Overused and/or trite words of the Knife World

Mecha

Mecha

Titanium Bladesmith
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 27, 2013
Messages
9,887
Some terms or descriptive words get overused to the point that they lose their impact or even become laughable or annoying. The world of knives certainly has its share of such words and terms getting thrown around.

Which do you find cliche, banal, or outright lolzy?

One that I think has developed a little bit of cringe factor is "suboptimal." A hardness is suboptimal for a steel, a steel is suboptimal for a knife, a knife is suboptimal for a use. Enough with suboptimal. The word itself has become suboptimal, I say! :poop:

Speaking of hardness, this thing where people say steel is "ran" at a certain hardness, such as, 'I like steel XYZ run at HRc 62,' or, 'That steel is best when ran soft.' Well this using of the word "ran" to describe hardness needs to run right off of a cliff. o_O

In the world of titanium, it's "beta" titanium. I'll have you know that the term beta titanium is simply saying that titanium has been alloyed with an amount of certain alloying element(s) that allow for a certain crystalline form, the beta phase, to be retained at room temperature after a quench. It's like calling high carbon steel "beta" steel. Well guess what: the crystalline structure that one is after with titanium blades is not the weak, soft beta phase, it's the hard, strong ALPHA PRIME phase. And if you're really good, ALPHA DOUBLE PRIME. :cool::thumbsup:

What say ye?
 
I'm not into titanium but if you ask me I choose ALPHA DOUBLE PRIME. Like, you know, in alpha male. Raowwwrr...
And I want my steel in ALPHA DOUBLE PRIME, too. Why settle for less ?
 
It's not strictly language related, so I may be drifting here, but the obsession with the hardest steel ever begins to grate on my nerves. Harder is not better (yeah there's a joke in there, but I must say it as it is). I'd even venture so far as to say most pocket knife uses are way better met with softer steels. VG10 can be run (snicker) at 62 HRC. This is as perfect as it gets. For my uses, of course. But I'm not an exclusive kitchen dweller. I happen to go outside.
 
"Lightswitch" & "push button" when describing a flipper. Does it have a strong detent or not? I could give 2 :poop:'s how you decide to open your knife.
Thickness "BTE (behind the edge)" is becoming a huge thing now. Is it sharp? It's probably gonna cut whatever you need it to cut. :rolleyes:
"Robust" vs. well built. Maybe I'm nitpicking now, but just say it's a well built knife..
 
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