CATO

[tmazanec1]

That's a good question. Another good question is what does CATO stand for? Next time you're bored, ask that one.

OK, what does it stand for? I always thought it was short for "cataclysm" or catastrophe". Is it actually an acronym or something?

 

[shreadvector]

It is an abbreviation for "Troll".

Please review all of this season's South Park for homework.

That's a good question. Another good question is what does CATO stand for? Next time you're bored, ask that one.

OK, what does it stand for? I always thought it was short for "cataclysm" or catastrophe". Is it actually an acronym or something?

 

[mccordmw]

That's a good question. Another good question is what does CATO stand for? Next time you're bored, ask that one.

OK, what does it stand for? I always thought it was short for "cataclysm" or catastrophe". Is it actually an acronym or something?

Catastrophe At TakeOff

 

[Bat-mite]

Originally it was a military term that was an abbreviation of "catastrophe." It was pronounced "katt-oh." Some time later, it morphed into the above acronym, w/people pronouncing it "kay-toe." Take your pick.

 

[Bat-mite]

Oh, and you might as well go ahead and ask, "Is it oh-jive, or oh-guive?"

 

[blackbrandt]

Eh-stees or Es-tus? CTI or Aerotech? Lighter or igniter? Tripoli or NAR?

 

[mccordmw]

Pronounce .GIF!

 

[rharshberger]

Pronounce .GIF!

Choosey perverts choose .gif

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Complete And Total Obliteration!

 

[dr wogz]

Cautionary Advise, Totally Offensive

 

[Zeus-cat]

What it really stands for are words not allowed on this forum. You hear those words right after a whoosh generator blows up and destroys someone's rocket. Oh fu.., or oh sh.., or, well, you get the idea.

 

[Bat-mite]

The only Cato that really matters....

 

[Nytrunner]

Still going with Catastrophic Take-off. (long A)

Ogive (soft g) I shuddered slightly when I heard someone say it like "olive" with a hard g.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ogive

Estes (short e)
No one was around to correct me and it looks Spanish.

CTI because starter pellets ftw.
(Get well soon Cesaroni!)

Igniter. Don't smoke around rockets

NAR because ___redacted___

.gif (soft g) Ask the man that made em!

 

[Bat-mite]

GIF is a weird one, because it stands for Graphical Inline Format, and Graphical has a hard G. But you are correct; the creator pronounces it like Jif peanut butter.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Still going with Catastrophic Take-off. (long A)

Ogive (soft g) I shuddered slightly when I heard someone say it like "olive" with a hard g.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ogive

Estes (short e)
No one was around to correct me and it looks Spanish.

CTI because starter pellets ftw.
(Get well soon Cesaroni!)

Igniter. Don't smoke around rockets

NAR because ___redacted___

.gif (soft g) Ask the man that made em!

Maybe Estes actually IS Spanish.

My Spanish is terrible, but I believe the English sentence, "These engines cause catos," would translate to, "Estos motores causan gatos." And then that would translate back to English as "Estes motors cause cats."

So you see how confusing it can be...

 

[Bat-mite]

K9 - nickname for all species of dogs

E9 - nickname for motors that CATO

 

[Nytrunner]

F9 - Rockets that land. (......and sometimes CATO)

 

[Cabernut]

...

Ogive (soft g) I shuddered slightly when I heard someone say it like "olive" with a hard g.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ogive

...

I've been pronouncing it wrong all this time...

 

[neil_w]

I've been pronouncing it wrong all this time...

I learned it when I heard Daniel say o-jeev on the Rocketry Podcast. It was a real WTF moment for me.

Fortunately I don't think I said out loud in front of anyone before...

(I've also switched from Esteez to Estus, because if Vern says it that way it's good enough for me)

 

[Incongruent]

How do you pronounce the Cato in Cato Mills?

 

[caveduck]

noooooooooo not this thread again .... deja vu ..... /duck searches for appropriate emojis and troll-be-gone spray... I was there when the term entered model rocketry use in the mid 1970s and it was definitely, fer sure, positively *not* an acronym, just a truncation of "catastrophic failure" which always was way too much of a mouthful for something so sudden. Imagine trying to yell that many syllables while dodging incoming D13 propellant balls. Capitalization and attempted acronymization came later. Both the "feline" and "Clouseau's minion" pronunciations were heard back then, so AFAICT no one is wrong, though some should be punished anyway, just because.

 

[cerving]

You say Cay-to and I say Cah-to
You say Toma-to and I say tom-ato
Cay-to, Ca-to, Toma-to, tom-ato
Let's call the whole thing off...

Sorry Fred & Ginger... had to do it.

 

[JoeG]

noooooooooo not this thread again .... deja vu ..... /duck searches for appropriate emojis and troll-be-gone spray... I was there when the term entered model rocketry use in the mid 1970s and it was definitely, fer sure, positively *not* an acronym, just a truncation of "catastrophic failure" which always was way too much of a mouthful for something so sudden. Imagine trying to yell that many syllables while dodging incoming D13 propellant balls. Capitalization and attempted acronymization came later. Both the "feline" and "Clouseau's minion" pronunciations were heard back then, so AFAICT no one is wrong, though some should be punished anyway, just because.

I'm with Dave. The term has been around a long time. Cato, when I first began hearing it, always referred to a catastrophic motor failure and was always pronounced with a long a in this region (Ohio) at least. Anything else that happened that might be considered a catastrophe at take off such as a shred or a motor going through the rocket due to weak motor retention or an unstable launch were not called a cato.
We all should be punished or at least scolded for responding to this in the first place but sometimes I just can't help myself.

 

[JStarStar]

Ogive me a home
With a pointy nose cone
Where my motors and engines all light
And if you build it right
with an LED light
You can still launch your rockets at night

If a CATO occurs
It's a problem for sure
And your rocket will probably be trash
It's a sad episode
To see your motor (engine?) explode
And it costs you some serious cash.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Ogive (soft g) I shuddered slightly when I heard someone say it like "olive" with a hard g.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ogive

Thank you for this. I've been pronouncing it wrong all my life, and I cringe when I hear others mispronounce words! I recently also learned that I'd been pronouncing "Almond" wrong all my life too. Apparently, the "L" is NOT pronounced at all!

 

[Nytrunner]

Being new to the sport, (or ay least new to talking to other people that Know about the sport) I've been learning there's a whole lot of tribal knowledge. The tricky part is that some of that knowledge may not actually be accurate, it's just what's "traditional".

As an aside; always jive with ogives, never give them.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Ogive me a home
With a pointy nose cone
Where my motors and engines all light
And if you build it right
with an LED light
You can still launch your rockets at night

If a CATO occurs
It's a problem for sure
And your rocket will probably be trash
It's a sad episode
To see your motor (engine?) explode
And it costs you some serious cash.

Home, home on the range!
Where all of the rocketeers play
And never is heard a discouraging word
Except "CATO" and "lawn dart" all day

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Can anyone post a jif of an ojeev?

 

[tmazanec1]

And what about "prang"?

 

[rstaff3]

K9 - nickname for all species of dogs

E9 - nickname for motors that CATO

good one