Wallowed Out Hole | PolyTech Forum

Etymological question -- "waller" a hole

Tim Wescott · 2014-01-29T18:34:12+00:00

The sons of the family mechanic talked about "wallering a hole", in the sense of "to wear and enlarge in an uncontrolled manner" ("the bolt was loose and wallered out the hole, now it don't fit"), or (with contempt for shade-tree mechanics) "to intentionally enlarge a hole in an uncontrolled manner" ("that just wallered out those holes instead of using a drill bit of the proper size, now nuthin' fits right"). Has anyone else seen this? I'm curious if it was a family invention or if it's a word of real usage.

J

Jim Wilkins 2 years ago

It's southern slanf for wallow - as in a Hog Wallow - a mud-hole dug out or yallowed out by a hog. Used to describe a hole that has been enlarged unintentionally by being a loose fit - wallered out

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The hogs on my uncle's farm in the red clay flatlands of Georgia had turned all of their pen into a gooey smelly waller, but Grandpa's on the mountain hadn't. Different soil and better drainage, I reckon.

They have some different language and pronunciation there that they loved to tease us NH Yankees with. A peCAHN is a nut, a pee-can is a urinal.

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TV announcers in Atlanta talk in the standard "Midwestern" accent which seemed to be slowly taking over.

I could like living there if it wasn't so hot and humid in summer. It's 57F in here and I've acclimated to it.

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J

John Hickey 2 years ago

On an excavator's youtube work channel out of Derby Indiana, called Dirt Pefect, I just heard them say that vehicles repeatedly going through a low area in a filed had "wallered out a ditch." In rural West Virginia I often heard this term used to mean the unintentional widening of a hole, like a bolt hole, and I may have heard it usd to meana the intentional wiening of a hole. What I have not heard discussed here (?) is its use to mean the wearing away of threads on a bolt, which I also heard in West Virginia from auto mechanics.

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S

Snag 2 years ago

Yer about 3 years late to the discussion , f****it .

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J

Jim Wilkins 2 years ago

On an excavator's youtube work channel out of Derby Indiana, called Dirt Pefect, I just heard them say that vehicles repeatedly going through a low area in a filed had "wallered out a ditch." In rural West Virginia I often heard this term used to mean the unintentional widening of a hole, like a bolt hole, and I may have heard it usd to meana the intentional wiening of a hole. What I have not heard discussed here (?) is its use to mean the wearing away of threads on a bolt, which I also heard in West Virginia from auto mechanics.

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The South has lots of localisms, such as "feature" meaning resemble, i.e. you feature your dad. However TV announcers in Atlanta (and Boston) speak like the rest of the US.

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P

pyotr filipivich 2 years ago

John Hickey snipped-for-privacy@example.com on Sun, 01 Sep 2024 02:45:03 +0000 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

"Waller" comes from making a "wallow" - what pigs do in mud, mostly to stay cool. A waller not a well defined hole, so it is what happens to roads, holes you drill that for some reason are more oval than round, or holes / spots which over time have become out of spec if they ever were one.

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