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Why is "helicopter" commonly shortened to "helo" rather than "heli" ?
What's really neat linguistically is that "helicopter" isn't a compound of "heli" and "copter," but rather "helico" (as in helix, helical) and "pter" (as in pterodactyl).
"Rebracketing" is when this happens (i.e., the split in the word is moved in colloquial language).
I would totally watch your TED talk
“helico” (as in helix, helical) and “pter” (as in pterodactyl)
Oh, yeah. For those people that keep insisting that the rotating wing is not an helix... go change the name!
In German it is the other way around, Helikopter gets shortened to heli
Yeah and cell phones are called handies, so shrug
Hmm, so if I move to Germany, my cell phones turn into handies? BRB, buying a lot of old cell phones.
Not 100% sure on this, but it may be due to 'helo' being more audibly distinct than 'heli' over a shitty garbled radio?
It could also be from different regional/national accents of English pronouncing helicopter as basically hee-lo-copter, sort of like how there are different pronunciations of Uranus or nuclear?
shitty garbled radio
Which is the standard method of communication aviation has somehow agreed on using "for safety reasons".
Well, to expand on that theory, 'helo' would have originated almost entirely with the radio tech of 50s and 60s military.
A whole lot of lingo basically makes sense if you understand its origin, but when the term keeps being used for decades and decades, its removed from that context and doesn't seem to make much sense in a modern context.
Either because it comes across more clearly over comms, or someone flipped a coin.
But, it is called that outside of the military, sometimes...sort of.
Heliskiing would be a lot more interesting if it was a fuel-efficient way to return the helicopter to the airport down in the valley after flying something up to the mountain.
What? You mean other than bolting two snowboards to the bottom of each skid and not being a total bitch about it?
I guess it's easier to say
It isn't