Why am I calling electric unicycle "euc" for short?

[mark321]

Just wanted to chime in, I wouldn't automatically turn down a brand name as the generic term for the sport.  In skating it's right down the middle whether we call it "inline skating" or "rollerblading".  Rollerblade is of course a brand name, but we use it like a generic term even though we're all familiar with the various brands.

[Tom H]

I'm still deciding between "personal travelator" and "magic carpet wheel"

[MrBump]

I'm still deciding between "personal travelator" and "magic carpet wheel"

I prefer the latter, though I would also accept "electro-wibblebot" and "whirlypede".

[Achim63]

I have to dig this old thread out into the light again, since I also don't like EUC too much. One reason being that it took hours of gathering information by googling before I stumbled upon this forum ... "unicycle" would never have crossed my mind so I was searching for electric/mono/wheel/ etc. - all but "unicycle" (but then again, I'm not a native speaker of English). I much prefer eWheel - "ewheeler" sounds better than "eucist" with a "k"; ewheeling, ewheeled - easy to speak and to remember. Gyrowheel doesn't sound too bad, either. In Spanish, it's "monociclo electrico" apparently. In French, it's a tongue-twister for me ;-). In German, we use "Elektrisches Einrad" (electric one-wheel).

Can this forum do votes? We could have one for the name people prefer.

Edit: Forgot to mention my 2nd reason - EUC is shortened to just EU all over the place in this forum, and for Europeans this is already occupied and thus leads to confusion (in one thread there were even both kinds of "EU" mixed in one sentence, making it very difficult to understand).

Edited December 6, 2015 by Achim63

[JFP9]

I am still learning to develop finesse with it, so sometimes what I call my 9B1 is a little more crude than 'EUC' or 'eWheel.'  But,    When I am asked what I am riding, I call it an electric unicycle.  It is a short, easily described word.  When I am chatting with friends I get into the gyro and battery, etc..  

Different description for different conditions.  Most everyone knows what I am talking about.

just my $.02

Cheers,

Jim

[FORWARD california]

I used to call my Ninebot One a Personal Transportation Robot or Electric Rideable  now I just call it a "Bot". 

 

[Phil Wright]

When ppl ask me what it is I usually use the full term, " Its called a 9bot One E+, just google 9Bot and you'll find it..."

when I talk to my gf or friends about it I just call it "Bot"

I think its full name is very clever marketing as it envokes "interest"

 

[Colestien]

I used to tell people it was an electric unicycle.  But after what seems like hundreds of dumb looks, I now just say its a one wheel  segway.  They don't give me the deer in the head lights look.  More often than not they say "Cool, must be harder to ride than two wheels"  and I say not a lot harder but it does take practice.  

[Nevin@Tec-toyz.com]

Personal, I like EU, it's simple. Every time someone ask me what is it? I tell them it's an Electric Unicycle or EU for short.

I know EUC makes sense as well, but people understand unicycle as one word. Yes, when you EU, first that would come to mind is European Union. But when I say Electric unicycle and then EU for short, most people get it. I've used EUC in the pass, but it's so much easier as EU. 

[RenaissanceMan]

One year later ... almost ...

Since I'm currently down with the flu I've got plenty of time to kill by browsing the archives of electricunicycle.org. I'd also given some thought on the question of how to call these things. Internationally - with the proud exception of France - "electric unicycle" aka EUC seems to have caught on for all the good reasons eloquently explained by @John Eucist, and I'm happy with that. In written communications about - well, electric unicycles - I usually first define the English term, then its abbreviation and use that from then on. In spoken German I perfer the literal translation "elektrisches Einrad", which sounds complicated, potentially frightening and remotely sophisticated but isn't that what we Germans do love ?!

When telling somebody about my new hobby I start with "This summer, I learned to ride a unicycle (German: 'Einrad') !" - Silence, a puzzled, disbelieving look. "An electric unicycle!" - Eyes wide open, beyond comprehesion. And then: "... like a Segway with only one wheel!" - Aaahaa. That has the maximum effect on the poor conversationalist and offers me immediate insight into his or her general knowledge and the degree of earnestness in that conversation.

[HEC]

27 minutes ago, RenaissanceMan said:

"... like a Segway with only one wheel!" - Aaahaa

That's exactly the same tactic on my side when I see a total blank stare from the person asking about EUC  Having people still asking me about it at least two or three times a week during my daily commutes I've encountered a full range of curious people - from fairly knowledgeable and apparently aware of EUCs (asking right away about the range, speed or price) to absolute EUC novices just wondering what the heck is that blinking wheelie box . One of the best replies so far (to which I've had no response for a moment) was when I explained that I can stand on the EUC and ride around the girl said "Why?" ... Second best were two men standing behind me on escalator while exiting the train station with my V8 powered up and LEDs on the side blinking in a happily pattern admiring my "luggage" ... the surprised look on their faces when I've hopped-on on my suitcase and zoomed away was simply priceless!

Edited October 28, 2016 by HEC

[Chris Westland]

More accurately 电动独轮车 (Diàndòng dúlúnchē) = "electrically moving"(电动) + "wheelbarrow" (独轮车 or lonely+wheel+car).  Sometimes (e.g., with IPS) you will see the description 自平衡 (Zì pínghéng) ="self-balancing"

But I agree that "EUC" sounds much better than "lonely wheel" or "electric wheelbarrow" 

Edited October 28, 2016 by Chris Westland
smiley

[Flash]

One second , I will get my...      KingSong  ,  Sunwheel  ,  Irobot  ,  Transformer  ,  Bumblebee  ,  R2D2  , Ferrari , Datsun , Volvo , RollsRoyce , Funwheel , Cleanwheel , fossilfuelbyebye wheel  , southpark wheel    ,  TinaTurner      

[Smoother]

Don't you hate it when you've written a witty and insightful post, proofed and edited it, then you hit send and, poof! Nothing. Something went wrong and you lost it all.  Yeah that happened two days ago when I 1st tried to enter this discussion. I'll try again now, but it won't win a Pullitzer.

@John Eucist wrote a logical and well reasoned OP, But, I'm not sure I want to to be a eucer or a eucist. I'm not sure I want to go out eucing.  Here's why:

no. 1. As others have said, it describes nothing to non eh, hmm,  eucists.  

B. It's not a nice sounding word, euc, euc,  Euwww!

iii. Euc sounds like puke

imagine if you eucked through puke! hey, it could happen.  Have you seen English pavements (sidewalks) after a Saturday night?

i like eWheel, even if some people use the combo commercially.  It fits with all the ethis and ethat products out there.

I also like MonoWheel, but I'm not sure if that name is in use.

i also like "Superior Transportation Device" or "Superior Transportation Instrument" both of which could be abbreviated respectively to STD or STI.  Unfortunately, both these TLA's are already taken, and misunderstandings will surely ensue out in public.  Not sure what I mean?  Peruse this hypothetical interaction:

passer by: " hey, what's that?"

eWheel rider:  "it's my STD"

passer by:  "I don't want to know about your personal life.  What's that you're riding?"

eWheeler: "oh, you mean my STI"

passer by: "just forget it.

 

 

 

[Cerbera]

Small child: What's that man riding, Daddy ?

Dad: I don't know son

Small child: Is he from space ?

I hear this conversation about 3 times a day as I go wheeling about town. I find I have time to shout 'No, it's magic!' before I am gone.

 

[Smoother]

Small child: Is he from space ?

I love that.  

[lizardmech]

On 10/29/2016 at 0:38 AM, Chris Westland said:

More accurately 电动独轮车 (Diàndòng dúlúnchē) = "electrically moving"(电动) + "wheelbarrow" (独轮车 or lonely+wheel+car).  Sometimes (e.g., with IPS) you will see the description 自平衡 (Zì pínghéng) ="self-balancing"

But I agree that "EUC" sounds much better than "lonely wheel" or "electric wheelbarrow" 

Electric wheelbarrow is my favourite, every time I see it on alibaba I giggle.

[John Eucist]

On 10/30/2016 at 4:09 AM, Smoother said:

B. It's not a nice sounding word, euc, euc,  Euwww!

iii. Euc sounds like puke

imagine if you eucked through puke! hey, it could happen.  Have you seen English pavements (sidewalks) after a Saturday night?

Well when "euc" is pronounced as a one-syllable word it starts off with a "Y" sound and not an "E" sound.  So it's not the "gross" meaning sound.  

Quote:
This ROOT-WORD is the Prefix EU meaning PLEASANT,WELL & GOOD. Look at No. 2 and you will find the charmer for whose sake so many changes have been made in the pronunciation of words - assimilation for the sake of EUPHONY. Euphony is a lovely word to hear and say and read. The last word in the list- EUREKA! Is always spoken and written with an exclamation point. It was spoken by Archimedes when he discovered a method of determining the purity of the gold in a king’s crown. I hope that when you will have finished this book you will have found a method to an excellent vocabulary and you will exclaim, EUREKA! 

Source: http://www.english-for-students.com/eu.html

[John Eucist]

On 10/28/2016 at 9:38 PM, Chris Westland said:

"electrically moving"(电动)

Thanks for pointing that out.  I have added this to the original post.

[John Eucist]

On 8/4/2015 at 11:52 AM, John Eucist said:

Is there a standard name for the hovertrax / chic-smart clones yet?

Funny how this one turned out to be called "hoverboard"  

 

Edited November 30, 2016 by John Eucist

[Chris Westland]

6 hours ago, John Eucist said:

Funny how this one turned out to be called "hoverboard"  

 

Wasn't that from "Back to the Future"?

[Smoother]

On 30 November 2016 at 8:55 AM, John Eucist said:

Well when "euc" is pronounced as a one-syllable word it starts off with a "Y" sound and not an "E" sound.  So it's not the "gross" meaning sound.  

Quote:
This ROOT-WORD is the Prefix EU meaning PLEASANT,WELL & GOOD. Look at No. 2 and you will find the charmer for whose sake so many changes have been made in the pronunciation of words - assimilation for the sake of EUPHONY. Euphony is a lovely word to hear and say and read. The last word in the list- EUREKA! Is always spoken and written with an exclamation point. It was spoken by Archimedes when he discovered a method of determining the purity of the gold in a king’s crown. I hope that when you will have finished this book you will have found a method to an excellent vocabulary and you will exclaim, EUREKA! 

Source: http://www.english-for-students.com/eu.html

@John Eucist I looked at your link.  You maybe interested to know that all those words come from the Greek language.  English is  a Germanic language with Romance language bits and pieces thrown in, and a lot of it is based on Latin and Greek, and another older language that my nephew schooled me on one day, but I forget now, I've slept since then.

watch out for  eugenics though, in spite of "eu words" being a word category of pleasantness, In the first half of the last century, this and other pseudo (also a  Greek word) sciences were used to reinforce the theory of racial superiority, and by default, inferiority, which resulted in millions of deaths.  But the mad men behind that black chapter of human history are all gone now. 

[John Eucist]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8216895/Man-riding-UNICYCLE-28mph-main-road-pulled-wobbling-much.html

Quote

Electric unicycles, or EUC, have become increasingly popular in recent years. The rider controls the speed by either leading forwards or backwards and steers by twisting the wheel using their feet.

Looks like the term "EUC" has been used in mainstream news. 

Edited September 11, 2020 by John Eucist

[Rawnei]

For people already riding EUC I think Wheel is a good term, what wheel are you riding? What wheel are you planning to get? It also translates well to local language. 😎

[John Eucist]

On 9/11/2020 at 4:10 PM, Rawnei said:

For people already riding EUC I think Wheel is a good term, what wheel are you riding? What wheel are you planning to get? It also translates well to local language. 😎

Yes. "Wheel" is perfect for common reference among those in our sport. EUC is just to be more specific. Of course "electric unicycle" even more clear and specific.

Edited September 13, 2020 by John Eucist