ECN Forum Forums Code Related Discussion NEC & other Code issues Trivia Slang

I think Glenn and I, are dating ourselves. It is enough to know the origin of some slang terms, but to be a part of this is too much
This should be easy;

What is a "dingbat"?
What is a "dingbatter"?

Edith on "All in the family" ???

Steve,

Love these types of replies!! I laughed for 10 minutes about the guy that made the solar powered tornado / cyclone repelling deal, and your reply about him as a kid! Keep up the good work!!

I thought the same thing about "Dingbats" until using a computer / word processor!!

Now, "Wingdings", "Dingbats" and the term "Nimrod" haven't got quite the same "Punch" as before, all I invision now are fonts

Would a "Dingbatter" be one that promotes "Dingbat" behavior in others, or somehow invokes it?? [joke]

Seriously now, would these terms have anything to do with Publications? - say for instance, Editors' notations - where the Dingbat was a symbol representing required edits or other actions, and the Dingbatter is either the one whom made the markups, or is the one required to follow the markups??

Or am I so far away here, that I'm falling through the black hole of the internet??

Maybe it's just as Steve said - Edith and Edit fall very close together in the way they sound - so it's easy to assume Edith to be a Dingbat - which is short for Dingbatter as far as Archie is conserned..........

Scott SET

These terms may have been restricted to only So. California.
After World War 2, and extending through the Korean War, there was massive home construction developments in the So. Cal. area. The demand for homes by the returning veterans, and the financing by the GI Bill, fueled the home building industry.
Tracts of 300 units were average size developments.
These homes were in the median range of 1200 square feet. Sale prices were about nine dollars per square foot.
The total cost to wire these was about $250. per unit.
These homes were called "dingbats" by the wireman, the wireman were known as "dingbatters". Now the wireman are called the more dignified term "Residential wireman".
There was fierce competition among the dingbatters. Union scale was about $1.75 to $3.30 per hour, during this era.
I once contracted for rough in, labor only, on a 300 unit project. I set a record by roughing in, including hanging a 60 amp service, of 90 units in 90 days. I received the huge price of $50.00 per unit.
Considering that I purchased a new Ford pickup for $1950.00, this was big money.

so it sounded like a good era to be contracting???
i think a "dingbat" would be a "romex jokey" today.

Bennie,

The way you moved around, I'd call you a BOOMER.

Except for some short jobs, I was always with-in driving distance of home ( maximum of 1.5 hours 1 way )

Glenn

Glenn: Boom or bust, would probably best describe my work history. I can claim to be one of the few, that has worked in both the coldest, and hottest, place in the world.
I connected control equipment for the fuse, fire, and destruct, on the H-Bomb tests at Eniwetok, and Bikini Atolls. I connected scientific instruments, at the South Pole, that heard the Mt.St Helens explosion. I worked an undersea research project that is still classified. I worked on a micro-wave data highway system in Libya. I wired life support equipment on brooders, at a pig farm in Roseburg, Oregon. This was after my career as a dingbatter. Is this being a "Boomer" or a neurotic?
I probably passed more lucrative opportunities, in my search for experience, adventure, or just being curious. I would not advise any wireman to do the things I did, but I have no regrets, other than the pig farm. The baby pigs thought I was their mother.

[This message has been edited by Bennie R. Palmer (edited 03-27-2001).]