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Engineering Sayings

  • Thread starter Thread starter mike-g
  • Start date Start date
If some component wasn't quite right, it needed "Fettleing up".
Small adjustments were measured as "A Gnat's" (mentioned earlier), "A Smidgeon" or the immeasurable "A Bit".
When attaching a part that was supposed to fit, but didn't, I was advised to "Gie it some 'Ommer!" (Persuade it with a big hammer). If it then broke, "Not that hard!" was shouted in my ear.
My time at the Metro Cammell apprentice training school was traumatic, if not educational. I learnt about 50 new swear words every day, and used many of them whenever I hammered, chiselled or drilled through part of my anatomy.
 
Skilled man to his apprentice, "You will never become a (fitter, electrician, mechanic etc), as long as you`ve got an hole in your a--se. Len.
 
"Its sealed as tight as a ducks a-se"!!, any thing that might leak. A not very good worker "Yer a right hobnailer"!!. Shelf or Picture not level "Its on the skunt"!!. Len.
 
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Our place made precision forgings, and in the 80's on our first quote for an American firm, they asked for a 'ball park' cost. We thought for days about what a 'ball park' process was, but eventually swallowed 'national pride' and phoned them to ask exactly what process it was. Much laughing over there, when they said they just wanted a cost in the 'ball park' - a rough estimate !
Something to do with Baseball. Funny thing - we soon started using the term ourselves - if it's in the 'ball park' it will do !
 
We used to have a sign in our workshop which read

"DON'T WORRY ABOUT PRECISE
EXACTLY WILL DO "
 
We used to have one saying " If you cant mend it make it look nice "
 
i work on the railway, when lining up bolt holes etc for engine mounts etc you sometime have to poke something in the holes to make them line up, or make sure they line up before placing the bolt through, its sometimes tempting to place a finger in the hole, sure you've all seen engineers with bits of fingers missing, when an apprentice a guy told me the first rule of engineering was "never put your finger where you wouldn't put your ........." it was a male world in then, so leave that one to your imagination!
 
dwilly said:
never put your finger
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I remember a man in our tool room, who was using a lathe to drill and tap a 5/8" threaded hole. As the lathe was stopping, he put his finger in the hole to feel how smooth the thread was!! I shudder now when I think of what happened to his finger.
 
lencops said:
"Its sealed as tight as a ducks a-se"!!, any thing that might leak. A not very good worker "Yer a right hobnailer"!!. Shelf or Picture not level "Its on the skunt"!!. Len.
Click to expand...

Surely "Tight as a duck's a*se" is for something that doesn't leak: the theory being that if ducks' a*ses leaked, they would sink!

"On the skunt" and "Skew-wiff" certainly are things not straight or level.

People or things considered not very good attract a range of sayings involving "About as much use as a..." with many varying unlikely combinations, e.g.:
Handbrake on a canoe:
Ashtray on a motorbike:
Chocolate fireguard:
Pork Chop at a Bar Mitzvah:
and others far too coarse to print here. I'm sure you all get the point!
 
Or being sent to the stores for a bubble for a spirit level.
Then there was that most useful and versatile of tools-the Brummagem Spanner (a big hammer!).
And this could lead to being told "When oi nod me 'ead...'it it"
 
When I worked in the foundry industry, a Black Country expression for giving something a hard thump with a hammer was "Gie it a cog ayver!" - Give it a cog heaver. Never to this day have I found out what a cog-heaver is or was. Anyone got any ideas?

Big Gee
 
Many, many years ago, a teaching colleague from Cambridge came out with an expression which he insisted categorically originated in the industrial Midlands. It is very possible that he was right. My complexity is that although I lived in Brum for more than 10 years and having gone to a technical school of which the teaching staff was often drawn from industry, I had never heard it. When referring to a pupil who was confused, slow on the uptake or plain, simply daft, he would say, “Ah, Giovanni (for example), he doesn’t know whether his a**e is bored or punched!”
Is this an established Birmingham expression? Was my friend right?
 
DB....like it....however I am not going to use it on my 2 boys at 7 and 10 it would be un-productive. ...now ...the lads at work...mmmm different kettle of fish....

i love Italy....been the lakes a few times......where do u live
 
I was once told 'Measure it twice before you cut it, you are the taking off machine, we don't have a putting on machine'
 
Hello there changinman1,
Yes, it is rather "colourful", isn't it?
I live about 35 miles south-east of Naples on the Tyrrhenian Coast. In effect, it's the bay immediately after the Bay of Naples; Amalfi is a 40-minute drive away and it takes about 2 hours to get to Positano.
I've been here for 38 years and dearly miss many of Birmingham's attributes.
Best wishes, David
 
DB.....yes its steeped in history and I love my city but.....just revel in the beauty of where you are....grass greener ..other side....u get my my drift.
 
Knowing i was in engineering,my barber would cut my hair and always say"I've left a couple of thou on for grinding"
You probably need to be an engineer to understand that.
Moss.
 
''Yo might find werk et Brummagum'' or ''Yo doe werk et Brummagum'' Was a common cry from a Black Country 'gaffer' in response to poor, or inaccurate workmanship.....or as was the similar: ''Brummagum Gimcrack'' or ''Brummagum gew-gaw'' - meaning, bright, shiny, pretty things, that had no real use or purpose.

Another was, for any item that had a small defect, but was otherwise serviceable ''send that un to Brummagum......and/or ''they'll never notice!''

My father used the eponymous 'as much use as a ' - as in: ''as much use as a Brummagum bucket!'' I asked once what the expression meant: ''first, he said ''they don't make buckets in Birmingham; and secondly, if they did, they'd have two holes - a big un and a little un!''

Or, as in a matter of rare praise: ''It might belong o' Bilston'' meaning something that was on the way to being workmanlike.

Regarding 'Wolverhampton' with grudging respect/or understatement: ''They con mek a thing or two theer''

I offer these merely as 'historical insights' only......(sniggers wildly and runs off)
 
I still use the phrase i,ll get me brummagum screwdriver out can you imagine giving a slide rule to the kids today and explaining to them how to use it they would think you were barmy.Dek
 
What a great thread and so funny. When I worked at Wyndley swimming baths the new lifeguards were oftern asked to water the hanging baskets which they willingly did. They were artificial. Also they had to be taught how to do a chemical pool test and were then asked to do one in the foot bath. [A pool test that is]. Jean.
 
Hi Baron,

Whilst an apprentice in the GEC Drawing Office I was told the draughtsmen were running out of leads that they used on their compasses and I was told to go down to the store and get some lead mix and the appropiate jig so that I could make some replacement leads. Obviously on my way down to the store a phone call was made to warn them the was another twerp on the way. Arriving at the store the storekeeper rolled out his ladder to get to the high shelves and got me a small box of lead powder (french chalk) and a small vial of lead binding agent (indian ink). The final item was a beautiful lead mold, a small cube with a small dia countersunk hole in the top. The mold had a jig number and looked extremely authentic. There was also an accompanying recipe that gave the mix ratios of the lead powder and binding agent and instruction how to paste it into the small countersunk hole and, most importantly, the length of time that was required for the compass lead to form. Eagerly to provide such a service to my draughtsmen mentors I proudly strode down the length of the office not noticing the smirks on the faces of all the other draughtsmen. Of course I followed the instructions to the letter and put the jig and lead mix aside for the desired setting time. Needless to say that as the time approached I was sent back to the store to get a drawing out that was due for modification. During the time I waited for the drawing (obviously controlled by the store clerk) one of my 'colleagues' cleaned out the mold replacing the mix with a new pencil lead. I was quite impressed when I was told to check to see if the lead was ready and found beautifully formed lead nestling in the mold and even more proud when one of the draughtsman said 'Ta' and proceeded to use it in his compass. ....... Bunch of Creeps !
 
What a brilliant story Dave...the only thing to remember is at some point all those laughing at you would have gone through it themselves!
 
Whenever my mate finished a job on the car, he would say (in his Black Country accent) `Looks like it`s grewd there`! Happy days.
 
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