally refer to fighters as “airplanes”, but bombers were always “ships”. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2021, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/77 "2021-08-14T12:05:11Z")
Nothing really “incorrect” here - unless you are from a country that tends to use one term over the other. [The difference between “railway” and “railroad”](https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-railway-and-vs-railroad/). Trams/streetcars were always referred to as “street railways”, no matter what country you’re in. Example - the [Hamilton Street Railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_Street_Railway) near Toronto (Canada) hasn’t operated railed vehicles for decades. The Staten Island Railway is one of the rare American usages of the term today. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2021, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/78 "2021-08-14T16:05:13Z")
Wait-a-minnit, I might be misunderstanding your second paragraph. Captains are the rank between Lieutenant and Major, so they would be referred to as “Captain” in terms of rank, but I see your point that “Captain” in terms of ‘office’ is more related to nautical ships. Which reminds me of another reference. Submarines are submarines, but they are not **ships** , they are “ **boats** ”. And in the current fleet, there are “fast attack” boats, and “boomers.” I learned through subtlety, that calling a submarine a “ship” is not necessarily a good thing. Tripler It might land you a billet on one of those ‘super-slow attack’ boats. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2021, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/79 "2021-08-14T16:17:27Z")
You understood correctly. To people using army ranks, “Captain” is not the prestige title that it is in the nautical services. The title for the commander of an aircraft was “pilot”, and the second-in-command was “co-pilot”. They would have laughed at civilian airline pilots who insisted on being called “captain”. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2021, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466/80 "2021-08-16T14:37:11Z")
Juniper berries. Junipers are conifers, they have no flowers, and therefore have no berries. Junipers have cones, just like all the other conifers. You can call juniper “berries” female strobili (singular strobilus) if you want to. That would be correct. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/common-but-incorrect-names-of-things/948466.md?page=3)