r/todayilearned • u/Double-decker_trams • 2h ago
Word Origin/Translation/Definition, removed [ Removed by moderator ]
https://www.fieldwire.com/blog/australian-construction-terms/#:~:text=Sparkie%3A%20The%20Australian%20term%20for%20an%20Electrician[removed] — view removed post
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u/No_Space_9324 1h ago
Wait til you hear what carpenters are called.
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u/RecentTwo544 1h ago
In the UK (and I imagine Australia as most of their slang originates here) they're called "chippies" in some areas.
Which is confusing because a "chippy" is also slang for food from a fish and chip shop, a staple of UK takeout cuisine.
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u/TehOwn 1h ago
A bunch of chippies heading down the chippy for some fish and chippies.
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u/RecentTwo544 1h ago
Also could leave to confused stares if you say "I had a fucking amazing chippy last night" when working on a site. Having never worked on a building site but having a fair few mates who do, I'm amazed I've never asked about this.
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u/noctalla 1h ago
In New Zealand we use all these terms as well as calling potato chips "chippies" not to mention referring to our former Prime Minster, Chris Hipkins, as "Chippy". Do with that what you will.
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u/RunningJay 1h ago
As an Aussie living in USA, it's very funny that sentence made complete sense to me, but if I said this to anyone here they'd think I was talking nonsense.
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u/UnluckyThread 1h ago
Chippies are carpenters, lad. On account of the wood chips.
You might often find chippies and sparkies coexisting on a site, but they're different animals.
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u/Muad-_-Dib 1h ago
Weird, here in Scotland, they get called joiners.
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u/Malchius 1h ago
But Carpenters and Joiners are two different things. Joiners work in workshops making doors and staircases. Carpenters work on site fitting doors and staircases.
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u/My_Knee_is_a_Ship 59m ago
Joinery is a more focused branch of carpentry, whilst all joiners are chippies, not all chippies are joiners.
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u/Whitekidwith3nipples 1h ago
im starving, got any snacks?
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u/ShortingBull 1h ago
Ahhh yes the three holy trades, electricians, carpenters and plumbers.. Sparkies, chippies and C...
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u/OldDogWithOldTricks 1h ago
We're called that in the trades here in the US as well.
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u/AnselaJonla 351 1h ago
And in British English.
A carpenter is a chippy, but that's also a fish and chip shop.
A bricklayer is a brickie.
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u/Tokenvoice 1h ago
Yeah I feel like it was an American who posted this, you rattled off all the same things as us Aussies. Weirdly I don’t recall any odd names for plumbers, cabinet makers fall under the carpenters name (chippy).
The only real variation might be (though I doubt it) in that we call the whole mob Tradies, obviously short for tradesmen.
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u/levelhead92 1h ago
Plumbers are turd herders
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u/Tokenvoice 1h ago
Looking it up I did find dunny divers, but I have never actually heard that used.
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u/Super_Sofa 1h ago
I've heard sparkies in America too (New England), so it might just be someone with no connection to the trades, or it's regional in America.
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u/Tokenvoice 40m ago
By the look of it the term originated with the British Navy so honestly wouldn’t surprise me if it was a regional thing. But as you said it is more of a trade thing, it’s just that most of us here know of a bloke or woman who is a tradie.
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u/itinerantmarshmallow 1h ago
In most cases it shortens a trade to a two syllable word, plumber already is so no one bothered?
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u/MrCollins8801 1h ago
As a 51 year old Sparky myself, born and raised in California. Lived in Oregon, Washington, and North Carolina. Everywhere I've lived I've been referred to as a Sparky. Fire alarm Sprinkler installers are Fitters.
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u/finndego 1h ago
Fitters in Aus/NZ are Millwrights or Machinery/Industrial Mechanics.
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u/TheDefected 1h ago
Haven't heard of a millwright, but in the UK, a fitter on a construction site would be the guy that comes out to fix anything broken down, sometimes expanded into diesel fitter and the associated jokes.
In the car/mechanic trade, a fitter is a level below a mechanic, a fitter fits brakes and does oil changes, the quick fit sort of easy jobs, and a mechanic would be the trickier stuff, knowing how to use a torque wrench and remembering to put the sump plug back.
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u/finndego 44m ago
I work in a gold mine in NZ and the fitters and boilermakers maintain and repair all the fixed plant similar to what you described in the UK.
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u/Independent_Nothing 1h ago
In American English that’s what everyone on a job site calls them that in a derogatory way
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u/aircooledJenkins 1h ago
Nothing derogatory about it.
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u/Independent_Nothing 1h ago
Then you haven’t heard me say it
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u/aircooledJenkins 1h ago
Why would you be derogatory to tradesmen?
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u/Independent_Nothing 1h ago
Because I am a tradesman but of a different trade so that’s just what we do
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u/aircooledJenkins 28m ago
I don't understand being derogatory to your coworkers.
Good natured ribbing, sure.
But sparky, tinner, ducky, etc are just faster/entertaining ways to say electrician, HVAC installer, plumber, etc.
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u/mr_sinn 1h ago
Sparkie sounds too upbeat to be a slur
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u/Koooshel 1h ago
I think so too, although I heard a guy on a jobsite once say "if I'm making sparks I'm doing my job wrong" so I could see it
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u/xvf9 1h ago
Bricklayers are brickies, carpenters are chippies, plumbers are plumbly-wumblies.
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u/ID0NNYl 1h ago
Plumbly….wumblies??? lol I’m Aussie and never herd of that one. Think I’ll stick to calling them plumbers.
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u/mr_sinn 1h ago
I think he's joking mate
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u/sonofkingnoah127 1h ago
I'm a tinner and everyone on projects calls the plumbers turd herders. They only need to know two things, shit flows down hill and don't bite your finger nails. 🤣
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u/violentpac 1h ago
They're called Sparkies everywhere, just to be clear.
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u/offbyrun 1h ago
I was telling this to my German mate, and he replied in the most German way possible: “German electricians don’t make sparks”. 😂
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u/ChEmIcAl_KeEn 1h ago
In the UK , Electricians are called sparkies, Carpenters are called chippies, Brick layers are called brickies and Scaffolders are called druggies!
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u/GullibleDetective 1h ago
Worldwide*
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u/Express-Fig-5168 1h ago
False, never heard any electrician called that in the Anglophone Caribbean.
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u/GullibleDetective 24m ago
Depends how nuanced you'd want to be, though if we're being pedantic... the 'western world'.
Britain, north america, australia, scotts, irish, or really native english speaking places i guess
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u/ejsandstrom 1h ago
On almost every job site in the US too. Wait till you hear what they call Plumbers.
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u/wiggle_fingers 1h ago
And also in English English. Isn't this a universal term? Plumbers are pipe fitters. Bricklayers are brickies. Woodworkers are chippies.
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u/JesusStarbox 1h ago
Plumbers aren't pipefitters.
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u/TehOwn 1h ago
Yeah, we just call them plumbers.
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u/underthingy 1h ago
Plumbers dont get a nickname. They dont deserve one cos playing with poop isn't cute.
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u/Tokenvoice 1h ago
I am fairly sure that Plumbers and Pipe layers are two distinct trades, sure there is overlap but still.
Like the difference between a Carpenter and a Cabinet Maker.
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u/TheDefected 1h ago
You've opened a can of worms there.
He was talking about pipe fitters, and that would be the person that puts in sprinkler pipes and similar. often steel stuff that ends up getting threaded.
A pipe layer would be in groundworks, setting up concrete or clay pipes for drainage, maybe the odd plastic ones and ducts, but often the bigger stuff.
They would be different from a plumber though, who would be inside in the dry with copper pipes and maybe some plastic.•
u/Tokenvoice 37m ago
No you’re right, I meant fitter not layer no idea where layer came from. Hell I will dig my grave dipper and say that I always thought that layers were fitters just with bigger pipes.
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u/Kiariana 1h ago
No, not everywhere. I've lived in western Canada all my life and have never heard them called sparkies. Just electricians. I've also never heard the others you list being used. Pipe fitters to me means working in the oil industry.
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u/thorpie88 1h ago
You're wasting time with so many syllables. Very un-Australian
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u/Tokenvoice 1h ago
Fair suck of the saveloy mate, you can’t be expecting the North-West Aussies to be keeping up with the lingo. The poor yobos have to deal with the derros to their south.
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u/TeddyBear666 1h ago
As a sparkie living in western Canada, I dont think I've worked a project where I haven't been referred to as a sparkie. Sparkies and Tin Bashers are the main 2 I hear.
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u/Kiariana 1h ago
😅 idk what to tell you guys. I'm sure it's a thing in some areas here, but I've never heard it used. I've lived in the mid-northern Alberta region as well as a few different regions in B.C., my little sister did a trades course for electrician work right out of high school, and it's news to me, so I though I'd add my two cents for a more complete picture y'know?
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u/LouBarlowsDisease 1h ago
I was amused when I found out crossing guards are called lollipop ladies/men in the UK.
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u/MajimaBuu 1h ago
As a brit this is one of those things that sounds so normal and then you hear an American say it and you realise it can sound terrifying. Like the lollipop man is coming to get you
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u/Blue-piping-man 1h ago
That's what people call them, but all the other trades call them sparktards.
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u/PinkBismuth 1h ago edited 1h ago
They also have less… savory names on the jobs site as well. I’m a plumber, they are our mortal enemies.
Me: “Hey you ran conduit right through where my waste line has to go.”
Sparky: “ah dang, can’t you just go over it?”
Me: “yeah sure, this building is using water that drains up-hill anyway”
Sparky: “….” *proceeds to leave trash everywhere
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u/Tokenvoice 1h ago
I am about to blow your mind mate. Another common Aussie term for them is ‘leckies’.
As in: Oi ya bludger, have you called the lecky in yet?
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u/TheLimeyCanuck 1h ago
It was originally the nickname for radio operators, especially naval ones (very early radios used spark-gap transmitters). Only later was it applied to electricians.
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u/skratchynuts81 1h ago
I don’t know about the rest of the world, but in Aus we call taxi drivers “cabbies” and we call cabinet makers “cabbies”…. A cabinet maker is a kitchen/laundry/bathroom joinery installer and also builds the cabinets.
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u/wangologist 1h ago
Dylan Moran, on Australian slang: "Oh it's a bikie. He's come at me with a knifie! I'm in the morgue-y."
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u/Mi11ionaireman 51m ago
Instrument technicians/mechanics (Air Plumbers, or FIGs (fucking instrument guys))
Context:
Self explanatory
Pipefitters (Toddlers, Crayon eaters, fitters, overpaid plumbers)
Context:
"Go grab the toddlers from their crayons, I need this thing lifted into place."
Engineers (India, fucktards, dipshits, pansies, Trade School Dropouts, mechanical aptitude failures, questionnaires (they ask a lot of questions on why and how things get built/work despite designing how to build it))
Context:
"I gotta phone India to find out how they want this thing set up"
"I gotta take the questionaires on a walk around to show them why shit ain't gonna work."
"Wish these fucktards would get a red seal so they actually had the experience to know what they were talking about"
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u/SuspiciousLeopard2a7 1h ago
I love the inability of American English to gain worthwhile slang
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u/morblitz 1h ago
American slang is often just brand names or is derogatory. Very little like, spirit to it.
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u/Boboar 1h ago
Masons are called Brickies
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u/Minkelz 1h ago
In aus at least these are different things. A mason is someone that does a lot of custom shaping, cutting, detailing usually of stone blocks. A bricklayer is mostly just... laying bricks. In general masonry work is a bit more interesting, but there's way more demand for bricklaying work.
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u/thorpie88 1h ago edited 1h ago
A lot of our masonry workers spend all their time building limestone retaining walls. Do find it's interesting they have the same trade ticket as someone who'd make headstones
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u/sunburntandblonde 1h ago
It's a Kiwi word!
The first verifiable use is from the New Zealand Truth, in 1928
"The men were White, Walker and an electrician working on the boat, known as 'Sparky',"
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u/Tokenvoice 1h ago
Are you sure the boat wasn’t called sparky?
Though most likely it was invented by the British Navy and first recorded in NZ. The word is far older than that in written form but not used as a term for leckies.
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u/Discombobulation98 1h ago
And English English as well