Life's nagging little questions

[sundog]

Why does the abbrevaition for barrel, bbl, have two b's?

[Swagerman]

First b is for bubba. :mrgreen:

Jim

[carpetman]

Sundog why does abbreviation for barrel have two b's? That is simple--I'll tell you the answer if you tell me why the abbreviation for pound is lb.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Sundog, one of the misuses of English that has set my teeth on edge for years is this:
If an alcoholic is addicted to alcohol, then a workaholic must be addicted to workahol, and a chocaholic must be addicted to chocahol. Ours is a most irrational language and English abbreviations and slang are even worse!

[NVcurmudgeon]

Sundog why does abbreviation for barrel have two b's? That is simple--I'll tell you the answer if you tell me why the abbreviation for pound is lb.

Ray the abbreviation lb. for pound is an abbreviation for libra, which is Latin for pound.

[Jim]

And THAT, my friends, is why I post here and nowhere else!

[waksupi]

Who put the bop, in the bop-de-bop-da-bop?
We already know Ray put the ram, in the ram- a -lama ding dong.

[Bigscot]

You guys are too much. Ramalama dingdong. I don't care who you are, that's funny.

Bigscot

[Finn45]

Bbl comes from certain measure of oil; blue barrel... somebody probably just started to use it for gun barrel without better knowledge? Or maybe stainless barrel should be sbl.

[sundog]

Curmudg, irrational? Blame the Queen. Somehow we [upstart, break away, revolutionary] heathens manage to communicate, despite our best and worst efforts.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Curmudg, irrational? Blame the Queen. Somehow we [upstart, break away, revolutionary] heathens manage to communicate, despite our best and worst efforts.

Churchill said it best about Americans and British being divided by a common language.

[versifier]

Each enclave of English speakers around the world is divided by our common language: Brits, Canadians, Irish, Scots, Welsh, Aussies, NZeds, Hawaiians, Yankees, Southerners, New Yorkers, etc. Even if we couldn't understand half of what each other was saying if we all sat in the same room, the keyboard seems to smooth out most of the wrinkles. Some abbreviations never have seemed to make much sense because they, like so many of our now-common words get imported into our language without much thought for anything except someone else's convenience. (Russian is similar to English that way, but when they import words, they change the spelling to read phonetically - it makes much more sense.) Our language is a nightmare to learn for this reason: witness how few native speakers manage to learn it, never mind to write in it intelligibly. Hell, most on the net today can't even figure out how to use a spell-check or even to write in actual sentences. The non-native speakers on this board that I have seen have a much better command of the language than most of my neighbors. But, the greatest difficulty of English is also its greatest asset: you can get across just about any idea, concept, or shade of meaning. Translating English into other languages is often an even bigger nightmare as many are very limited in what they can express. "There is no word for that idea in...(choose your foreign language)". Bbl's I can live with, Rx's, gr's, gm's, and even though I carry a few too many lbs, I can live with them, too. :-D

[felix]

Isn't French the language of choice for the "courts" because a lawyer can have more fun in that language more than any other? That language most easily makes truths out of lies, and vice versa? Latin was the choice of the Church because it is stable and cannot be easily misused? I really don't know how truthful any of this is, because to me even the many hard core computer languages I know suck big time for expressional intent. Let's bring on mental telepathy. ... felix

[ARKANSAS PACKRAT]

On one of my trips to Maine, I came across some log truck drivers at a stop, I thought it would have been interesting to set them down with some of the log truck drivers I know from Louisiana, they'd never know what the other was saying!

[hydraulic]

If a Winchester is a Winny, and a Remington is a Remy, is a Ruger a Rugy? Why is a rolling block a rocker and not a rockie? Is a Mauser a Mausy?

[wills]

Sundog why does abbreviation for barrel have two b's? That is simple--I'll tell you the answer if you tell me why the abbreviation for pound is lb.

The origin is in the Latin word libra, which could mean both balance scales (hence the symbol for the astrological sign Libra, which was named after a constellation that was thought to resemble scales) and also a pound weight, for which the full expression was libra pondo, the second word being the origin of our pound

[trickyasafox]

which philosopher said i cannot comprehend that which i cannot express? it was a language reference

i think it was weingetstein (sp) . . . .

[Gussy]

Why does Colonel Sanders use beef gravy with chicken??
Gus

[scrapcan]

Ok Waksupi here is a new avatar for our sheep crazy guy mentioned so many times here in ye little ole castboolit kingdom.

Sorry for the hijack. just thought it needed a little followup.

And as for our language, most of the above is well set out rules and abbreviations. You want to really get interesting get into the slang used in all those english speaking hollows/hollers/ravines/canyons/arroyo/draws/rills/etc..

Aussie, Kiwi, and brit slang seems to be the hardest and most entertaining to me, probably because we don't hear there slang sayings too much in the states. Too bad as it is more interesting to me than spanglish I hear on a regular basis.

[scrapcan]

Finn45 is correct in the history of BBL related to Oil. But it could also have been sent down another path if used as it once was in history - BBl Would have meant Beer Barrel. But here is a little info on BBL related to oil.


"What are the origins of this mysterious "b"? The answer, courtesy of the Energy Information Administration:

In the early 1860's, when oil production began, there was no standard container for oil, so oil and petroleum products were stored and transported in barrels of all different shapes and sizes (beer barrels, fish barrels, molasses barrels, turpentine barrels, etc.). By the early 1870's, the 42-gallon barrel had been adopted as the standard for oil trade. This was 2 gallons per barrel more than the 40-gallon standard used by many other industries at the time. The extra 2 gallons was to allow for evaporation and leaking during tranport (most barrels were made of wood). Standard Oil began manufacturing 42 gallon barrels that were blue to be used for transporting petroleum. The use of a blue barrel, abbreviated "bbl," guaranteed a buyer that this was a 42-gallon barrel."

[Scrounger]

Ok Waksupi here is a new avatar for our sheep crazy guy mentioned so many times here in ye little ole castboolit kingdom.

Sorry for the hijack. just thought it needed a little followup.

And as for our language, most of the above is well set out rules and abbreviations. You want to really get interesting get into the slang used in all those english speaking hollows/hollers/ravines/canyons/arroyo/draws/rills/etc..

Aussie, Kiwi, and brit slang seems to be the hardest and most entertaining to me, probably because we don't hear there slang sayings too much in the states. Too bad as it is more interesting to me than spanglish I hear on a regular basis.

Where did you get that picture of the CarpetMan?

[scrapcan]

scrounger

I found that a while back while looking for something definitely not related to the picture. I thought I better get that stored away so the next time someone razzes Carpetman, I would bring it out.

[Bigjohn]

This is possibly an example of what could happen when two different english speaking cultures come in contact;

Quote:- Wiremu, a New Zealander, was in Australia to watch the upcoming Rugby World Cup and was not feeling well, so he decided to see a doctor.

"Hey doc, I dun't feel so good, ey" said Wiremu.

The doctor gave him a thorough examination and informed Wiremu that he had long existing and advanced prostate problems and that the only cure was testicular removal.

"No way doc" replied Wiremu "I'm gitting a sicond opinion ey!" The second Aussie doctor gave Wiremu the same diagnosis and also advised him that testicular removal was the only cure. Not surprisingly, Wiremu refused the treatment.

Wiremu was devastated, but with the Rugby World Cup just around the corner he found an expat Kiwi doctor and decided to get one last opinion from someone he could trust.

The Kiwi doctor examined him and said: "Wiremu Cuzzy Bro, you huv Prostate suckness ey"
"What's the cure thin doc ?" asked Wiremu hoping for a different answer.

"Wull, Wiremu", said the Kiwi doctor "Wi're gonna huv to cut off your balls."
"Phew, thunk god for thut!" said Wiremu, "those Aussie b@stards wanted to take my test tickets off me!"

John.