Name for centre space of reef knot

[KnotNow!]

Hi Antonio,  I am sorry that you feel that way about verbal and written descriptions.  If you are right then the knot books could be a lot smaller; just illustrations and photographs, without the "space wasting" text.  I find it difficult to imagine getting anything done without words (text or conversation).  I've been engineering for almost 40 years and place a very high value on drawings but also value a good set of "Notes to Construction".  As to painting with a shovel;  There are complete sets of little wee shovels, called pallet knives and a whole school of painting devoted to the precise use of them.  Somethimes they will allow effects that you can not get any other way.  Give it a try.. but then stick with knotting too!  

[teedee]

It's a pity that cul de porc has already been assigned.

But, as I can't think of the circumstances where this centre space needs a name, I think Geoffrey may have been pulling your legs.  

[Frayed Knot Arts]

Bumped... 'In Memoriam' for times when our concerns were less weighty

[sharky]

We mariners have a generic term for the space inside of any knot...we call it a hole...

[SpitfireTriple]

I like "lagoon" for the hole in the  centre of a reef knot.  It's perfect.

But I also smiled at:

This discussion is interesting, but making written discussion of knots more precise is like improving the shovel you use to paint paintings.  

Now, many knots involve an overhand knot somewhere or other.  The working end is often subsequently passed through that overhand knot.  What could we call the hole in an overhand knot?

[sharky]

a hole

[SpitfireTriple]

I've just come up with "Palm" (playing on Overhand), with the elbows of an overhand knot resembling knuckles?.  But that's not very satisfying, a palm is not a hole, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Altenatively, if you visualise an overhand knot with the standing and working ends horizontal, and the "loop" of the overhand bend hanging down under gravity, then the whole knot looks vaguely like a (frog's?) face?  If so, then the elbows at the top of the knot could be called eyes, and the loop below them the mouth?

Sorry, no where near as good as "Lagoon" for a reef knot!

[Dan_Lehman]

One might ask Why name the "hole" in a SquaREef knot?

I looked for some photo of Knots in the Wild that would give
rise to the question What centre space?! , but have only this,
where the knot hasn't seen the sort of loading & compression
that I've seen in some other cases -- few though to behold
(but where no hint of any space existed).

For the Overhand, the space within the confines of the knot
is helpful to name, for through it there is often some other
part of a knot -- e.g., in the Fisherman's knot each Overhand
component contains the opposite one's SPart.  The late Harry
Asher named the parts of the Overhand "spine" & "belly", where
I believe the latter denoted the part of the knot opposite the
spine; but it might serve as well for the space in the center
-- "through the belly" being the obvious passage with an
Overhand, though "through the spine" offers a few alternatives
(centered or on either side).

--dl*
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