Are you camping or pretending?
If you're not in a tent, you may as well be at home
A battle is blazing as the last bits of summer fade to fall. There simply aren't enough nouns in the English language to solve the problem.
What's causing this great debate? The word camping. Depending who you ask, you're almost guaranteed to get a different perspective on what people do and don't consider camping.
For this hack, the line is clear: if you're staying in accommodation with heaters and/or stoves and/or fridges, you're not camping. But it turns out that others have differing opinions.
Here's a list of choices presented to a random sample of a dozen campers and non-campers, who had to decide whether or not they considered the following camping: back-country camping; car-camping; tent trailer-camping; trailer-camping; and recreation vehicle (RV)-camping.
All but one replied that back-country camping, where the hiker packs in his or her own food, water, clothing, sleeping apparel, tent, etc. is camping. The lone dissenter said she considered that "hiking."
She, too, was the lone person who did not consider car-camping – where you sleep in a tent, but keep your food in a cooler in the car and spend the majority of your day hiking, fishing, biking or being active – to be camping.
Beyond this, however, the line blurs.
To some, those who use a tent trailer for camping aren't really camping. "If you're not sleeping on the ground, you're not camping," said one participant.
The majority of those taking part in this highly scientific study –11 out of 12 – do consider using a tent trailer camping. As another participant said: "If the word tent's not in it, it's not camping."
And what to make of those who pull a trailer? Camping or not? Surprisingly, to this cacographist, the majority of participants in this study – 10 out of 12 – do consider this camping.
How can this be?
Yes, some spend their outdoor time in campgrounds in the middle of nowhere
and don't take every convenience of home with them. Others, however, join their RV brethren in those parking lots with grass moustaches where there's more natural life on their TV's than for miles around. They prepare their meals on a stove, just like at home. They sleep in double- or queen-sized beds, just like at home.
But RVers are also (sometimes) in the great outdoors and some of those folks spend their days hiking, walking, fishing or enjoying some other form of activity. Are they camping?
Participants were more clear on that front, with 6 voting no, one leaning towards no, and five allowing that, yes, they are campers, too.
Where's the sanity? Where's the clarity?
How can sleeping in a tin machine parked on top of other tin machines be considered camping? There has to be a "natural environment" clause inserted in here somewhere.
For instance, if you look out your window or doorway and see more metal, rubber and pavement than Mother Nature, are you camping? The answer has to be a resounding no. That's called the suburbs. Or a trailer park.
An unusual finding in the survey revealed that if all anyone did was sit around a campsite drinking, the majority voted those who stayed in trailers and RVs were definitely not camping.
But back to the "real" camping. There has to be an easier way to make a distinction between those willing to give up the comforts of home and those pretending they are.
Any suggestions you have for new or additional words that will help solve this great debate can be sent to Fast Forward or e-mailed to info@fffwd.greatwest.ca.
On a subject close to camping, anyone heading out on a hike would do well to invest in a polyester shirt. No, this has nothing to do with ’70s styling. This is one material that definitely lives up to the boasting on its label – it's the perfect material to keep you dry on those hot days.
But wearing one while parked in your RV still won't make you a camper. |
