Who calls a canopy a "chute"?

[darkwing 4]

I think this is a reflection on my age, but it drives me crazy to hear people call a canopy a "chute." My brain equates the speaker with a whuffo. Are beginners being taught to use the word "chute"?

I realize I should have searched the forum before bringing this up, but I didn't.

I also realize that nobody cares.

I know that freeflyers and belly flyers will have different strongly-held views on this topic.

People who jump Vectors will disagree with people who jump Racers.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[jakee 1,254]

I don't really think about it but I have noticed that since I started skydiving (2 years ago) I have never used the word chute.

It is always either canopy or parachute. And I usually only use parachute when talking about my rig to whuffos.

Do you want to have an ideagasm?

[iwasinkheson68 0]

i care. i care way too much. i've not been around for long, but it really grates me when people say it.

[lisamariewillbe 1]

I dont know if I do, Ill pay a bit more attention next convo I have.... even if I do I have come a long way from when I wrote in my diary about "and I got to help turn using the toggle thingys" when writing about my tandem

Sudsy Fist: i don't think i'd ever say this
Sudsy Fist: but you're looking damn sudsydoable in this

[KNewman 0]

I do

Don't just look at my civilian jump numbers, I have been a military jumper for 22 years and that is the term we always use. Sort of stuck in my old fart ways

Blue Skies and Stand-up Landings!!!!!!

[Dougiefresh 0]

Shortening words to nonsense bothers me almost as much as people saying "chute".

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams

[Harksaw 0]

I call it a parachute when i'm talking to whuffos. Less to explain.

__________________________________________________
I started skydiving for the money and the chicks. Oh, wait.

[dmetz 0]

It depends entirely on who I'm talking to.

Military speak=chute
Skydiver speak=canopy
Everyone else= whatever I think will get the point across the easiest. (I never pick the right term first though, it usually always takes some explaining)

_________________________________________

"If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?"

[lisamariewillbe 1]

I was on a tandem... lol I didnt have my FJC yet, Id never call it toggle thingys again....

Sudsy Fist: i don't think i'd ever say this
Sudsy Fist: but you're looking damn sudsydoable in this

[dmetz 0]

Quote

Shortening words to nonsense bothers me almost as much as people saying "chute".

Speaking of which...I don't mean to hijack or anything, but...how about the "word" wuffo? That's friggin asinine. The supposed derivation of the word is even more ridiculous. I'm gonna search first, but I think this deserves its own post.

_________________________________________

"If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?"

[ChrisL 2]

par·a·chute n.

1. An apparatus used to retard free fall from an aircraft, consisting of a light canopy attached by cords to a harness and worn or stored folded until deployed in descent.
2. Any of various similar unpowered devices that are used for retarding free-speeding or free-falling motion.

A canopy is a parachute by definition.

Calling it a "chute" is perfectly acceptible whether I fly on my belly or freefly or jump a vector or dolphin.

If it bothers you, then you can feel overjoyed that you live in a society in which you have the leisure to give a shit about something this meaningless

__

My mighty steed

[dmetz 0]

Quote

par·a·chute n.

1. An apparatus used to retard free fall from an aircraft, consisting of a light canopy attached by cords to a harness and worn or stored folded until deployed in descent.
2. Any of various similar unpowered devices that are used for retarding free-speeding or free-falling motion.

A canopy is a parachute by definition.

Calling it a "chute" is perfectly acceptible whether I fly on my belly or freefly or jump a vector or dolphin.

If it bothers you, then you can feel overjoyed that you live in a society in which you have the leisure to give a shit about something this meaningless

Damn dude...is it raining where you are?

_________________________________________

"If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?"

[ChrisL 2]

Quote

Damn dude...is it raining where you are?

Nope. But I am between chutes at the moment

__

My mighty steed

[HydroGuy 0]

So should it really be pilot parachute as well?

Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

[SkydiveMO 0]

Good ol' Merriam-Webster seems to think it's alright

Pronunciation: 'shüt
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Old French, from cheoir to fall, from Latin cadere -- more at CHANCE
1 a : FALL b : a quick descent (as in a river) : RAPID
2 : an inclined plane, sloping channel, or passage down or through which things may pass : SLIDE
3 : PARACHUTE

[Ron 7]

Do you say "Relative Work" or "RW"?

Do you say "Main Parachute", or "Main"?

I use "chute"...And with my 3600 jumps I don't think I can be considered a whuffo.

Being 33 I don't think I am old either.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[ripcord4 0]

I use chute as often as not. The central point here is that everyone knows what you mean by using chute. You have fulfilled the function of communication.

[Praetorian 1]

I call mine "my main" usually or in general main

have in the past and will again call them chutes

sometimes bed sheet with strings

one in a while I'll call my main "Bitch" usually during packing or a less then perfect opening

Good Judgment comes from experience...a lot of experience comes from bad
judgment.

[Silverchic 0]

I also say chute...and I'd like to think I'm a step above a "whuffo"

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

[teason 0]

Hmm, interesting observation. I find that it depends on the context.

If I'm talking about flying or opening, I call it a canopy.

If I'm talking about packing it's a chute.

When was the last time you asked a packer/rigger how many canopys they packed on the weekend. Chute just sounds better. On the flipside saying "I opened my chute at 3000'" sounds really Whuffo.

No one swoops a chute!

I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.

[BIGUN 1,049]

I say, "chute" all the time. "Keith, wanna make a jump?" "Lemmee go get my chute." Or is it "shit?" I forget.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[kelel01 1]

I've already seen all the dissenting opinions here, but I have to agree with you. Maybe the reason it bothers me is because it's something Scott Lutz would say . . . but yes, it irks the hell out of me. But that's my problem . . . people can say whatever they want.

[skyfreek 1]

who cares as long as you`re out jumping!

[Martini 0]

Shoot, just shoot 'em. Then shoot 'em down the chute. And shit on their chutes.

Sometimes you eat the bear..............

[tdog 0]

I call it a canopy... When I hear Chute, I think someone who is wuffo... Parachute is a-ok, but where I am from canopy is what the "real skydivers" call it, and a Chute is what the guys attached to the tandem instructors call it...

Sometimes the context allows a "chute", but it has to be used just right, or else it sounds wrong...

"Which chute should I buy"
"My chute is hard to pack"

Neither are good uses of the word...