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Weird Use of the word "Scale" by MSM
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This is a topic of absolutely no consequence, so if you have anything important to do in life, please give this one a pass. Is it just me, or does anyone else find it strange how any mainstream reporting about climbing or mountaineering activities almost invariably uses the word "scale" or some derivative of it? A few of the many, many examples: Police arrest climber who tried to scale Eiffel Tower on last day of Paris Olympics Climber Scales Wall Using Only Legs in Impressive 'No-Hands' Challenge British climber scales Everest for 17th time, the most by a non-Sherpa guide Paraplegic climber scales El Capitan using his arms VIDEO: Free Climber Scales Ancient Redwoods In The Name of Science Free Climber Scales The Side Of A Bridge Rock climber scales massive Sphere venue near the Las Vegas Strip to protest abortion "The incident occurred Thursday night, when the two-person climbing team was scaling Mt. Johnson..." Do you go "scaling" or climbing? Have you ever texted a climbing buddy and said, "hey, wanna go scaling at the crag this weekend?" or found yourself saying, "I'm sure I coulda scaled it if it wasn't for the moss on the ledge above the crux"? I know I haven't. Where does this strange usage come from? I can only guess that the writers using it think, for some reason, that it sounds more dramatic than the word "climb." I'm sure the slight chaffing feeling in my brain that comes on every time I read this type of headline will be slightly eased if a bunch of you chime in and tell me I'm not alone in finding this annoying! |
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I've always understood it to be synonymous with climbing, like scaling a ladder. But maybe it's more common among non-climbers. For instance, on my birthday one year, a FB friend told me he hoped I'd get to go scale something. |
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Maybe it's old-fashioned usage, but "scale" in the sense of climbing has been part of the English language for centuries. For example: "So the traditional inaccessibility of the Matterhorn was vanquished... Others will essay to scale its proud cliffs, but to none will it be the mountain that it was to its early explorers" (Whymper, "Scrambles Amongst the Alps", 1871). |
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You can scale a fish . . . |
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Guys, don't get me wrong - I'm not suggesting that the use of "scale" isn't grammatically correct. It just seems melodramatic, or maybe as you say, Martin, just old-fashioned. I'll just chalk it up to another one of those things in life that leave me scratching my head. :-) |
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I've read the word scale one too many times now, and it has lost all meaning |
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“Scale” has stood for climbing in the media for hundreds of years. There are many other overused clichés in the media. Ever notice how gunshots always “ring out “? Take a look here (at this 10 year old article!): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2014/02/27/the-outlook-list-of-things-we-do-not-say/ |
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I feel like ‘scale’ just means ‘get to the top of.’ You can arguably say that if you jumared a whole route, you climbed a rope instead of climbing the route. But you still scaled the feature. (Also, I don’t feel like you can scale a route, just a feature. So if you climbed the warm up or even the walk-off, you still can sound cooler by saying you scaled the cliff/boulder/mountain.) |
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I remember speaking to some locals once in southern Illinois who asked me if I was 'goin' bluff scalin'---I averred that I was!!! |
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A statue for Hoover dam Scalers. I think they were mostly a top-down crew.  For those article writers, I think they are mostly just trying to avoid "climbers climbing a climb" alliteration. Look up the synonyms for climbing, there aren't a ton of choices. What's a poor writer to do? |
Cherokee Nuneswrote:
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Maybe you’re suffering from a fish phobia and that’s affecting your ability to read about anything scale related. How do you feel about pay scales or weight scales? |
