Bird Watcher's Digest Bin Field Test (1 Viewer)

[pduxon]

You know, in another thread someone from the UK said that he had read another BWD binocular review. I was rather surprised when he said that, but I just figured that it meant that UK birders can get the magazine too. I guess he read the review online.

I have heard of those two UK birding magazines before.

Hi Marcus - that was me! I sub to it. Some of the articles are interesting as are some of those in Birder's World. I'm hoping that all this reading will drum the birds into me when I venture over there!!

 

[Grousemore]

Except for these optics forums (which are great!), there's little at BF of interest to non-European birders. Indeed, the sections for stateside birders have been closed down. I miss the BirdBuzz forums.

What a strange opinion!
I spend a large part of my time in the USA and would like to see more input from American birders; but rather than offer a closed mind, the way forward is to contribute. There are double the number of species over there, so tell us about them...may be more rewarding than collecting binoculars, perhaps.

 

[pduxon]

What a strange opinion!
I spend a large part of my time in the USA and would like to see more input from American birders; but rather than offer a closed mind, the way forward is to contribute. There are double the number of species over there, so tell us about them...may be more rewarding than collecting binoculars, perhaps.

I always thought bins were for looking AT things! A means to an end so to speak.

I do find it odd how fewer Americans contribute to the wider birding/wildlife threads. Of course there are a few honourable exceptions. They must be shy.

 

[marcus]

Yes, I suppose that l sometimes think that the birders over in UK won't be too interested in what I see over here, but I guess that's wrong. I wonder if another reason for not getting too much 'US birder input' is just because not all the birders over here know about BirdForum? No, I doubt that.

 

[Curtis Croulet]

What a strange opinion!
I spend a large part of my time in the USA and would like to see more input from American birders; but rather than offer a closed mind, the way forward is to contribute. There are double the number of species over there, so tell us about them...may be more rewarding than collecting binoculars, perhaps.

I don't collect them, and that's why I don't contribute as much here as during the summer. My main opinion stands -- that there's not much here for North American birders. I have no problem with UK birders having a nice website such as this. It's your playground, and you should enjoy it.

 

[Bill Atwood]

Many US birders may get their fill of internet birding via the numerous listservs or sites that have taken the place of the Rare Bird Alert recorded messages. Just about every state now has its own such site.

FWIW as someone who is interested in goings on outside of our hemisphere I think there is much here for NA birders who are like minded.

However there are times when I wish you Brits would just talk in plain English!

 

[Atomic Chicken]

However there are times when I wish you Brits would just talk in plain English!

<Sarcasm mode=On>
Yeah... I agree! It's not as if they invented the language or anything like that....
<Sarcasm mode = Off>

Best wishes,
Bawko

 

[pduxon]

I don't collect them, and that's why I don't contribute as much here as during the summer. My main opinion stands -- that there's not much here for North American birders. I have no problem with UK birders having a nice website such as this. It's your playground, and you should enjoy it.

Hi Curtis

I'm puzzled mate. Virtually any of the forums is open to anyone from any part of the world. You can open a thread on any aspect of birding you want. Perhaps us Brits are just more chatty.

 

[Wine Man]

My main opinion stands -- that there's not much here for North American birders. I have no problem with UK birders having a nice website such as this. It's your playground, and you should enjoy it.

This site seems loaded with north american members in the evenings over here. I bet if you posted a thread relating to n. american birds you would get a deluge of replies and discussion. Try it and see. It is sad to see so many insular people not getting involved when they could be enjoying the site as much as those in europe.
Birdforum is what you make it, the american members are here so just take the plunge and start talking. It could be your playground as well if you can talk about something other than birding optics

After all, newsgroups and listservers are restrictive formats of the past.

Wine Man

 

[pduxon]

I've even set up a thread for our Transatlantic cousins to explain the problems

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=26350

 

[mattpau]

However there are times when I wish you Brits would just talk in plain English!

Have to admit that I sometimes don't understand the banter between British birders here on BF. And both my parents are English-born and all my relatives outside my immediate family live in England!

 

[pduxon]

However there are times when I wish you Brits would just talk in plain English!

Hi Bill, any examples?

 

[Curtis Croulet]

When I was a kid I subscribed to RAF Flying Review (long extinct, but a great mag for aviation buffs) and currently I subscribe to two British music magazines, Gramophone and BBC Music. Most of the usage differences are minor, and spelling differences ("colour" vs "color", "favourite" vs "favorite") I don't really even notice anymore. But it took awhile before I learned what they meant with expressions like "curate's egg" and "swings and roundabouts."

 

[Bill A]

I'm mystified by the etymology of "dosh," seeming to mean "money." Can any of our English cousins enlighten me?

Bill

 

[pduxon]

Here you go Bill

dosh = slang for a reasonable amount of spending money, for instance enough for a 'night-out'. Almost certainly and logically derived from the slang 'doss-house', meaning a very cheap hostel or room, from Elizabethan England when 'doss' was a straw bed, from 'dossel' meaning bundle of straw, in turn from the French 'dossier' meaning bundle. Dosh appears to have originated in this form in the US in the 19th century, and then re-emerged in more popular use in the UK in the mid-20th century.

 

[henry link]

I like "duff piece of kit". You know what it means, even if you don't know what it means.

 

[pduxon]

duff = defective

this is becoming like a Ruffled Feathers thread!!

 

[Curtis Croulet]

Henry, since you brought it up, this forum is the first place I've ever seen the Brits' curious use (from our point of view) of the word "kit." To me a kit is a collection of parts that are part of a whole. For example, the entire package of a new binocular, including the bin itself, the case, strap, caps, instruction booklet, warranty card, etc., would be a "kit." Anybody who built model airplanes knows that the parts in the box constitute a "kit." Yet, here we see a binocular described as a "piece of kit." Now, if the binocular is truly terrible, then an American might say it's a "piece of" something else, but "kit" wouldn't complete the phrase.

 

[Andrew Rowlands]

Henry, since you brought it up, this forum is the first place I've ever seen the Brits' curious use (from our point of view) of the word "kit." To me a kit is a collection of parts that are part of a whole. For example, the entire package of a new binocular, including the bin itself, the case, strap, caps, instruction booklet, warranty card, etc., would be a "kit." Anybody who built model airplanes knows that the parts in the box constitute a "kit." Yet, here we see a binocular described as a "piece of kit." Now, if the binocular is truly terrible, then an American might say it's a "piece of" something else, but "kit" wouldn't complete the phrase.

"kit n. A sports kit (rugby kit, football kit, etc.) is what the Americans call a uniform - it's what you wear while you're playing. More generally in the UK, "kit" refers to the equipment necessary to perform a particular task - usually, though not always, sporting. The boundary is wooly to such a degree that I don't think I can generalise really. I've heard all sorts of things from parachutes to computers referred to as "kit". The phrase "nice piece of kit" is in pretty common usage in the UK, just meaning an item particularly good at performing its task in hand. Again it could refer to pretty much anything, though I think you'd be more likely to describe your new camera as a nice piece of kit than, say, your fiancé." from http://english2american.com/index.html#index

Andy.

 

[Curtis Croulet]

Andrew, if I walked into an American sporting goods store and said I wanted a complete "kit" to play a particular sport, then I wouldn't get any funny looks, although they might ask what size my grandson wears, since they would judge that at my age it's unlikely that I'd be taking up football of any variety. But the phrase "piece of kit" to refer to a single item stops me every time.