Marring

[G6 GTP]

I have to admit to my stupidity but what is marring and what does it look like>

[sneek]

its just a light scratch
you can just look an any old parking lot and you should find plenty of cars with swirls and marring

[Monk]

Originally posted by sneek
its just a light scratch
you can just look an any old parking lot and you should find plenty of cars with swirls and marring

I guess I thought marring was more like hazing or cloudiness. I suppose anything that is less than perfect could be called marring.

[SVT Lightning]

From Allwords.com

mar
verb marred, marring

1. To spoil something.

Example: The flavour was marred by too much vinegar
Thesaurus: ruin, spoil, sully, taint, tarnish; Antonym: enhance.

2. To injure or damage something.

Example: The landscape was marred by ugly pylons
Thesaurus: harm, hurt, injure, damage, deform, disfigure, scar.
Etymology: Anglo-Saxon merran.

[Accumulator]

Expanding (detail-centric-wise) on the definition that SVT-Lightning posted, some of us use "marring" as a catch-all, umbrella-like term for below-surface defects- basically, gouges in the paint.

As I use it, marring is anything like a scratch, swirl, "cobweb", hologram, etc. The sort of thing that is generally corrected through abrasive/mechanical processes.

It could even be etching or pitting, but I would generally, specifically, use those terms as these are sorta special cases.

Similarly, "micromarring" is marring that's not readily visible to the naked eye- e.g., tiny little scratches from an abrasive pad or product. The sort of thing you use a milder pad/product to remove.

This "marring" stuff is different from above-surface defects like contamination and on-surface defects like oxidation.