Normal Leicaphile or Weird Leicaphile?

[Nando]

I met up with a local Leica enthusiast this morning for some coffee and he did something that I thought was a bit weird and I since I'm relatively new to the world of rangefinders I was wondering if this was normal or not.

He pronounced the various Leica designations as if they were words. I showed him my Imarect finder and told me that I had a really nice "Vee-ooo" (VIOOH). I explained to him that it came with my 135 Hektor and I rather have a dedicated VF and he said that needed to look for a "shuke" (SHOOC).

This guy was a very nice man well into his 70's and I could tell that he knew his stuff. I didn't want to offend him so I started playing along. Telling him about the APDOO self-timer I just bought and that I was looking for an OZTNO cable-release adapter.

So is this normal or not?

 

[Rich Silfver]

Not quite sure what your questions is...but..sure I say IROOA, WINTU, etc as words sure. Beats spelling W-I-N-T-U. These Leica codes were designed so that they were 'words' instead of codes like 123-AB-X9.

 

[terrafirmanada]

A Leicaphile is a Likeafile is a Lighgafyl.

 

[Finder]

I'm not sure there is a difference between "normal" and "weird" when it comes to Leicaphiles.

 

[Alec]

Sounds to me like a rhetorical debate between truism and tautology 😉
Brand me as just a Leicafly.

 

[Nando]

Rich,

You make a lot of sense. It took a few moments to catch on. Its one thing to see something like VIOOH in writing but I was taken back by actually hearing it. For a second I didn't understand him.

It got me thinking about all the different pronunciations possible in an such a large international community. I might have pronounced VIOOH as Vee-oh instead of Vee-oo with a long u sound like my colleague. It actually triggered a memory - not necessarily a bad one but one that I'd rather forget. I belonged to a car club for Mercury Cougars that was designated NECO. I remember once that there was a huge and passionate debate on the proper pronunciation. Some said Knee-ko, others said Neck-o. This lasted for some weeks - maybe over a month. In the mist of it all, we noticed that coincidentally the Japanese word for cat was Neko, which sounded more like nugh-ko or nick-o. Some people adopted that pronunciation since Cougars being cats and all. The whole thing was quite stupid in retrospect.

As long as camera guys aren't as weird as car guys...

Anyway, it may have been a stupid question but I thought I'd ask. Let's put it this way... If I walk into a place like Photo Village and ask if they have an Ozz-Te-Know, will they know what I'm talking about?

 

[payasam]

The first time I heard "DOS", years ago, I thought it had something to do with a doss house. Took a while to understand that it meant Disk Operating System. There's plenty of acronyms outside the world of Leica: Unicef, NATO, radar are examples. Strictly, those Leitz codes (and all groups of initial letters) which cannot easily be pronounced as words are not acronyms but initialisms.

 

[Trius]

Nando: The important thing is to get out and shoot some images around the Soo and points north, then post in your gallery! 😀 How about some Bush Plane Museum shots? Montreal River area? Wawa ... Pukaskwa shoreline ... Get going man ... you're in heaven on earth!

 

[Nando]

Trius,

I lived in the Soo for so long that I guess I take the natural beauty of its surrounding countryside for granted. It would be closer to heaven on earth if it weren't for all the black flies. I'm actually more interested in green spaces in Portugal like the Bucaco forest since they have a real sense of history along with natural beauty. I guess you are right. I should stop worrying about these silly things and start shooting more.

I do have some shots from the Bush Plane Museum up on my flickr account. It was the first time I used my CV 21mm and 75mm.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fgsemedo/

 

[peter_n]

Did he have a SOOGZ or maybe a NOOKY? 😉

 

[Tim]

Normal Leicaphile or Weird Leicaphile?

What do you mean, or ??

😉

 

[Nando]

Did he have a SOOGZ or maybe a NOOKY? 😉

I am going to refrain from using the word nooky especially when I'm with another man. 🙂 Wait, maybe spelling it out would sound even more suspicious. 😱

 

[KoNickon]

And by all means, don't mention IMARECT and NOOKY in the same sentence.

 

[Nando]

And by all means, don't mention IMARECT and NOOKY in the same sentence.

Ha! That tip should be in the Leica manual.