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nutplate vs plate nut

scsmith

Well Known Member
I really hate to be a nag, but the proper name for a blind anchor nut is a "plate nut". They are nuts. They happen to be formed so that they can be riveted onto a plate. The "official" GSA directory refers to them as "nut, plate".

So many people incorrectly call them nutplates that that is now considered an alternate name. So, if enough people start calling a fire hydrant a hydrant fire, will that become an accepted name too?
 
Deepnds

I really hate to be a nag, but the proper name for a blind anchor nut is a "plate nut". They are nuts. They happen to be formed so that they can be riveted onto a plate. The "official" GSA directory refers to them as "nut, plate".

So many people incorrectly call them nutplates that that is now considered an alternate name. So, if enough people start calling a fire hydrant a hydrant fire, will that become an accepted name too?

Depends if I am speaking to my dog or my mom.
 
I really hate to be a nag, but the proper name for a blind anchor nut is a "plate nut". They are nuts. They happen to be formed so that they can be riveted onto a plate. The "official" GSA directory refers to them as "nut, plate".

So many people incorrectly call them nutplates that that is now considered an alternate name. So, if enough people start calling a fire hydrant a hydrant fire, will that become an accepted name too?

Hahaha, wow, yep :confused:

I've called them nut plates all my adult life and then read in section 5 about plate nuts.... then I got confused on what I originally called them and my log has them as both :rolleyes:

So Plate nuts it shall be...
icon14.gif
 
It should be correct, then, to use the term:

hydrant, fire

like it is correct to use:

nut, plate

but not:

hydrant fires

:p:p
 
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I attach a bolt with a nut, so the thing I insert a bolt into is a plate nut.
But, the thing I rivet onto structure is a plate, so nut plate.
Is this like damper vs dampener?
 
If you must. But {what-it-does}-{what-it-is} is a common enough language construct. I think it depends what direction you're coming from: a nut plate is one kind of plate (dinner plate, home plate); a plate nut is one kind of nut (lock nut, pea nut). I don't expect to go unmolested if I ponder whether to drink from a faucet water or a bottle water.
 
Grammar on VAF? That’s a first for me :)

I suppose if we all know what we are talking about it’s not too much of a bother, so do what works for ya. It is common though for technical documents to order words backwards from what is considered ’correct’ in conversational situations. For instance, we would say “hex nut” (modifier, generic noun) when talking to our buddies, but on a drawing it’s always written “nut, hex” (generic noun, modifier). The reversal makes it easy to find all of a type of thing (like all the nuts) on a bill of materials by just scanning down the list. Because of that custom, some folks will use the ‘generic, modifier’ ordering in their writing too, but it’s not necessarily proper. Like I said, do what works for you... but don’t take it too seriously. Trying to contain and force the living and breathing thing that is the English language only ends in frustration.


On a side note, what was funny to me was the first time I read the OP I flipped the two words and read nut plate. I couldn’t understand what everyone was talking about until I reread the OP. I guess it’s so engrained in my brain to flip the words, I don’t even realize I’m doing it.
 
I don’t call them whatever, pointless as they don’t bulge anyway. I just screw em, in or out with either screws or bolts.
Couple of em thingy as spares hanging on a hanger in the hangar :D

Popcorn 🍿 anybody?
 
I've called these things nut plates my entire life. Therefore I will defend this position to my dying breath and everyone else is wrong. There is no middle ground here.

Also, on the engineering drawings for the Citations, the vertical racks in the galley that are for soft drink storage are called "Pop Can Racks" So there is your definitive engineering coverage that everybody who says "soda" is wrong. And the people who call everything a Coke? We won't even talk about them.

p.s. I've lost all respect for Aircraft Spruce, who took the coward's way out of this debate and started calling them "anchor nuts"
 
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We're talking about the English language here, folks (and particularly, the American version of same). Very fuzzy rules, ready acceptance of neologisms and words that originate in other languages, and little resistance to grammatical and syntactical errors when they become common in everyday use.

Relax, it will all be just fine.
 
I attach a bolt with a nut, so the thing I insert a bolt into is a plate nut.
But, the thing I rivet onto structure is a plate, so nut plate.
Is this like damper vs dampener?

Oh if we are going down this path, technically you attach a screw to a nut to make a bolt.

And a dampener makes things damp.
 
Neutral plates

Haha found this one funny. But then I remembered back 40 some year’s ago when I first started in ga. I was informed that nut plates were the floating nut type. And plate nuts were the non floating types.

RD
 
I love this forum

We gleefully take a mundane subject and toss and turn it, objectify it, rationalize it, orate skillfully about it and in the end, it’s still 1 each, subject, mundane.
 
I will contemplate this further while sitting on the tarmac (oops, I mean apron) trying to get some more use out of my pilot's license (oops, I mean Airman's Certificate). No matter what you call them, it's easy to develop a healthy hate for the little devils when you scan Van's packing lists....
 
Platenut

I used to refer to them as plate nuts but kept getting corrected incorrectly so I switched to nut plate. My blog and my airplane have both.

So is it Cleco or Cleko?
:D:D:D:D:D
 
I hear fingernails on a chalkboard when anyone uses the term “certified” in reference to type certificated aircraft, but I’m coming to grips with it as I am coming to realize that at this point there’s not munch anyone an do about it.
 
This ship has REALLY sailed

Even the prescriptivists have to surrender, it seems to me:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nut plate

Interestingly, you can still shout at people for calling it a "nutplate" instead of a "nut plate," I suppose.

I really hate to be a nag, but the proper name for a blind anchor nut is a "plate nut". They are nuts. They happen to be formed so that they can be riveted onto a plate. The "official" GSA directory refers to them as "nut, plate".

So many people incorrectly call them nutplates that that is now considered an alternate name. So, if enough people start calling a fire hydrant a hydrant fire, will that become an accepted name too?
 
When I took over as Editor in Chief at Kitplanes way back when, I was introduced to the “Style Guide”, a document that sets standard ways of using words, punctuation, and capitalization so that the publication would be consistent. Based originally on a guide from a major international publication (was it the AP Guide? I forget....), it had been updated by an interim EIC who had all of the best intentions, but not a lot of first-hand experience with aviation at the hands-on level.

I tended to ride fairly rough-shod over such conventions, writing in the colloquial English of the workshop, hangar, and cockpit, much to the chagrin of my hard-working Executive Editor whose job it was to keep all of the authors (including me) within some sort of boundary so that - like a spinning child’s top - we didn’t fall off the edge of the table. Eventually, I think he just starting updating the style guide to match my scribblings, giving up on trying to keep me on the straight and narrow..... My copy of the guide is somewhere lost on my hard drive, and I could go look up nuts and plates to see what we were/are/aren’t supposed to be using....but that’s a lot of work - you know what I mean?

So now that we’ve beaten up the lowly thing with a female thread in the middle and two little tangs out each side for rivets, lets tackle the REAL evil of aviation - all those people who are continually, on a daily basis, trying to “Transition” airspace and airports!

What the heck are they trying to change them in to ..... ? :)
 
When I took over as Editor in Chief at Kitplanes way back when, I was introduced to the “Style Guide”, a document that sets standard ways of using words, punctuation, and capitalization so that the publication would be consistent. Based originally on a guide from a major international publication (was it the AP Guide? I forget....), it had been updated by an interim EIC who had all of the best intentions, but not a lot of first-hand experience with aviation at the hands-on level.

I tended to ride fairly rough-shod over such conventions, writing in the colloquial English of the workshop, hangar, and cockpit, much to the chagrin of my hard-working Executive Editor whose job it was to keep all of the authors (including me) within some sort of boundary so that - like a spinning child’s top - we didn’t fall off the edge of the table. Eventually, I think he just starting updating the style guide to match my scribblings, giving up on trying to keep me on the straight and narrow..... My copy of the guide is somewhere lost on my hard drive, and I could go look up nuts and plates to see what we were/are/aren’t supposed to be using....but that’s a lot of work - you know what I mean?

So now that we’ve beaten up the lowly thing with a female thread in the middle and two little tangs out each side for rivets, lets tackle the REAL evil of aviation - all those people who are continually, on a daily basis, trying to “Transition” airspace and airports!

What the heck are they trying to change them in to ..... ? :)

Ive always found that terminology strange as well but isn’t that the preferred/expected terminology? Maybe a question for Ed Wischmeier (apologies if I misspell his name)
 
When I took over as Editor in Chief at Kitplanes way back when, I was introduced to the “Style Guide”, a document that sets standard ways of using words, punctuation, and capitalization so that the publication would be consistent. Based originally on a guide from a major international publication (was it the AP Guide? I forget....), it had been updated by an interim EIC who had all of the best intentions, but not a lot of first-hand experience with aviation at the hands-on level.

I tended to ride fairly rough-shod over such conventions, writing in the colloquial English of the workshop, hangar, and cockpit, much to the chagrin of my hard-working Executive Editor whose job it was to keep all of the authors (including me) within some sort of boundary so that - like a spinning child’s top - we didn’t fall off the edge of the table. Eventually, I think he just starting updating the style guide to match my scribblings, giving up on trying to keep me on the straight and narrow..... My copy of the guide is somewhere lost on my hard drive, and I could go look up nuts and plates to see what we were/are/aren’t supposed to be using....but that’s a lot of work - you know what I mean?

So now that we’ve beaten up the lowly thing with a female thread in the middle and two little tangs out each side for rivets, lets tackle the REAL evil of aviation - all those people who are continually, on a daily basis, trying to “Transition” airspace and airports!

What the heck are they trying to change them in to ..... ? :)


And the guys doing the conditional inspections.............on what condition?:D
 
Ive always found that terminology strange as well but isn’t that the preferred/expected terminology? Maybe a question for Ed Wischmeier (apologies if I misspell his name)

You won’t find the terminology in any place in the AIM except with reference to flying a specific Transition segment of an instrument procedure. “Transiting” an airport’s airspace is acceptable of course, but “Transitionining” it just makes you sound like you are trying to imitate some airline guy you heard on the radio...I blame young CFI’s who are just trying to build hours for their first commuter job.....

Twenty years ago, it was the “anyone in the vicinity please advise” that made them sound like a commuter captain dropping into an uncontrolled field after switching over from Center - then the AIM outlawed that phrase, and they started “transitioning” everything....
 
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So, if enough people start calling a fire hydrant a hydrant fire, will that become an accepted name too?

I suppose that is why my dog lifts a leg to put out the hydrant fires?
So far is is only preventative practice as we have never found one ablaze.
 
Another one of the things I really like about this forum. Most people actually understand that it's okay to talk about things like word usage and grammar without it being a deadly insult. The OP just wanted to point something out and I don't remember him saying we were all idiots If we didn't agree with him.

And the one that drives me up a wall when people get it wrong? When your wing is about to come off it's loose, not lose. Now if you lose it your in trouble.

But I gave up long ago correcting people. :)
 
Not the only thing...

Haha found this one funny. But then I remembered back 40 some year’s ago when I first started in ga. I was informed that nut plates were the floating nut type. And plate nuts were the non floating types.

That seems to be the distinction people commonly use. I used to work in precision machining and everyone called them nutplates (we only used the floating-nut type). Not trying to say "plate nut" is wrong for that specific item, just saying that "everyone" seems to call them nutplates.

Nutplates / plate nuts aren't even the only odd"ball"s in the group: likewise, a ball bearing is actually this:
299px-Ball_Bearing_with_Semi_Transparent_Cover.JPG


The balls inside of them are called "bearing balls" but I wouldn't be surprised if it started out in the same vein as "ball, bearing".

We all know what bearings are here but how many people have you met that call the little balls "ball bearings"? :rolleyes:
 
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Surrender, prescriptivists! The battle is lost!!

Sadly, it is actually correct to refer to one of the little balls as a "ball bearing."

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ball bearing

Meanwhile, some of you guys are NOT going to like the dictionary's definition of "literally."

I'm telling you, your heads will literally explode.

That seems to be the distinction people commonly use. I used to work in precision machining and everyone called them nutplates (we only used the floating-nut type). Not trying to say "plate nut" is wrong for that specific item, just saying that "everyone" seems to call them nutplates.

Nutplates / plate nuts aren't even the only odd"ball"s in the group: likewise, a ball bearing is actually this:
299px-Ball_Bearing_with_Semi_Transparent_Cover.JPG


The balls inside of them are called "bearing balls" but I wouldn't be surprised if it started out in the same vein as "ball, bearing".

We all know what bearings are here but how many people have you met that call the little balls "ball bearings"? :rolleyes:
 
Transition

When I transition, it's usually from local altimeter setting to standard 29.92 after crossing into the standard pressure region at FL180 and above. Again on the way down, we transition to a local altimeter setting before crossing into the altimeter setting region (always "transition" on the standard pressure side).
 
nut plate probably came from the military.

NSN: 5310-00-784-8145. Part Description: Nut, Self-locking, Plate Part Number (MPN): MF5000-4
 
We're talking about the English language here, folks (and particularly, the American version of same). Very fuzzy rules, ready acceptance of neologisms and words that originate in other languages, and little resistance to grammatical and syntactical errors when they become common in everyday use.

Relax, it will all be just fine.

Ah, but there ARE rules for adjectives, and in simplest form, they go like this:

opinion, size, age, shape, color, origin, material, purpose

followed by the thing being modified.

So, "beat-up #10 old L-shaped grey ACME all-metal plate nut".

(There are more detailed rules, as well, but you get the idea...and we all use them without even knowing them, or that we learned them in...wait for it...grammar school!).
 
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Kind of like a dog with no legs. Doesn't matter what you call them, they're not coming anyway.

Personally, I find politics a much nobler cause to get my undies in a bunch over.
 
I attach a bolt with a nut, so the thing I insert a bolt into is a plate nut.
But, the thing I rivet onto structure is a plate, so nut plate.
Is this like damper vs dampener?

A damper is a component in a dynamic system which converts mechanical energy into thermal energy. The things on your car incorrectly called shocks are really dampers.

A dampener makes something wet.

I prefer nutplate because that's what I've always called them.
 
Another one of the things I really like about this forum. Most people actually understand that it's okay to talk about things like word usage and grammar without it being a deadly insult. The OP just wanted to point something out and I don't remember him saying we were all idiots If we didn't agree with him.

And the one that drives me up a wall when people get it wrong? When your wing is about to come off it's loose, not lose. Now if you lose it your in trouble.

But I gave up long ago correcting people. :)

Apologies, but I just can't resist. :rolleyes: Should be "you're" in trouble.

Sometimes I just can't help myself..........
 
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