A trucker in Glasgow, Kentucky, wonders about the term boom dog, a device used to secure things on a trailer. The boom may be inspired by a ship’s boom. The word dog has long been used in a variety of ways to refer to something that holds something else tightly in place. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Boom Dog”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, how’s it going? This is Dirk. I’m calling from Glasgow, Kentucky.
Oh, I know Glasgow. It’s beautiful down there. What’s going on?
It is. There is a word that I’ve heard used lots of times growing up, and I thought maybe it was a cultural thing. It’s called, it’s a, it’s a poor tool. It’s a boom dog.
And what it is, is a chain tensioner that farmers use to strap down, say, tractors on the back of a trailer.
And I don’t know where it came from. I tried to look getting it up, and the only thing I come across is that it’s a tool that’s part of a crane system.
And I also have found that they make levers, extensions, heater bars for boom dogs, but I can’t find an actual boom dog online.
So you’re saying boom, B-O-O-M, and then dog, boom dog?
Yes.
Boom dog.
Dog, D-O-G.
And so now what you’re describing is this is the ratchet-like device that pulls a cable or a strap taut across the bed of a truck to hold something on it?
Yes, exactly.
Okay.
And is there actually a boom involved in this? I’m thinking of the boom like a long spar or board or some kind of projecting arm.
Well, there’s a lever arm that’s about, let’s say, 18 inches long.
Okay.
But it doesn’t seem like a boom. That’s where my question comes into mind.
Yeah.
So the word is, we can break it down into its two parts. I think what we’ve got here is a term borrowed from some other kind of mechanics or engineering or some other physical occupation, perhaps shipbuilding or oil drilling or construction or that sort of thing.
Because the boom is kind of like the ship’s boom. It’s typically a long arm that projects out either to hold something or to provide support for something else.
And then the dog is really interesting. A dog has been used, oh, for a couple hundred years at least in a wide variety of contexts. But almost all of the mechanical of some kind, to refer to any kind of device, that holds something in place.
So it could be a gear, a cog, a peg, a wedge, a dowel, a stick, a chain, a rope. Many, many other things have all been called a dog. But what they almost always do is hold a thing in place.
So a boom dog typically holds a boom in place or holds something to a boom so the boom doesn’t fall or pivot around or swivel.
Oh, wow.
So it sounds like the device that you’re talking about on the flatbed trucks, the term probably comes from someplace where there actually was a boom. There’s just not a boom anymore, but the device is still useful.
Gotcha.
And it is still a dog because of the nature of holding the strap tight.
Yep, that’s right.
I’m picturing a dog that you hold a stick out to, and they just grab it, and they won’t let go.
Maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s the origin for sure. Definitely makes a lot of sense.
It’s just that maybe over time the boom has been replaced with just a short lever, and it’s still being referred to as the boom, I guess.
Well, interesting. How about that?
One of the places that this term might have come over to the flatbed use that you have is from logging, because a boom is a raft or collection of logs sometimes, often floating on the water.
But I could see it certainly, boom certainly applying to a stack of logs or timber on the flatbed of a truck, too.
Derek, thank you so much for calling us.
Thank you very much.
You guys have a great day. I really enjoy the show.
Thank you.
Take care now.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
