Someone better let Merriam know about this...Webster too.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Ohm-age
- Thread starter Daveypunk
- Start date
Someone better let Merriam know about this...Webster too.
The reason ohmage is not a word, at least not one used by anyone who knows better, is that it's not a unit of electrical resistance. Resistance is measured in ohms, but so is impedance, inductive reactance and capacitive reactance. If you say such and such has an ohmage of 8 which is it? Resistance, impedance, inductive reactance or capacitive reactance? It would be like asking what's the degreeage. That depends:
- Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement
- Degree (temperature), a unit of temperature measurement
- Degree API, a measure of density in the petroleum industry
- Degree Baumé, a pair of density scales
- Degree Brix, a measure of sugar concentration
- Degree Gay-Lussac, a measure of the alcohol content of a liquid by volume, ranging from 0° to 100°
- Degree proof, or simply proof, the alcohol content of a liquid, ranging from 0° to 175° in the UK, and from 0° to 200° in the U.S.
- Degree of curvature, a unit of curvature measurement, used in civil engineering
- Degrees of freedom (mechanics), the number of displacements or rotations needed to define the position and orientation of a body
- Degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry), a concept describing dependence on a countable set of parameters
- Degree of frost, a unit of temperature measurement
- Degrees Lintner, a measure of enzymatic activity
- Degrees Lovibond, a measure of transparency
- Degree of unsaturation, in organic chemistry, also known as the index of hydrogen deficiency or rings plus double bonds
- dGH, degrees of general hardness of water
- Degree of carbonate hardness of water (degree K)
It is not possible that there is a reason that ohmage is not a word because ohmage is a word.
Pick up a dictionary; it's a word
Search "define ohmage" online; it's a word
Make whatever arguments you want, but I find it incredible how some, simply because they are ignorant of some fact, will declare that it is not so.
Edit: Maybe "incredible" isn't the right word...this is the tb forum, afterall.
Last edited:
Nah, some usage is still wrong until overwhelmed by popularity. I don't think we are there yet with ohmage. We the enlightened fight the good fight in keeping it that way.It is not possible that there is a reason that ohmage is not a word because ohmage is a word.
Pick up a dictionary; it's a word
Search "define ohmage" online; it's a word
Make whatever arguments you want, but I find it incredible how some, simply because they are ignorant of some fact, will declare that it is not so.
Edit: Maybe "incredible" isn't the right word...this is the tb forum, afterall.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,068
- 5
- 221,118
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
The dictionary is wrong. Read my post again, this time with an eye to understanding what it says. Then for argument's sake let's say it's right, that it refers to electrical resistance. That means it would have no meaning with respect to impedance, inductive reactance or capacitive reactance. And that's why amps and speakers are designed by engineers, not lexicographers.It is not possible that there is a reason that ohmage is not a word because ohmage is a word.
Pick up a dictionary; it's a word
Let it go man. Just let it go. This is not an academic environment. It is a place for casual conversation. The OP has been adequately educated on what the "proper" term is...and we all know what he meant by ohm-age.
Probably not proper words, but I can imagine a conversation where both terms would be appropriate and understood, and no one would quibble.
I beg to differ. As casual as we all are, the Amps etc forum is foremost a technical forum where correct terminology matters. As soon as what you think you mean is not what you are saying it gets far too messy.
Nobody is going to give up trying to put a stake in ohmage.
We should probably start arguing about words that use the root giga while we are at it. 40 years ago they were correctly pronounced with a j but now they are commonly pronounced with a g. In the interim there were lot's of arguments over the pronunciation that didn't matter one bit about what was being discussed. The same is going on here, except I take the OP's use of ohm-age as slang an attempt at humor, and I don't think there is any attempt to replace the proper term impedance with ohm-age.
It's been beat into the ground...time to move on. There is nothing useful or interesting going on in this thread, so I'm out.
Last edited:
fun fact, if it wasn't for ohmage I may yet to have heard of inductive reactance or capacitive reactance. Probably Agedhorse who gave me a serve a few years back.
I am sure that was a more interesting and informative discussion
. Resistance and impedance are both measured in ohms, but it helps to know the difference.
I wouldn't bet on it. Likely very similar minus the angst over the mislabeling of impedance.
From which we may derive the related terms: Ohmness, Ohming, or perchance, Ohmability. Language is infinitely malleable if we don't care whether we communicate anything meaningful or not.
And yet both inductive and capacitive reactance are primary contributors to how speakers sound, while cone size isn't.
