Searching for a term or phrase...
 

Somewhere I recall that there is a word that refers to the wear marks and scratches of a well-used item. I can't remember the word and I can't recall if I heard it here or on a VW forum that I surf. Anyone have a clue what the heck I'm talking about? This is bugging me like a mental itch that I can't scratch. I figured if any forum here would know it, it would be C&V. Thanks!

Patina?

I was also going to say Patina.

OR "well used" or "shop wear" or "it'll buff out"

+3 For Patina.

Yes, patina, but note that the term is misused in this context. Properly speaking, the first definition of patina is the coating of oxide that accumulates on copper or bronze over time and cannot be faked. It is something that accumulates on an object. By analogy, you could call the coating of dried lubricant that accumulates around some parts of a bike "patina," even though most of us would wash that away. The dull silvery look that aluminum gets, if it hasn't been anodized, is a true patina; and most of us put a lot of effort into getting rid of it. The second definition of patina is the overall look of an item that has seen a lot of use, including the signs of maintenance, etc, assuming it's attractive. When you're dealing with damaged paint, pitted chrome, peeling decals, it is something of a euphemism to call these 'patina.'

The Rivendell folks would call it "beausage." I can't say I'm a fan of that word.

Don't they also consider spandex Poseur' ?

Well just the fact that it looks like a french word, though it is in fact a newly coined English word (beau[ty+u]sage) is problematic. But it refers to a phenomenon that is real. In fact the phenomenon is as old as the human race. Is there an older word for it?

Me neither. Mainly because "beausage" and "patina" are expensive, whereas "worn" and "scratched" are nice and cheap. :)

I like pronouncing it like "massage." Bew-saj.

The word has never passed my lips, and if it ever does, it will be with C&V people who will pretend to know what I'm talking about. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to bring myself to say the word, though.

That's the textbook definition of "patina," all right. Some years ago I wrote a magazine story about a conservator who was doing some restoration work on the Shaw Memorial, a great Augustus St. Gaudens bas-relief in bronze near the Massachusetts state house in Boston. After cleaning, he said, they would "repatinate" it.

Maybe it's just a sculpture conservator's word, but I kind of like it. I figure that by taking a painstakingly cleaned and restored bike out on bad dirt roads in wet weather I'm just engaging in a little repatination. It's a thankless job, but someone has to do it.

Patina will work better than beausage (although that's the word I was searching for). Thanks, folks! After thinking about it more, I think I originally heard the word in reference to the brass showing through on well-used black Canon A-1 and F-1 cameras a long time ago.

Plus it sounds like lady parts if you pronounce it right.

I would say "besausage" 'cause that's what I'm usually hoping it is.

Like waking up to the smell of breakfast being made and thinking, "Be sausage, be sausage, be sausage." Yeah, always my hope too.

Would that be link or patty for you?

It depends... the term a buyer uses or the seller?

link!

I'm an equal opportunity porker.

Did someone call me?

Sorry... I was just channeling my avatar.

i like sausages for breakfast some times, a butcher i know puts a little chilli in them and they are really yummy and because of that..he has a regular
customer now,i get all my meat products from him and will in the future.
i was cooking these sausages and i looked at the radiator pipes coming down the wall i dont know what they were painted with the effect was like a really old painting kind of lots of cracked random oblongs and squares not one identicle kind of arty in a way.is this patina?

When I was enthused by old Nikons, we called that "brassing".

In Chinese the term is Pi ker, ( pee kuer), which literally means "skin shell". But which refers to patina.
Not sure what that has to do with anything. But I like saying it. ;)

I always thought of patina as the kind of finish that evolves on the stone steps or never-repolished brass doorknob on the front door of a classic old house. The signs of careful repeated use but not damage, abuse, or neglect. Signs of damage, abuse, or neglect are just ... signs of damage, abuse, or neglect.

I think that makes good sense.

Not de rigor?
mortis