Hawken, not Hawkin, not Hawkins

Please folks, the term is "Hawken". It is not, and never has been Hawkin, or Hawkins. To misuse the name immediately brands you as (to be kind) a person of little knowledge. If you use the correct term, you may be mistaken by the more august members of this hobby as one who knows what you are talking about. Thanks for your attention to my little rant.

I have never believed the fallacy that poor spelling is the sure sign of a lack of education. That is a silly mistake.

Sometime back in the 1800's a group of self appointed and self important scholars decided to codify the English language and standardize the spellings of words. Before that there could be a number of different 'proper' ways to spell a word.

Also, language evolves and changes over time. Some of us are out here muddying up grammatical rules on purpose.

Its a poor word that can only be spelled one way. Or so I have heard.

But we don't live in the 18th or 19th c and a standardized spelling allows words to be found in dictionaries and prevents confusion. Or having people think one is uneducated. Of course I seem to have a computer that converts my typos into out of context words without my consent sometimes. I hope :grin:

Dan

I agree Cynthialee. Nor is good spelling and the use of long words an indicator of intelligence. I work at a university, trust me, there are lots of people who use long words and proper grammar with lots of letters after their names, who while being highly educated, are still idiots. :haha:

BTW someone "muddied up" some instructions once and killed a friend of mine. Should have killed 8-10 of us. So accuracy can be important.

Panel 05W - Line 51

Dan

These spellings appear in transciptions of original diaries, inventories, and memoirs of the period. So while it might rile the collecting community to hear their precious Hawken's name taken in vain, it is really a testimate to their influence and impact on both the frontier as well as the modern psyche.

I assume you are referencing the Hawkens style rifle and not Hawkins County, Tennessee, or Rebecca Hawkins, the wife of John Crockett and mother of David (Davy)?

Not sure why this thread would be posted in "Percussion Rifles" as it is well known the the Hawkens brand also included flintlocks.

You assume correctly, as "Hawkins" is as it should be in the other usages you noted.

I guess you will have to shave my head and send me to Vietnam because I like and use the term Hawkins. Larry

They send you to CA if you don't behave. :blah:

It's a family name. How do you feel when others misspell yours? Seems like common courtesy to try spelling it right- yours and theirs.

Yup Family name for sure. Hawken built rifles. Hawkins was the kid in Treasure Island. :haha:

whether they spell it hawken, hawkens, hawkin, Hawkins or any other variation on a theme I as well as everyone else on here knows what they're talkin' about so what's the big whoopin' deal? if that's all you've got to complain about you are truly blessed.

my opinion & yer welcome to it.

Frog;
You may have missed the memo though I don't know if it applies here.

We have all agreed that on these forums, to keep the know-more-than-all self-proclaimed-experts on original Hawken rifles here from having a seizure every time someone uses it in the context of a modern-made gun in the STYLE, we would use wrong spellings of the name intentionally.

This to make it clear that reprehensible junk, such as a T/C "Hawken," is not worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as the brothers' originals without approval of said self-proclaimed experts in advance, in writing...

...with correct spelling of course.

All the other typos, spelling and grammatical errors combined are trivial by comparison and shall go uncorrected.

frogwalking said:

Please folks, the term is "Hawken". It is not, and never has been Hawkin, or Hawkins. To misuse the name immediately brands you as (to be kind) a person of little knowledge. If you use the correct term, you may be mistaken by the more august members of this hobby as one who knows what you are talking about. Thanks for your attention to my little rant.

Click to expand...

The august group of shooters I shoot with do not care if I call my gun a Hawken or Hawkin. They just have no love or it. If they hear a word like Lancaster then they really perk up. Just depends on the crowd you are in.

They accept my North West trade gun but only because its flint. I still don't see that love in there eye!

Although I personally try to be meticulous in my spelling, I don't denigrate those whose spelling is inaccurate. This Forum isn't a grammar or spelling class.

Whatever info a person is conveying in writing, whether spelled correctly or not and when the meaning is understood, then spelling is irrelevant.

Don't like to see the various mis-spellings of "Hawken", but seeing the original family name was "Hachen" and some of the family used "Haga", Hawkin and Hawkins are quite acceptable...anyways to me.

Somone once said that it would be boring if everyone spelled every word the same. Stifling initiative and inventiveness is not conducive to independent thinking...this also applies to spelling....Fred

I like Hawkin and Hawkins rifles, they usually sell for so much less than an identical Hawken. :wink:

Froghopping, relax.

I'm with Alden on this one, if we're talking about a quasi-replicant of an original maker's guns what does it matter if the spelling replicates the true maker? Now, I can't believe no one has mentioned Sadie Hawkins the founder of the Women's liberation movement.

Ghettogun said:

Now, I can't believe no one has mentioned Sadie Hawkins the founder of the Women's liberation movement.

Click to expand...

We were saving Sadie for the 'Bonus Round'!
As for Hawken, et. al., it's all variations. TC used it to make the connection to the known and famous rifles from St.Louis, while other makers went with "hawkin" to avoid possible trade mark infringements. If it makes you feel better, call them "Plains" rifles! :wink: :thumbsup: