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Survey Slang

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(@rankin_file)
Posts: 4016
 

John Henry- drive it a tenth lower?ÿ

wayne Newton drive it a hundredth lower

frost pin - had itƒ??s own name

punky was 11

Mossey-backs - old timers?ÿ

 
Posted : February 17, 2020 2:32 pm
(@paden-cash)
Posts: 11088
 

We used "E-OH" for eleven.?ÿ

Here's one that got started by a gunner on our crew when the PC (being down range and out of earshot) would take his index finger and 'draw' a box..meaning of course "box it up".?ÿ He would go down one side of the imaginary box and then the other with the same finger.?ÿ To the i-man it looked like he was drawing the characters " L 7".?ÿ So L7 became the intergalactic code for "box it up".

 
Posted : February 17, 2020 6:29 pm
(@dave-lindell)
Posts: 1683
 

May not be survey specific, but there's always the extended middle finger displayed vertically and then horizontally, the latter meaning "...and the horse you rode in on."

 
Posted : February 17, 2020 8:08 pm
(@flga-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2)
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@john-putnam

I was disappointed as well. Mike must have sent that to a Theological Institute or to Walt Disney for editing. If the stuff I've heard in the field was published here Wendell would end up in jail.

 

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 6:22 am
(@bstrand)
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I must be a serious rookie, why don't you just call 7 and 11, 7 and 11?

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 10:08 am
(@dougie)
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@bstrand

?ÿ

If you're yelling (like we did before radios and cell phones) those two numbers sounded a lot alike. So, to avoid mistakes (and therefor confusion) we would say punky for eleven (11). Seven (7) was always seven (7)...

?ÿ

It's hard to imagine a time without radios and cell phones; isn't it?

?ÿ

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 10:14 am
(@squirl)
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@andy-bruner

That's a new one for me... 😕  

 

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 10:47 am
(@bstrand)
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@dougie

Ah, right makes sense.

 

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 10:52 am
(@joe-the-surveyor)
Posts: 1948
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"Burn a foot"- from the old days of chaining..

?ÿ

"Close enough for government work"- Meaning its close...let go home

?ÿ

"Candy Cane"- marker for a pipeline below the surface.

?ÿ

"Surveyor killer"- Very dense and thick thorns

?ÿ

"Pencil Pusher"- Architect

?ÿ

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 11:13 am
(@bill93)
Posts: 9834
 
Posted by: @dougie

?ÿBut wouldn't EEE-leven have worked just as well?

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 12:03 pm
(@jflamm)
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@joe-the-surveyor

 

Candy Cane is the only one I hadn't heard or used.  "Can't see it from my house" was always one we used too.

 

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 12:57 pm
(@rankin_file)
Posts: 4016
 

@bill93

ƒ?EEE-levenƒ?. -and that would have been your nick name for awhile.

itƒ??s a study in human relationships in the workplace somewhat hostile to fra-gile folks-?ÿ

?ÿ

1979- Boss says ƒ??We say ƒ??punkyƒ??ÿ
For eleven.

Me- sounds like a great idea.

?ÿ

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 1:16 pm
(@a-harris)
Posts: 8761
 

@bstrand

In the early 70s we were lucky to have had a simple calculator that would do basic math with no trig functions or memory.

The basic communication of every crew was rather unique as we simply made stuff up to suit our purpose and "get r done"

The CB radio finally kicked in the middle 70s and Midland hand units were large plastic box and had a 4ft antenna and the whole gadget was very fragile.

7 is 7

11 is punk

raise the rod a foot is one boot and so on, have had to go to 7 boots before, only time I was glad there was no wind

In any construction site and other places with the noise factor hand signals were necessary, basic 1 thru 9 and 0 was both hands up and period was hand together on chest and pointing at them meant go and point away from Iman was come. Have had to use two white buckets before to be seen at several thousand feet away when staking pole locations while standing on a 5gal bucket with a tall setup to see better and to be seen.

I've been doing some early spring cleaning and I came across a box of spent radios of all sorts from Cobra, Magnavox, Radio Shack, Jobcom, Midland and Uniden.

The Unidens are the greatest I've found as they are waterproof and have great battery life. All the others were too fragile and could not take the stress of field work.

 

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 1:37 pm
(@bstrand)
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@jflamm

Heard candy cane in school but not in the actual working world.

 

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 2:53 pm
(@richard-germiller)
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@andy-bruner

I'd heard "punk" and dad used "dinky", which I thought might just have been a NYSDOT term, because whenever I would refer to it, even in the same locale, I would get the three headed look. I have not heard of railroad until today, but that one makes the most sense.

We also used "niner" to avoid confusion between nine & five.

 

 

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 3:50 pm
(@dave-lindell)
Posts: 1683
 

@bstrand  If you ever go to a casino and play craps you will hear "Yo!" for eleven, as in "ee-YO-leven"

(And "midnight" for twelve since all the dots on the dice are whited-out)

 

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 5:12 pm
(@dave-lindell)
Posts: 1683
 

@dougie  And when we were talking on the radio, fifteen was "fifteen:one-five" and fifty was "fifty:five-oh"

 

 
Posted : February 18, 2020 5:15 pm
(@david-livingstone)
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BFE?ÿ Bum **** Egypt.?ÿ Out in the middle of nowhere.?ÿ Also "out where the hoot owls are screwing the chickens".

 
Posted : February 19, 2020 8:58 am
(@dmyhill)
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is a frost pin kind of like a bull P****?

Edge...as in "Left Edge", meaning drive the hub in at the left edge of the rod. (Right Edge...)

?ÿ

 
Posted : February 19, 2020 9:13 am
(@dmyhill)
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@dave-karoly

We always said "aught 6" for 30-06. I looked it up and it turns out we should have been saying naught 6,

 

 
Posted : February 19, 2020 9:22 am
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