Leak or Seep? Its the language.
In discussion with Carter Hendricks of St. Louis, he recalled a conversation a few years ago with a Lancia mechanic who had been assigned travel duty in the 1960s to take care of customer’s cars in the US.
Carter asked him about the leaking front suspension (the sliding pillar) and the response was that they didn’t leak, they seeped. Carter read this as continued stubborness on the part of an old world Lancista.
Having worked for several years with the Torinese on Italian documents, a different view was offered; that is, Italian is a very precise language, and the little differences mean a lot. “Leaking” would be something designed to be sealed that failed. “Seeping” would be something designed to allow some oil to pass as part of the design.
My take on the choice of words was that the man was being accurate. What we saw as a leak was not; it was designed to seep slight amounts of oil as the factory knew that a perfect seal for the sliding pillar was not possible. Its all in the language.
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