Scantlings

Olaf gets full credit for kicking off this winter activity for sailors with his award winning name? WHIPPERSNIPPER

I was so impressed I felt it deserved its own thread. What other wonderful bits of linguistic manipulation have the assembled multitude created or discovered?

My contribution is my father's "Tootsie Toasters" for electric ski boot heaters.

Those yippy little canines? Snack dogs.

Steele wrote:Those yippy little canines? Snack dogs.

Actually, we in the Boston 'burbs have lost 4 dogs that I know of to coyotes in the last couple of weeks. Some were taken within sight of the owners out in the yard with them for them to pee. Must be horrifying.

It's a dog eat dog world out there.

Down here I have heard fenders referred to as elephant tampons...

Just for reference whipper sniper is a real thing down here

https://www.bunnings.com.au/our-range/g ... mer/petrol

Steele wrote:Those yippy little canines? Snack dogs.

Yes, when we see a little yappy dog that our German Sheppard is irritated by, we refer to it as “lunch size” or “suicide dog”. Our next door neighbor lost their Bischon Frizie (sp?) to a coyote last year in their back yard.

Olaf Hart wrote:Down here I have heard fenders referred to as elephant tampons...

Just for reference whipper sniper is a real thing down here

https://www.bunnings.com.au/our-range/g ... mer/petrol

Weed whacker around here.

In Maine I've heard the lobstermen refer to kayaks as "speed bumps."

One of the Masters at work has a term:
WAFI's
Wind Assisted Fucken Idiots.

To be fair, its the power boaters that give them the most grief.
185 Meters of ship in narrow water ways doing up to 18 knots, No. We do not give way.

floating dutchman wrote:One of the Masters at work has a term:
WAFI's
Wind Assisted Fucken Idiots.

To be fair, its the power boaters that give them the most grief.
185 Meters of ship in narrow water ways doing up to 18 knots, No. We do not give way.

Wafis!

Sound good to me. Sign me up!!

From a nice email from my daughter-in-law this morning:

Amy has exams and grades for the first time this year (the kids go to a very progressive school...to the extent that the teachers call the exams "celebrations," which is totally not fooling anyone, including the kids), and so far has gotten 100% on every test (I mean "celebration").

SemiSalt wrote:From a nice email from my daughter-in-law this morning:

Amy has exams and grades for the first time this year (the kids go to a very progressive school...to the extent that the teachers call the exams "celebrations," which is totally not fooling anyone, including the kids), and so far has gotten 100% on every test (I mean "celebration").

Now that is positively Orwellian.

SemiSalt wrote:From a nice email from my daughter-in-law this morning:

Amy has exams and grades for the first time this year (the kids go to a very progressive school...to the extent that the teachers call the exams "celebrations," which is totally not fooling anyone, including the kids), and so far has gotten 100% on every test (I mean "celebration").

Waldorf school?

kdh wrote:

SemiSalt wrote:From a nice email from my daughter-in-law this morning:

Amy has exams and grades for the first time this year (the kids go to a very progressive school...to the extent that the teachers call the exams "celebrations," which is totally not fooling anyone, including the kids), and so far has gotten 100% on every test (I mean "celebration").

Waldorf school?

UCLA Lab school.

I thought a 'whippersnipper' was an MD who performed vasectomies on guys in their 20s.

SemiSalt wrote:

kdh wrote:

SemiSalt wrote:From a nice email from my daughter-in-law this morning:

Amy has exams and grades for the first time this year (the kids go to a very progressive school...to the extent that the teachers call the exams "celebrations," which is totally not fooling anyone, including the kids), and so far has gotten 100% on every test (I mean "celebration").

Waldorf school?

UCLA Lab school.

Hah! Years ago, my son went to a Waldorf pre-school in, wait for it...., Berkeley. My two (strongest) memories of the place were that (1) one of his classmates was named Jupiter Marley Ganymede of the Universe; and (2) that the teachers cut all the corners off the paper that students used in projects because, life had too many hard edges and you don't want to expose kids to more than necessary at too young an age...

Anomaly wrote:

SemiSalt wrote:

kdh wrote:

SemiSalt wrote:From a nice email from my daughter-in-law this morning:

Amy has exams and grades for the first time this year (the kids go to a very progressive school...to the extent that the teachers call the exams "celebrations," which is totally not fooling anyone, including the kids), and so far has gotten 100% on every test (I mean "celebration").

Waldorf school?

UCLA Lab school.

Hah! Years ago, my son went to a Waldorf pre-school in, wait for it...., Berkeley. My two (strongest) memories of the place were that (1) one of his classmates was named Jupiter Marley Ganymede of the Universe; and (2) that the teachers cut all the corners off the paper that students used in projects because, life had too many hard edges and you don't want to expose kids to more than necessary at too young an age...

Adele went to a Waldorf school.

Her school doesn't trim the corners off of paper but I think the understanding is there should be little exposure to regular shapes, like rectangular rooms, if possible.

There are some crazy ideas and some people take things to a ridiculous extreme but the age-appropriate learning, focus on time spent outside in nature, appreciation of the importance of social skills, learning through experience rather than through lecture, and the importance of knitting or other hand-eye skills to aid brain development are all modern ideas, so much of it was way ahead of its time.

It's served Adele well (Beau, help me out here!) although the kids in her new school are relatively immature, a bit of a problem for her.

Both of my grandchildren attend a Waldorf school, and I like it for them, The biggest thing I notice is the amount of time they spend outside in all weather, and the amount of time they spend self organizing. Last summer the older one was on an organized baseball team, and the coach had them come early one Saturday so they could have a pickup game, and none of the kids knew how to do it- they mostly stood around until my grandson took charge and they got something going. It was apparent that none of the other kids spent much if any time with a group of kids not in their family and with no adults around.

The schools are very different from each other.

Having spent some time with Keith’s Adele, I estimate that her maturity is about 4 to 5 years ahead of her chronological age. She’s perfectly at home having dinner with a couple her father’s age and held up her end of the conversation easily; even giving her Dad shit a few times which Stacey and I really enjoyed

I’d also say two other things. First, having raised two kids on an extended boat trip was a great experience for them and for us. Yes, it probably cost me my marriage to my first wife, but it was still worth it. The kids had many of the characteristics exhibited by Adele because they were primarily around adults most of the time and because everywhere they went they had to make new friends and get to know them. I have wonderful memories of sailing SAGA around in an anchorage with just the mainsail and my two kids hanging from the rigging trying to spot “Tiny Cloths”. The hail of “There! Daddy!! There!” When the spotted children’s cloths hanging from the lifelines, and off we’d go. We’d anchor nearby and my oldest would often just jump overboard and swim over, rapping on the hull and asking: “Permission to come aboard and meet your children.” Those were wonderful times.

Second, I think the root of much of what both Waldorf and sailing do to kids is that they both end up making the kids far more self reliant and self motivated. In both cases there is an expectation that one can learn a great deal from looking at the world, not just reading about it on-line or in a book. I have to admit I was raised by two people who felt exactly the same way, and I think it worked well. When one adds a solid dose of “you’re not better or worse than any other kid, don’t get all uppity”, then you’ve got a great kid. This has let me, and my kids, move between various social strata and easily learn from new experiences. As my grandfather said: “If you can’t learn something new from a conversation with someone, you’re a dolt.” The negative way of saying one can learn something from everyone. A lot of people in our culture simply don’t believe this or don’t have the self confidence to act on it.

You're kind, Beau. Would love to meet your kids some day.

Adele giving me shit: she's 15, that's her job! I'm not a know-it-all any more in her eyes. Can't say I don't miss those days sometimes though.

That is one of the all time great photos!! ^^^^^