The Dictionary of American Regional English has many terms for practical jokes played on newbies, like sending someone out for a bucket of steam, or for pigeon milk, or for a nickel’s worth of dimes. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Terms for Practical Jokes”
Here’s some more fun stuff from the new Digital Dictionary of American Regional English.
Grant, I looked up terms for practical jokes, those things that you do when somebody new comes on board at work.
Yeah, the newbie, the greenhorn, right?
Yeah, you might send that person to go out and get some pigeon milk.
These are expressions from all over the country.
And these are things that don’t exist, right, usually?
Right, right.
And so you’re just sort of, I was going to say twerking,
You’re sort of tweaking the person who’s just joined the team.
Send them out for a can of striped paint.
Send them out for a left-handed fork or a nickel’s worth of dimes
Or a set of fallopian tubes.
What?
This is so much fun.
Send them out for a bucket of steam.
Ooh, yeah, that’s a classic.
Yeah, that’s good, right?
Yeah, what about cut glass sledgehammer?
That’s one of my favorites.
Oh, that’s good.
I didn’t see that in the dictionary, but that’s good.
A bubble buster, a biscuit bush, or send them out for bird seed to grow birds.
So that’s where they come from.
All of that in the Dictionary of American Regional English online.
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