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Bin, bins or both (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter curunir
- Start date
Actually the appropriate short form is "nocs'.
Sorry I don't have anything to say about short terms for binoculars, except that I don't think that there is one.
Regarding FrankD's question:
I seem to recall (Someone correct me if I'm wrong) that Steve Ingraham stated that the proper terminology is "a binoculars". No "pair of" and not "binocular". He cited a dictionary reference. I think that "binoculars" refers to the instrument, whereas "binocular" is an adjective, as in "binocular view". He seemed pretty sure of it.
Myself, I am not consistent in my usage, and I tend to follow others, since their usage is commonly seen/heard.
For what it's worth ...
Regarding FrankD's question:
I seem to recall (Someone correct me if I'm wrong) that Steve Ingraham stated that the proper terminology is "a binoculars". No "pair of" and not "binocular". He cited a dictionary reference. I think that "binoculars" refers to the instrument, whereas "binocular" is an adjective, as in "binocular view". He seemed pretty sure of it.
Myself, I am not consistent in my usage, and I tend to follow others, since their usage is commonly seen/heard.
For what it's worth ...
elkcub
Silicon Valley, California
SteveF said:
I believe the word binoculars, refering to the instrument, is a plural noun. A nice explanation can be found here: http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/nouns/plural.htm. Reference to a "pair of binoculars" is correct, as is a pair of eyeglasses or a pair of trousers.
Ed
elkcub
Silicon Valley, California
SteveF said:
It gets better. By logical extension it would similarly be correct to refer to a pair of bins, binocs, or nocs. Who invented this language anyway? Conversely, why do we use it? Must be a bad habit. One would think that the word binocular itself would qualify as a plural noun simply because it derives from the Latin bini (two together) + oculus (eye). In context it can't be confused easily with the adjective binocular, as it would be silly to refer to binocular binoculars, since we already know it's a binocular — or would that be a binoculars? Damn. :stuck:
Ed
PS. ... and as John points out, Nikon is also confused.
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As a Brit I would say 'these are the best', if I bought them I would put my 'bins' round my neck and leave the store. :bounce:
bodromarsh
Active member
The short form I use is binos. Pronounced "by-nose." I interchangeably use binocular and binoculars when referring to a single instrument. I grew up in West and South Texas, and most everyone I know says binos. I have never heard nocs, and never heard bins until I read this forum. I have heard binocs occasionally.
Sailcat
Fearless Spectator
I used to refer to a binocular...or binoculars...as bino or binos until I found out some readers found it annoying. I am careful when I use any abbreviations now so I don't offend the delicate sensibilities of other readers. I will, however, use the term glass or glasses in order to avoid too much repetition.
Sailcat said:
Now look, if you're going to start using the term glasses, dimwits like me are going to think you are talking about your eyeglasses. So I'm going to insist we refer to eyeglasses as spectacles or specs for short. Now I know some people shorten specifications to specs so we will have to change that to cations or even cats for short. This way someone can say something like "Do you know what the FOV, AFOV and ER cats are on that glass for spec use?" and there will be no confusion.
This topic reminds me of the nunchakus topic in martial arts. some people call them "nunchucks", others "numchucks", and some just say "chucks". The difference is pretty much everyone knows what you mean no matter which way you say it, unlike the different ways of saying binoculars! 
I'll take bins, binos, binocs, or nocs. it's too hard to say which one is better
I'll take bins, binos, binocs, or nocs. it's too hard to say which one is better
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