to expect people to use the terms 'kayak' and 'canoe' properly?

[NotQuiteCockney]

I am just thinking about buying a canoe. Canoes are open boats. Kayaks are the closed ones. Yes, really. I'm Canadian. I would know!

But thanks to British confusion, the terms seem to be used randomly on ebay.

[agnesnitt]

NotQuiteCockney, how do you cope with us blasted Brits and our definition of hockey?

Agnes

[FluffyMummy123]

Message withdrawn

[Leati]

NotQuiteCockney,

Normally I would think you were being unreasonable but then after reading I understand. If you are trying to buy something and they aren't listing it correctly...it makes it more difficult. People should know the name of what they are selling.

[Twiglett]

but it is pronounced like aye isn't it?

[harpsichordcarrier]

pmsl NQC
this from a woman who thinks the UK is arranged alphabetically

[harpsichordcarrier]

(by the way I hsould say that until very recently i.e. about a fortnight ago I thought Montreal was on the West Coast. sort of near Seattle. so, no cause to be smug here )

[unknownrebelbang]

I like Iced Tea.

Haven't a clue about boats though.

[katepol]

Well, NQC, my dad WAS a cockney, so what's this compaining about inappropriate use of terms?!

I was a canoeist at uni. We paddled kayaks. We called them boats.

Never liked being called a kayaker - it sounded WRONG somehow. Canoeist sounded a bit better. Don't know why the boats were called boats.

Mind you, canoeists are a bit wierdy beardy imo. Kayakers are HARD lol!

Enjoy ebay .

[CarGirl]

mmmmmmmm

A canadian canoe is open
a kayak is closed with a pointy bottom as in sea kayak or K1/K2 for flat water racing
a slalom canoe is closed but with a flat bottom for river white water racing etc????

worst of all is when people say oar instead of paddle

[katepol]

Cargirl, we called paddles 'blades' and used our slalom boats for white water and surfing...

Nice to see you away from the bra thread lol!

[CarGirl]

well yes you can use them for either but at our house we had all 3 kinds.....so kind of used the best one for the occasion in hand..........

The white water rapids as a passenger in the canadian canoe are not all happy memories..........

[agnesnitt]

Twiglett, 'eh' is pronounced like the capital letter 'A' I'm afraid

Agnes

[taxidriver]

hactually
i think you are being unreasonable.

[Walnutshell]

They both sound bloody difficult to stay afloat on but as you are insulting Brits as a nation, then I should say you are being entirely.. reasonable.

[Wilkie]

I do worry about it. Sometimes I find it hard to sleep at night in fact when I start thinking about it.

So definitely - YANBU

[NotQuiteCockney]

Oh, agnesnitt, I just mock Brits for the hockey thing. Particularly if I meet a bunch of big butch men who play field hockey. (It would be like finding netball was a sport for Big Men in North America - you'd snicker, you couldn't help it.)

Twiglett, it's not pronounced like how I'd pronounce 'aye' (I'd pronounce it like I/eye.) It's more like an 'ey' sound. (Yes, like the letter 'A', like Agnesnitt says!)

hc, it's slightly worse not knowing how the UK is arranged, what with me living here. Actually, mostly my map of the UK consists of: Zone 1, Zone 2, and dragons.

katepol, they are boats. I don't have a problem with calling them boats. (As long as nobody calls them ships [horror])

Right, I must start my day. The people from the canoeing place haven't got back to me, so maybe we aren't canoeing on Sunday. At least we'll canoe a lot on holiday, probably every day, when we're at the resort.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Actually, it would be like finding netball was a sport for Big Men in North America, only they called it rugby - you'd snicker, you couldn't help it.

[arfishy]

If you can tell me the difference between a pair and a double without googling it, then YNBU. If you can't then YABU.

[NotQuiteCockney]

A pair and a double what? [clueless]

[StarryStarryNight]

Maybe they call them Canoe rather than Kayak because selling manager is telling them that more people are searching on that, so they think they are more likely to sell their Kayak as a canoe than an actual kayak?

and as for the blade/paddle/oar/stick that flattens at the end, sometimes you just dont know if you see double and it the vision meets in the middle. or what....

[arfishy]

They're rowing boats - think Oxford & Cambridge boat race. Except those are eights of course.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Ah, yes, I've done a tiny tiny bit of rowing, didn't really get on with it (not good at keeping in synch with everyone ). Glad I tried it, though.

I am open and honest about my ignorance about rowing terms - if I had a rowing boad (scul?) to sell, I would find out the right term before listing it!

[NotQuiteCockney]

The selling manager thing makes sense, although there are lots of listings for canoes and kayaks ... all of which seem to be kayaks.

[Katymac]

NQC - you can't call them SHIPS - everyone knows ships have 3 masts and are square rigged on all masts (admiralty definition doncha know)

[NotQuiteCockney]

Ah, the definition of 'ship' that I grew up with was - if it has a boat on it, it's a ship. Otherwise, it's a boat.

[Lived-on-a-boat-until-I-was-five]