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Walter & Group....
>From Walter Simbirski:
Gordy,
What could be more useful than a set of definitions "for teaching purposes" that never get used for teaching? :)
Actually, I like to sit in and watch anybody and everybody I can while they are teaching. One of the reasons
for doing so is to pick up on some of the terms and expressions that people use while teaching and how
they use those terms and expressions. "Loop", "stop", "too far back", "wristy" or "wristing", "power" or
"force" or "energy" or "oomph", "load" or "bend", "rotation" or "arc" (but never "translation"), "weight forward",
"running line", "head" (of the line), "turn over", "shooting", "slipping", "stripping", "streamer", "wet fly", "casting yarn"
etc., etc., etc. are all expressions that I hear used fairly often (by myself and others) when teaching novices but
without a follow up definition they often leave a student with blank look.
It would be interesting to capture some of the terms people find useful for teaching and which ones they try
to avoid. "Rotation" is one that I avoid with novices but sometimes it is useful. If I do find myself in a situation
where I feel I need to explain "rotation" to a novice (which isn't very often) I demonstrate how a small movement
of the hand (or elbow, or shoulder) results in a large movement of the rod tip and then introduce "rotation" into the
conversation at that point so that I won't need to repeat the demonstration later because I know that this will
probably lead to matching bend and arc a little later in the lesson. With a more advanced student "delayed rotation"
is an _expression_ that seems to work well.
Cheers
Walter
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[GH] Walter,
The phrase, "for teaching purposes" could also apply to instructors teaching one another. That's what we try to do here. I agree that definitions have a limited role in teaching new casters.
One _expression_ I learned from Floyd Franke and have used often with students is, "Squeeze to a stop".
Seems to work especially well when teaching accuracy casting.
I agree that the concept of delayed rotation does seem to work well with students at and especially above intermediate level.
I got to thinking about what you said in "Casting definitions 13" (8/19/12):-
"Don't let the physicists (and engineers, and lawyers, etc.) get involved. They are great for adapting and clarifying definitions they are already comfortable with (load, force, etc.) but for things that they can't relate directly to, such as "casting stroke", they tend to fall in to analysis paralysis."
and : "If you don't believe me try to find a universally accepted definition for "wave"
Many words in a dictionary have multiple definitions. With some, the physics definition is different than the mathematical definition which, in turn, differs from the engineering definition.
I did look up the word WAVE and noted in my copy of Webster's Unabridged Dictionary 27 different definitions!!
While spending many hours discussing fly casting definitions with Bruce Richards, I noted his use of statements such as, "Well... that's engineer speak." More than once I was taken to task because of my , "Doctor speak" as I referred to thinks like "radial deviation", "ulnar deviation", "pronation" and "supination" of the wrist. By using terms like that, I muddied the waters.
I recall, back in the 1930's that the few salt water fly casters I knew as a youngster used the term "MEND" to mean taking up slack after making a presentation. Then we have Ally Gowans using the term, "ORGANISE the line" to mean taking up slack before making a pickup.
We could go so far as to insist we have our own, "Flycasting speak". I guess, in a way, we do. Where else in discussions around the World would the term, "Creep" be the same as one we'd consider? The novice flycaster upon hearing that word used by his instructor would be utterly mystified if he went home and looked the word up in his dictionary.
We might go so far as to justify this by claiming that we have more fly casters than physicists in the World. Problem is that we have engineers and physicists who are also fly casters! I, for one, have learned a great deal from them.
We can fantasize about all this forever. In the end, however, I think we can profit from having definitions in language sufficiently clear that both experts and average fly fishers can understand them. I think you and the other members of the Sexyloops Board have tried to do just that.
Gordy
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