Pre-Archaic Industrial Jargon

Dan Goncharoff thegonch at GMAIL.COM
Fri Mar 9 19:46:24 UTC 2012


I don't think 'whip' qualifies. The word was always used metaphorically in
its political sense.
DanG


On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 10:12 AM, James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com> <
JJJRLandau at netscape.com> wrote:

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> Poster:       "James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>"
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> Subject:      Re: Pre-Archaic Industrial Jargon
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> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The assistant engineer of a Diesel or eloectric locomotive is still known
> as the "fireman",  Also a railroad employee who moves locomotives around
> when making up trains is a "hostler".
>
> Purely a slang term, but a bulldozer operator is a "cat-skinner", derived
> from the olderterm "mule-skinnter" for a mule-driver.
>
> In the US Congress there is a position known as a "whip".
>
> I read somewhere that a "footman" was originally a servant who ran ahead,
> on foot, to arrange things for the arrival of the lord's carriage.
>
> In th US Army close-order marching drill is still known as "dismouned
> drill."  And doesn't the US Army still have a couple of "cavalry" divisions?
>
>   - Jim Landau
>
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