Great Uncle Fred, why are trampolines called trampolines and not jumpolines? (Anonymous Young Person, Autumn 2009)

You are quite right! They should be called jumpolines. From now on, I am always going to call them jumpolines and I am going to correct anyone who calls them by the old name. That name, by the way, has come into our language from the Italian but the Italian word - "trampolino" - does not actually mean a jumpoline, it means a launch pad and can be used for ski jumps and all sorts of other things you jump off. It comes from the Italian word for "stilts" - "trampoli" - which comes for an old German word - "trampeln" - which means "stomp" or "trample". So you see how complicated the history of words can be. But once a word gets fixed as meaning something, it can be hard to shift. But if you, Anonymous Young Person, and I, if we call them "Jumpolines" from now on, that will be a start. At one time they were called "Rebound Tumblers" and that is even worse than trampoline. But Jumpoline is best, and Jumpoline is what that bouncy thing in the garden must now be called. And so says Great Uncle Fred!

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