Engineering FYI

[MikeK]

Skiers seem notorious for butchering engineering terms and using them incorrectly. I won't even get into the power thing right now.

A quick one: It's damping, not dampening.

damp, damped, damping NOT dampen, dampened, dampening

One refers to dissipation of mechanical energy, the other refers to making something wet.

[lowangle al]

When it's damp out I usually go with no wax skis.

[MikeK]

Nailed it

[lowangle al]

Nailed it

And I don't even drive a train.

[anrothar]

http://grammarist.com/usage/dampen-damper-dampener/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dampen

[MikeK]

You'll never see an engineering or physics book refer to damping as dampening. I don't care what a grammarian says.

I see ski articles use dampening all the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damping_ratio

damp used 50 times in that article, dampen... 0

Call it what you want, just sayin'...

[anrothar]

Interesting. It's the same in all of the sources, as you said it would be. OK, no 'en'.

[MikeK]

Interesting. It's the same in all of the sources, as you said it would be. OK, no 'en'.

It's an engineering/physics thing. I don't think you'd notice if you weren't in the field.

I'm not a grammar Nazi, but if you talk to an engineer or scientist, that kind of thing might make them question your understanding of the term.

PS - it's more important to understand the concept than how to communicate it.