On my Android cell phone there is a function called "Torch", and when
I press the button it shines a light, which I sometimes use to read
by.

I was just wondering whether, on such phones sold in the USA, this
function is labelled "Flashlight", or is it aslo labelled "torch" is
in non-US English?

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Am 24.09.2023 um 12:18:59 Uhr schrieb Steve Hayes:

> I was just wondering whether, on such phones sold in the USA, this
> function is labelled "Flashlight", or is it aslo labelled "torch" is
> in non-US English?

At leo.org, torch is listed as British English and is the device in
British English, but in American it means fire raiser.

Flashlight is listed as American.

On Sun, 24 Sep 2023 12:18:59 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

> On my Android cell phone there is a function called "Torch", and when I
> press the button it shines a light, which I sometimes use to read by.
>
> I was just wondering whether, on such phones sold in the USA, this
> function is labelled "Flashlight", or is it aslo labelled "torch" is in
> non-US English?

$ dict torch
5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

flashlight \flash"light`\ n.
a portable battery-powered electric lamp, small enough to be
held in one hand; -- it is most commonly cylindrical, but
other forms are also made. It is called in Britain a {torch}

Syn: torch.
[WordNet 1.5]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

Torch \Torch\ (t[^o]rch), n. [OE. torche, F. torche a torch,
rag, wisp, pad; probably from a derivative of L. torquere,
tortum, to twist, because twisted like a rope; cf. F. torcher
to rub, wipe, It. topcia a torch, torciare to wrap, twist,
OF. torse a torse. Cf. {Torture}.]
A light or luminary formed of some combustible substance, as
of resinous wood; a large candle or flambeau, or a lamp
giving a large, flaring flame.
[1913 Webster]

They light the nuptial torch. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
[1913 Webster]

{Torch thistle}. (Bot.) See under {Thistle}.
[1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

Torchwort \Torch"wort`\, n. (Bot.)
The common mullein, the stalks of which, dipped in suet,
anciently served for torches. Called also {torch}, and
{hig-taper}.
[1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:

torch
n 1: a light usually carried in the hand; consists of some
flammable substance
2: tall-stalked very woolly mullein with densely packed yellow
flowers; ancient Greeks and Romans dipped the stalks in
tallow for funeral torches [syn: {common mullein}, {great
mullein}, {Aaron's rod}, {flannel mullein}, {woolly mullein},
{torch}, {Verbascum thapsus}]
3: a small portable battery-powered electric lamp [syn:
{flashlight}, {torch}]
4: a burner that mixes air and gas to produce a very hot flame
[syn: {blowtorch}, {torch}, {blowlamp}]
v 1: burn maliciously, as by arson; "The madman torched the
barns"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thesaurus]:

94 Moby Thesaurus words for "torch":
acetylene welder, angle, arsonist, bait the hook, bank, blast lamp,
blowpipe, blowtorch, bob, brand, burn, burner, butane lighter,
candle, cigarette lighter, clam, conflagrate, cresset, dap, dib,
dibble, drive, electric light bulb, enkindle, fan the flame, feed,
feed the fire, fire, firebrand, firebug, fish, flambeau, flame,
flaming torch, flare, flint, flint and steel, fly-fish, fusee, gig,
glim, go fishing, grig, guddle, ignite, igniter, illuminant,
illuminator, incandescent body, inflame, jack, jacklight, jig,
kindle, lamp, lantern, light, light bulb, light source, light up,
lighter, link, luminant, luminary, match, moon, net, portfire,
rekindle, relight, relume, seine, set fire to, set on fire, shrimp,
signal flare, source of light, sparker, spill, spin, stars,
still-fish, stir the fire, stoke, stoke the fire, strike a light,
sun, taper, touch off, trawl, troll, welder, welding blowpipe,
whale

--
Order! Order in the group!

On 24 Sep 2023, Steve Hayes wrote

> On my Android cell phone there is a function called "Torch", and when
> I press the button it shines a light, which I sometimes use to read
> by.
>
> I was just wondering whether, on such phones sold in the USA, this
> function is labelled "Flashlight", or is it aslo labelled "torch" is
> in non-US English?

It's not hard-wired in the phone: it depends on what you've set as the
phone's default language.

If you change the default language setting from "English (UK)" to
"English (US)", the label changes from "Torch" to "Flashlight".

--
Cheers, Harvey

Steve Hayes:

> On my Android cell phone there is a function called
> "Torch", and when I press the button it shines a light,
> which I sometimes use to read by.

Technically, it is an /electric/ torch.

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I wrote:

> Technically, it is an /electric/ torch.

As a bus is actually a 'bus, or omnibus and a car a self-
propelled carriage.

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On 24 Sep 2023, Steve Hayes wrote

> On my Android cell phone there is a function called "Torch", and when
> I press the button it shines a light, which I sometimes use to read
> by.
>
> I was just wondering whether, on such phones sold in the USA, this
> function is labelled "Flashlight", or is it aslo labelled "torch" is
> in non-US English?>

It's not hard-wired in the phone: it depends on what you've set as the
phone's default language.

If you change the default language setting from "English (UK)" to
"English (US)", the label changes from "Torch" to "Flashlight".

--
Cheers, Harvey

HVS:

> It's not hard-wired in the phone: it depends on what
> you've set as the phone's default language.
>
> If you change the default language setting from "English
> (UK)" to "English (US)", the label changes from "Torch" to
> "Flashlight".

The quoted message is a duplicate of the one you posted
three days earlier:

http://al.howardknight.net/?ID=169584537600

Kudos for using XNews!

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On Wed, 27 Sep 2023 23:10:14 +0300
Anton Shepelev <anton.txt@gmail.moc> wrote:

> HVS:
>
> > It's not hard-wired in the phone: it depends on what
> > you've set as the phone's default language.
> >
> > If you change the default language setting from "English
> > (UK)" to "English (US)", the label changes from "Torch" to
> > "Flashlight".
>
> The quoted message is a duplicate of the one you posted
> three days earlier:
>
> http://al.howardknight.net/?ID=169584537600
>
> Kudos for using XNews!
>
I did, but found I had trouble with UTF. So does this NR, but I'd changed
over by then.

--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.

On 27 Sep 2023, Anton Shepelev wrote

> HVS:
>
>> It's not hard-wired in the phone: it depends on what
>> you've set as the phone's default language.
>>
>> If you change the default language setting from "English
>> (UK)" to "English (US)", the label changes from "Torch" to
>> "Flashlight".
>
> The quoted message is a duplicate of the one you posted
> three days earlier:
>
> http://al.howardknight.net/?ID=169584537600
>
> Kudos for using XNews!

What caused this was that I read and responded to the original post in
alt.english.usage (which I still check out of force of habit), and as I
hadn't seen it in alt.usage.english assumed it had only been posted to
AEU.

A few days later I checked to see if there were any responses, and
spotted that the original message had been cross-posted to
"alt.usage.engilsh" -- which, because of the typo, meant it hadn't made
it to "alt.usage.english".

I corrected the typo for the second posting (and probably should have
added an explanation; apologies.)

(Re: XNews, I found it when I first started reading Usenet (2000-ish)
and managed, with some help from people posting to
news.software.readers, to customise it to work in a way that exactly
suited me. I tried other popular newsreaders like Agent and Gravity to
see what they offered, but have never found anything that's even
remotely as good as my XNews set-up, and have stuck with it ever
since.)

--
Cheers, Harvey

Kerr-Mudd, John to Anton Shepelev:

> > Kudos for using XNews!
>
> I did, but found I had trouble with UTF. So does this NR,
> but I'd changed over by then.

UTF is unfortunately abused when there is no need for it.
There are 8-bit encodings for most if not all European
languages. The FidoNet groups in zone 7 (CIS) all use 8-bit
encodings, and so do Usenet gateways into FidoNet. I hate to
see a post in English ruined by Unicode apostrophes, quotes,
and dashes. They are not meant for the plain-text medium of
Usenet.

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HVS:

> A few days later I checked to see if there were any
> responses, and spotted that the original message had been
> cross-posted to "alt.usage.engilsh"

I make a point of copying critical information from the
headers, rather than retyping it.

> (Re: XNews, I found it when I first started reading Usenet
> (2000-ish) and managed, with some help from people posting
> to news.software.readers, to customise it to work in a way
> that exactly suited me. I tried other popular newsreaders
> like Agent and Gravity to see what they offered, but have
> never found anything that's even remotely as good as my
> XNews set-up, and have stuck with it ever since.)

Exactly. It has a great manual and a very detailed
configuration file.

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Anton Shepelev wrote:

> encodings, and so do Usenet gateways into FidoNet. I hate to
> see a post in English ruined by Unicode apostrophes, quotes,
> and dashes. They are not meant for the plain-text medium of
> Usenet.

Det ville da være en skam hvis jeg ikke længere kunne skrive indlæg på
dansk.

You mean that UTF is unnessecary in groups where English is written, and
where there never is even a small quote from other languages?

Can you point me to such a group?

--
Bertel, Denmark

Bertel Lund Hansen to Anton Shepelev:

> > encodings, and so do Usenet gateways into FidoNet. I
> > hate to see a post in English ruined by Unicode
> > apostrophes, quotes, and dashes. They are not meant for
> > the plain-text medium of Usenet.
>
> Det ville da vaere en skam hvis jeg ikke laengere kunne
> skrive indlaeg pa dansk.
>
> You mean that UTF is unnessecary in groups where English
> is written, and where there never is even a small quote
> from other languages?

No, only where English (French, Russian, German...) is the
primary language, because 8-bit encodings support all of
them. Bilingual posts with the Latin alphabet may use the
Latin1 endcoding; if a mixture of the Cyrillic and Latin
alphabets is needed, there are Russian (Ukrainian,
Bulgarian) 8-bit encodings -- well supported by the Usenet
protocol, server software, and great old ante~~deluvian~~UTF
fossilised newsreaders.

The tiny proportion of texts where extended character sets
are reauired, can be rendered in ASCII with acceptable
accuracy. Similartly, no one complains that IRC does not
suport images large text messages, because the need share
them is rare, making justified the use of special tools such
as pastebins and image hostings.

> Can you point me to such a group?

Try comp.lang.c . I don't remember a situation where
anything but plain 7-bit ASCII was needed in that group.

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Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:

> Det ville da være en skam hvis jeg ikke længere kunne skrive
> indlæg på dansk.

This messaage should correctly represetn you text,
yet without any UTF, but via the ISO-8859-1 8-bit
encoding.

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en: I wrote:
ru: я писал:

> This messaage should correctly represetn you text, yet
> without any UTF, but via the ISO-8859-1 8-bit encoding.

And so it does:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Now, /this/ message should encode Russian and English
text without UTF. Читается?

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Anton Shepelev <anton.txt@gmail.moc> writes:
> HVS:
>
>> It's not hard-wired in the phone: it depends on what
>> you've set as the phone's default language.
>>
>> If you change the default language setting from "English
>> (UK)" to "English (US)", the label changes from "Torch" to
>> "Flashlight".
>
> The quoted message is a duplicate of the one you posted
> three days earlier:

So, why did you bother responding to it? What new exchange of knowledge
did you expect to take place?

Phil
--
We are no longer hunters and nomads. No longer awed and frightened, as we have
gained some understanding of the world in which we live. As such, we can cast
aside childish remnants from the dawn of our civilization.
-- NotSanguine on SoylentNews, after Eugen Weber in /The Western Tradition/

Phil Carmody to Anton Shepelev:

> > The quoted message is a duplicate of the one you posted
> > three days earlier:
>
> So, why did you bother responding to it? What new
> exchange of knowledge did you expect to take place?

None, but I acted upon the possiblity that my post might
prove useful if:

1. the duplicate is due to a glitch is on HVS's side,
2. it is fixable, and
3. HVS is not aware of it.

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On Sun, 24 Sep 2023 16:00:23 +0100, HVS <office@REMOVETHISwhhvs.co.uk>
wrote:

>On 24 Sep 2023, Steve Hayes wrote
>
>> On my Android cell phone there is a function called "Torch", and when
>> I press the button it shines a light, which I sometimes use to read
>> by.
>>
>> I was just wondering whether, on such phones sold in the USA, this
>> function is labelled "Flashlight", or is it aslo labelled "torch" is
>> in non-US English?
>
>It's not hard-wired in the phone: it depends on what you've set as the
>phone's default language.
>
>If you change the default language setting from "English (UK)" to
>"English (US)", the label changes from "Torch" to "Flashlight".

Thank you! That answers my question.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

On 03 Oct 2023, Steve Hayes wrote

> On Sun, 24 Sep 2023 16:00:23 +0100, HVS
> <office@REMOVETHISwhhvs.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> On 24 Sep 2023, Steve Hayes wrote
>>
>>> On my Android cell phone there is a function called "Torch", and
>>> when I press the button it shines a light, which I sometimes use
>>> to read by.
>>>
>>> I was just wondering whether, on such phones sold in the USA,
>>> this function is labelled "Flashlight", or is it aslo labelled
>>> "torch" is in non-US English?
>>
>> It's not hard-wired in the phone: it depends on what you've set
>> as the phone's default language.
>>
>> If you change the default language setting from "English (UK)" to
>> "English (US)", the label changes from "Torch" to "Flashlight".
>
> Thank you! That answers my question.

I was a bit surprised no one else pointed this out!

--
Cheers, Harvey