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Up Topic American Welding Society Services / AWS Learning & Education / Welding slang
- - By Gleb Gouliaev Date 02-28-2009 15:31
Dear welders and Administrator,

I need your support in slang words and expressions used in welding field. I'm doing a typological research, comparing welding slang of Russian and American welders, and  american variants are exteremely required.
If somebody of you aware of any words, expressions or reference sites, where i'm able to get info i'm looking for, i'll appreciate your cooperation.

Thank you in advance. Looking forward for your invaluable words and expressions.
Parent - - By OBrien (***) Date 03-01-2009 02:26
The nomenclature/slang (don't know if its spelled right but its one of the only "big" words I got lol) varies in the us quite a bit.  Im working with a bunch of guys from the south and west and we are just getting to a point where we understand what each other is saying.

Electrode=wire, rod
Amperage=heat, temp,
Porosity=pinholes, holes, bunch of S***

Everything has a slang term post up some words and I'm sure you will get a few different terms for each depending on location.
Parent - - By Gleb Gouliaev Date 03-01-2009 10:24
Thank you very much for your reply. Your variants will be fruitful for my research.
I'm looking for welding slang that does not have much in common neither with official terminology, or welding nomenclature.
I need a vital speech variant that is used by you in your welding community in order to understand each other. I've worked as interpreter at Sakhalin-II project where got acquainted with CRC welders. So, they gave me such variants as:

warm - a new person on pipeline

      informal / slang      official term

LOF - lack of attention   lack of fusion
      reach rod           internal machine rod
      golden goose        internal welder
      stick rider         SMAW welder

I'll be grateful to you if you could add some variants to my welding vocabulary.
Parent - By dbigkahunna (****) Date 03-01-2009 19:21 Edited 03-05-2009 00:18
ROMF- welder whose services are no longer necessary
Wobble - Slow down of work due to inattention of the contractor to see welders are paid on Friday or are cheating welders out of .10 per hour. Also can be caused by contractor requiring welders to account for all welding rods issued to welders. From Industrial Workers of the World (wobblies tried to organize pipeline workers in the early 20th century)
Drag up - Preemptive removal of welder services before becoming ROMF.
Pay Day - Friday the world around. Payment of services to welders for work performed and living expenses.  Failure by contractor can result in wobble or drag up.
AB - Arc Burn - Striking of an arc anywhere outside of the welding bevel. May result in ROMF condition.
IP - Lack of penetration with the root pass. Over 1 inch on mainline welds and 2 inches on tie ins can is considered to be a defect. May result in ROMF condition.
GP  - Small to large holes in the weld metal. Small GP on the cap may be ignored by the welder or covered by strategically putting mud on the weld. This repair technique is also useful for AB but may result in ROMF condition.
Dime wide and Nickel high - Width and height of final pass on pipeline weld utilizing the SMAW process. Utilization of these precision inspection tools is based on the idea welders and inspectors are motivated by money. See Pay day.
Shield arc'er - Person employed for SMAW welding
BABRt's
Parent - - By Metarinka (****) Date 03-02-2009 07:04
"привет! как - Вы! моя dievoushka ukranian"
... so I'm trying to learn "русский"  but it's hard to learn a new alphabet and grammar as you can see. I commend you on your level of proficiency in english.

in regards to slang, in my experience it varies a lot from region within the US as well as the different industries and individual facilities

off the top of my head

cheater bead - extra pass run over the top of weld beads to improve appearance or hide defects
heli-arc   - old trade name for GTAW process which is also called "TIG"
pig tail   - electrode holder on the back of GTAW torch
bubble gum weld -  weld with very little penetration (proper term is superficial weld)

I'm sure there's plenty more but it is late, and now that I'm an engineer I find myself sticking to the technical terms unless I'm speaking to welders.  As you probably know, generally slag can be derived from context and it's constantly moving around.

cпacca!
Parent - By Metarinka (****) Date 03-03-2009 04:46
it appears my crylic symbols won't work on this forum oops
Parent - By Gleb Gouliaev Date 03-07-2009 14:18
Hi Metarinka,

What a nice exapmle of digit code you demostrated to me))) I see, you've got many female friends from Ukrain, definately. Please don't forget to congratulate' em with the 8th of march. It will be the best way to the female hearts))))

I appreciate all the examples you' ve presented.

Look froward for the freshest ones.
Parent - - By TimGary (****) Date 03-02-2009 13:06
Stinger = Electrode Holder
Pin Holes = Porosity
Cold Roll = Lack OF Fusion, LOF
Gorilla Weld = Large ugly weld with lots of LOF
Alligator cut = A torch cut done so poorly that the steel looks like it had been chewed through by an alligator
BB's = spatter
Burn Rods = Weld with a stick electrode
Parent - By fbrieden (***) Date 03-03-2009 05:37
Spatter: BB's...ballast
Parent - - By unclematt (***) Date 03-05-2009 09:16
Hello Gleb;
A few I have used and have heard used are;
Buckshot---  Spatter
Bugholes---   Porosity
Parent - By Gleb Gouliaev Date 03-07-2009 14:20
Thanks a lot, mate!!! If you will have some more recollections please be free to submit'em to this topic.
Parent - - By pataterchip (**) Date 04-21-2009 19:16 Edited 04-21-2009 19:31
Stick= SMAW electrode
Wash= moderate to large weave
HMFIC= head mother F***er in charge
All slang terms for police = applied to Inspectors... Cop, Copper, pig, hudda, rosco etc...
Dingle berry= splatter
Quiver=SMAW electrode bag
weed burner= Propane torch usually only used for pre/post heat.
potato face=welder with flash burned eyes
Green, Green horn, or Rookie = anybody new to the trade
Fizzel= welding or carbon arc sparks
sizzel=Sound that GMAW makes when it is set properly
bubble gum=weld with lack of fussion &/or porosity/weld with lumps and bumps.
Zoro= welder trying to un-stick the SMAW electrode
Chicken scratch= arc strikes outside weld area.
walking papers / Bounced / snake eyes= getting fired or laid off.
wowie= any weld or material with at least one bend that is not suposed to be there.

And my personal favorite...
Lumber rod= very special SMAW electrode used to weld wood or pallets together (always send the green horn to the HMFIC to get some lumber rod and watch what happens - always a good laugh)
Parent - - By Gleb Gouliaev Date 05-19-2009 15:31
Pataterchip,

Thanks a lot for your lexis. If you have any friends involved in this type of shere, please let them khow about my request, they might give me much support to the research i'm doing now.
Your example about how you test out rookies is really awesome :)

Parent - - By Gleb Gouliaev Date 06-29-2009 13:18
Can anybody get me some more vital examples of welding slang??? I need YOUR ASSIST
Parent - By Lawrence (*****) Date 06-29-2009 16:51
Gleb

I have an idea.

Please provide the forum with your extensive list of Russian slang welding terms and there meanings (translated of course) and we will see if there are any terms that are comparable in the languages and regional dialects that may find this forum.
Parent - By Travis Collins (**) Date 07-09-2009 01:40
Gleb,

Here's a few from our shop

worm holes = piping porosity
cathead = a large weld with excessive reinforcement
dingle berry = weld metal they hoped fell off  at the beginning of a weld
junk wire = metal cored wire electrode that pops lots of tips when their welder isn't adjusted properly
show dog = a weld so large even a show dog couldn't jump over it
what the crap? = term used when any of these are present on production pieces

How about a beam strecher? After they cut a beam short, send them to maintance, which sends him to the levy, only to realize he's been the source of entertainment for a half hour or so!
Parent - - By spots (**) Date 06-30-2009 11:45
bird $hit - weld with poor appearance
grunt - helper or laborer
wallmart weld - a weld with significant undercut
argon - term used for any shielding gas regardless of actual composition
turd bucket - lunch box
green - any trade worker with little experience
"You ain't got a hair on your ass if..." - usually precedes a dare that may result in becoming a ROMF
blue room - portable toilet
pipe fighter - pipe fitter
mill wrong - millwright
promotion pads - knee pads
bang board - temporary power outlets
fish eye - weld defect in a pipe root pass
whip - the "gun" on a portable MIG (GMAW-FCAW) box
dick skinners - hands "Get your dick skinners off of my tool box!"
Parent - By michael kniolek (***) Date 07-09-2009 01:59
slugging-adding material BARS or  RODS in a weld joint
Up Topic American Welding Society Services / AWS Learning & Education / Welding slang

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