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BS: Throwing a wobblie?
| Stanron | 15 Apr 13 - 12:36 PM | |
| Bert | 15 Apr 13 - 03:45 PM | |
| Stanron | 15 Apr 13 - 06:20 PM | |
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BS: Throwing a wobblie?
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Subject: BS: Throwing a wobblie? From: Stanron Date: 15 Apr 13 - 12:36 PM Back in the 70s I got employed as a scaffolder. Erecting and dismantling scaffolds in and around buildings. In an ideal world joints in vertical tubes were at 'floor' level and placing a new vertical tube on its jointing fitting was not too difficult. The trick was to keep the tube moving upwards until the bottom of it was just above the fitting and then you let it slip down into place. The longest tube was 21 foot, quite often covered or part filled with mortar or concrete. Empty it should have weighed, I think, 68 lb. After use they usually weighed more. With the low end at foot level, one hand as low as possible and another hand as high as possible, the pivot point was about one third of the way up. As long as the tube was almost vertical, and moving in a straight vertical line, you could hold it no problem. The process was called topping out. Even I could top out when the tube ends, or 'emps' were at foot level. Of course the team that erected one level was not always the team that erected the next level. Also the tube sent out to the job was not selected for easy building and generally, if the job was going up higher the longest tube would be used so that the least joints were needed and as a result not all joints were at floor level. I have seen an experienced scaffolder top out a twenty one foot tube with the joint level with his face. One hand at the bottom of the tube, the other hand not much more than a foot above that and almost twenty foot of tube above both. Sometimes considerable distances above ground. Those guys were not only strong but very skilled. An inexperienced scaffolder might hesitate while handling these tubes or might allow the tube to move too far from the vertical. There would ensue a period of attempting to get the tube back under control followed by an attempt to throw it to a 'safe' position. This was called 'throwing a wobbler'. I guess that it is just a case of the Folk Process at work that this has come into common parlance as throwing a wobblie. Maybe the 'ie' sounds more playful. Maybe there are other origins of the phrase. Any offers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Throwing a wobblie? From: Bert Date: 15 Apr 13 - 03:45 PM In Bahrain in the early '70s it was 'throwing a wobbler'. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Throwing a wobblie? From: Stanron Date: 15 Apr 13 - 06:20 PM Cheers mate. So it's not just me. |
