Thanks for clarifying this for me. I was working on my shaving nomenclature in preparation for posting, but haven't memorized all of the basics yet. It's a lot easier to have a conversation about something when the participants agree on the meaning of the words before hand.
James Burke gave a practical explanation for the origin and utility of technical language in the last episode of the first season of his "Connections" TV series. Thanks to the 10 minute segment limit of YouTube, this monologue is right at the start of part 3:
YouTube - James Burke : Connections, Episode 10, "Yesterday, Tomorrow and You", 3 of 5 (CC)
I assumed that this would be the case, but in my experience, it hasn't been. I'm on my third set of clippers since... sometime in the 90's? When I was young and poor, I bought some cheap model that was adequate for keeping my beard to a reasonable length, but not particularly good at cutting it down to stubble in preparation for a shave.
After many years of service and 2 replacement batteries, that tool finally died. At that time, I had a job and some more money, and bought the best available clippers from a department store. They were adequate for keeping my beard to a reasonable length, but not particularly good at cutting it down to stubble in preparation for a shave.
When those clippers died, I bought a high-end, professional clipper from a salon equipment wholesaler. This is a nice unit. Rock solid, ceramic blade, holds a charge forever. Still, it is adequate for keeping my beard to a reasonable length, but... You get the idea.
Personally, I like clippers for tidying my beard, but don't like them yanking at my hair or nipping at my skin when I try to shave down to stubble. When I get the itch (literally) to shave clean from my next Grizzly Adams beard, I'll definitely use the clippers to remove the bulk. If I can use the straight razor directly on a shorter beard (see Ace's video above), though, I'd like to do that.