NavList:

Henry, you wrote:
"The term "endless tangent screw sextant" was a common expression for the sextant sub-type possessing such a device, prior to the common usage of the endless or geared tangent screw - it it recognized as a sextant sub-type by definition in HO 220."

So then, circa 1940-45, it still would have been "new enough" that a sextant would specifically have been referred to as "endless tangent screw" as a novelty? Was your first sextant a micrometer sextant? And was this distinct from an "endless tangent screw" sextant? Or were all micrometer sextants also "endless tangent screw" sextants?

You added:
"The abbreviation ETS is not, however, a recognized or, at least, defined abbreviation except in the imagination of the originator. Today, folks seem to make up abbreviations as they go along and everybody else is expected to understand - apparently a requirement of the electronic age. "

This bugs the hell out of me, too. It's the era of acronyms. Linguists say it started around 1925. Before then, you will almost never find acronyms (famously, this is one of the reasons why you can be sure that "POSH" was not an abbreviation for "port out, starboard home" as in the popular 'folk etymology'). Acronyms are now everywhere. But it's not going to change, so I guess we better "learn to love and live with acronyms" -- a policy which I call "LLLWA" or in print "L3WA" (so there's no misunderstanding... I am kidding).

-FER

----------------------------------------------------------------
NavList message boards and member settings: www.fer3.com/NavList
Members may optionally receive posts by email.
To cancel email delivery, send a message to NoMail[at]fer3.com
----------------------------------------------------------------