Etymological question -- "waller" a hole (2024 Update)

replying to Tim Wescott, Nickolas Crosby wrote: Checking in a few years later, but just searched this out when someone poked fun at me saying "wallered out" at work. I'm in Northern Utah and everyone that works construction/fabrication/hotrodshops, etc... all use wallered, not wallowed. Reaming out is commonly used for drilling a hole to a larger size, wallered is for when you really wiggle the drill around to work out the angles like some sort of savage.

And a very good word it is, too! :)

Here we have the remnants of buffalo wallers in native grass that hasn't been broken out (plowed) as another use of the term.

replying to Tim Wescott, Garth wrote: So I?ve been trying to figure up why the 20 something?s don?t know what waller means in Texas. Which leads to ream, gape, and my own word inbiggin. Using the same or bigger paddle bit makes an irregular hole in wood which doesn?t match my definition of ream. I use a #40 reamer to match drill #41 holes in aluminum which ends up with far cleaner holes and less burrs than using a 40 drill bit. I also use ream to refer to removing burrs in copper and plastic pipe cuts. Sort of sad not to find waller in the dictionary...

replying to Tim Wescott, Garth wrote: So I?ve been trying to figure up why the 20 something?s don?t know what waller means in Texas. Which leads to ream, gape, and my own word inbiggin. Using the same or bigger paddle bit makes an irregular hole in wood which doesn?t match my definition of ream. I use a #40 reamer to match drill #41 holes in aluminum which ends up with far cleaner holes and less burrs than using a 40 drill bit. I also use ream to refer to removing burrs in copper and plastic pipe cuts. Sort of sad not to find waller in the dictionary...

I'm sure you'll find it in the Redneck's Dicshunary. "Wallow" is in the rest.

Read through some of these defs:

More than one way to 'waller' a hole it seems ;-)

The UD is a hoot, isn't it? I've used it mostly to find out what all the SJW terms meant.

replying to Tim Wescott, Wizkid wrote: In Texas we use ?waller? out a hole to refer to tweaking the size of a too-small hole to make it ?just right? (slightly, but immeasurably bigger). I have an English degree but am not too snobby to use a colloquialism when it is fitting and succinct.

replying to Tim Wescott, Wizkid wrote: In Texas we use ?waller? out a hole to refer to tweaking the size of a too-small hole to make it ?just right? (slightly, but immeasurably bigger). I have an English degree but am not too snobby to use a colloquialism when it is fitting and succinct.

How old is this thread? I seem to remember it popping up several times in the last few years.

Enjoy, DoN.

replying to DoN. Nichols, Murgatroy wrote: im tryig to get a hole in my countertop enlarged for a new Faucet handle I purchased as a replacement. The new one is too large to fit through the holes for the cold and hot stems. The plumber in North Arkansas says he can use a Dremel tool to wallow out the holes to make the new stems fit. This term was used infrequently in my life to mean exactly that in such circumstances

replying to DoN. Nichols, Murgatroy wrote: im tryig to get a hole in my countertop enlarged for a new Faucet handle I purchased as a replacement. The new one is too large to fit through the holes for the cold and hot stems. The plumber in North Arkansas says he can use a Dremel tool to wallow out the holes to make the new stems fit. This term was used infrequently in my life to mean exactly that in such circumstances

  You realize of course that in north Arkansas every CountryBubba(c) with a pickup and a skilsaw considers himself a handyman ... "plumbers" also own a pipe wrench . Guess where I live ? Hint : it ain't Texas .

As a kid, when staying with relatives in rural Georgia I was assigned farm chores. The depression the hogs dug in their pen was a "waller".

And Electricians have a hammer and screwdriver!

is talking about drilling a hole in an electrical panel box. He says: You put a drill bit in your drill motor and *chuck it down and drill a wall. Sometimes you used a center punch to make sure you don't *wallow off the hole."

A center punch makes a small indentation that minimizes the tendency of a drill to skate away from the desired location when starting a hole. You could reasonably interpret the statement "wallow off the hole" to mean "wander from the intended location of the hole."

It doesn't always mean intentional I've never heard it using this way My mother is a mechanic and a machinist and she talks about it when there is a washer that doesn't work anymore because it's been used too much or when a sink won't quit dripping because the washer's walleted out or even a boat the threads can be rollered out to the point that it's no longer of good use I've never heard of it use intentionally I've heard of it used when it's time to replace. My husband is also a mechanic My family is from above and below the Mason-Dixon line but I do think it's mainly a southern thing

The dictionary online as well as a Wikipedia tells me it's a US slang pejorative. Meaning precisely what is said about although I've never heard it used in reference to pigs or anything other than like a mechanical use but not on purpose usually as a way of saying this needs to be replaced because for whatever reason it won't hold or whatever the intended use it's now wallored out so therefore we need to replace.