"Definitions"

Walter & Group...

From Mark Milkovitch:

Gordy,

Your response to my question about what you would call a tailing loop makes what I think is an important point for our study group ? the way one defines a key concept has important implications. Your example was perfect: by your definition, some trailing loops (the Maloney cast) are useful.  But, if you had chosen the colliding legs definition, most would agree that trailing loops are consistently ?bad?.

Definitions change over time anyway and it is common in many areas of endeavor to define key terms for specific purposes and/or groups whether or not the definitions are universally acceptable.

  Particularly in the area of casting mechanics and particularly for our study group I think it would be useful to select and use a set of ?proposed? or ?working? definitions and to explore the implications of the definitions we select.  It would help our members select the set of definitions which work best for them and allow them to work through the implications of those choices. 

 That would be useful in two important areas.  First, the members would develop a cohesive & consistent account of casting mechanics.  Consistency vs. inconsistency here prevents us from confusing our own students with inconsistent statements.  Second, I can imagine that a common trap for masters candidates in their oral exam develops when a candidate is not aware that the examiner defines a key concept differently than they do. 

There is nothing that would require our members to accept this set of definitions but it would give us a useful template to work through and develop our individual set of definitions while making us aware of the alternatives.

 

Best,

Mark    

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Mark...

  I already have my own set of "working definitions" which, of course, are subject to change in the event we finalize and gain full CBOG acceptance of the ones from our Glossary Committee.  Also, I'd like to keep them flexible enough for change in the event better ones are offered....  nothing "written in stone".

I doubt we'll ever come up with definitions which are fully accepted the World over because of the different ways fly casting instructors and authors view fly casting based upon their own experiences.

One thing I've noted is that when one comes up with a set of definitions for fly casting, each definition relates to every other one.

As you point out, this can be an important issue when Master candidates take their exams.  I didn't want to have our members fixate on any definitions we came up with here and have candidates  quote them on exams ... rather I wanted to wait until our Glossary Committee  could come up with a CBOG "official" set of them.

Having said that, we do need greater commonality of language as we discuss fly casting at a high level .... so I'll consider coming up with what I've been using as working definitions and descriptions almost all of which will be very close to the ones upon which the Committee has agreed even though not with full consensus.

At the same time, I continue to respect sets of definitions which have been established by other respected groups because I recognize that they are born from different rational thought patterns.

One day, I'll share them.

Gordy

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