Neon Lights

[XFool]

I've just heard somebody use the term "neon lights" again, as though they are a normal 'thing'.

Once they were - an ever present adjunct to our built environment. But that was a fair time ago now. "Neon lights" have gone the way of the milkman, the park keeper and the horse trough. Yet many people still casually speak of them, as if ever present.

Yes, I know. What they mean is "florescent lights". So why don't they say that, why do they say "neon lights"?

[servodude]

Never heard anyone mix them up; perhaps it's a regional thing?

I'm sure I can admit on this board that I get irked when folk refer to neon lights even when they're not red!

-sd

[XFool]

What they mean is "florescent lights".

As nobody here has as yet pointed out my (cough!) 'deliberate' spelling mistake, I thought I would get in first.

I, of course, meant "fluorescent lights".

[UncleEbenezer]

Yes, I know. What they mean is "florescent lights".

You mean you cross an orchid with a firefly?

An idyllic or a nightmare vision?

[bungeejumper]

Maybe it's just me, but there's always been a clear distinction. Neon lights are the thin coloured tubes that are still used in some places for signwriting, and fluorescent lights are the long straight white things that you have in your garage, or in your shop or your village hall. The former is infused with a kind of retro glamour, and the latter definitely isn't.

It doesn't bother me that the original "neon" technology has largely been supplanted by other electrickery. I can also "post" an email (or a comment on a board) without having to go and find a post box (or a post). Or even a board.

BJ

[BrummieDave]

Got very excited when I saw the title of this post, one of my all time fave songs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUV9rONTXzk

"Neon lights
Shimmering neon lights
And at the fall of night
This city's made of lights"

[PinkDalek]

Fave at Pedants' Place?

For those more familiar with the Sixties:

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night

[swill453]

Fave at Pedants' Place ?

A space before a question mark at Pedants' Place?

Scott.

[PinkDalek]

An error and now amended!

[BrummieDave]

Fave at Pedants' Place?

For those more familiar with the Sixties:

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night

Apols, I mean apologies (obvs), I mean obviously, clearly...

I know it's early, and it's only Monday, but the demon drink was to blame...

Must do better
Must do better
Must do better etc.

BTW wasn't "The Sound of Silence" their (you know who...) first hit after abandoning their initial attempts to be famous as 'Tom and Jerry'...?