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There’s a special kind of language for everything we humans do. When we speak a word, it represents an idea. There are countless dialects we invent for all the things we do. Take climbers for example. There are mountain climbers, rock climbers, indoor wall climbers, boulder climbers, building climbers, and cavers, just to mention a few.
We are tree climbers. But even we tree climbers have different categories of interest. There are recreational climbers, research climbers, wilderness climbers, activists, arborists, tree workers, and foresters. Each category of interest has a distinct vocabulary. The terms that are used are borrowed, copied, invented, or de_script_ive in nature.
Usage is never static, however. New terms arise as tree climbing techniques and ideas change and old terms fall out of use. It can even be regional in nature. We intend for this forum to be a place to explore the meanings of words in a tree climber’s vocabulary. The point is to get clarity on the words we use by generating a discussion about them.
Please use the following format when opening up a new word discussion. It makes for a quicker reference, sort of like a dictionary or glossary of terms. Here are the headings with the de_script_ions of each heading for reference.
Word or term: What is the word or term?
Interest group: Recreational, research, activism, wilderness climbing, arboriculture, tree work, forestry.
Origin: Do you know where the term comes from, or who was it borrowed or copied from?
Meaning: What does the word or term mean to you in reference to tree climbing? (It may mean something totally different to somebody else!) Use this heading to explain why you’re starting a conversation about this particular word or term.
Let's see what we come up with!
Yours waving from a treetop,
Peter "Treeman" Jenkins
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