"Words Mean Things"™ -Steamboat

So the other day I was having a conversation with a friend and she was talking about something that took me a few seconds to catch up. Because what the word meant to her, was completely different than the first thing that came to my mind! I realized that my experiences gave me some very interesting looks at some otherwise common words...

So I wonder if you have the same! I'll give my word, and spoiler what it means to me. See if they match don't forget to share yours!

Elephant Walk


Chain mail

Elephant walk? This one is new to me. I guess, when a line of elephants hold each other's tails with their trunks and walk,..?

Chain mail is the armor stuff made of wee metal rings.

I call chainmail "maille" because it's quicker, easier, and more historically accurate in my personal opinion.

I've never heard of 'elephant walk' so I had no understanding.

'chain mail' however, made me think of a thread of email correspondence, because I deal with emails all day

So, straight up we hit it don't we?

Two things that have come out already (second first, first second)

I call chainmail "maille" because it's quicker, easier, and more historically accurate in my personal opinion.

I do this too. (I was a bit of a history nerd as a wee kid, not so much any more)

Point is - We're already disagreeing on HOW a word should be presented.
If Kittykat had said Chain Maille, there would have been no doubt (as per Bricky, who has been alive since breakfast, and can only think of anything in terms of the internet )

The other one - Elephant Walk.

I couldn't even guess - and once I clicked the spoily, I worked out why - Military jargon.

Jargon is a pest at the best of times, and given how different industries (current and historic) make up their own damn meanings from existing words, it can really throw a spanner in it.

Elephant walk? This one is new to me. I guess, when a line of elephants hold each other's tails with their trunks and walk,..?

And I would say you are absolutely correct RR - At some point all the grey jets and planes were lined up on the tarmac (Tar MacAdam, Rough trans: Dirty Scotsman) - and some bright spark said "Hey, they look like elephants on parade" - so some other bright spark (but in the days when the USAF or whichever AF starting the naming convention probably only had about 20 pilots and they hung out at the same bar) said "Hey cool, you're right!" and thus, a great tradition was born, and every new schlep that joins the AF gets told "Alright, get your goffers, we're doing an elephant walk, the brass wants a dog and pony show, lets get this goat rodeo on the road"

To someone that makes sense.



So here's mine

Grommet

Grommet

A grommet for me is something that you get in your ears when you have ear problems... I remember kids often talking about getting them when I was younger.

Chain mail

I thought of the metal armour, then immediately thought of those handwritten letters you used to get in the post that threatened you with 10 years bad luck if you didn't immediately copy it then post it to 10 other people.

Elephant walk

Never heard that before..

Gray = dark, Grey = light

No such difference here in the UK.. grey is the only spelling used.. gray is usually a surname here.


My offering is capital

Beyond euphemisms (which are a whole other mess) and jargon (yay for knowing elephant walk)
Plane:

Pank:

Cutty:

Plasma:

Cookie:

Quad:

Picket:

Carb:

cookie


chips


tankie


Hmmm, dunno if I can think of any more...
You guys took a lot of the good ones.

A typical chain letter consists of a message that attempts to convince the recipient to make a number of copies of the letter and then pass them on to a certain number of recipients