Rubber Lever End Thingies

[Cormanus]

Gee, mjwasti, I think we might require the skills of a competent grammarian here. pdedse? Someone? Isn't RLET Racing a compound noun?

I'm struggling to think how to use RLET as an adjective except, perhaps, in a phrase—e.g. "Arnie looked very handsome in his fitting-like-an-RLET t-shirt"—but it's a bit contrived. "RLETs Racing" makes me think of RLETs' racing, which could be a fun spectacle. I'll bet the little suckers can go.

All of which is a long way of saying that, for lots of reason, the best name for EmptySea's and Inhouse Bob's CB1100 racing outfit ends up being RLET Racing.

RLET is a noun “acting as an adjective” to describe Racing and therefore should be singular. Anyway, the important thing is to have them fitted to our CBs.

We mustn't underestimate the power of language in general and that of RLETs in particular. We can't put RLETs in some grammarian box and expect them to stay contained.

IF RLET is a noun that can act as an adjective, then it can function as other parts of speech as well.

RLET (n): My right side RLET split upon install, now I need to buy two more.

RLET (adj): RLET Racing is the most pure form of racing today.

RLET (vb): Wow, you really RLETTED that mirror right on! (sarcastic in meaning, as in "what took you so long to get those mirrors on!")

RLET (adv): "How did your day go, sweetie?" --> "It went rather RLETedly, I'm afraid; I just couldn't get anything to go right"

RLET (interjection): Ahhh, RLETs!!! How many times are we gonna go through proper installation techniques?

Collins and Websters need to do some updating.

But...there is the matter of pronunciation.

Is it...

1)ÁR-LET

2)Ruh-LÉT

3) AR-EL-EE-TEE (similar to "reality")

4) ...or other?

How very true. But what a can of worms you've cracked open. Or should I say, 'That's torn the rlet'?

I have questions:

(1) For the first time, this discussion has acknowledged that RLET has transitioned from an acronym to a word—see, for example, RADAR. Does that mean we should now use the word in lower case—rlet? (See the earlier discussion about the plural of RLET.)

(2) Collins, Webster, Oxford and Macquarie will define it something like "rlet 1. (n)—the rubber artefact fitted to the end of the clutch and brake levers on motorcycles, particularly Honda motorcycles." But now you've identified the evolution of the verb, is this the correct definition: "2. (v) to struggle to fit or install a part or accessory smoothly and competently?"

(3) Your use of RLET as an adjective seems to contemplate RLET racing as a competition—the objects racing, as in motorcycle racing or Quidditch. I had always understood that Empty Sea and Inhouse Bob designed the T-shirt logo to represent RLET Racing as the Ferret's motorcycle racing company, as in Honda Racing Corporation. Hence my suggestion that it was more a compound noun than an adjective. So, if I'm wrong, as it's likely that I am, can someone describe what happens at an RLET* race?

On the matter of pronunciation, I have always favoured your definition 1). However, definition 2) is appealing, particularly if the 't' is silent; except, of course, in the plural.

* The autocorrect function on my computer now converts rlet to RLET!