Job-Shaped Object, Piano-Shaped Object, Bandwiches

[Bob Haas]

A great term, though I've not heard it.  I guess, by extension, I'm familiar
with a fair share of STUDENT-SHAPED OBJECTS (although I like to think I can
turn these away from the Dark Side before they take leave of my care).

BTW, I would think EMPLOYEE-SHAPED OBJECTS to be more to the point, although
I suppose it doesn't roll so trippingly off the tongue.

bob

> From: Gareth Branwyn <garethb2 at EARTHLINK.NET>
> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 14:17:35 -0400
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Job-Shaped Object, Piano-Shaped Object, Bandwiches
>
> The writer Marjorie Ingall used the term JOB-SHAPED OBJECT (also J.S.O.) on
> The Well the other day. A J.S.O. is an employee, often a high-ranking one,
> who seems to do little more than make an appearance at work. She claims
> she's seen it in usage and that it's a play on PIANO-SHAPED OBJECT,  a
> musician's term for a house piano that's so awful, it's a piano in name
> only. My wife is a jazz musician who brings home a lot of great slang, and
> she says she's never heard this term. Has anyone on the list heard either of
> these?
>
> Speaking of the wife bringing home great terms: BANDWICHES
> [Used in her wedding band] These are the often inedible sandwiches tossed to
> the band instead of the full meals served at the weddings and other events
> at which the band performs.