mispronounced DIY terminology

I have heard "ceiling" pronounced as "skeeling", by a roofing company rep.

Conduit prondounced "condoot" by a sparky.

Heighth.

and for spelling, 'sill' spelled 'cill'.

...

Blimey -- I've seen that so many times, I always assumed that it was a technical building term what I, a mere punter, didn't know about (even though I knew it was referring to the things I always referred to as "sills").

A bit like the use of "x off" (as in "oakwood cills 2 off") (or even "2 of", which I've seen recently), instead of "2 oakwood sills". I presume that that usage originated in the factories / smithies / joineries, where the tradesman was given an order for 'x' number of widgets off his lathe (or whatever), and that it spread from there to the warehouses. (or is it "off the shelf"? Nah - that wouldn't make sense.)

Sigh: You can tell it's pouring down outside, can't you :-)

John

both are correct

A bit off topic- I used to be in fire protection. I had a sign written van. Two people walked past my van, one said to the other "Fire protection, how do you protect a fire"?

I just assumed that it was one of those either/or alternatives such as jail/gaol

On checking, I see that it isn't

tim

Quick Google (because I've seen it spelled both ways!):

cill

A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture | 2000 | JAMES STEVENS CURL | 547 words | © A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture 2000, originally published by Oxford University Press 2000. (Hide copyright information) Copyright cill, or sill, sole, sule.

1. Horizontal timber (usually called a cill-beam, ground-cill, or sole-piece or -plate) at the bottom of a timber-framed wall into which posts and studs are tenoned. A cill-wall is a low wall of brick or stone supporting the cill-beam. In timber-framed construction, an interrupted cill runs between main posts and is tenoned into them.

1. Lower horizontal projecting element below an aperture (e.g. doorway or window), to throw water off the wall below.

2. Lower horizontal member of a door-or window-frame.

more space problems. Anyone got any other good DIY pronouncation clangers ?

My mates missus rang once to say "Bob says can he borrow your Ankle Grinder"?

For some reason, 'cill' is standard for canal locks (at least in some areas).

no more space problems. Anyone got any other good DIY pronouncation clange= rs ?

I was criticised yesterday for pronouncing wenge wen-gee instead of wenj.

Wonkipedia agrees with me.

(Which is more than assembling Tesco Wenge flat-pack does.)

Owain

You allocate it a Fire guard of course.

G.Harman

more space problems. Anyone got any other good DIY pronouncation clangers ?

I'd have automatically pronounced it Ven-ge, with the German hard G. Then again, I do speak German...

I've just had to put an Argos TV stand together, which was annoying for the ten minutes it took, and still looks cheap.

Both allowable spellings.

It is. The original spelling is cill, but sill is an allowable excursion.

And the lintel/lintol variation?

And the umpteen batten/baton/ variations.

I suppose we should end up in Mournington Cressent?

more space problems. Anyone got any other good DIY pronouncation clangers ?

I have heard a number of folks refer to "Harris rail" - assuming that the H must have been dropped from "Aris"...

more space problems. Anyone got any

You're talking out your 'arris ;-)

Blast, all of those years and I was wasting my time.