Secret code language

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e57

Senior Member
If I asked you to pull two "round-house" from one place to the other - would you know what I meant?

Been accused as of late of speaking other languages that only I understand - terms like mineralac send people into a tizzy...
 

iwire

Moderator
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Location
Massachusetts
I would not if I had not been reading forums, I had never heard 'roundhouse' used on the job.
 
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K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
The problem with slang is that the definitions are not standardized.

For instance, the slang term we use here for large NMS cable (typically with a black sheath) is the same term used in the Gary, Indiana area for fine stranded single conductors. DLC perhaps? I didn't see any but heard the term while I was working down there in a steel mill. The first time I heard some of the guys talking about it I remember thinking, "What on Earth would you use NMS for in a steel mill?" I asked my foreman about it and he was the one that told me it wasn't NMS.

I have heard some guys refer to scaffolding as "picks". We also refer to a load being lifted by a crane as a "pick".

Some slang may be specific to a single company or small group of co-workers. Would any of you know what I meant if I asked you to go get Cheep off the table and hand him to me? I doubt it, but I do know that the guys I work with regularly would know exactly what I was talking about. "Cheep" is the name we give to what is normally referred to as a tic tracer. A hammer is a whack-em. The box I keep my test equipment, some of which I made myself, is called the Voo-Doo box. One of the contractors I troubleshoot for calls my troubleshooting Voo-Doo and refers to it in that manner. If he calls up and tells me he needs me to 'put a root' on something, I know he wants me to troubleshoot a problem for him.

In the union, apprentii (plural for apprentice) are called cubs. Scrap wire is called rabbit. A ratchet cable cutter is called a rabbit cutter.

Of course we all know what Kerney's and Mini's are. Rope is wire and line is rope. And we all have the same definition for an Arlington box, right?

Slang is fun, but can be counter productive. There should be a universal standard for our terminology. I am not saying that we should abandon the use of slang because if the group working together all knows what is being referred to, it can be a great means to achieve aural brevity.
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician

Search 'pick'. I have never heard the term used for service entrance cable.

This is what comes up when you search 'rabbit'.

slang38.jpg


Thanks for proving my point. :grin:
 
My favorite from last summer- a short piece of 4/0 SC with a camlok on one end and the other end bare: we call it a tail or a pigtail, the rental company calls it a pig. (Same rental company that couldn't understand why I'd want more than one 6/4 RV cable with each spider, um, temporary power box.)
 

dmagyar

Senior Member
Location
Rocklin, Ca.
Another is Battleship = hollow wall box support

Another is Battleship = hollow wall box support

I've heard those called TMBs (Two Men in a Boat)

Side cutters = "Kleins"; Diagonals = "Dikes"; Red Scotchlock wire nuts = "Red's"; redhead self drilling anchor insert= "Redheads"; Flexible metallic conduit = "Greenfield"; Loop in a wire being pulled into conduit = "_sshole" interchangeable with "foreman"; six foot wooden folding rule = "Zig-zag"; Using hammer drill to go through concrete = "DC work"; Round house, Full boat, Full house = MWBC; Foreman around too often = "Bird dog"; Voltage tester = "Wiggy"; Metallic Armored Multi-conductor cable = "Baloney"; Ridgid three piece coupling/union = "Ericson"; Safety strap/belt = "Scare strap"; Inside wireman = "Narrow back"; Redwings = "Work Boots". All examples of Colloquilisms; or slang, many though are dated but thats part of what I've learned over the years.
 
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