Talk:Seesaw

SeeSaw Word Origin & History

why is it called see-saw? present-past tense of the verb see?

From The Online Etymology Dictionary:

seesaw

1640, in see-saw-sacke a downe, words in a rhythmic jingle used by children and repetitive motion workers, probably imitative of the rhythmic back-and-forth motion of sawyers working a two-man saw over wood or stone (see saw). Ref. to a game of going up and down on a balanced plank is recorded from 1704; fig. sense is from 1714. Applied from 1824 to the plank arranged for the game. The verb is from 1712.

In other words, it seems to be from a child's word game, probably a play on the word "saw" for a two-man saw. --Andrew 05:30, Apr 16, 2005 (UTC)

Does anyone know anything about the history of the see-saw?

Piotr —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.136.22.4 (talk • contribs)

US Patent No. 116,502 entitled "See Saw" issued June 27, 1871. The named inventor is Mrs. S.E. Saul. Whereas typical modern see saws are supported from a hinge below the main plank, Mrs. Sauls' device is supported from above by a rope, similar to modern teeter totters. Perhaps Mrs. Saul is the missing link, and the "see saw" name is a play on the inventor's name. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.232.58.97 (talk) 22:18, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

See-saw effect

What is the see-saw effect?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.74.213.90 (talk) 13:42, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

I would say the "see-saw effect" is something that goes from one extreme to another and back again repeatedly "Oscillation" , in a word !

What was the context ?

--195.137.93.171 (talk) 04:16, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Teeter-Totter

In the United States, a SeeSaw is also called a "teeter-totter". This term originates from the Norfolk language word “Tittermatorter”, according to Peter Trudgill, a linguistics expert who can trace all his great-great-grandparents to a small patch of eastern Norfolk.

The above information comes to form a recent article in The Economist but you need to be a member to view the full article, so I included another article that mentions it, but it is not as reputable as The Economist.--Jon in California 19 August 2007

Teeter-totter links here, but it shouldn't. There's a toy called teeter-totter (as seen here[1]) that is most definitely not a seesaw and should have its own page. --maidden 09:35, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

In USA English a Teeter-totter is the same thing as a seesaw. The link you provided says it is a teeter-totter but I have never seen that contraption before. I would not have a problem with you making a separate teeter-totter page that says the word means both a seesaw and that device with an "also see" link to a seesaw or a disambiguation page. But make no mistake, teeter-totter is a word in USA English for seesaw (we use both words). I have included information on the origin of this word in the article as well. --Jon in California 19 August 2007

I note that the image page is in Spanish or something - could be a foreign-language variation ? --195.137.93.171 (talk) 04:19, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Mechanics

The sentence Seesaws also work as a simple example of a mechanical system with two equilibrium positions. One side is stable, while the other is unstable was recently added by a reliable editor, and it is referenced, so presumably it was copied from the published text. Can anyone explain what it means? Dbfirs 22:48, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

I was wondering the roughly the same thing: what does it mean? and is it correct? It was not necessarily copied from the original text verbatim - maybe it was an inaccurate paraphrase. I think the following is more correct "Seesaws also work as a simple example of a mechanical system with two stable positions, and one unstable equilibrium position.", but I do not have a reference to back it up - the original reference was not an online document. Also, the statement only applies to one particular design of seesaw (if we are accepting that the other variations illustrated in the article at the moment can also be called seesaws). I think the sentence was probably added by GreenGlass1972 between 2:58 and 3:10 25 March 2010 but I am not quite sure as I do not understand the article History well enough.

The first sentence in the Mechanics "Mechanically a seesaw is a lever and fulcrum." section also only applies to some of the designs of seesaw referred to in the article.

The third sentence "The simple mechanics of seesaws make them appear frequently in school exam paper questions on mechanical problems." does not have a reference.

So I think that all of the sentences in the Mechanics section have issues. FrankSier (talk) 19:10, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

I've reviewed the cited work. There is no support for the sentence "Seesaws also work as a simple example of a mechanical system with two equilibrium positions. One side is stable, while the other is unstable", nor is the sentence sensible in the first place---an equilibrium cannot exist if "one side" is unstable, at least not in the manner described here. I've removed the sentence accordingly... leaving the "Mechanics" section a little sparsely worded, but less misleading. --- Eunomiac (talk) 10:53, 30 July 2015 (UTC)

Safety issues

I've noticed in the past few years that just about every park, no scratch that, every park that I have been to which had a see-saw has now swapped them out for a newer safer see-saw-like thing. An example of the new teeter-totter is in the foreground of this photo [[2]]. Are "old-school" see-saw's being removed all over or is it just something in my area. I'm thinking that injuries have driven up the cost of liability insurance and the parks are replacing them

 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.133.42.16 (talk) 23:31, 2 May 2010 (UTC) 

"ci-ça" or "ce-ça"...?

I'm not a French expert, but is "ci-ça" correct as the etymology? The first paragraph under origins of the word is not cited, and I question whether it is ci or ce. "Ce" (pronounced /Suh/) is the normal word used for "this" in french. Is "ci" an older form? I don't know it. Dougjaso (talk) 01:31, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

Except in the phrase "comme ci comme ça" which change I just always assumed was to make pronunciation simpler. Dougjaso (talk) 01:40, 6 September 2020 (UTC)

,sps@Love,s9s 67.226.222.176 (talk) 19:41, 27 September 2023 (UTC)