[Ads-l] Retronym

[Peter Reitan]

In cycling, there is an oxymoronic retronym for pedals that attach to cleats on the bottom of cycling shoes.  They are called, "clipless" pedals, which is confusing in at least two ways.  

Regular old flat pedals, without cleat-attaching mechanism, are just pedals - not "clipless" pedals, even though they do not have clips.

Also, the act of connecting a clipless pedal to the cleat of a shoe is called, "clipping in"; I always find it amusing to "clip in" to a "clipless" pedal?

But before there were "clipless" pedals, there were pedals with so-called "clips"; pieces of metal attached to the front of the pedal that bent up and around the front of the shoe, to help hold the shoe against the pedal.  Such "clips" are still used with fixed gear bikes on the track, as a safety measure.

As a result, we are stuck with the non-obvious term, "clipless pedals" to describe the sorts of pedals with shoe-attaching mechanism that a normal person might call a clip for clipping onto your clipless-pedal shoe cleats. 		 	   		  
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