I was reading Henry Petroski‘s An Engineer’s Alphabet which has him playfully pontificating on various engineering and construction terms. When he gets to “C”, he writes the following about concrete:

Because concrete is often called “cement” by lay persons, the usage of the word serves as a kind of shibboleth distinguishing the technically illiterate from the technically literate.

So, what in the world is a shibboleth? As I read the quote above, I had just shut down my computer for the night. My first thought was, “I guess I’ll wait till morning to look it up on Dictionary.com.” Then I remembered that I have a great dictionary in my desk drawer, I just haven’t used it in years. I had to chuckle realizing that I’d almost forgotten to even think about a book dictionary. The Net Generation and all that follow won’t even consider that option.

But back to shibboleth. Turns out, it means “a word or pronunciation that distinguishes people of one group or class from those of another.” One of my favorite customers always talks about the “cement floors” and “pouring the cement” just because he knows it drives me crazy.

I got to thinking about other words or phrases that peg the “Idiot Meter” in my brain. Lots of folks call any piece of construction equipment a bulldozer. I have to force myself not to explain that a bulldozer pushes and then to properly name and describe the backhoe, loader or whatever other piece of equipment they see.

When I hear someone call any piece of structural steel an “I Beam” I immediately reassess their intelligence level. Same with any piece of lumber being called a “2 by 4”.  Sorry, I know a better person would be more understanding and less judgmental, but that ain’t me.

Can you think of any other construction words or phases that act as a shibboleth? Leave me a comment and let me know the ones that goad you. Or am I the only one that’s this shallow?