Jankowski Weathervanes

Terminology

As Maureen Lipman is wont to remark, "So, you got an 'ology' - that's good!"

There is some terminology attached to weathervanes, and some people are sticklers for it.
If you thought this 23¾ carat gold leaf covered beauty was a weathercock -

you were mistaken.

This is a weathervane; you can tell, because it has an arrow and it also has letters indicating the cardinal points of the compass.

Now, a weathercock is what they used to put on the top of church spires, which had neither an arrow nor letters indicating the cardinal points of the compass. The reason it didn't have them, of course, is that churches are always oriented the same way - so just by looking at the church you could see which way was East and - thereby where the other cardinal points must be. S'obvious when you think about it.

Nevertheless, not a lot of people know this.