# Why is a flashlight called a flashlight ?



## abvidledUK (Feb 24, 2006)

Anyone know ?

PS: Here in the UK we all know it's actually called a Torch !!


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## JonSidneyB (Feb 24, 2006)

It goes back to the first lights of its type was created in the USA. 
The carbon cell batteries could only generate light for short periods of time.
It was only good for short flashes. 

We retain the right to name it since it was invented here.

We tend to think of a torch as something that has flames.


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## ABTOMAT (Feb 24, 2006)

In the UK, if the villagers are going after Frankenstein's monster with pitchforks and torches, are they carrying Mag-Lites?


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## Nyctophiliac (Feb 24, 2006)

ABTOMAT said:


> In the UK, if the villagers are going after Frankenstein's monster with pitchforks and torches, are they carrying Mag-Lites?


Villagers in the UK are much too apathetic to chase after anything at all!
Nice thought though.


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## Macaw (Feb 24, 2006)

Flashlight: Amer.Eng. for "electric torch," is from 1919. 
Online Etymology Dictionary


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## Cliffnopus (Feb 24, 2006)

Nyctophiliac said:


> Villagers in the UK are much too apathetic to chase after anything at all!
> Nice thought though.


And if it's France, they just accept them and put them on the dole. :naughty:


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## Size15's (Feb 24, 2006)

I thought they were called flashlights because they could be flashed _off_.

Unlike today when flashlights can be flashed on the 'technology' breakthrough was to be able to flash the light by switching it off.


Why do we call them "torches"?
I guess we never got round to working out how to flash them...


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## raythompson (Feb 24, 2006)

I saw a show on the History Channel that talked about flashlights. The first battery lights that were used tended be of, shall we say, poor quality. The lights did not always work properly and tended to go on and off because of poor contacts. This caused the lights to flash on occasion. Some poor sap started calling the light a flashlight because of the flickering. The name stuck.


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## zespectre (Feb 24, 2006)

Why is a flashlight called a flashlight? See here

A combination of poor battery performance, primative bulbs, and momentary only switches. The light was "flashed" on briefly and then turned back off.


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## Cliffnopus (Feb 24, 2006)

My God, a flashlight historian. I never knew there was such a thing.

Cliff


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## Perel (Feb 24, 2006)

ABTOMAT said:


> In the UK, if the villagers are going after Frankenstein's monster with pitchforks and torches, are they carrying Mag-Lites?


I can see the thread now.. "Best flashlight for hunting mad scientist's creations?" :laughing:


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## Matsan (Feb 24, 2006)

Well,in Japan,flashlight is called "Kaichuu-dentou" .It means "Inner-breast-pocket light" , although these were too big to be put in an inner breast pocket in the old days :naughty: 

Inner brest pocket was a metaphor as "small enough",I guess.

What is metaphorically expressed by "flash" in English? :huh2:


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## nc987 (Feb 24, 2006)

Frankenstein is in the UK? I thought he was in Orlando....


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## Bob_G (Feb 24, 2006)

Don't know if Stuart Schneider's site is well know here, but it should be  According to him, Jon is correct. Look around, you may be surprised by some of what you see.


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## iamerror (Feb 24, 2006)

So we have to origin of the term flashlight... but what actually defines a flashlight? Size, function, form? Are keychain lights like the Photon called a flashlight or called a keychain light? Is a 6D Maglite too big to be a flashlight? What about a Arc AAA? Where is the boundary?


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## AlexGT (Feb 24, 2006)

Is that person a regular CPF member? He would be a great addition to a great forum. Found his Email "stuart at wordcraft.net" just replace the at for @

AlexGT



zespectre said:


> Why is a flashlight called a flashlight? See here
> 
> A combination of poor battery performance, primative bulbs, and momentary only switches. The light was "flashed" on briefly and then turned back off.


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## The_LED_Museum (Feb 24, 2006)

FLASHLIGHT (flash'lit) n. A container used for storing dead batteries.


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## H_Alpha (Feb 24, 2006)

Interesting site, except for the disinformation that should not be propagated.......
Volta had an electric pile (battery) going around 1800 ... who knows who else might have been playing with them. (Where do you think volts and piles (pila) come from?)
And, Edison most certainly did not invent the incandescent lightbulb.....
I quit reading after that .... though some neat pic's.


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## JonSidneyB (Feb 24, 2006)

I have met him, Roth and I went to a flashlight collectors event that he hosted in Minnesota.

We had a table there with lights on it.


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## abvidledUK (Feb 24, 2006)

abvidledUK said:


> Anyone know ?
> 
> PS: Here in the UK we all know it's actually called a Torch !!



To answer my own question:

Found this on the Energizer FAQ site..... http://www.energizer.com/products/faq.asp?q=42#42


How did the flashlight get its name?
When the flashlight was first invented, battery power was still in its infancy and there wasn't a source strong enough to power the flashlight for a long period of time. Users pushed a button to literally “flash light” on the path in front of them, shining the light for just a moment. Hence, we have the name we use today—flashlight.


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## JonSidneyB (Feb 24, 2006)

I thought I said that.


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## CLHC (Feb 24, 2006)

Indeed you did!


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## ackbar (Feb 25, 2006)

*[size=-1]Because M12-LRV is too hard to say in conversation, son. 
[/size]*


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## TORCH_BOY (Feb 25, 2006)

Ineresting article


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## abvidledUK (Feb 25, 2006)

JonSidneyB said:


> I thought I said that.



Confirmation from two respected sources.


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## rabbit (Feb 25, 2006)

abvidledUK said:


> To answer my own question:
> 
> Found this on the Energizer FAQ site..... http://www.energizer.com/products/faq.asp?q=42#42
> 
> ...


 
That answered the question for 'flashlight', so why did we call it a 'torch light' again....? 
I know Chinese called it a 'Electrical tube'.


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## abvidledUK (Feb 25, 2006)

rabbit said:


> That answered the question for 'flashlight', so why did we call it a 'torch light' again....?



Presumably from the old meaning of torch, ie illumination provided by means of a lit, hand carried fire, rags, fat, oil etc soiled rag.

Lit being an operative word, as it also lights the way.

My guess anyway.

Now then...Luxeon...presumably comes from Lux

So what about Lumens having a derivative..Lumenon ?

(No not Lumenol)


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## TooManyGizmos (Feb 25, 2006)

I think it's Hi-time we re-name it !

Why should it still be referred to for what it once did so briefly - "flash-light". (ie: brief flashes of light)

Advancements have now made it a - "light-flasher". (ie: light flashable long time and long distances)

Why not - many other things were referred to differently after they were invented and then advanced.

The "ice-box" initially kept our foods cold but now we use a "refrigerator" due to advancement and the invention of refrigerant gas .

We don't get X-rays any more. What we get serves the same purpose but it's got a new fancy name because of advancements .

So we went from "lightning-bugs in a glass jar" to "fire on a stick" to "flaming soaked wrags on a wooden torch" to "electrons heating tungsten to flash-light" and finally to "L.E.D.'s emitting tiny nuclear explosions of light photons" ..........so now we gotta have a fancy new name to call this advancement of humanity.

It's not "just" a flashlight anymore - It's gone way beyond that. It's like something that came thru the "STARGATE" from a higher intelligence !

We just gotta re-name it for the *21st Century* generation of youngsters .


Who's got the first suggestion to start the list ?

This is a serious matter - THIMK !

...................................


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## JonSidneyB (Feb 25, 2006)

and what of all the other dated terms in the American English Language and the no longer Original English of the UK.


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## SolarFlare (Feb 25, 2006)

English is English not the language of the UK, you might annoy the celts, Wales, Scotland and Ireland have their own languages, I have no idea what they call a torch though


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## zespectre (Feb 25, 2006)

I think we should start calling them 'luminators (with a nice redneck twang). 

(okay, just kidding...gonna go hide now)


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## chrisse242 (Feb 25, 2006)

To add some more confusion, the literal translation for "Taschenlampe", which is the word we use in germany, would be pocket-light or pocket-lamp. Thinking about it, this actually is what comes closest to what wey're talking about. Lights that are mobile, and in most cases small enough to be carried around in a pocket. They don't burn in flames (hopefully) and in most cases we don't want them to flash either. :nana: 

Chrisse


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## Leef (Feb 25, 2006)

Photonizer?


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## SolarFlare (Feb 25, 2006)

It's a light


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## Size15's (Feb 25, 2006)

Generally if somebody asked me for a light they mean one with which they can light their deathstick/pipe/bong etc.

However, a torch in the traditional sense is stick or similar with a flame at one end (usually the opposite end to the one you hold)

So light and torch both mean flame.

I think the term "flashlight" is good because it implies you have control of the illumination device. You can switch it on or off more or less at will and repeat the switching action as required.

"Flashlight" also implies to me that it generates a beam and so is not a lamp or lantern (although lanterns can also be designed to generate a beam)

A flashlight is about control. You can shine light where you want to, when you want to. Additionally, a flashlight can be carried by you and almost always features its own internal powersource.

Flashlight may not be a term in use by everybody but it's a good term (IMHO)


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## NoFair (Mar 4, 2006)

chrisse242 said:


> To add some more confusion, the literal translation for "Taschenlampe", which is the word we use in germany, would be pocket-light or pocket-lamp. Thinking about it, this actually is what comes closest to what wey're talking about. Lights that are mobile, and in most cases small enough to be carried around in a pocket. They don't burn in flames (hopefully) and in most cases we don't want them to flash either. :nana:
> 
> Chrisse



It is the same thing in Norway "lommelykt": lomme-pocket and lykt-lamp.

But we Europeans aren't flashers 

Sverre


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## BentHeadTX (Mar 4, 2006)

NoFair said:


> It is the same thing in Norway "lommelykt": lomme-pocket and lykt-lamp.
> 
> But we Europeans aren't flashers
> 
> Sverre



Preach it, Sverre!,
On the beaches there is no flashing... there are no clothes (at least in Greece) 

What about a CPF specific name for the uber-cool, ultra-snazzy, titanium/HA-III/stainless steel wonder light? Call it the "divorce light", the beast that will push your spouse over the edge and into the court house.


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## owenbright (Mar 4, 2006)

My roomate from freshmen year in college grew up in UK.
I remember him asking me for a torch, and big flames and a stick is what 
I remember thinking about. That was the first time I heard someone use the
word torch (for something other than a real torch lol).


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## JonSidneyB (Mar 4, 2006)

Divorce Lights....I like that for the uber highend of flashlights.

Good name.

The lights that I find most interesting are Divorce Lights. I really like the highend stuff.


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## Paul6ppca (Dec 6, 2012)

*Flashlight origin fact*

This is how flashlights got its name;

Although a flashlight is a relatively simple device--a small electric bulb with a power switch--it wasn't invented until 1896 simply because it required a portable power source: the dry cell battery. Early carbon filament bulbs were inefficient and the batteries weak, mustering just enough current to keep the light on for a few seconds at a time--hence, flashlight.


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## Pretbek (Dec 6, 2012)

NoFair said:


> It is the same thing in Norway "lommelykt": lomme-pocket and lykt-lamp.
> 
> But we Europeans aren't flashers
> 
> Sverre



"Zaklamp" in Dutch: pocketlamp. No flashing going on. 

My avatar is the British version.
Uses hydrocarbon based cells, nice warm floody beam, not much throw though, without a reflector.


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## dudemar (Dec 6, 2012)

This turned out to be an interesting thread about saying "flashlight" in different languages. In Japanese it's 懐中電灯 (kaichu-dento), which is roughly translated to pocket lamp. Getting technical with the kanji it's pocket electric lamp.  It's also the name of a CPF member.

In Chinese it's 手電筒, which is roughly translated to hand electric tube.


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## gadget_lover (Dec 8, 2012)

I guess if we wanted to get pedantic about it, we can't call it a "light", since it is really a light *generator*.

I think "dark chaser" is a much better name for it. 


Daniel


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