# Tension Rods
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 24, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273 "2007-03-24T02:01:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/1 "2007-03-24T02:01:20Z")
Rather than hijack this ["High tension" power lines - Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=413637) post, I’ll start a new one. I don’t think I’m expecting a serious response - I doubt that this raises to the level of a GQ - but what the heck.
Has anyone ('Merkins mostly, I guess) heard the term “tension rod” to refer to shower curtain and window curtain hanging rods? It’s bugged me just a little bit, because most all of the ones I see are _compressed_ between the window sill or shower walls.
Er, yes, I’m an engineer. Why do you ask?
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### Author:  [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/2 "2007-03-24T02:38:02Z")
You mean the kind with a spring in them? Yep, I have heard them called tension rods. I think it even says that on the packaging.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/3 "2007-03-24T02:49:13Z")
All the one’s I’ve seen in 'merica are the ones that telescope using a screw action.
And I call them “shower curtain rods”.
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### Author:  [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/4 "2007-03-24T02:53:14Z")
We call them tension rods too.
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### Author:  [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/5 "2007-03-24T03:47:25Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
All the one’s I’ve seen in 'merica are the ones that telescope using a screw action.
And I call them “shower curtain rods”.
[/QUOTE]
They aren’t just used to hold shower curtains. I have used them in different sizes for curtains when I didn’t want to install hardware.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/6 "2007-03-24T12:29:37Z")
Yup, they’re tension rods. What else would you call them? (I haven’t read the whole thread you linked to, in case this is discussed there.)
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### Author:  [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/7 "2007-03-24T13:05:34Z")
A “stick”. 😃
Well, mine’s a piece of dowel.
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### Author:  [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/8 "2007-03-24T13:12:16Z")
Tension _bars_ are used on some models of trucks/SUV’s as a suspension component. I never would have though of using one for a shower rod.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/9 "2007-03-24T14:26:15Z")
Have always called them tension rods, clear back in the 70s when I used one in my station wagon to keep crap from sliding around in the back. An engineer would probably call it a “spring-assisted self-supporting tension system”.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/10 "2007-03-24T15:18:43Z")
Yup - IME “tension rod” is the near universal term for these devices that work by compression.
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tension-rods/397273/11 "2007-03-24T21:43:09Z")
Maybe I just was never the guy shopping for shower rods, but I don’t recall hearing them called that. However, I have seen steel rods in bridges and “up in the steel” in factory buildings, that were clearly under tension.