Hi All!
I’d just like to take a moment to offer a Mea Culpa to the fine
folks at Rio Grande regarding style in catalogs. I’ve been educated!
Turns out they ARE as obsessive as magazine editors! (And I thought
we were the only ones who had hour-long debates over the correct
spelling of “burr.”)
I hadn’t realized the extent to which large operations like Rio
develop their style sheets, etc. My own experience in catalog
production isn’t particularly extensive, and judging from many of the
catalogs I’ve seen over the years, not every operation goes to that
much trouble. However, Rio apparently DOES make the effort, even if
they don’t always manage perfect consistency. (Heck, who does?) It’s
nice to hear that someone cares enough to work at it. Thanks to Lyn
Sutton and others who took the time and trouble to educate me
otherwise, and please accept my apologies for any offense I may have
given.
Suzanne
Suzanne Wade
Writer/Editor
Phone: (508) 339-7366
Fax: (928) 563-8255
@Suzanne_Wade1
http://www.rswade.net
Hi Friends, Aside from the consistent inconsistency in spellings, I
think a more interesting, and possibly perplexing aspect of this
problem is completely different terminology used in different
countries. Someone, I believe Suzanne, touched on the spellings of
jewelry and karat, but in some cases, there are completely different
words for the same stuff! This has got to be trouble if your market
for a book is global.
I picked up a nice jewelry book by a British author, Jinks
McGrath… you’ve probably seen one or two of them. In reading it, I
would occasionally trip over a word that I would have to examine to
determine what it was. These are jewelry specific terms. The first
that comes to mind is mop vs. buff… are relatively easy one. In
flipping through the book looking for examples, I find a “fichu”
joint on a brooch, “argotec” (boric acid?), and it took me a while to
determine that “chenier” must mean tubing.
I’ll bet our non-U.S. Orchid members can provide additional
examples, having to translate our American postings!
All the best,
Dave
Dave Sebaste
Sebaste Studio and
Carolina Artisans’ Gallery
Charlotte, NC (USA)
dave@sebaste.com
Dave,
You are absolutely right and the differences in terminology is
evident in the US. Those on the west coast use different terms to=
describe processes or items than those on the east coast. This= can
be a little confusing just here in the US and even worse in other
countries as you have shown.
Ken Kotoski
MPG Repair
www.mpgrepair.com
1-877-262-2185
If you are looking for differences in names or words for tools I can
give you some
A Pin Vise ( Pin Tong in UK) A French Beading tool (eye of the
chicken in Equador) Cross cut inverted cone Bur ( cats tail in
Equador )
I think we may not be able to make a universal dictionary but we do
need one for the US
The term Needle nose is commonly used in the south for the chain
nose pliers. Its not only the jewelers but equipment dealers
themselves have problems understanding each other.
You cannot blame the catalogs as being inconsistent, Most of the
time the buyers for these companies are not trained jewelers but
paper pushers. They submit the description from suppliers from all
over the world. I have run into product managers who do not know any
thing about tools or supplies but look at the bottom line of their
company’s figures.
Just adding my 2 cents worth.
Kenneth Singh
HI Gang,
Someone, I believe Suzanne, touched on the spellings of jewelry and
karat, but in some cases, there are completely different words for
the same stuff! This has got to be trouble if your market for a
book is global.
One way around this delima is the use of a standard ‘limited
vocabulary’. I don’t know how you go about getting one in an
uncontolled industry like the jeweler(r)y industry with lots of small
operations. However in a previous life., I worked for a large
multinational corp. Large complex, high tech products were designed &
built in many countries of the world & sold all over the world. They
were continually updated with engineering changes & sales changes
by folks in their own or neighboring countries. Regardless of where
they were designed & built, all the instructions for enginering &
sales changes were written in US English (sometimes with a bit of an
accent (bg)). The folks writing & using these instructions were all
trained technicans & required to be able to read & understand a
‘limited vocabulary (US English)’, about 2400 words.
I had the oppourtunity to both use & write a number of these
instructions (I only speak & write US English & sometimes not very
well at that). I can’t speak for non US users of instructions, but as
a user, I never had a problem with any of the instructions whether
they were produced in Asia or Europe. I can only assume the they
didn’t have too much trouble with mine since I never received any
negative feedback & comments both positive & negative were actively
solicited & forwarded to the source.
I might add that some of the instructions where quite lengthy, The
longest one I wrote was over 100 pages. Some were lots shorter 4 or 5
pages.
Possibly, a group like the Orchid group with it’s international &
wide work background makeup is a good source to try to put a work of
this magnitude together. It would mean a couple of things, folks
worldwide would have input & once the ‘dictionary’ was produced
they’d have a responsibility to do their best to get it implemented
locally. That might mean forgeting some ‘old terms’ & learning some
‘new terms’, but at least we’d all be on the same wavelength.
That’s not to say that the dictionary couldn’t/wouldn’t be produce
in local languages.
Dave
End of forwarded message
I have in my jewelers dungeon a Dictionary of Jewelry. Its English,
probably 20 + years old, and has hundreds of pages of good
I don’t have the official title, authors names, or
publisher name right infront of me right now. Sorry. I will get post
later. If you want, I could loan you the book to use for your
research. Let me know…
Daniel Hamilton
I have in my jewelers dungeon a Dictionary of Jewelry. Its
English, probably 20 + years old, and has hundreds of pages of
good I don't have the official title, authors names,
or publisher name right infront of me right now. Sorry. I will get
post later. If you want, I could loan you the book to use for
your research. Let me know...
Daniel, When you get your hands on the title, author, etc., I would
love to know them. Perhaps I can track down a copy. Thanks
Viqui Sanchez
Rio Grande