An American phrase for hardware that configures itself on connection, and it passed into general business speech for anything that works without setup. The claim is about the absence of preparation.
engineering
Prototype
American design practice builds rough physical versions early, specifically in order to find out what is wrong with them. The prototype is not a draft of the product. It is an instrument for generating objections.
The what and the how
German engineering practice separates two documents, both defined in DIN 69901-5 and VDI 2519. The Lastenheft is written by the customer and states what is required and why — deliberately solution-neutral. The Pflichtenheft is written by the supplier in response and states how it will be built.
The what and the how are different documents, by different authors, in a fixed order, and together they form the contractual basis of the project.
Ergonomics
German workplace regulation specifies ergonomic requirements for seating, screens, lighting and reach, enforced through occupational safety law and inspected. The body is treated as a design constraint with numbers attached.
The Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk
Before the powered flight of 1903 came years of gliders, launched and crashed and rebuilt on the same stretch of sand. They built their own wind tunnel because the published lift tables were wrong. They did not calculate their way to flight. They flew, repeatedly and badly, until it worked.
One verb for thrift
Sparen means both to save money and to economise on anything. German appliances have Sparprogramme, cars have Spritsparen, buildings have Energiesparen. One verb covers thrift and efficiency, and Germans use it for both without noticing the join.
Combined heat and power
Kraft-Wärme-Kopplung. Combined heat and power. German plants capture the heat that electricity generation would otherwise waste and pipe it into district heating networks. The waste from one process is the input to another, by design.
The safety factor
Sicherheitsfaktor. German engineering practice works with generous safety factors, specified in DIN standards and in the professional codes of the engineering chambers. The structure is built to carry loads it will never meet. The margin is the contingency, and it sits in the design rather than in a separate plan.
Air conditioning
American buildings are cooled to a degree that visitors routinely find excessive, and the cost is treated as the price of comfort rather than as waste. The output is the temperature. The input is a bill.
Degree of effect
Degree of effect. The German word for efficiency in the engineering sense — output divided by input — and it appears in ordinary conversation about boilers, cars and appliances. The ratio is a household concept, not a specialist one.