Why is it called a flashlight?

[guiri]

hehe we also call them "pocket lights", but the term "battery" (baterija) is also comonly used around here, not official though, but most people use it since it shorter than "žepna svetilka". Hm, though we do also use the term "svetilka" -light. :sick2:

Oh we have a very messed up language indeed.. :thinking:

So, what does this mean? "žepna svetilka"

POCKET light?
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I was going to comment on the word flashlight in Swedish but the Swede beat me to it. In Spanish (Spain Spanish, not Mexican Spanish) it's Linterna which is simply, lantern.

I know what it is in Bulgarian but dammit if I know how to write it with Latin letters and still making you guys understand how to pronounce it but since I haven't been there since 68, I'm just going to guess that it's the equivalent to Lantern. The word itself I mean.

GEorge

 

[BIGLOU]

The US military word for flashlight is Moonbeam.

 

[AusKipper]

would "torchlight" be an acceptable term? :thinking:

NO!! and neither is "Headtorch", its a headlight darn it!!!

 

[davidt]

Do any other Americans on this board think the term "torch" seem to make more sense than "flashlight". I sure think the term torch makes more sense than flashlight.

 

[guiri]

Do any other Americans on this board think the term "torch" seem to make more sense than "flashlight". I sure think the term torch makes more sense than flashlight.

Not me! I hear torch and I'm thinking the kind they lit up to go into caves 500 years ago...sorry :candle:

 

[Black Rose]

Every flashlight I have ordered from Hong Kong has "torch" on the customs label....maybe that's why they are taking so long to get here lately...the droids think someone is sending me an actual torch as opposed to a metal tube that emits rays of illumination.

 

[NaturalMystic]

Back in Trinidad which was under English rule, it's usually still called a torchlight. I don't think it's changed since I left there in '87.

 

[shark_za]

Torches with Strobe and SOS can be called flashlights

 

[Egsise]

In German, the term for flashlight is "Taschenlampe" which roughly translates as pocketlamp.

Same in Finnish, taskulamppu=pocket light.
The new word is, käsivalaisin=handheld light.

 

[Backpacker Light]

I'm pretty sure that Al Gore invented the flashlight.

 

[Kilovolt]

The complete Italian word is Torcia elettrica which I believe does not need an explanation. In short we call it a Torcia dropping the elettrica but in this way the term also applies to a burning torch such as the Olympic torch.

 

[guiri]

I'm pretty sure that Al Gore invented the flashlight.

He did, he told me so..when we were working on inventing the internet..

 

[Liteskr42]

Why would Al Gore invent the flashlight.? At his "humble" abode he consumes more electricity than 200 of us commoners by lighting the whole place up inside and out like an amusement park. Well, some of that juice is to keep his olympic size pool heated 24/7 also.

He doesnt need flashlights, if he loses power he can just fire up the 20 generators onsite or just jump in his SUV and drive to the airport and take his private jet to another country that does have electricity .

 

[T0RN4D0]

Yep, "žepna svetilka" is a pocket light Its kind of normal since its a relatively new age thing, most of the europe is using the same term, just adjusted for their specific language. Pocket+lamp in a way that sounds right.

 

[qwertyydude]

'FLASHLIGHT' AN ENGLISH TERM !!!!!!!

Oh dear, oh dear. Come to England and use the word Flashlight and the person you were talking to would ask you one of two things.

Do you mean Torch ?

or

Are you American ?

Us "'muricans" here stateside hear the word torch and think you're going witch hunting or welding metal, or "are you British?"

 

[daimleramg]

Do any other Americans on this board think the term "torch" seem to make more sense than "flashlight". I sure think the term torch makes more sense than flashlight.

I'm not american but when I hear torch I think of a wooden stick on fire.

 

[guiri]

Yep, "žepna svetilka" is a pocket light Its kind of normal since its a relatively new age thing, most of the europe is using the same term, just adjusted for their specific language. Pocket+lamp in a way that sounds right.

Thanks

 

[guiri]

Why would Al Gore invent the flashlight.? At his "humble" abode he consumes more electricity than 200 of us commoners by lighting the whole place up inside and out like an amusement park. Well, some of that juice is to keep his olympic size pool heated 24/7 also.

He doesnt need flashlights, if he loses power he can just fire up the 20 generators onsite or just jump in his SUV and drive to the airport and take his private jet to another country that does have electricity .

He didn't really need the internet either but he still invented it, just to be cool...

 

[MikeG1P315]

In German, the term for flashlight is "Taschenlampe" which roughly translates as pocketlamp.

I like it!

 

[MikeG1P315]

He didn't really need the internet either but he still invented it, just to be cool...

Sounds like something from a list of "Al Gore Invented…" facts in the same vein as Chuck Norris facts…