These should be "Inertial Dampers", not "Inertial Dampeners"... 86.7.21.237 23:54, 28 December 2008 (UTC)
- Sadly, no...they're called dampeners in the episode, as stupid as it is. —Jaymach Ral'Tir (talk) 00:19, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
- I've always considered "inertial dampeners" to be correct, and anytime someone says "inertial dampers" I figured it was a misquote or they were stumbling over dialogue or something. My validation is this: Inertial dampeners "dampen inertia", they don't "damp inertia", that doesn't look/sound right. Cheers.—Ka'lel 00:39, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
- The thing is, a "dampener" is something that makes things wet whereas a "damper" is something that "decreases the oscillations of a system" so, out of the two of them, damper is more correct. It just doesn't sound as good, which I think is why the writers went with dampener. —Jaymach Ral'Tir (talk) 00:59, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
- Ahhh, see, when I look at "dampener" vs "damper" I assumed their definitions were reversed. Also, to "dampen" something is to "hinder or restrain" as well as to "make things wet or damp". It's just a terribly confusing term when you look too closely at it, and I'm much bigger fan of (as the article says) "inertial compensators". No confusion there. —Ka'lel 01:07, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
- The thing is, a "dampener" is something that makes things wet whereas a "damper" is something that "decreases the oscillations of a system" so, out of the two of them, damper is more correct. It just doesn't sound as good, which I think is why the writers went with dampener. —Jaymach Ral'Tir (talk) 00:59, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
- I've always considered "inertial dampeners" to be correct, and anytime someone says "inertial dampers" I figured it was a misquote or they were stumbling over dialogue or something. My validation is this: Inertial dampeners "dampen inertia", they don't "damp inertia", that doesn't look/sound right. Cheers.—Ka'lel 00:39, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
Star Trek: Voyager[]
I think Star Trek is the source of this confounded use of "dampener". Janeway and Harry Kim said it wrong so often, but I think the proper term was more common in Next Gen.
If you've seen the movie "A Christmas Story", Ralphie's father has troubles with the furnace that include the "damper" being closed. I'm solidly against "dampener" because if you take off "er", you're left with "dampen" which means to make wet. I don't know that throwing water on inertia will make it go away! I guess Sam Carter and the designers of the X-302 watched too much Star Trek: Voyager! GCapp1959 (talk) (Contribs) 07:14, February 21, 2011 (UTC)