Linguaphile wrote:If you made a comment about the "links" in the fence, chances are we'd be picturing the exact same thing in our minds, even if you were thinking about the empty space and I was thinking about the wire
Exactly!
So I think I'll go with "links" cause it fits in my context really well, and as long as it's understood by natives and doesn't sound wrong, it does the job pretty well.
Thank you for the very detailed answer both of you!
Actually, knowing that they can only be called links as long as the net holds together, but you cannot detangle them unless you destroy the whole fence, makes it sound even better!