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jont

Anyone know where these words come from?

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On Saturday I am recording an interview for Word of Mouth on Radio 4 (that's the BBC, for those of you who aren't Brits.) It's a magazine programme that looks at language and all the ways it is used. I am going to talk to them about some of the words and phrases skydivers use. You know, Whuffo, Mal, Dope Rope, Videot, that kind of thing. There's a few I just don't know the derivation of - can anybody help me?

For example, formation flyers often refer to being "hosed". Anyone know where that comes from? I assume the freefly formation Spock is named for Mr Spock's method of reading minds, but what about a Wagga? What the hell is that? And how about the Daffy position in head down - is that named after a duck or what?

I have a list of interesting and unusual phrases I have collected - but if you have any particular favourites, post them here and I'll try and get them included.

blues skies

Jon T

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I got these clipits off of www.dictionary.com.

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A somewhat humorous variant of "down", used
primarily by Unix hackers. "Hosed" implies a condition thought to be relatively easy to reverse. It is also widely used of people in the mainstream sense of "in an extremely unfortunate situation". The term was popularised by fighter pilots refering to being hosed by machine gun fire (date?). Usage in hackerdom dates back to CMU in the 1970s or
earlier.



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adj. Same as down. Used primarily by Unix hackers. Humorous: also implies a condition thought to be relatively easy to reverse. Probably derived from the Canadian slang `hoser' popularized by the Bob and Doug Mackenzie skits on SCTV, but this usage predated SCTV by years in hackerdom (it was certainly already live at CMU in the 1970s). See hose. It is also widely used of people in the mainstream sense of `in an extremely unfortunate situation'.



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Once upon a time, a Cray that had been experiencing periodic difficulties crashed, and it was announced to have been hosed. It was discovered that the crash was due to the disconnection of some coolant hoses. The problem was corrected, and users were then assured that everything was OK because the system had been rehosed. See also dehose.


Matt Christenson

[email protected]
http://www.RealDropzone.com - A new breed of dropzone manifest software.

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And how about the Daffy position in head down




Try skiing. A daffy is a ski move and (shock) it resembles what FF's do sometimes on their heads;)
"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

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On Saturday I am recording an interview for Word of Mouth on Radio 4 (that's the BBC, for those of you who aren't Brits.) It's a magazine programme that looks at language and all the ways it is used. I am going to talk to them about some of the words and phrases skydivers use. You know, Whuffo, Mal, Dope Rope, Videot, that kind of thing. There's a few I just don't know the derivation of - can anybody help me?

For example, formation flyers often refer to being "hosed". Anyone know where that comes from? I assume the freefly formation Spock is named for Mr Spock's method of reading minds, but what about a Wagga? What the hell is that? And how about the Daffy position in head down - is that named after a duck or what?

I have a list of interesting and unusual phrases I have collected - but if you have any particular favourites, post them here and I'll try and get them included.

blues skies

Jon T




daffy is the position your legs are in when you are head down.

-Bowen
Retired Tunnel Instructor, Sky/Tunnel Coach

Former dealer for 2k Composites, Skysystems, Alti-2, Wings

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Wagga is aboriginal for crow. I'm resonably sure that point is named after a town in Oz names Wagga Wagga, or place of many crows.

T'werent me that did it, but I recall an Aussie being on the committee at the time.

C.

Brother Wayward's rule of the day...
"Never ever ever go skydiving without going parachuting immediately afterwards."
100% PURE ADRENALENS

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For example, formation flyers often refer to being "hosed".



The dictionary.com snips posted already are from old versions of the Jargon File.
news:alt.usage.english can also be a useful place to look for etymologies: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.usage.english/browse_thread/thread/4a6207c5238ee2e3/
This thread cites a reference to the mid-1970s in Canada: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.usage.english/browse_thread/thread/67ac0d6c01c30207/
The web site for alt.usage.english might also give you some pointers.

Before I ever went to a DZ, I was aware of "swoop" meaning approximately "to fly a canopy horizontally
fairly close to the ground". But at the DZ, it was also used to mean "stolen." For instance, after the beer
light, Andy leaves the BS session to go to the restroom. Chris comes out of the other room and sits in
the chair Andy was sitting in. Andy comes back and says "Hey, you swooped my chair!" Maybe everybody
else knows this, but it was the first time I'd heard it.

Eule
PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

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From Fiona McEachern, the Australian IPC delegate:

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The IPC FS committee designed this block during the meeting held in
Canberra 2000. Traditionally new blocks are named after something in the
country where the meeting is held. Hence Taj Mahal and Norwegian box
etc. We chose Wagga Wagga as the start of the block is the same as the
end so we wanted a double barrelled name.




Wagga Wagga is a town in New South Wales, Australia. The origin of the name, from the Tourism Wagga Wagga website:

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Wagga is the local Wiradjuri aboriginal word for crow and to create the plural, the Wiradjuri repeat the word. Thus Wagga Wagga translates as 'the place of many crows'.

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