[aldo_14]

Hey, did you ever notice how much a joystick looks like a.........

[Carl]

differential, fang, gear, pinion, prong, rack, ratchet, tine, tooth, transmission, tusk,...wheelamajig?

[Setekh]

Originally posted by Sandwich
Ok, the helm is not what I was thinking of, and I'll explain why. If someone has a ships' steering wheel hanging up on his living room wall, you would not walk in and say, "Nice helm you have there!"

You'd say, "Nice _______ you have there!"

That's a fault of colloquial language, not the term. Helm does indeed refer to the wheel in proper nautical parlance.

[Sandwich]

Gah. If all that's true, no wonder everyone was stumped.

[FireCrack]

I'd just call it the round bit

[aldo_14]

'Aar matey, take the helm!"

[Jetmech Jr.]

...

[Ford Prefect]

I think a joystick looks like a penis.

[ZylonBane]

Originally posted by Ford Prefect
I think a joystick looks like a penis.

Which, serendipitously, "helm" is sometimes slang for.

[Nuke]

the helm is the name of the station, not the controlls. every movie ive evers seen called the wheel the wheel.

[Clave]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/helm

[Nuke]

calling the wheel the helm goes along the same lines as calling your monitor a computer. helm is a general term for all the steeering devices on the ship and the station at wich one uses them. the wheel is a specific name for a part of the helm. if you are gonna hang an entire helm on your wall, i hope its a hell of a big wall.

[Setekh]

Originally posted by Nuke
calling the wheel the helm...

...is the correct use of the nautical term. What you're talking about is the colloquial meaning, Nuke.

[beatspete]

Think of the phrase "Take the heml!" which is the sort of thing your captain might shout at you when you hit a rock. Helm would be the correct term.

[Hippo]

Originally posted by Maeglamor

Awww... Its cute!:nod:

[Carl]

you idiots, it's just called a steering wheel.

[Nico]

Ok, I have one for you in the same order of idea:
a boat sails
a plane flies
a glider, well, glides
etc
and a car... rolls?

[Black Wolf]

Nico...WTF? ...I'm confused...what exactly are you asking?

[Nico]

That's funny, I asked Killmenow the same thing, and he was confused too. You don't have a concept for car movement, it's driven and that's it. You can say that one can drive a car the same way you'd say one pilots a plane, but while you say that a plane is flying, you can't say that a car is... well, whatever, since you can't say it.
Don't think it's odd?

[Black Wolf]

A car drives AFAIK. It's a clunky word in that context though, so I guess people tend not to use it much.