Post by Jason on Mar 7, 2005 21:13:41 GMT -5
Construction Slang Dictionary:
Bag of hammers:
Mythical assault device reputed to cause one's hangover-based discomfort.
Board Stretcher:
Mythical device used to stretch a board that was cut too short.
Bull gear:
The largest or strongest toothed driving gear of a set.
Cinder block:
A person who has become dazed and simple-minded, a burnout. Also see pckeiths.
Circling the drain:
Anything lingering on the brink of dying, especially any third party material suppliers.
Cloon:
To impact the ground with one's head. See also: Cranial Disharmony.
Cranial Disharmony:
Severe headache and/or mental disorientation, usually do to impact. See also: Cloon.
cowboy:
A scraper operator.
Darwin:
To die due to one's own stupidity or lack of adaptability. Often used to describe failed construction companies.
Elbow grease:
physical effort, work.
Gear jammer:
A truck driver.
Ginnie Hopper:
An aprentice grade-checker or surveyor.
Glory hole:
(1) In mining, a slang expression for a vertical pit whose mined material drops into a shaft below the bottom of the pit. (2) A small shaft excavated to assess the quality of an ore.
Grease monkey:
(1) A slang expression for a person who lubricates, refuels, and/or repairs equipment. (2) A grease dauber who greases skids so that logs can be moved over them easily.
Grunt:
A common laborer or an apprentice lineman.
Honey Wagon:
Port-O-Potty maintenance truck.
High chair:
A heavy, wire, vaguely chair-shaped device used to hold steel reinforcement off the bottom of the slab during the placement of concrete.
Hack:
(Wood Butcher) a person(carpenter) who is very bad at his/her job.
Hot wrench:
To use a torch for cutting a bolt when a wrench won't work.
Itchulation:
Insulation.
It's A "Feature":
Ironic exclamation used to pretend that a defect of some kind was intentional.
Jack leg:
unlicensed contractor (jack leg plumber)
lemonhead:
An electrician.
Maggot Wagon:
Lunchmobile; usually a specially-modified van with a kitchenette that cooks up short-order food at a job location. See: Roach Coach
More Than Half a Bubble Off:
(1) Someone not quite "on the level" or honest. (2) Someone not stable. See also: On The Bubble.
Modify:
To alter by accident, e.g., "Boss, I just modified your fender with my dozer."
Mud:
(1) Wet concrete. (2) Drywall joint compound.
Nail bender:
A carpenter. also see: JY.
New York screwdriver:
A very large hammer.
On The Bubble:
(1) Perfectly level or plumb. (2) Honest. See also: More Than Half a Bubble Off.
Percussive Maintenance:
Banging on a malfunctioning device with one's fist or blunt object in an attempt to make it work.
Plumber:
A grave insult to a pipefitter.
Pusher:
An overseer not skilled in the trade he supervises.
Pump up the volume:
work faster, work more efficiently.
Rod buster:
An iron worker.
sewer surgeon:
One who operates on sewage systems, e.g. a plumber.
shooter:
A nail gun.
Shovel jockey:
A laborer. Also see buck o five calk boy.
Sidewalk superintendent:
The neighborhood guy that comes around to check your work and tell you how you could do it better. He is typically retired and has no construction knowledge whatsoever.
Stink-pipe:
The soil stack's rooftop waste vent.
Sparky:
A welder or an electrician.
Two-block:
An unflattering nickname for a crane operator who has, through negligence, hoisted the crane's ball and hook into its boom.
Tack it:
to temporarily affix or secure.
User Problem:
A technical malfunction that turns out to have been caused by the user's incompetence.
vidiot:
Someone whose knowledge is limited exclusively to what he sees on television. For example, someone who tells you how to frame a house because he saw Bob Vila do it on an episode of 'Home Improvement' and now he's an expert.
yard sale:
A catastrophic crash or fall that scatters one's gear and tools all over the ground as if on display for a yard sale.
Also see DJ'ing.
Bag of hammers:
Mythical assault device reputed to cause one's hangover-based discomfort.
Board Stretcher:
Mythical device used to stretch a board that was cut too short.
Bull gear:
The largest or strongest toothed driving gear of a set.
Cinder block:
A person who has become dazed and simple-minded, a burnout. Also see pckeiths.
Circling the drain:
Anything lingering on the brink of dying, especially any third party material suppliers.
Cloon:
To impact the ground with one's head. See also: Cranial Disharmony.
Cranial Disharmony:
Severe headache and/or mental disorientation, usually do to impact. See also: Cloon.
cowboy:
A scraper operator.
Darwin:
To die due to one's own stupidity or lack of adaptability. Often used to describe failed construction companies.
Elbow grease:
physical effort, work.
Gear jammer:
A truck driver.
Ginnie Hopper:
An aprentice grade-checker or surveyor.
Glory hole:
(1) In mining, a slang expression for a vertical pit whose mined material drops into a shaft below the bottom of the pit. (2) A small shaft excavated to assess the quality of an ore.
Grease monkey:
(1) A slang expression for a person who lubricates, refuels, and/or repairs equipment. (2) A grease dauber who greases skids so that logs can be moved over them easily.
Grunt:
A common laborer or an apprentice lineman.
Honey Wagon:
Port-O-Potty maintenance truck.
High chair:
A heavy, wire, vaguely chair-shaped device used to hold steel reinforcement off the bottom of the slab during the placement of concrete.
Hack:
(Wood Butcher) a person(carpenter) who is very bad at his/her job.
Hot wrench:
To use a torch for cutting a bolt when a wrench won't work.
Itchulation:
Insulation.
It's A "Feature":
Ironic exclamation used to pretend that a defect of some kind was intentional.
Jack leg:
unlicensed contractor (jack leg plumber)
lemonhead:
An electrician.
Maggot Wagon:
Lunchmobile; usually a specially-modified van with a kitchenette that cooks up short-order food at a job location. See: Roach Coach
More Than Half a Bubble Off:
(1) Someone not quite "on the level" or honest. (2) Someone not stable. See also: On The Bubble.
Modify:
To alter by accident, e.g., "Boss, I just modified your fender with my dozer."
Mud:
(1) Wet concrete. (2) Drywall joint compound.
Nail bender:
A carpenter. also see: JY.
New York screwdriver:
A very large hammer.
On The Bubble:
(1) Perfectly level or plumb. (2) Honest. See also: More Than Half a Bubble Off.
Percussive Maintenance:
Banging on a malfunctioning device with one's fist or blunt object in an attempt to make it work.
Plumber:
A grave insult to a pipefitter.
Pusher:
An overseer not skilled in the trade he supervises.
Pump up the volume:
work faster, work more efficiently.
Rod buster:
An iron worker.
sewer surgeon:
One who operates on sewage systems, e.g. a plumber.
shooter:
A nail gun.
Shovel jockey:
A laborer. Also see buck o five calk boy.
Sidewalk superintendent:
The neighborhood guy that comes around to check your work and tell you how you could do it better. He is typically retired and has no construction knowledge whatsoever.
Stink-pipe:
The soil stack's rooftop waste vent.
Sparky:
A welder or an electrician.
Two-block:
An unflattering nickname for a crane operator who has, through negligence, hoisted the crane's ball and hook into its boom.
Tack it:
to temporarily affix or secure.
User Problem:
A technical malfunction that turns out to have been caused by the user's incompetence.
vidiot:
Someone whose knowledge is limited exclusively to what he sees on television. For example, someone who tells you how to frame a house because he saw Bob Vila do it on an episode of 'Home Improvement' and now he's an expert.
yard sale:
A catastrophic crash or fall that scatters one's gear and tools all over the ground as if on display for a yard sale.
Also see DJ'ing.