Screwdrivers

[David Bowie]

From: A. Maberry <maberry at U.WASHINGTON.EDU>


: I've heard "standard", "straight" and "slotted" which is odd because
: the slot is in the screw, one of those transferred epithets, I guess.
: I've never heard "plus" and "minus" screwdrivers. Of course, where I
: worked there wasn't a simple screwdriver but always an "[expletive]
: screwdriver."

Regarding the "slotted" designation, it sounds like a sort of abbreviation
for what my father (born in Washington DC, did most of his growing up in
Southern Maryland) called it--he always called it a "straight-slot"
screwdriver.

(The other one was consistently a "Phillips[sp?]-head" screwdriver, FTR.)

David Bowie                                       Department of English
Assistant Professor                            Brigham Young University
db.list at pmpkn.net              http://humanities.byu.edu/faculty/bowied
   The opinions stated here are not necessarily those of my employer