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Heard a new apprentice call a pipe wrench a 'monkey wrench' yesterday
It was at a job site in Tacoma, and it took me right back to my first year. My old foreman, Jerry, would have lost it if I mixed those terms up. Makes you think about how the trade's language changes as the old guard retires. What's the most common mix-up you hear from the new guys on your crew?
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danielwhite2mo agoProlific Poster
Man, that hits on something bigger. It's not just names getting lost, it's the why behind them. A monkey wrench and a pipe wrench work differently, the old names told you how to use it. Now it's just a brand or a shape. When we lose the words, we lose the little bits of built-in knowledge that came with them. Makes you wonder what else we're simplifying away without even knowing.
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oliver_ward142mo ago
You're right about the old guard retiring. The mix-up I notice is new guys calling all pliers "channel locks". It shows they learn brand names before tool types, which is just how things are now. The specific knowledge fades when the guys who used every tool for forty years leave.
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kevin_hernandez838d ago
Yeah, that "channel locks" thing drives me crazy. I hear guys call every adjustable plier that now. It's like calling all tissues Kleenex. The old names meant something about the tool's actual purpose.
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