Billy Tape Measure

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Mary Hilton.

Hi, Mary. Welcome to the show.

So my question for you is, one, a little disagreement between my husband and myself.

Ever since we got married, every time he pulls out a tape measurer, when we’re doing projects around the house, he refers to that as a Billy, like a man’s name.

And he’s just sure that that is a real name for a tape measurer.

And I’m just sure it’s not.

And so every time we hire a handyman to come by and look at the house, you know, he’ll say, oh, I’ll just get my Billy.

You’ve heard that phrase before?

Oh, my goodness.

No, I have no idea what you’re saying to me, mister.

Oh, my gosh.

And the person’s afraid that it’s like a Billy Club or something?

What is it that he’s going for here?

Yeah, exactly.

But poor thing, he’s just so sure that one of these gentlemen are going to say, oh, yes, of course, you know, a tape measure. That’s what I call it, too. And they never do.

So I know that he learned that phrase from his father. And I loved my father-in-law a lot. So, you know, I like making fun of my husband. You know, I also love my father-in-law.

So we just thought maybe you guys could help us solve this. And Mary, where did you grow up and where did your husband grow up?

We’re both Midwestern kids. I grew up, I was born in Cleveland and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was born and raised in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, but his father grew up in Canton, Illinois, which I think is a little further west. It’s a small town.

Okay, well I have to confess I’ve never heard that.

I’ve never heard it either. Martha hit on something earlier that I think we could explore the idea of a billy club. There are a lot of slangy uses of Billy that all aren’t necessarily what you might think of as the stereotypical policeman’s Billy Club.

There are lots of different uses of Billy to refer to long lengths of metal, to refer to different kinds of stolen metal. Now, these are kind of arcane slang. Metal. Yeah. Sometimes it’s been used to refer to crowbars or a type of knife called Billy knife.

But again, clubs and truncheons are bludgeons. But I just think that’s kind of a long shot just because the measuring tape might be made out of metal that one of those might somehow seem the same.

Yeah. Somehow he put that together. His father before him, somebody put that together as a billy. Do you know if a billy box comes into play here at all?

This is a brand name, I believe, for the kind of box you might have behind the cab and a pickup where you might store your tools.

Oh, is it?

No, I’ve never heard that phrase before.

So I don’t know.

Billy Box?

Yeah, Billy Box.

I don’t know how widespread it is, but I’ve come across it a time or two.

But I got to tell you, Mary, I’ve never heard it. It doesn’t mean that other people don’t use it.

Yeah, I was going to say we have one last resort, Mary, which is to turn on the sirens and fire up the flashing lights and ask our listeners if they know Billy to mean a measuring tape.

And they will tell us.

And that theme up.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah, I’d love to hear what your listeners have to say.

And I’ll always be listening, of course, but I’ll check the website as well.

All right, thanks, Mary.

Thank you for your time.

I appreciate it.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

If you know the term Billy to refer to a measuring tape, please call us, 877-929-9673, or email us, words@waywordradio.org.