(branché au) duplex

21:10 Jun 10, 2014 

Looks good to me

20:04 Jun 10, 2014 

first, shhh, you're dating yourself.

In Canada, we tend to say "electrical outlet" or just "outlet". You wouldn't hear someone saying "plug it into the socket".

Now, if everyone else doesn't mind, rather than I close this without grading, go move your first comment to a proposed answer so I can rate it.

20:00 Jun 10, 2014 

You just made my day. :)

19:40 Jun 10, 2014 

...we only had an old mechanical typewriter ;-)

But yes, KMP, that sounds ideal to me; I think the 'duplex' merely relates to the fact that they often come in pairs, but has no more specific translation value than that.
Note that 'outlets' tends to be US usage; in everyday language in the UK? we'd more likely call them 'sockets', although officially and technically they ought to be 'socket outlets'; however, I don't think you need have any qualms about using your suggested term either side of the Atlantic — the US term is perfectly well understood and gaining increasing acceptance now even in the UK.

19:26 Jun 10, 2014 

I worked in a better designed office: the cables threaded through the holes in the desks to plug into floor sockets, so we were able to spill our coffee on those without even putting the mugs on our desks.

19:16 Jun 10, 2014 

Thanks to Tony's train of thought, I went digging and found these desktop outlets (below). I think that's what this "duplex" is -- "une prise en duplex sur le bureau".

http://www.cableorganizer.com/powerdata-centers/glenbeigh-de...

Any agreers/disagreers?

19:04 Jun 10, 2014 

You're absolutely correct. So what are those "double sockets built in to the desk top itself" called -- that's the next question. Anyone?

(I haven't worked in an office environment in 17 years. All we had was a prebuilt hole in the desktop for cords to go through and be plugged into a wall socket.)

15:01 Jun 10, 2014 

Ha ha! Coffee being spilled onto the keyboard is the first cause of laptop mortality, I believe.
Why not whisky?

10:09 Jun 10, 2014 

Makes perfect sense - as always an engineer's mentality helps us mere mortals understand how the world works... (and not to drink coffee at our workstations)

09:53 Jun 10, 2014 

this may be an example of a danger more perceived than real - it would take some effort to get coffee into a socket as they are usually right at the back. Perhaps the answer is to make your coffee with distilled water, though to be honest I have never actually measured the conductivity of either tea or coffee, espresso or instant.... though tea with lemon would definitely raise the conductivity!

09:37 Jun 10, 2014 

I think asker explains that it is only dangerous if coffee or other liquids get spilled into the sockets; I suspect this is probably one of those double sockets built in to the desk top itself, i.e. at greater risk than if the equipment was merely plugged into a wall socket at a higher level than the desk top (where the spilt coffe is!)

09:34 Jun 10, 2014 

Why indeed? "Duplex" could be construed as just a posh word for two of something, and there is certainly such a thing as a duplex receptacle (see http://www.how-to-wire-it.com/wire-an-outlet.html), but it's hard to see how a double socket could be considered dangerous.

09:07 Jun 10, 2014 

That was my first thought, but if that is what is meant, why use the term "duplex"?

07:38 Jun 10, 2014 

I remember advertisements in GB showing pictures of half a dozen adapters all plugged into the same socket like a Christmas tree, and dire warnings of the consequences. It may be that "duplex" here just means having a couple of cables plugged into an adapter (or two) - quite possible, with computer, monitor, printer, USB adapter, laptop charger etc all needing power.