Martha reports that listeners have been trying to help a caller remember a word for “someone who’s exceptionally good at packing things in a confined space.” She thinks she’s found a winner: stevedore. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Stevedore”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
We had a call recently from Camille. She’d been racking her brain for years to try to remember a word that she’d heard in college. Remember, she and her friends had been trying to pack a car so they could head back to school, and she thinks that she remembers somebody that day using a word that refers to somebody who’s really good at visualizing where things should go and then packing them. Remember that?
I remember that call. We were stumped. We were. And she couldn’t remember the word. And the only thing that she could recall, she thought, was that somehow the letter V figured prominently in this word.
And you’re right. We didn’t come up with anything. But boy, did our listeners. We got tons of suggestions. We heard from people who were saying maybe it’s Voyager or Volumetrician. Somebody suggested Pickle Packer. I think that refers to how many pickles you can get in a jar. Kara suggested caravaner.
A lot of people mentioned the art history term horror vacui, Grant, the one that means a fear of empty spaces and refers to those ancient vases that just have stuff all over them, sort of like the label on Dr. Bronner’s soap, you know, as horror vacui.
But here’s the word that I think is the winner, the word for somebody who can pack something really, really well, really tightly and efficiently, stevedore.
Oh, you think that’s the one?
I think that’s the one. It means a dock worker. A lot of people brought it to our attention. And I Googled it, and there are all kinds of similes, like the person has arms like a stevedore, works like a stevedore, eats like a stevedore, sweats like a stevedore. And I’m betting that this person was told that she packs like a stevedore.
It’s possible, yeah. I know that term from reading Hardy Boy Mysteries when I was a boy.
Oh, really?
Yeah, yeah. They encounter some rough fellow who’s a stevedore, and of course I don’t look it up.
There you go.
Interesting. So stevedore. I like volumetrician, though.
Of course you did.
But it’s not as much fun as stevedore.
No, I like stevedore a lot.
So thanks to Carter and David and George and everybody else who sent us that term. I hope Camille lets us know if that was the term.
Oh, yes, please.
And you can call us with your suggestions at 1-877-WAY-WORD or email us to words@waywordradio.org.
