Talk:Planing

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This article needs to be merged with hydroplaning. I think the article should stay at "hydroplaning" since "planing" is also something you do to wood. This could become a disambig page. Hopefully one of you guys will work on this. I'll try to remember if no one responds, but I'm not really an expert. --Chinasaur 23:35, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)


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Hi,

I would rather that this was reverted to show 'Planing' rather than 'Hydroplaning' as the name for the sailing topic. Mainly this is because most, if not all, sailors refer to it as 'planing', while 'hydroplaning' has the same meaning as 'aquaplaning', i.e. loss of control of a wheeled vehicle. I agree there is ambiguity, but I had edited the disambig page accordingly. I wasn't aware that there was info on hydroplaning, though.

Unless anyone objects, I'll rework it, taking account of the hydroplaning information.

TonyClarke

I think it's better staying at hydroplaning.
  • Probably the reason there was the unfortunately duplication of articles in the first place is because the two terms are both in use. The guy who moved the articles didn't change any links, so look at the "what links here" for the two pages and you get the picture.
  • I agree most sailors I know say "planing" (at least most windsurfers), but this is pretty likely a derivative from the original term hydroplaning anyway; "planing", then, is basically sailing slang.
  • Many non-sailors or more formally minded sailors (instructors, e.g.) use "hydroplaning".
  • The collision with the automobile terminology doesn't seem like a bad thing to me since the two effects are based on the same principle (so far as I can discern without actually looking at some physics).
  • Finally, although a bit of a joke objection in my first post on this, "planing" does colide with the rather unrelated topic of the thing you do to wood, so this would have to be disambiged anyway.
I have nothing against emphasizing in the article that "planing" is the prefered slang among sailors, but hydroplaning seems more official. Unless there is some evidence that "planing" has always been the sailing term (whoever wrote the history section might have a lead on this) and "hydroplaning" is only a physics term; I assumed not since so many people use "hydroplaning", but that's not conclusive.
--Chinasaur

Hi I agree there is ambiguity which needs sorted out, but 'planing' is the accepted term, and is used widely. I'm an RYA sailing instructor, and have never heard anyone use the term 'hydroplaning', which I think is reserved for other vehicles. A quick search of the Merriam Webster Dictionary shows that 'hydroplaning' is used in the vehicular sense, and 'planing' is defined in the way it is used in this article.Since we have to name entries according to the names people will use to look up subjects, I think it should revert.

TonyClarke 13:12, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

The ambiguity seems to be worse than I first thought. Again, I suppose it could be a regional thing; hydroplaning is definitely used here. I noticed that distinction at MerWeb, but unfortunately other dictionaries don't seem to agree very well on these terms (try onelook.com). I'm beginning to think the original usage was planing in the UK and it became hydroplaning when used in the US. But the etymology is only one consideration.
If you move things back I won't object, but I think you'll run into problems dealing with some of the disambig stuff. The way it is now, anyone looking up "planing" will find the disambig page and be able to find "hydroplaning" without much trouble, plus they'll learn that the terms are ambiguous; I don't have a problem with that. --Chinasaur 17:46, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)
I took a look at that other encyclopedia (the "British" one) and they seem to favor planing as the terminology with hydroplane only referring to the frightening things you will find at hydroplane. We could move it to Planing (sailing); that might be the easiest way to deal with the disambig. I'm also still happy to leave it at hydroplaning since that usage is familiar to me; I wish we could get a few more votes in, in case my California term is just freakish...

OK I'll have alook. Its interesting how terminology varies, isn't it? "Small boat sailing" is the term ,as you pointed out, for what seems to be called dinghy sailing in Europe, so I'll revisit that page also. I see the US Sailing site, the national governing body it claims, seems to use 'planing' rather than 'hydroplaning', but maybe that's just them. TonyClarke 19:42, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

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