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warriorscot
317
Mar 27, 2017
These are group shelters NOT bothy bags, a bothy bag is a bag you sleep in, it's a very specific thing.
Colourspot
27
Mar 27, 2017
warriorscotI think you're thinking of a Bivy sac... that would be to sleep in... Bothy bags are supposed to be group shelters...
warriorscot
317
Mar 27, 2017
ColourspotBivvy and bothy is used pretty interchangeably where I'm from since the only time most people ever use a bivvy is in a bothy(which is a specific thing). It's still a group shelter I've never heard anyone call them bothy bags.
mkt42
28
Mar 27, 2017
warriorscotIn the USA, hikers and backpacks routinely use bivy sacks (the person-sized sack to sleep in). But I have yet to meet someone who uses a bothy bag/group shelter of this sort.
Which is not to say that they are a bad idea. What I am saying is that bivy sacks are commonly used in the US -- but usually used with a tarp or with nothing else (except maybe a groundsheet), and almost never with a bothy bag/group shelter. They are not interchangeable in the US; one is common whereas if you say "bothy bag" or "group shelter" to an American most of them won't know what you're talking about.
So yes, different countries even English-speaking ones have different names. E.g. "methylated spirits" in the UK is "denatured alcohol" in the US; "white gas" in the US is ... I don't know what they call it in the UK. "Paraffin" means a waxy substance in the US whereas in the UK I believe it means what Americans call "kerosene".
warriorscot
317
Mar 27, 2017
mkt42They are common in Europe, I did my expedition leader training in Northern England and the Scottish Highlands and they were standard kit we were expected to have. We often used very large 8 man versions, personally for two or even one I don't see the advantage of one over a tarp/poncho shelter as I can set mines up as fast as I can get the group shelter properly out(bit of a PITA in the wind honestly). As someone that has used these shelters before they are fairly good for what they are i.e. places to get out the wind and rain, eat your lunch and maybe change into dry clothes. But generally I'm not a huge fan and wouldn't consider a two man, smallest I would get is four man and they only really come into their own with 8 where the size and body heat factors actually make them work really well.
Bivvy and Bothy have always been used interchangeably for the bag part (at least where I grew up) depending on the use, in the UK parlance for example a bivvy is a bag and tarp shelter, a bothy is a communal use highland bunkhouse(usally just four walls and a leaky roof hence why you bag up often). Technically it's a bivvy shelter really, that's what the more rugged fishing and shooting verysions of these kinds of things are called. A bothy is a permanent structure so it's doubly inappropriate, but maybe I'm just sensitive to an English company misappropriating a Scottish word incorrectly.
Paraffin in the UK is the same as it is in the US i.e. waxy substance mostly used by people with very sensitive skin, it used to be confused, but the only people still using it are hikers and aircraft so it gets called kerosene. The UK it's interchangable, but it's usually just called meths, although some people will call it denatured alcohol(old fashioned name for it), used to be common as a camping fuel, but it's fallen out of favour as old style trangias aren't really kid safe so they are falling out of use. White gas isn't a specific thing, it's as far as I know originally a brand name that fell into common usage, but doesn't mean anything specifically and not something the UK picked up. The closest thing to white gas in the UK is pure petrol, which is what you use if you have a mutlifuel stove if you are smart as vehicle fuel is NOT shelf stable.
swimjay
115
Mar 28, 2017
mkt42"Two nations divided by a common language."
JerkyKen
136
Mar 29, 2017
warriorscotSays bothy on the stuff sack if you look at the mfg. website. Cool to learn things.
warriorscot
317
Mar 29, 2017
JerkyKenI know it does, I wasn't objecting to what the mass drop called it, just the name in general since it's A different from what the other manufacturers of similar products call it B different from what it's called by people that use these shelters and C a misappropriation and misuse of a word from my own tongue(I'm as unionist as a Scot gets, that doesn't mean it's OK for Englishmen to misuse our words).