Date:         Thu, 18 Jul 2002 04:01:36 +0100
Reply-To:     Clive Smith <clive.harman-smith@NTLWORLD.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Clive Smith <clive.harman-smith@NTLWORLD.COM>
Subject:      Caught offside!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> what the heck is a "offside"?   anyway the westy propane tank will fit on
either side. i have one mounted under my slider door.
> chris

Chris,

'Offside' and 'nearside' are terms used by people who say what they mean and
continue to use original descriptions and language without finding the need
to keep dreaming up absurd words for commonplace objects and re-inventing a
perfectly satisfactory language and vocabulary i.e. the Brits!
'Nearside' is that side of the vehicle, regardless of l/h or r/h drive, that
is nearest the kerb (edge of pavement, walkway*) when driving such that a
major head-on accident is not iminent. Conversely, and by simple deduction,
the 'offside' implies the side not 'on' or 'near' the kerb, the one nearest
the white line, if you have such useful things in the middle of the road.
Just as with 'leg stump' and 'off stump' in cricket, age-old terms usefully
independent of the batsman's stance, most people tend to intuit their
meaning.

Now I might ask you what a 'rotor' is, although I have deduced over the
years that it is what people to the West of us, far across the big divide,
call a disc - which is you might agree confusing, as one assumes a disc
brake works with discs, and thats what we call them.
I suppose I could really get into this, 'sway bars' always make me laugh out
loud, as I've always known them as 'anti-roll bars' - again, exactly what
they are. I think you'll agree, they don't make a vehicle sway, or even roll
for that matter - they act against (anti-) rolling motion along the axis of
the vehicle's motion, whereas if swaying is a technical term at all, implies
a more complex movement, maybe analagous to 'dutch-roll' of an aircraft,
where natural stability in two of its three degrees of freedom, roll and
yaw, interact.

* or has this now been outmoded and become walkaway, adding another syllable
just for fun - which I'm having lots of now :-)

Muchos apologisos amigos - couldn't resist it with that rather sharp retort.

Clive
'88 Syncro Transporter

----- Original Message -----
From: <JordanVw@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 3:54 AM
Subject: Re: Propane tanks


> In a message dated 7/17/02 7:55:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> clive.harman-smith@NTLWORLD.COM writes:
>
>
> > Can anyone tell me about the propane tanks fitted underneath the side
> > opoosite sliding door (your off-side).
> > Is this a standard fit, are there cautionary issues etc? What capacity
do
> > they have? How thick/strong is the skid plate that I think I see in the
> > piccies?
> >
> >
> >
>
> what the heck is a "offside"?   anyway the westy propane tank will fit on
> either side. i have one mounted under my slider door.
> chris