Now before anyone adds any further comment, JJ used American terminology.
So let's 'put this one to bed' now, ok....
The term 'stick shift' is; as has already been stated; an American term
that has been around more or less since the car arrived or was built in
America. They had no need of gears back then, so everything was more
or less an automatic....or 'slush box' as they became known, due to there
being fluid 'slushing' around inside them. And they had a
selector that
one used to select either D, N, or R, as they were the only options
at the time.
So, when America got cars imported and/or eventually made their own cars
for enthusiasts/racers with gears, they invariably had a long thin gear stick to
engage the gears with, so they shortned/changed the British sounding
'gear stick' to
'stick shift'.
(Maybe they shy'd away from the word/term manual as there are guy's call
Manuel, or Manual in their part of the world....just a thought....)
For almost all the rest of the world, transmission's were known as either
Manual or Auto. (Even 'pre-select' gearboxes were known as manuals back
then as there were no fluids involved.)
As for today....
Now this is where it get's confusing.....sort of....
the latest raft of hi-end auto cars hitting our streets no longer have a 'selector',
rather a fancy do everything dial/knob. The lower market models still have a
selector lever, but for how much longer....but both still operate what is to all
intents and purposes a 'slush box'. (as per American terminology).
As for manual's....many still have a gear stick, albeit stubbier and maybe thicker,
but inherently they're still a 'stick shift'. However, we now see both manual's and
auto's that have been arriving on the scene that select gears or modes via floppy
steering wheel paddles or buttons.
Note that I use the word
selector here, not shift or shifter, as these paddles
operate fancy electronics that
select the gear (for the manual which retains
a clutch) or mode (for the auto, which does not have a clutch).
Well...now that I've raised a right little hornets nest with my interpretation of
JJ's comment.....as well as having gone completely off the topic of the thread
So what say we start a new thread/topic on this if anyone wants to make
or consider adding any comment ? If so.........
start a new topic in the Natterjack's Chat section, ok.
