Talk:egg timer

The term "egg timer" is frequently used to refer to a timer used in the kitchen to time cooking tasks, but it is a colloquial term. A true "egg timer" is a timer made specifically for timing the cooking of an egg, hence its name. It would be more appropriate to move the definition over to kitchen timer (I have never heard the term "kitchen timer" refer to a pop-up timer for a chicken, "chicken timer" would be more appropriate for that) and direct readers of egg timer to kitchen timer, instead of defining an egg timer as a basic (e.g. 60min) timer and promoting the colloquialism. After all, this is a dictionary, do dictionaries promote colloquialisms, or do they educate readers about the correct name????? I would think it would be the latter. Retro00064 05:30, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

That depends on the dictionary. Wiktionary is descriptive, that is we make no decisions about correctness, but simply describe words as they are used. It is up to the reader to decide what is correct or otherwise. -Atelaes λάλει ἐμοί 05:44, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Oh, I get it. Thanks anyway. Retro00064 10:25, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Are there other speakers who object to this use of (deprecated template usage) egg timer? Does it bear a usage note? —Ruakh_TALK 20:19, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

I have no problem with the meaning or usage. I wouldn't even call it "informal". It's a bit of a misnomer, but only through extension of a term originally designed for a more specific task. --EncycloPetey 22:35, 17 April 2009 (UTC)