Language
Certain linguistic conventions are followed among rodders and customizers:
- The model year is rarely given in full, except when it might be confused, so a 1934 model is a '34, while a 2005 might be an '05 or not.
- A '32 is usually a Deuce and most often a roadster, unless coupé is specified, and almost always a Ford.
- A 3- or 5-window is usually a Ford, unless specified.
- A flatty is a flathead V8 (always Ford, unless specified); a late (or late model) flatty is probably a Merc.
- A hemi ("hem ee") is always a 426, unless displacement (331, 354, or 392) is specified; a 426 is a hemi, unless Wedge is specified.
- A 392 is an early hemi.
- A 331 or 354 is known to be an (early) hemi, but rarely referred to as such
- Units are routinely dropped, unless they are unclear, so a 426 cubic inch (in³) engine is simply referred to as a 426, a 5 liter engine is a 5.0 ("five point oh"), and a 600 cubic feet per minute (cfm) carburetor is a 600. Engine displacement can be described in cubic inches or liters (for example, a 5.7 liter engine is also known as a 350 {"three fifty"}); this frequently depends on which units the user is most comfortable or familiar with.
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Famous quotes containing the word language:
“The hypothesis I wish to advance is that ... the language of morality is in ... grave disorder.... What we possess, if this is true, are the fragments of a conceptual scheme, parts of which now lack those contexts from which their significance derived. We possess indeed simulacra of morality, we continue to use many of the key expressions. But we have—very largely if not entirely—lost our comprehension, both theoretical and practical, of morality.”
—Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre (b. 1929)
“Men sometimes speak as if the study of the classics would at length make way for more modern and practical studies; but the adventurous student will always study classics, in whatever language they may be written and however ancient they may be. For what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of man?... We might as well omit to study Nature because she is old.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Man, even man debased by the neocapitalism and pseudosocialism of our time, is a marvelous being because he sometimes speaks. Language is the mark, the sign, not of his fall but of his original innocence. Through the Word we may regain the lost kingdom and recover powers we possessed in the far-distant past.”
—Octavio Paz (b. 1914)