Is a free diver a diver?

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fisheater

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

This side discussion from thread has been split off from the Accidents and Incidents forum on the death of a free diver. Marg, ScubaBoard Senior Moderator


These were free divers, correct?

Correct.


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Then why does media decide they need to call them "divers"??
That one thing that seriously piss me off..

That dont make it less tragic for those who died and their loved ones tho :(
 
Then why does media decide they need to call them "divers"??
That one thing that seriously piss me off..

That dont make it less tragic for those who died and their loved ones tho :(

Because they were divers. Not scuba divers, but, along with a long list that includes divers like Navy WW2 UDT divers, pearl divers, free divers and scuba divers, they were divers. And probably better divers than most of the scuba diving people I encounter on resort dive boats, whose opinion of their own abilities is way out of touch with reality.

I've been a certified scuba diver for 40 years, but I really learned most of what I know that is essential while diving with just a mask, snorkel and fins, back when my age required only one number. I can remember being called a diver when I was 8 or 9 years old, free diving on jetties, under bridges, etc. And that's exactly what I was.
 
Then why does media decide they need to call them "divers"??
That one thing that seriously piss me off..

That dont make it less tragic for those who died and their loved ones tho :(


What do you think that these people should be referred to as?
 
Divers- Athletes that jump of a board into water, spring or platform
free diver-swims without aid of scuba gear,will include snorkeling
SCUBA diver-swims with self contain breathing supply

Specifying exactly what type of water use makes a difference in accident analysis.
 
There are diverse definitions to be found in divers places and contexts for a word (diver, diving, dive) that is used to describe certain birds, aircraft maneuvers, submarine maneuvers, boxers who pretend to be hurt, springboard divers, cliff divers, sponge divers, and divers others, especially when using the word in a manner found frequently in Scripture.

It is a grievous error to limit the definition of a broadly general term to the narrow area that one is most familiar with, especially when there are totally unrelated words spelled and pronounced the same way. The word 'divers', even when divorced from the diverse and divers meanings that exist beyond activities involving water, is an all emcompassing word that can be more precisely limited by adding a word like 'scuba' or a phrase like 'golf ball retrieval'. The list of definitions for the word diver and its variants takes up nearly an entire page in the OED.

In that regard, beware of internet definitions. I can't begin to count the many instances of of the misuse of the word 'gunsel' by uninformed people. Writers of junk fiction use the word as if it were a synonym for 'gunman'. This has happened so frequently that repeated usage by legions of pretentious ignorant writers, who assume that because it sounds like gun it must have a related meaning, has managed to get their stupid error enshrined in some dictionaries.

Dashiell Hammett, who wrote the Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade, his main character in that novel, and Bogart who starred in the film all knew that a gunsel is a somewhat effeminate pretty boy owned and used in a perverse manner by a powerful male criminal boss who may have developed a taste for that kind of thing while in prison. The novel/movie is missing an important element if that word is misunderstood. It's old underworld slang derived from the Yiddish term for a little goose. I have a long list of other words and terms that we have managed to ruin, but I'll stop here, with an encouragement to all to buy a good dictionary, not the one with a picture of Big Bird on the cover.
 
What do you think that these people should be referred to as?
Freedivers, just as Im a scuba diver and there is also cliff divers..

Specifying that they are freedivers rather than cliff divers or scuba divers kinda provides a bit more specifics about the case, does it not?
 
Freedivers, just as Im a scuba diver and there is also cliff divers..

Specifying that they are freedivers rather than cliff divers or scuba divers kinda provides a bit more specifics about the case, does it not?

Following this logic means that the word "divers" should not be used in any reporting or news stories. Only compound constructions like those you list. This approach to precision is, I think, overkill. Why would the average reader of a news report need to have this kind of specificity? Most people involved in West Coast (please excuse) diving understand that there are all sorts of rules and regulations that virtually define the people involved in abalone gathering as breath hold divers (a term I prefer to free diver. Are other divers captive divers?) Those uninvolved with diving reading a brief news account are probably much more interested in the loss of life than in the kind of diving that was involved. If a detailed analysis is involved then many specifics must be discussed, details that focus on many issues, including conditions under which people should not be allowed to enter a heavy surf zone.
 
Following this logic means that the word "divers" should not be used in any reporting or news stories. Only compound constructions like those you list. This approach to precision is, I think, overkill. Why would the average reader of a news report need to have this kind of specificity? Most people involved in West Coast (please excuse) diving understand that there are all sorts of rules and regulations that virtually define the people involved in abalone gathering as breath hold divers (a term I prefer to free diver. Are other divers captive divers?) Those uninvolved with diving reading a brief news account are probably much more interested in the loss of life than in the kind of diving that was involved. If a detailed analysis is involved then many specifics must be discussed, details that focus on many issues, including conditions under which people should not be allowed to enter a heavy surf zone.
Of course its overkill.. Why would media ever want precision - that might actually make people know what actually happen and not click the link to stuff that dont really interest them..
 
They are free divers, or perhaps spearfishers. They are not sky divers, scuba divers or high divers.
 
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