Could we cool it with the bass jargon?

[Pings Bass]

This page just needs to be updated. No tort! TalkBass Acronyms | TalkBass.com

 

[LBS-bass]

Many Pre-CBS Fender guitars and basses ha serial numbers starting with the letter L, hence the term “L series”.

Right, that was in the original post. I offered an alternative to suggest why it is confusing.

 

[Scarysharkface]

But then the drummers and guitar players will know what we’re talking about.

That's optimistic!

 

[Kro]

Yeah, that whole "Sting" thing was weird.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

Sting Ray's are Ray's anyway.

 

[mongo2]

I'm fine with jargon.

 

[G19Tony]

We were cleared the ILS 6 circle 1 circle at TORBY. I set the HUD/DH to circle alt, then directed the FO to program the FMS for the ILS 6 and make sure the MAP was up on the ND. I briefed the APP and called for FLP10.

Jargon makes the world go round, and provides for efficient communication.

 

[Carl Hillman]

Slippy dip down, burning on the hot side of town.*

*translation: Sure.

Cutty say 'e can't HANG!

 

[Kro]

Sting Ray's are Ray's anyway.

 

[Michedelic]

Yeah, that whole "Sting" thing was weird.

View attachment 3745838

I thought all along that this was a Sting bass...

 

[Michedelic]

Supporters of jargon believe such language is necessary for navigating the intricacies of certain professions. In scientific fields, for instance, researchers explore difficult subjects that most laypeople would not be able to understand. The language the researchers use must be precise because they are dealing with complex concepts (molecular biology, for example, or nuclear physics) and simplifying the language might cause confusion or create room for error. In "Taboo Language," Keith Allan and Kate Burridge argue that this is the case:


"Should jargon be censored? Many people think it should. However, close examination of jargon shows that, although some of it is vacuous pretentiousness...its proper use is both necessary and unobjectionable."

Critics of jargon, however, say such language is needlessly complicated and in some cases even deliberately designed to exclude outsiders. American poet David Lehman has described jargon as "the verbal sleight of hand that makes the old hat seem newly fashionable." He says the language "gives an air of novelty and specious profundity to ideas that, if stated directly, would seem superficial, stale, frivolous, or false." In his famous essay "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell argues that obscure and complex language is often used to "make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."

You know what I say?
View attachment 3745822

To that diatribe I would add...

 

[Auspuff]

In the interest of efficient communication, would it be possible to use standard language rather than bass jargon in posts?

I can understand "pups" as shorthand for pickups, but I also see some newer members thinking they've stumbled into a dog owners' group. "Tort" means one thing to us, but something completely different to lawyers.

I bring this up because of two recent experiences.

One poster referred to something like his "Fender L." I know Ps and Js and PJs, but couldn't recollect any Fender model that started with an L. Another TB-er thought that it was a reference to Fender's early numbering system, where an L serial number would have indicated a pre-1965 vintage. But even today, neither of us knows for sure.

And just today, a TB-er posted something about his "Sting." Some responders to the post thought he was talking about the P-bass model that Sting uses. As it turns out (I think, anyway), he was referring to a MusicMan StingRay.

Since we're all in this together, and we do really want to understand and help each other, do you think it might be possible to take a look at your post before sending, just to make sure you're saying what you mean and making your point clearly to a general audience? Assuming that everyone you want to communicate with is familiar with all the bass jargon is usually a mistake.

Thanks.

You have to remember people use jargon, because, 1) They think they are cool, 2) They are lazy, and 3) Most people are stupid.

However, even The Media is doing it. An example, read any major online news source, and you will see "SCOTUS," instead of Supreme Court of The United States.

Good luck.

 

[rowsi]

Jargon can be necessary in some cases, fun in others, or obnoxiously stupid.

When I'm, talking about monolayers with a certain occupation, surface physicists or physical chemists know whats up. Trying to talk about "layers on a surface, whereas in this layer no particles are stacked upon one another, with a certain number of occupyable positions of which x% are occupied" takes too long. However, it can be fun to use (scientific) jargon in a different context. My SO (see what I did there?) and I both are chemists. When we're talking about only a little butter on the bread we're talking about a monolayer of butter

Then, there are "authorities" which try to regulate jargon, which yields questionable results:

An "aliquot" is, at least in laboratory day-to-day life, a part of an (aqueous) analyte. Everyone knows whats up with this. However, IUPAC is of the opinion, that an aliquot only means an exact divisor of the stock solution (e.g. 10 mL of 100 mL), but every other volume is an aliquant (e.g. 15 mL of 100 mL). Yea, thank you very much, no one talks like that. Defining the volume is done by stating the actual volume, not by talking funny.

 

[Kro]

I thought all along that this was a Sting bass...
View attachment 3745850

I thought all along that this was a Sting bass...

 

[Nashrakh]

You have to remember people use jargon, because, 1) They think they are cool, 2) They are lazy, and 3) Most people are stupid.

However, even The Media is doing it. An example, read any major online news source, and you will see "SCOTUS," instead of Supreme Court of The United States.

Good luck.

What about SoCal?

 

[WillyW]

 

[nateh415]

I'm gonna start calling them Tingras to avoid further confusion.

 

[Skillet]

.... something wrong with my banter?

 

[BobKos]

Context. Don't read words - read sentences.

 

[Auspuff]

What about SoCal?

Been guilty of using that one, myself.

However...

If one lived here, they would soon understand that term has become part of the national dialect. Kinda' like, "Kraut."

"Pup." Not so much.