Balls to the wall!!!

[RappyMan]

Thought this was interesting:

The phrase /balls to the wall/, meaning an all-out effort, comes from the world of aviation. On an airplane, the handles controlling the throttle and the fuel mixture are often topped with ball-shaped grips, referred to by pilots as (what else?) /balls/. Pushing the balls forward, close to the front wall of the cockpit increases the amount of fuel going to the engines and results in the highest possible speed.

Several Korean War-era veterans have written me noting their use of the term during their service. The phrase may very well date to this earlier war, although we have no written evidence for it.

There are two common misconceptions about the phrase. The first is that it is a reference to a part of the male anatomy.

The second is that it arose in railroad work. A speed governor on train engines would have round, metal weights at the end of arms. As the speed increased, the spinning balls would rise--being perpendicular to the walls at maximum speed. But there is no evidence to support either of these two stories. No use of the phrase is known to exist prior to the mid-1960s, and all the early cites are from military aviation.



OK - so how many of you thought it was something other than pushing the throttles all the way forward?

[N726AC]

My "Balls"




Me playing with my "balls"!

[prizzy]

Thanks for enlightening us. Cool. N7, what plane is that?

[N726AC]

	Quote: Originally Posted by prizzy
	Thanks for enlightening us. Cool. N7, what plane is that?

Predecessor to the T-6, North American BT-14.

[RADRICH]

	Quote: Originally Posted by RappyMan
	Thought this was interesting: The phrase /balls to the wall/, meaning an all-out effort, comes from the world of aviation. On an airplane, the handles controlling the throttle and the fuel mixture are often topped with ball-shaped grips, referred to by pilots as (what else?) /balls/. Pushing the balls forward, close to the front wall of the cockpit increases the amount of fuel going to the engines and results in the highest possible speed. Several Korean War-era veterans have written me noting their use of the term during their service. The phrase may very well date to this earlier war, although we have no written evidence for it. There are two common misconceptions about the phrase. The first is that it is a reference to a part of the male anatomy. The second is that it arose in railroad work. A speed governor on train engines would have round, metal weights at the end of arms. As the speed increased, the spinning balls would rise--being perpendicular to the walls at maximum speed. But there is no evidence to support either of these two stories. No use of the phrase is known to exist prior to the mid-1960s, and all the early cites are from military aviation. OK - so how many of you thought it was something other than pushing the throttles all the way forward?

Actually I've heard it used by sailors refering to the use of levers of fuel supply valves that supplied the fuel-oil to the boiler's burners. Boilers came in different sizes and pressure ratings and they had multiple burners. Burners were lit or quenched depending on steam demands. Slow ship speeds, low steam demands. High ship speads required massive steam demands. Balls were cast onto the end of the lever to help dissapate heat thus preventing a seized (stuck) valve. (very hot in an old Navy ship's boiler rooms) In the event of a need for emergency manuvering such as trying to dodge a torpedo, the bridge would ring a signal to the engine room for flank speed(full speed) thus prompting the throttleman to fully open the steam supply valves to the engines. Doing this quickly would induce a huge drop in steam pressure in the boiler and in response the men monitoring the boiler would slam the fuel supply levers on the unlit burners to the fully open position thus shooting a stream of fuel under high pressure into the boiler so fast that the fuel would actually hit the firebrick wall on the back side of the boiler before it could ignite. Once it hit the wall it would flash into a fireball thus providing instant heat increases to generate more steam. So, this is just a theory of course (not really), but the term probably originated in the bowels of steam ships long before airplanes had "ball-ended throttle levers".(pre-1940's) But in my humble opinion, the phrase suits both situations well!!!!!!!

[Toro]

see if you can find out what "The whole 9 yards" means, or how about you've been "86'd" .... those are aviation based terms also.

[sweetpea]

I can tell you 86'd........

In older versions of software that was used for restuarants.....everything was number coded.

So for example
#1 was a BLT
#5 was tomato
#86 was NO

so if you wanted a sandwich with no tomato......you had to 86 it.


I had to memorize tons of those damn codes when I was working those jobs

[N726AC]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Toro
	see if you can find out what "The whole 9 yards" means, or how about you've been "86'd" .... those are aviation based terms also.

Ammo belts were 9 yards long. " I gave him the whole 9 yards"

[RappyMan]

BLIMP

Blimp!
Over the years, there has been a lot of speculation about the derivation of the term blimp.
The most plausible explanation, experts claim, is that the name originated with Lt. A.D. Cunningham of Great Britain's Royal Navy Air Service. He commanded the air station at Capel, England, during World War I.
As the story goes, while conducting a weekly inspection of the station, Cunningham playfully flipped his thumb at the envelope of His Majesty's Airship SS-12 and an odd noise echoed off the taut fabric.
"Blimp!" he cried out humorously, imitating the sound. As they say the rest is history.




See: http://www.goodyearblimp.com/history/index.html

[RADRICH]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Toro
	see if you can find out what "The whole 9 yards" means, or how about you've been "86'd" .... those are aviation based terms also.

What about 'deep sixed'?

[E-MO]

YouTube - Accept - Balls To The Wall

[RappyMan]

deep-six To dispose of, discard, or get rid of: “The board of directors deep-sixed the proposal without even reading it.” This phrase is derived from the noun “deep six,” meaning burial at sea and referring to the depth of water necessary for such a burial. The term was later used as slang for a grave (customarily six feet underground) and, by extension, as a verb meaning “to kill.”

Deep Six To throw something overboard or away. Originally the call of a sailor to the bridge that the depth of the water is more than six but not quite seven fathoms.

[Toro]

ahhh geezz... here we go again on the BLT bizness....

I actually think the 86 term came from somewhere over the laotian provinces.

Do they have BLT's in LAOS ?

[RADRICH]

	Quote: Originally Posted by RappyMan
	deep-six To dispose of, discard, or get rid of: “The board of directors deep-sixed the proposal without even reading it.” This phrase is derived from the noun “deep six,” meaning burial at sea and referring to the depth of water necessary for such a burial. The term was later used as slang for a grave (customarily six feet underground) and, by extension, as a verb meaning “to kill.” Deep Six To throw something overboard or away. Originally the call of a sailor to the bridge that the depth of the water is more than six but not quite seven fathoms.

Did you get that quote from the Blue Jackets Manual?

[RADRICH]

Do they have BLT's in LAOS ?[/quote]

Bug-Lizard-Tentmoss Sandwich...you bet!!!!!!