# What's the real name of a "disco ball"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 3, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015 "2003-07-03T13:32:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/1 "2003-07-03T13:32:11Z")
Mirror ball? I know these things predate disco by decades. All you have to do is watch dance hall movies made before the Disco era to see them. So what are they? I even called a party supply place and asked what those shiny balls that hang from the ceiling with mirror-looking thingies on them are called. Answer: disco ball. I vaguely recall an even better name than “mirror ball” that had the same basic structure as “rotogravure” (as in Easter Parade) but I know that’s not it, either. Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/2 "2003-07-03T13:56:47Z")
My dictionary has an entry under “mirror ball”, but doesn’t say anything about there being another, more correct, name. Sorry. How about you make one up? From the Greek, maybe katoptroglobe? Or, for a more Latin flavour, speculosphere? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/3 "2003-07-03T14:22:10Z")
I’ve only seen “mirror ball” and “glitter ball” in use aside from “disco ball”, myself. I sort of favor “Sawalha Sphere”, but that’s real obscure… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/4 "2003-07-03T14:40:51Z")
Thanks for the suggestions, r\_k and Dogface, but “disco ball” works as a reasonable term when you’re trying to get the point across, as in, “Yo! Watch Out! Disco ball!” or “look at the girl under the disco ball, the one with three feet.” It’s just one of those Jeopardy! type answers I want to be ready for. Speaking of which, I was thinking a good Jeopardy! category might be “Jeopardy! clues that were used before and nobody ever got them.” On with the show… ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/5 "2003-07-03T14:54:55Z")
The folks at NASA seem content to use the term “mirror ball”. From this page, [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx574.html](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx574.html) > [@](#): > > LRE (Laser Reflecting Equipment) is a Japanese test spacecraft that was launched from the Tsukuba Space Center on Tanegashima Island by an H-2A rocket at 07:29 UT on 29 August 2001… The 87 kg LRE is a passive **mirror ball** of diameter 51 cm and carries 24 glass sheets and 126 prisms on its surface, and was ejected from the H-2A just to ascertain the rocket’s potential capability for precisely launching four-tonne payloads with the help of light echoes from the LRE. > > [Emphasis added] NASA does like to use the scientific jargon, so if they can’t come up with something fancier than “mirror ball”, I’m not sure such a term exists. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/6 "2003-07-03T15:06:09Z")
Thanks, chukhung. You make a good case for “mirror ball.” Whatever this other word is/was that I’m thinking I remember may just be something somebody _else_ made up. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/7 "2003-07-03T15:13:33Z")
I’ve heard (and prefer) the term “mirror\*\*ed[/ed] ball.” ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/8 "2003-07-03T15:16:29Z")
What a dolt I am. Once more, that’s: I’ve heard (and prefer) the term “mirror **ed** ball.” ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/9 "2003-07-04T17:57:06Z")
**Zeldar** , is the word you’re thinking of “lenticular”? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/10 "2003-07-04T18:02:36Z")
**postcards** I looked that up after seeing your suggestion and it doesn’t appear to be what I’m remembering I heard/read some time ago. Thanks, though. Z ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/11 "2003-07-04T19:42:54Z")
Disco Ball, Disco Ball, On the ceiling Can you make my dance appealing? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/12 "2003-07-04T22:57:24Z")
My parents refer to it as ‘Tango Ball’. As they were born in the 30’s, it might serve as an indication about what was used before the disco era. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2003, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/13 "2003-07-04T22:59:18Z")
“Mirror ball” seems to the the term mused by companies that sell them, though some do both (to make sure not to miss any customer, I guess): [here](http://www.kleptomaniac.com/product/?prod_id=12306) and [here (UK)](http://www.mirrorballdisco.co.uk/) and [here](http://www.electrovision.co.uk/njd/docs/products/mb.html) This was apparently invented in the 1930’s or '40’s, an early example of one can be seen in the movie Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart, from 1942. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/14 "2003-07-06T01:14:37Z")
I prefer mirrored ball to mirror ball, too. (One of which is the correct generic name.) Unfortunately a Google fight reveals that mirror ball is about 15 times more popular. And understandably since the d to b sound is difficult to say and quickly dropped in common speech. ## Peace. Do it. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/15 "2003-07-06T12:03:14Z")
I had one named _Keith_. Does that help? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2003, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-real-name-of-a-disco-ball/186015/16 "2003-07-07T01:03:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zoe \* > \*\*I had one named _Keith_. Does that help? \*\* No, it doesn’t help. Do you have anything useful to contribute?