[TheForge] Damascus

[Dave Brown]

At 09:17 04/03/02 -0500, you wrote:
>If you want to tell Sears off about "Damascus" you can also give them (and
>other furniture stores) heck for what they call "Wrought Iron".
>
>Paul McComb

And don't forget all the blacksmiths who refer to their work as "Wrought 
Iron".  And how about those guys who sell "Pure Iron", that isn't exactly 
pure, close but not quite pure.?  There are many words that were in use 
'way back when" that are still used but their meanings barely resemble what 
they once did.  Should we remove all of them from the dictionaries?  Should 
we insist that the word "hysteria" be used only in regards to women, or 
that only men can "testify"?

The point is that languages evolve and while we may do ourselves a 
disservice in not knowing the historic roots of the words we use, we do 
ourselves a greater a disservice by not recognizing the evolution of the 
words and the meaning to which the rest of the world gives them today.  I 
have no problem with Sears or anyone else calling their bent and stamped 
steel "Wrought Iron"  I don't call the stuff I make (from the really good 
stuff down to the junk that sometimes goes out the door) "Wrought Steel" 
and I don't think many of the rest of us do either.

There is Wrought iron and there is wrought iron, there is Damascus and 
there is damascus.  Recognize and even understand the difference, but don't 
linger too long in the past while the language and the world move on.

Dan T's questions started with wanting to know the definition of 
damascus.  The rest of the line of questions clearly pointed to the fact 
that he was asking about the stuff made today and called damascus.  Once 
the distinction was made and understood, then why not continue calling it 
damascus?  Or will the fans of Mokomo Gane be offended?

Dave Brown