Derailleur or derailer??

[fatfixie]

Option 1- it was invented by the french after all

andy

 

[legrandefromage]

Derailleur: de-rail-ee-errrr A French word meaning 'to faff' or 'to get ones hands covered grease' also 'continuously needing adjustment'

See: Merd

and: British Rail

 

[one-eyed_jim]

That was my opinion until browsing Sheldon Brown earlier

That's one of the very few opinions of Sheldon's I ever disagreed with. I prefer "derailleur", with a pronunciation that rhymes, more or less, with "azalea".

I don't mind "derailer" though - it seems like a reasonable simplification, and fits well with other American spellings like "plow" and "color" - but to suggest that "derailleur" is wrong seems a step too far.

"Mech" seems fine too, if a little slangy, and maybe a little too close to the French habit of calling everything an "appareil"

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Actually, I'm starting to like "grailer"...

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... ht=grailer

 

[Lysander]

Ah, but ye really only find a true Grailer on a Mobal Ponse..........

 

[dyna-ti]

When an American starts talking off saving the "purity of the English language"...
:?

Seconded

 

[ekiborter]

dérailleur