# In America what does 'lighter' mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564 "2008-10-25T22:41:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/1 "2008-10-25T22:41:51Z")
At work our call center staff ask for KYC (Know Your Customer) documents which is basically some form of ID and/or front and back copy of their credit card. Most of them send them via fax. When we get them the picture is often too dark and impossible to make anything out. So we send them an email suggesting they change the settings on their FAX machine to make the image lighter. And more often than not, we get another fax through and the image is… … _Bigger_?!? 😕😕😕 Does ‘lighter’ mean ‘bigger’? ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/2 "2008-10-25T22:45:59Z")
no just most people who work on computer equipment tend to be stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/3 "2008-10-25T22:47:45Z")
It means what you think it means, lighter…less dark. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/4 "2008-10-25T22:50:32Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > It means what you think it means, lighter…less dark. That’s what I thought. Which is why it totally baffles us when we get someone’s ID back - twice as big (but no lighter) ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/5 "2008-10-25T22:58:43Z")
WAG - they either don’t know how to adjust the darkness or are their machine is already set as light as it goes, and they’re trying to make the document easier to read. I thought you were going to be asking about the thing used to light cigarettes, maybe you call it “portable fire” over there :smack:. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/6 "2008-10-25T23:51:46Z")
The first thing I thought of was a type of barge. The second was something for igniting cigarettes. Re: The OP, ‘less dark’ is the only definition. Perhaps the person on the other end mis-read it ‘larger’? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/7 "2008-10-25T23:52:44Z")
> [@](#): > > I thought you were going to be asking about the thing used to light cigarettes, maybe you call it “portable fire” over there I was thinking the same thing, but I think the British term is “cigar torch”. But really, is it any more surprising than American tourists speaking louder so foreigners can understand them? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/8 "2008-10-26T00:32:02Z")
> [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](#): > > I thought you were going to be asking about the thing used to light cigarettes, maybe you call it “portable fire” over there :smack:. We call it “The Unnatural Perversion of God’s Nature” edit: Joking aside, we call them lighters too. But we use them to light fags, which has the slight potential to be mis-interpreted in a very particular way in the US. edit2: I don’t “Smoke Fags” But many Brits do. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/9 "2008-10-26T03:16:55Z")
My guess is heading down a different tangent altogether. I think many fax machines must have an adjustment called “lighter” that makes the document appear larger, for no reason imagineable, because the design of fax machines and other office equipment is in general absolutely bolt stupid. Has anybody any objection to the reasonableness of this idea? ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/10 "2008-10-26T17:10:08Z")
IME, fax machines, especially the cheaper ones, have trouble scanning greys and halftones and tend to make everything either black or white. The receiving fax has a lot to do with it too. Laser faxes do really well, but the thermal-ribbon faxes tend to kill any halftones. We offer public fax service, and when someone wants to fax a driver’s license, we always make a copy on the copier, lightening it up as much as possible and usually enlarging it to 200%. This way, the photo on the driver’s license comes out somewhat readable, rather than just a black box on the ID. Also, this prevents the holographic image of the state of Louisiana from coming out black and making the text unreadable. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/11 "2008-10-26T18:01:24Z")
Also, many American driver’s licenses (depends on the state) may have tons of holograms and stuff on them, which makes them copy very weirdly and makes copies hard to read. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-what-does-lighter-mean/469564/12 "2008-10-26T18:59:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I was thinking the same thing, but I think the British term is “cigar torch”. Who told you this? I’ve never even heard of such a thing. The device for lighting cigarettes is a “lighter”, nothing else.