Ah, the irritations of life
Sep. 5th, 2006 11:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayI have been banned from using the words "lorry" or "truck" in my big
report this week. I am now struggling for other appropriate ways to
describe a large, wheeled vehicle used to transport large quantities
of goods. They want a single word and no abbreviations, which throws
HGV out.
Apparently "lorry" and "truck" are too childish. My, this is going to
be a fun report :-)
I have decided that there are a few things that could make my commute easier:
1. Restrict all vehicles that cannot go faster than 55mph to the slow
lane of the motorway. Any vehicles that move out of this lane and are
unable to reach 60mph to be fined £5,000 for every minute they remain
in the wrong lane.
2. Insist that all drivers learn the use of indicators when changing
lanes on the motorway.
3. No. 2 applies in particular to the white van that discovered it
needed to exit the motorway at the junction we were driving past, but
was in the fast lane and had to scoot across two lanes of traffic and
the grassy bank to get to the exit.
4. And also to the white van that moved into the lane I was in the
process of moving into (I was indicating), causing me to almost throw
myself into the central reservation attempting to avoid said white
van.
5. All drivers must remember which junction they require on a motorway
and prepare for the concept of exiting the motorway in a timely
manner.
6. All buses will be able to squeeze out of the way of other cars,
allowing easier overtaking, in the manner of the Knight Bus.
I think that I'm either amused or irritable. But can't decide. Huh.
report this week. I am now struggling for other appropriate ways to
describe a large, wheeled vehicle used to transport large quantities
of goods. They want a single word and no abbreviations, which throws
HGV out.
Apparently "lorry" and "truck" are too childish. My, this is going to
be a fun report :-)
I have decided that there are a few things that could make my commute easier:
1. Restrict all vehicles that cannot go faster than 55mph to the slow
lane of the motorway. Any vehicles that move out of this lane and are
unable to reach 60mph to be fined £5,000 for every minute they remain
in the wrong lane.
2. Insist that all drivers learn the use of indicators when changing
lanes on the motorway.
3. No. 2 applies in particular to the white van that discovered it
needed to exit the motorway at the junction we were driving past, but
was in the fast lane and had to scoot across two lanes of traffic and
the grassy bank to get to the exit.
4. And also to the white van that moved into the lane I was in the
process of moving into (I was indicating), causing me to almost throw
myself into the central reservation attempting to avoid said white
van.
5. All drivers must remember which junction they require on a motorway
and prepare for the concept of exiting the motorway in a timely
manner.
6. All buses will be able to squeeze out of the way of other cars,
allowing easier overtaking, in the manner of the Knight Bus.
I think that I'm either amused or irritable. But can't decide. Huh.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 10:24 am (UTC)In Australia, the big trucks, the beg semi-trailers, we call them road-trains. So, you could call it umm, a small road-train.
How about that? :)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 01:24 pm (UTC)I like that :-) Unless train is too childish...
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 10:31 am (UTC)I thought that WAS a law?!
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 01:25 pm (UTC)Grrrr.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 11:55 am (UTC)"Tarmac-supported shipment solution"
"Big Box on Wheels (that carries our stuff)"
"It's a lorry, that's just what they're bloody called, OK"?
Word suggests "Wagon" but that might imply horses in front... And a bunch of cowboys, which might describe your management too well...
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 01:28 pm (UTC)It's an abbreviation :-( Which is bad.
"Tarmac-supported shipment solution"
Now that one I really like :-)
"It's a lorry, that's just what they're bloody called, OK"?
But that's my favourite :-)
And a bunch of cowboys, which might describe your management too well...
On days like this, I believe that comparison may be denegrating to cowboys :-(
We have decided that, after two years of using "Ava" as a shorthand for availabilty in reports where only a short-hand will fit, it now feels "too much like a Hollywood startlet" and we must use "Avail." instead. Buh?
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 11:58 am (UTC)TONKA.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 01:31 pm (UTC)Best. One. Yet.
They're concerned about childish? I'll give 'em childish!
*g*
And you just copied out the thesauras there, right? It's neatly alphabetised and everything.
I had to insist in adding an extra "r" to a word. The sentence worked much better when it said "starring" rather than "staring". We then had a five minute debate about whether starring is a real word.
My brain. It hurts.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 01:59 pm (UTC)Starring? don't these guys watch TV?
We just found a new button on the s/w = 'alphabetic'. And word geek muggins went and found out that the word's been in use since 1570. I'm guessing they've only got ten characters which is why they didn't use 'alphabetical'... sorry, rambling.
Shame your goods arent' shipped by train, then you could stick 'choo-choo' in there. Ah well, I guess there's always 'broom-broom'. On the other hand, isn't there a lorry in Thomas the Tank Engine?
xxx
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 06:37 pm (UTC)You can never hide aphabetising from a former librarian :-)
Starring? don't these guys watch TV?
Plenty. But they can't spell. They thought that starring was a made-up word. Huh.
I'm guessing they've only got ten characters which is why they didn't use 'alphabetical'... sorry, rambling.
But it's a cool ramble. I didn't know that alphabetic had existed since 1570 and I suspect that you're right about why they used it instead of alphabetical.
then you could stick 'choo-choo' in there
Now that would have been so much fun to chuck in the report :-)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 03:36 pm (UTC)Trailer--if it's just the container part and not including the truck
Flatbed--if it's not a closed container
Van--if it IS a closed container
Seavan--if it's being used for overseas shipments
Conveyance--describes pretty much any type of transportation device
Cargo container, freight container, or transport container--sorry they're two words but they sound "important"
And now I'll just be hopping into my eighteen-wheeler and I'll catch ya on the flip-flop. Whoo-hooo! (g)
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Date: 2006-09-05 06:34 pm (UTC)Sadly, it conveys the impression of a vehicle considerably smaller than we use for deliveries to our store :-( We've gone with the vaguely worded "transport" instead. Which means nothing and actually makes no grammatical sense in the sentence, but the bosses are happy so I'll put up with it :-)
but since I work in the industry
What do you do?
And now I'll just be hopping into my eighteen-wheeler and I'll catch ya on the flip-flop
I've got some very odd mental images now :-)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-05 11:35 pm (UTC)I work for the US Department of Defense in logistics--packaging, marking, and transportation of military equipment.
" 'And now I'll just be hopping into my eighteen-wheeler and I'll catch ya on the flip-flop'
I've got some very odd mental images now :-)"
I figured I should throw in some American trucker slang. I used to listen to it while working along one of our major freeways in my hometown in Bum-F**k Nowhere. They really did talk that way--perhaps they still do for all I know. ;-D
no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 09:21 am (UTC)Now that actually sounds really cool :-)
They really did talk that way--perhaps they still do for all I know. ;-D
I'll have to ask my cousin - he's a long-distance trucker in Canada and his route takes him down to Texas. So he'd probably know all the cool trucker slang :-)