Why do we still call them that?
I know originally mirrors were mounted on the front quarter panels (aka the \'wing\'s), but since having moved them closer to the drivers peripheral and mounting them (most of the time) on the doors, we still refer to them as wing mirrors? Despite them not being on the wing anymore.
How come nobody thought to change the name from \'wing mirrors\' to something else? Or if they thought of it, why didn\'t they? Simplicity?
Just something random that dawned on me looking through the for-sale ad\'s :)
They are referred to as door mirrors on occasion...
Or rear view mirrors.
I thought \'rear view mirror\' was the term for the one inside the cabin mounted to the roof (or on some occasions the windscreen)?
I was just curious, as I know most people I talk to still say \'wing mirrors\' talking about door-mounted mirrors, myself included, just interesting the mentality of being brought up calling something a name which is completely wrong.
Yeah it normally is but I have heard the ones on the side called that as well.
And there\'s headlights - my other half calls them main beam and dipped but I say it\'s main beem and full beam. So we are calling main beam different things. To me dipped is like side lights - but I don\'t have those.
I just find it interesting how we\'re brought up calling something on the car a name that\'s wrong, or clearly not the right name for something. And then there\'s things that actually do have different names like lights.
I have sides, main and full beam, but then I often call \'full beam\' fog lights. I know they aren\'t fog lights, but they\'re for driving in very low visibility, and I use them for fog driving a lot. But I call them it anyway. lol :)
So much variety in what we all call what is essentially one thing.
I had wing mirrors on a couple of cars (yep, I\'m old :o). They were cack, you couldn\'t see bugger all in them and adjusting them was a complete and utter PITA cos you couldn\'t do it and remain in the postition from which you\'d actually be using them whilst driving :Hammer. I don\'t especially care what you call them, but door mirrors are a much better idea
Anyone for main and high beam, btw? :rollin
Haha, high-beam is something else I call them! I should really pick a name lol
As Nik da Greek has said they used to be located on the front wing back in the day, hence the term wing mirror being correct back then. Now they are normally attached to the door and should be called door mirrors. It really annoys me when people call them wing mirrors when they\'re on the door :Grrr
Quote from: PDale;759905As Nik da Greek has said they used to be located on the front wing back in the day
I said that in me first post! :Tongue1
Whoops, it was a long day yesterday. Need to learn to read or get some sleep :Snoring
Quote from: Lacey;759909I said that in me first post! :Tongue1
Eh? Sorry, did you say something? :rollin
Nik stealing all my credit :p
Is it because they look like tiny stubby wings?:Hammer :Laugh
lol, It\'s not theft if it\'s freely given. :confused:
Boot.. Trunk. Hood... Bonnet, ahh lets call the whole thing off. :p
But seriously, your bothered that wing mirrors are called that when they\'re not on the wings. Think you\'ve got to much spare time to think :rollin
Adam
I think it\'s a fascinating metaphysical conundrum, actually. Is something defined by what it\'s called, does its function define its name, or is it the other way round? So, if you were to mount an actual wing mirror, for example from a Morris Marina (*cough*) to the door of a different car, would it then become a door mirror, despite having a microfiche part number that calls it a wing mirror somewhere in the dungeons of British Leyland? (OK, probably not a microfiche, probably a note scrawled on the back of a fag packet or beer mat, but the idea holds true.)
Is it then defined by its purpose, or is its identity constant no matter what role it performs. If you used it to shave in, would it still be a wing mirrror? Where does it leave us if this isn\'t the case? If you drive buses for a living, are you only a bus driver only whilst actually driving a bus? If so, what do you become when you walk home? If you\'re a parent, do you cease being a father or mother as soon as you put your baby down to sleep?
This of course leads on to lots of other imponderables that have kept philosophers busy since time immemorial (many of whom of course were utter layabouts with far too much time to moon about thinking of pointless idioms to annoy other people with). Like, if you can only see a star when the light from it shines on something, does it not exist the rest of the time? Does a tree falling unobserved in a forest still make a sound? And how is it that MASH lasted eight times longer than the actual Korean War?
Why do hot dogs come in packs of 10 when the buns come in packs of 12s?
Whys it called a television set when there\'s only 1 on them?
As for the tree falling. Yes it does make a sound. But then a sounds can only be called that if it heard :confused:
Maybe i\'ve got to much time on my hands to :rollin
Adam
It moves air in a way that correlates to what we interpret as sound waves. But is it a sound if it isn\'t heard? And of course, you can\'t actually prove it even makes sound waves, according to Heisenberg\'s Uncertainty Principle that by measuring something you also change it.
the time is later than you think
If olive oil is made from olives, vegetable oil made form vegetables... what about baby oil :eek:
Adam
I\'m not sure if that one actually works :confused:. If it did, Mars bars would have to be made from Mars, and that would be very unpalatable. And expensive. Fduk alone knows what Snickers would be made of :eek:.
That\'s the same argument as all herring are fish, therefore all fish are herring. It seems logical at first glance, but is, of course, poo :rollin
Quote from: Nik da Greek;760024It moves air in a way that correlates to what we interpret as sound waves. But is it a sound if it isn\'t heard? And of course, you can\'t actually prove it even makes sound waves, according to Heisenberg\'s Uncertainty Principle that by measuring something you also change it.
the time is later than you think
ooh, i know this one...
\'sound\' is what happens between our inner ear and our brains, it\'s purely perceptual, everything up until that point is just various bits of matter vibrating.
so, if nobody is there to hear it then it doesn\'t make a sound!
So by the same argument, time is just as irrelevant. If sound is only what we call something that happens all the time at the point that it affects us directly, then time can be considered similar? Since it\'s merely an arbitrary value that we apportion to the fact that everything in the universe moves irreversibly towards greater entropy (according to Hawking, anyway), then it actually means nothing because it\'s purely a construct of human definition?
So, it doesn\'t matter if I turn up an hour late to work tomorrow, yeah, so long as I don\'t look at my watch between now and then? :D
I may unsubscribe from this thread - way too random! :Giggle
You lost me somewhere between .... oh look a puppy! :D
Adam
Where :3Confused? Ooooh, I loooooove puppies :D Love their pink snuffly noses........
..... tickle his chin, tickle tickle.... bored now.
Where\'s the sandpit :)
Adam
Quote from: Ada7;760040Where\'s the sandpit :)
Adam
Is that a euphemism for something? I prefer messing around in the council gritter, meself :Giggle
Sorry, i was told not to talk to strangers. MUUUMMMMM!!!!!
Adam
Just when I was starting to think car forums were all boring stuff about cars, too. Sorry, are you still here?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHYH664fIow
back on topic now :p
Adam
Quote from: Nik da Greek;760048Is that a euphemism for something? I prefer messing around in the council gritter, meself :Giggle
I\'m fairly sure that\'s a euphamism :rollin