Just noticed below that someone used the term “Skosh.” Is that larger than a 1/64″ but smaller than 1/32″?
What other “technical” terms do you used in your shops (and pease keep it clean).
My dad’s term for any paste/glue/filler/grease/oil etc. is “Gungywhackum.” (the second “g” is soft)
As in, “If it squeaks, put some more gungywhackum on it.”
Chuckles,
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Replies
Well, a bo'hair is a bit more than a head hair, so if you need to to cut it a bit shorter, thinner, etc., to fit, often a bo'hair will do it. And a ginger bo'hair is a bit less than a black bo'hair so the terms are very precise and descriptive. Slainte.
RJFurniture
Mark,
I expect you've opened a real can of worms here.
A tad is more than a skosh. A hair is less than a skosh, a cat hair is littler, a frog hair is even less.
Finer'n frog hair split four ways, is getting pretty fine indeed.
First shop I worked in, used to measure to "scant", or "full" s'teenths--as in "Cut that to 35 and a scant 3 s'teenths."
They used to tell a story about a worker in another shop. "Well Talley, how long did you cut that piece? It still don't fit." "Oh, 'bout 16, an' three or four o' them little marks."
If it's not square, then it's a little skow-wow.
My Dad, a mechanic, used to put "Ackypucky" on gaskets, before putting things back together.
Cheers,
Ray
"Ackypucky" - LOL
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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"Finer'n frog hair split four ways, is getting pretty fine indeed." JW, don't you realize we're working wood here, not metal!? Good heavens, a piece of wood's going to move way more than 1/4 of a frog hair in one afternoon. Get with reality, dude!View Imageforestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
FG,
Finer'n frog hair is one of those localisms that I've come to really like. (Also used as an answer to "How are you?") Also, slicker'n greasy owl s**t ; or slicker'n snot on a doorknob. How about loose as a goose? "Like Grant went through Richmond", for something really fast (we don't use THAT one here in Va, but my wife's kinfolk in Ohio are partial to it). "Those green apples went thru me like a handful of ballbearings down a rainspout." Hot as a three dollar pistol. Clumsy as a hog on ice. Sharper'n razor soup. Crazy as a sh*thouse rat; built like a brick johnnyhouse. Hmm, getting a bit scatological, time to quit before someone gets madder'n a wet hen, or nervous as a longtailed cat in a roomful of rockingchairs.
Well, gotta get back to work; where's my froghair calipers?
Ray
Glad you indicated you're in VA -- no geographical info in your "profile" for shame, for shame.
Funny stuff! I love stuff like that! Must be my southern heritage!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
You forgot one, "tighter than a bulls a** at breeding time"
I once had a guy tell me me it was " ten and three o' them little squiggley things."
Have met several (three? four?) people who were busy rushing around the shop cutting things off....when cornered, they literally had not the first clue how to read a tape measure. None.cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, N.S
And of course this is woodworking - we measure things carefully here! I worked with a carpenter who when he had to go smaller than 1/8" would refer to it as "strong", e.g. "16 and 5/8 strong". He worked together with his father and one would measure, the other cut and darned if their trim joints didn't always match up beautifully!
RogerI'd rather be making cabinets and friends....
Busier than a one-armed paper hangar.
Busier than a one-legged man in an ####-kicking contest.
I've heard frog hair, I'm partial to a shaven hair. From a redhead.
Adrian,
One shop I worked in, there was a guy who did mostly repairs. He'd use a tape, but couldn't "read" one. He would remember which mark he was referencing from his measurement til his cut, but couldn't tell you whether it was 5/16, 5/8, or 15/16. But he got it done.
Cheers,
Ray
There is a good product out there called "Akempucky". I don't know how useful it would be for gaskets, but it works wonders for lubricating screws, etc. http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/ak/Fasteners/Anti_seize_Lubricants/Akempucky_Screw_Lube_fam/Regards,Ron
Ron,
I'll be darned! The old man DID know somethin after all! Ha, ha.
Cheers,
Ray
I've seen "fat" and "lean" used to indicate being a little over or under an even fraction. I personally use "plus" or "minus" for the same purpose.
In my New England experience, "skosh" is pronounced with a long "o" , as in the word own.
John W.
The adhesive-related term that's really stuck with me (pardon the pun), picked up here at Knots, is boogerglue! Sheesh, how descriptive!
For measurement, I use "tad" and "smidge" predominantly. Not very creative, but effective. I suspect once I graduate to mortise-and-tenon joinery I'll have to learn Sgian's bo'hair terminology.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Edited 5/20/2005 12:53 pm ET by forestgirl
Some of the ol termites I know call construction adhesive" elephant snot."
skosh is a shortening of the japanese word for little shoshie
The japanese word (anglicized) is sukoshi; the "u" is hardly pronounced. It refers to a little amount, while the word chiisai is used to refer to little things. Japanese also use different adjectives and counting words for objects of different shapes...
My mother used "skosh" and for many years I thought it was one of her southern Wisconsin words, like "bubbler" (for drinking fountain). It wasn't, it was something she picked up dring the years we lived in Japan (we had the first Toyota in Wisconsin when we came back!) I was just a chiisai Jo-san (known as pauchan) back then...
Elephant snot? Whoa! that's gotta be strong stuff, LOL!
My big collie takes at least 3 sneezes to get whatever's bugging him out of his incredibly long nose. Can you even imagine what it's like for an ephalant?!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Elephant snot?
I think that comes out of a Hot Glue Gun!
That reminds me of the other day, I went to use some urethane adhesive that had a big boog stuck in the nossel, when I got it unplugged ,this big goo came out with it ,which started a blues song amongst the guys about the sticky booger blues.Everybody took a verse ,we were rollin on the floor.Job site levity can be so sophisticated.
Tim
"sticky booger blues" Priceless!! Really, truly priceless!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Dumb question-how do I get it to say ALL??
Anyway- one of my favs is deadnuts-means bang on. Usually used when plumbing walls with a level but it has other uses as well.
Always get a rise out of my students when I use it...did he say"deadnuts?"
cheers,
silver
"How do I get to ALL?" When you go to the Reply thing, at the top it will say "From: Silver" and the "To:" with a box. Click the drop-down arrow at the side of the box, and ALL will be second from the top.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
I wasn't on advanced view and I didn't have the drop down box-another mystery solved.
silver
Edited 5/22/2005 12:30 am ET by silver
"Anyway- one of my favs is deadnuts-means bang on. Usually used when plumbing walls with a level but it has other uses as well.
Always get a rise out of my students when I use it...did he say"deadnuts?"
I also use that term. But, when a homeowner or priest is around, me and the helper just say DN, so as to not offend anyone. We call it G speak. As in G rated. Say a homeowner walks in after we been fighting a 24" deep 36"x96" solid oak pantry. I'll say something like "FNA! get the BFH out of the van, tap the hinge style back a RCH, and it'll be DN." Then I can vent my frustration openly, and sound like we know what the heck is going on. Then after the HO leaves we can laugh about what I said in my G-speak rant.
Edited 5/22/2005 9:05 am ET by dustinf
Did he say FNA??
sign me up for the g-speaker club
silver
Another breed of manager: "The Atomic BB"
To say that he or she spends a lot of time bouncing off walls is an understatement.A measure of slickness too bawdy to be mentioned here is found in Larry McMurty's book "Texasville." I use it in the shop - I'll tell you in person, maybe, someday,... After I got hooked on the first season of "The Apprentice" I began to use the term "The Omorosa Factor." I don't know how to exactly describe the meaning but it's worse than Murphy's Law.
I may get in trouble here and expose my earlier working days........but , here goes--------I and a few friends used to use the term " It's tits" for describing something right on the money....even knew of a company of framers called It's Tits Construction, LOL!! Also, when I was woodworking in seafood restaurants we used to refer to being seafishous, not facetious. ~Z~
Edited 5/22/2005 8:16 pm ET by zorro
Edited 5/22/2005 8:31 pm ET by zorro
Hey, I said keep it clean. :-)M.
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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Soooorrry, I'll be good now.....thanks ~Z~
In my Wednesday night Pool league, when you make a difficult shot and move the cue ball ("whitey" or "albino" or "the rock") properly around the table into position for the next shot (for those of you that don't play, it's all about the next shot) someone describing it will say you got "deadnuts shape." I think it evolves from a poker term wherein if you have an unbeatable hand, you are said to "have the nuts." So deadnuts is actually redundant. :>)
Kell
BTW the official southern measurement is based entirely on the sh*tload. It's equal to two buttloads and four *ssloads.
Language is too much fun!
"Skosh." to me means it is a bit intearms of what ya' want to move it.. Could be part of a inch OR a mile!
I was a Army Tank mechanic.. We would say make it 'tighter en a frogs ####' (can I say that here?).. That ment water tight!
I forgot!
shellacen' ment my grandpa found out I used his good tools!
Edited 5/20/2005 7:45 pm ET by Will George
Edited 5/20/2005 8:20 pm ET by Will George
any unknown tool or fitting was a ....fah steriss, as in "get over there and tighten that fah steriss. " or "go get the fah steriss from the tool crib." huked on fonix werks fer mee.
maddog
Isn't smallest known measurement an RCH?
The rarest most special alloy is Unobtainium. Only the most trick stuff imaginable is made out it.
John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
The rarest most special alloy is Unobtainium
LOL... I really LOL!!
All I know is that when I get confused beyond comprehension, I don't know whether to sh*t or fall backwards.
backwards.. I think my Grandpa said Backasswerds!
Kids that help out on projects are "gophers" as in "go for this and go for that" (go get my square. Get a box a nails, etc...)
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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"Slicker than corn through the new maid"
"Bassackwards"
And here in Maine it's not a skosh but a "dight".
Oh. and my dad always called Liquid Wrench, and later WD-40, "weasel pi*s".
Edited 5/21/2005 10:38 pm ET by Chad53
As the guy on the plank nailin up siding, when we would get a piece from the cut guy, he would invariably ask "is that one good", we'd check the length, and if it was short, we'd send it back down and say "cut it gooder". You'd think after all these years, you knew it was wrong and could stop, but I find myself using these terms with new people now and I realize it when I get the look from them!
Of course when it comes back gooder it means that it is betterer than before........
Don
I almost forgot the "Playtex Manuever" which is to "Lift and Separate". We generally use it for pulling sheet goods of a stack.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
Does "diarrhea of the mouth " count?
How about " farfelona of the blowhole ? " Someone tell that guy to shut up maddog
If we're going to get into "insults"...How about (in the spirit of "Lights are on but nobody's home")"His saw blade is missing a few teeth." or
"His router's not running at full speed."...M.
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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Hey Mark , I just missed the boat,.......again maddog
Mark,
A few bricks shy of a load.
A couple sandwiches short of a picnic.
His elevator don't go all the way to the top.
Cheersa,
Ray
I love thes and was trying to make up woodworking themed ones..."a sixteenth short of an inch."my kids and I worked on these as well not so woodworking...."His signal light is flashing but he aint turning."M.
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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Mark,
Few boards shy of a stack?
Not the sharpest knife (chisel??) in the drawer.
Dumb as a box of hammers.
Dumb as a post.
Me, I'm so bright, my momma called me sun!
Cheers,
Ray
Ray to continue:
Not the brightest tack in the box
A sandwich short of a picknic
Don
And...He's got the six-pack, but not the thingie that holds it all togetherHe is playing Solitare with a Pinochle(sp) deck and winning every timeOne slice shy of a pizzaAs dumb as s sack full of door-knobsThe lights are on but no one is at homeHe's as useful as a screen door on a submarine hatch SawdustSteve
I never thought this thread would run 68 items I'm glad it has.. been some good laughs.
Thanks,
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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Sawdust
You'd have to assume he/she is also as useful as tits on a bull or an ashtray on a motorbike...............
Don
Ones I use occasionally:A few French fries short of a Happy Meal.Gates are down, lights are flashing, but the train ain't coming.
Since I grew up the same side of the country as Ray:
Tighter than a redbug's a$$ stretched over a 55 gallon drum,
If you rolled his brain down the edge of a razor blade, it would be like a BB rolling down a 4 lane highway!
Cal
Don,
Nervous as a wh*re in church.
Shaking like a dog sh!ttin' bones/razorblades.
(Both heard on the rifle range.)
Darker than 4' up a bulls @$$.Onward through the fog.
Chuck Whitney
"Shaking like a dog sh!ttin' bones/razorblades."
I always heard a peach pit.
Hi Chad,
Well, that's how we say it here in the Valley (Shenandoah). Where y'all from, Georgia?
Ray
You folks have too much time on your hands....lol...I can add a few....
Busier than a 3 legged cat coverin' up crap on a hot tin roof...
I'm so broke, If they were selling nuclear subs for 10 cents a piece, all I could do is run up and down the beach and scream Oh my God what a deal.......
I gotta headache so bad it would kill a normal man and put a bull in the hospital....
You don't know s**t from shinola....
Crapin' like a wounded coon....
Grinnin' like a crap-eatn' dog.......
That knife is sharper than my wife's tongue.....
Got a pile more, but not the place to post.....
Jimmy
as always I wish you enough
Edited 5/29/2005 8:51 am ET by Jimmy
I dated a girl named Shenandoah! Geeeeeeeeeeee.. I'll NEVER forget her!
I worked in siding for a while myself, and when we needed a piece cut again, we would ask for one that is "mo'betta", then when the cutter gave us the new piece and ask "is that mo'betta?" we would reply "Yahn-der, Way mo'betta"
Tony
I thought it was bassackwards.
thought it was bassackwards.
My Grandpa was german ans spoked bassackwards!
Will,
Heard about the German best selling novel, in two volumns? Everyomng read the 2d volumn first, that's where all the verbs were!
Cheers,
Ray
"Hmm. Jedi are you." - Yoda
Woodworking, I will do now. - MeMark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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Verbs in German?
Working with my grandfather, if I cut a piece that didn't fit quite right, but was still acceptable. He would always say "It ain't church work". Like it was sin to do anything less than perfect for the church, but it was OK on a secular structure.
Like "good enough for government work"...
:-)
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
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That's pretty funny... for years, a fellow medievalist and I have been using "Good enough for secular work" as a sort of medieval version of "good enough for Govt. work".
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." A. Einstein
http://www.albionworks.net
Is Unobtaniam stainless?Kenneth Duke Masters
The Bill of Rights
December 15 1791
NRA Endowment Member
LEAA Life Member
CRPA Member
Unobtanium is an alloy of dontexistite and cantfindium. It has the ability to take on the appearance of any of the better known metals and even a few other elements. Most hard to find parts are made from it which explanes the price of these parts. Example, "I only wanted one trunnion bolt, not a whole new saw" The Professional Termite
Don't forget expensivium. I had a bike made out of that. All carbon fibre and expensivium, but man, could it haul.
dontexistite and cantfindium....
Geeee. I just spit my drink on my monitor....
"Isn't smallest known measurement an RCH?"
If I remember my color code correctly, from largest to smallest it's:
Black, Brown, Red, Blonde
Blonde = 2 frog hairs as I recall
:')
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting Click Here if you're interested in a good,inexpensive website host.
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
In this day and age of zany characters with multi-colored hair, we might be able to use the same color coding sequence I learned for electrical resistors many decades ago:
BlackBrownRedOrangeYellowGreenBlueVioletGreyWhite!
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls, But Violet Gives Willingly is how I remember the color code. Had physics/ electronics teacher that taught it that way. Wouldn't work in our PC world of today.
It was ROY G. BIV in our class. Later, as a colour printer, we used Red Cadillacs BY General Motors.
(Red, Cyan, Blue, Yellow, Green, Magenta -- the primary colours and their negatives.)Alan, my dad used the "Layovers to catch meddlers" also. Must have been a generational thing. Capt. Harper, the doyen of boatbuilders in my uncle's area of the Bay, also used that one.Ray, about Grant and Richmond: A old friend's first cousin brought his college roomie home for a long weekend. The young man was much smitten by his sister's redheaded charms. He announced his intentions by telling Margaret Ann he was "going to take you like Grant took Richmond." As I was told, she answered in her best Southern drawl, "Gonna take you foah yeahs then, Yankee boy."Leon Jester
Leon,
"Yankee boy"... pretty funny. Round here, some folks still are saving their Dixie cups, just in case the South rises again.
Cheers,
Ray
'Dumber than an HGTV decorator"
"He was on it like a tornado on a trailer park"
:>D
dhb
I'm not the man I used to be, but then I never was!
Edited 5/31/2005 10:09 am ET by Don B
Waiting for an entrance-----Elcoholic mentioned RCH. Happens that this term is multi-linguistic, in that it was discovered that Russian cosmonauts used this same term (in the native Russian) to describe a similiar dimension, while conversing with our own astronauts. The more things change, . . . But my upbringing was to measure additional cuts as a fraction of a saw kerf--half a blade, or another cut, or the everpresent skosh, explanied to me by my mentor, a Korean-duty draftee, as a Korean-language derivation, further exploited by some car dealer in the '70s, where, "We mark'em up just a 'skosh'".Ain't life grand, where we can discuss such subjects?
Yes indeed, the RCH is the smallest measurement known to man. Smaller than a nano inch. That would be a red c**t ( female anatomy) hair.
In the Navy, nobody would know what you are talking about if you asked for a can of white lead. But for anti-seize, nothing beats monkey s**t and everybody from seaman deuce to admiral knows what you'r talking about.
Chris
There's a gnat's a** hair, and about half of that is a gnat's eyelash. I like the quarter of a frog's hair... that sounds like half a gnat's eyelash.
I've always called the half-dried lumps that form in the top of glue bottle tips "gloogers".
I've referred to any finish that went on exceptionally well to have a high "Smoothalation Factor".
In the commercial production shop I work at, sanding a burn-through onto veneer is "making roasty-toasty" on it (as in, "Hey, who's going to fix the roasty-toasty the new guy put on this piece?). We also had a big, clumsy guy in the finish department named Monty, who was always knocking parts of projects over or damaging them, so whenever something got screwed up, it was "Montied".
Jim
White lead and monkey s**t are two different things. Monkey s**t is a sealant, duct seal to be perzact.
Bill - USN/USCG 1960-1989
"Whatcha building Dad?" "A layover to catch meddlers, son."
Alan & Lynette Mikkelsen, Mountain View Farm, est. 1934, Gardens & Fine Woodworking, St. Ignatius, MT
Tech terms when doing a joint may go like this: Dodgier than a 3 quid note if it the cheeks arn't lining up, Skew-wiff if it isn't square, Tighter than a fishes' a#s if the tenon won't fit, whereupon a bees dick needs to be removed. On gluing the joint you are likely to encounter too much cockies* sh#t squeezing out. The above are most likely to occur when you are flat out like a lizard drinking & it's nearly beer o'clock.
(Quid is a pound which was replaced by the dollar in the mid sixties. Cocky is an abreviation for cockatoo, a large pesky bird which squawks a lot,)
"...whereupon a bees dick needs to be removed." Ohmigod, that had me ROFL!!!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
In my O'l man's shop, "gookumpucky" was any type of calking, and "stickumpucky" was any type of adheasive.
BTW- the use of +and - is standard practice in the table of offsets used in boatbuilding to indicate a 1/16" one way or the other.
Tom
And don't forget folks some of the management technical terms.
One of my favourites is 'seagull manager.'
This is one that crashes uninvited through the closed office window, spends all of its time whilst there desperately flapping and crapping as it bounces off the walls, floor and ceiling looking only for the nearest exit and eventually leaves via the way it came in leaving behind it a trail of destruction.
Seagull managers are usually promoted by the high heid'yuns to similarly sort out another perfectly running section of the firm.
Slainte.
RJFurniture
"One of my favourites is 'seagull manager.'"
RJ,
Used to call them "32-ouncers" because they're not quite leaders (there are 33.8 ounces in a litre), and because some of them act as though they've had a few pints for breakfast.-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
To be PC, CH is now to be known as an Ocean Rabbit.....;-)
a buddy always says HMTKR, short for Hand Me That Krescent Wrench. .......
Everyone who hears it informs him that Crescent isn't spelt with a "K", but all forget Wrench isn't spelt with an "R"!
"If 'tis to be,'twil be done by me."
Edited 5/22/2005 1:42 pm ET by Philter
"... 'seagull manager.' ..."
... and when you really succeed, then you become the HMFWRIC!
:')
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting Click Here if you're interested in a good,inexpensive website host.
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
HMFWRIC??
Gee Ya have to be from Flordia!
A close as a knat's eyebrow.
How 'bout:
Yellow Glue: Mule spit
Gorilla Glue : Monkey spit
Construction Adhesive: Bazooka Glue/ Cow phlegm
Hammer: Thumb masher
Nails: Thorns
Torch: smoke wrench
"Colder than a witches' #### in a brass bra"
"Tighter than a gnat's *ss"
"Can't see it from my house"
"The taper will fix it"
"Slicker than a couple of eels, making love in a barrel of snot"
I can't print the rest,
John
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