Sheepdoggers and Sportdoggers

[PSmitty]

And I am a city girl who has no idea what you guys are talking about.

[BillieNZ]

Only ever heard it called baling twine...

[G. Festerling]

I know it under both! But rest assured, dog folks are not the only ones....imagine the look on my face when I got a horse delivered not too long ago with a bright yellow braided "baling twine" leadrope....

[DeltaBluez Tess]

I made a leash with baling twine and a clip...I did a four way braid and inserted the clip. it wasn't fancy but worked quite well. I bet you could make some cool items out of baling twine!

 

Three things I use on the farm all the time

-baling twine

-WD-40

-Duct tape

[mum24dog]

Am I the only person who calls it baling twine?

J.

 

It's baler twine here.

[geonni banner]

Where I grew up it was all square bales and it was wire not twine. We called it baling wire. Then when twine came it they called it binder twine. It looked like hemp rope, only skinnier.

[KrisK]

Yep, in my neck of the woods it's baler twine...and it is an absolute necessity around the farm ties up bundles of wood, wire crates, my tomato plants...I don't think I could live without it

 

Geonni....it was called haywire here tied up many a muffler in a pinch

[geonni banner]

Just got to wondering... haywire

 

hay·wire (hwr)

n.

Wire used in baling hay.

adj. Informal

1. Mentally confused or erratic; crazy: went haywire over the interminable delays.

2. Not functioning properly; broken.

 

[From the use of baling wire for makeshift repairs .]

Word History: Why should the word for something as functional and mundane as haywire have come to be applied to something that is not functioning properly or to a person who is crazy? It would seem a story of semantics gone haywire. Haywire is a compound of the words hay and wire, originally simply denoting wire used to bale hay or straw. The term is first recorded as a noun in a debate in the Canadian House of Commons (1917), so it is a Canadianism or, since it appeared soon thereafter in a U.S. publication, a North Americanism. We find an earlier (1905) attributive use in the phrase hay wire outfit, a term used contemptuously for poorly equipped loggers. What lies behind this term is the practice of making repairs with haywire. Haywire is found in other contexts with the general sense "makeshift, inefficient," from which come the extended senses "not functioning properly" and "crazy."

 

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

 

haywire [ˈheɪˌwaɪə]

adj (postpositive) Informal

1. (of things) not functioning properly; disorganized (esp in the phrase go haywire)

2. (of people) erratic or crazy

[alluding to the disorderly tangle of wire removed from bales of hay]

[Beach BCs]

Twine here too!

[gcv-border]

 

Three things I use on the farm all the time

-baling twine

-WD-40

-Duct tape

 

Yes - essential items:

baling twine (as long as it is the natural twine, not the poly stuff which doesn't hold a knot very well)

 

WD-40 - I think Blast-Off works better, and have recently tried a similar product that claims to be more eco-friendly (forgot the name though)

 

Duct tape - love, love, love Gorilla tape

 

And I will add cable ties to the list (sometimes called zip ties)

 

Jovi

[terrecar]

 

And I will add cable ties to the list (sometimes called zip ties)

 

Jovi

 

I 2nd the cable ties. They work well for an ex-pen that has lost some of its clasps. I actually have one with both cable ties and baling twine in a couple of spots. I guess I'll ditch it and buy a new one one of these days, but it's one I use for short periods for the Chi while I'm sitting in the garden/porch swing.

[juliepoudrier]

Geonni,

I can't stand getting bales that have been baled with wire. A pain in the ass to get off the bale. I prefer the old twine to the poly stuff too....

 

And to all of you who mentioned duct tape: A heartfelt thank you for spelling it correctly (vs. duck tape).

 

And yes, twine, duct tape, cable ties, and the occasional bungee cord serve many purposes on this farm.

 

J.

[geonni banner]

Geonni,

I can't stand getting bales that have been baled with wire. A pain in the ass to get off the bale. I prefer the old twine to the poly stuff too....

 

And to all of you who mentioned duct tape: A heartfelt thank you for spelling it correctly (vs. duck tape).

 

And yes, twine, duct tape, cable ties, and the occasional bungee cord serve many purposes on this farm.

 

J.

I agree that twine is a great improvement over wire. Old-timers carried wire-cutters in a hip pocket all the time, and no matter how careful they were, bits of baling wire had a nasty habit of finding their way into hooves and stomachs. If you were lucky there'd be an infection. If not, you'd end up with a dead critter.

[Sue R]

Geonni,

I can't stand getting bales that have been baled with wire. A pain in the ass to get off the bale. I prefer the old twine to the poly stuff too....

 

And to all of you who mentioned duct tape: A heartfelt thank you for spelling it correctly (vs. duck tape).

 

And yes, twine, duct tape, cable ties, and the occasional bungee cord serve many purposes on this farm.

 

J.

Yes, all my favorites! I am the Queen of Bungees while Ed is the King of Those-Rachet-Tie-Down-Straps-that-Elude-Me.

 

And how about Duck Brand Duct Tape? That'll confuse the ignorati or just plain careless! I, too, have appreciated the many references to "duct tape" rather than "duck tape".

[KnottyClarence]

Never have opened a bale of hay which had been bound with wire, but have opened other stuff that has been so bound. If the wire is bound very tightly and it's cut with wire cutters, the wire springs loose, briefly quickly in a crazy way.

 

Will be thinking about the semantics of bound hay as I go around picking up loops of "hay string" from my corral.

[mum24dog]

And how about Duck Brand Duct Tape? That'll confuse the ignorati or just plain careless! I, too, have appreciated the many references to "duct tape" rather than "duck tape".

 

So it's tape and it's got a duck in the name and on the package. Duck tape.

A description that everyone recognises and therefore linguistically valid.

You may think "duct tape" but do you really pronounce it without elision? It sounds really awkward.

That's just how language changes.

 

Anyway - here is another overlap between the agility and working people I know.

Lots of us count duck tape (with the duck on), WD40 and possibly cable ties as essentials. Wouldn't be without the first 2 in my car and caravan, or the house for that matter. Bungees too. And a decent hammer - another piece of essential and multi use farm equipment.

 

Most baler twine here seems to be the artificial blue or orange stuff. I prefer strong string or rope.

[Pam Wolf]

Back tot he original post. I wish more people would keep their dogs leashed at trials. I hate having my stuff pee'd on and it is sad the number of "handler in the portapotty" litters there have been. Not all dogs are sociable either. If I have a bitch I dislike male dogs coming up to hump her (even when she is not in season) and handlers ignoring their dogs.

 

As for younger handlers. We have supported one several years ago who we took up a collection to send him to GB to work with a top handler as a high school graduation. he learned a lot and brought it back and while life isn't allowing him to work much with the dogs, the plan is to continue working with the dogs when life allows.

 

We are currently starting to collect for anothe junior handler who will graduate in 2 years. It is a great opportunity for a young person to learn and a great experience they will carry for the rest of their lives

[workindogs]

Pam,

I share your dislike for off leash horn dogs bothering everyone (handlers, bitches, neutered males and intact males) by their peeing, amorous advances and macho posturing. Likewise, I abhor a snarky off leash bitch who approaches my on leash minding his manner dog to snark at him....there are some handlers who are repeat offenders in my area and all of them tend to think its funny that their bad tempered loose bitch has cornered a male to notch his ear or bite him in the face.

[Liz P]

Yes, all my favorites! I am the Queen of Bungees while Ed is the King of Those-Rachet-Tie-Down-Straps-that-Elude-Me.

 

Zip ties! I use them all over the place. Great for fixing fence, supporting tomato plants and all sorts of other tasks.

[juliepoudrier]

So it's tape and it's got a duck in the name and on the package. Duck tape.

A description that everyone recognises and therefore linguistically valid.

You may think "duct tape" but do you really pronounce it without elision? It sounds really awkward.

That's just how language changes.

Oh gosh, for a moment there I thought I was reading a post from a copyediting list I'm on!

 

You probably wouldn't be surprised about the vehemence on both side of such an issue as language change among a large group of copyeditors. Sometimes it makes my head spin.

 

Anyway, to me duct tape is tape that was designed for use with ductwork (interestingly, I do pronounce the "t" when I say ductwork, but not so much when just saying the word "duct") and not for use on ducks, so despite ONE manufacturer who uses a picture of a duck and calls it "duck tape" that usage just doesn't make sense to me. Likewise, I'll never accept walla in place of voila, nor prolly in place of probably. But then I've spent my career as an editor and writer so I suppose I'm more inclined to guard the "old ways" than others might be.

 

J.

[Laurae]

Keep fighting the good fight, Julie!

[airbear]

Here's a good use for Duck Brand duct tape:

[terrecar]

I have always called it duct tape, but that's probably because I have one brother who works in HVAC and another who is a plumber, and that is what they call it. I do remember buying a roll, looking down and discovering it was Duck brand. That was my slap the forehead moment that made me realize everyone else may have fallen into brand-speak. Or not.

 

Regarding the original post and other observations I've read on these boards, dogs mounting others, whizzing on equipment., lunging from under trucks, snarking at other dogs, and running onto the trial field kind of makes me rethink the idea that dogs are better behaved at trials than they are at other venues, but I cannot really make any determination from other than first hand experience. I can echo one poster's point that a very large number of dogs that are able to stand calmly at an often crowded ringside with breeds of every size, type and disposition without incident--and without having to be 'strung-up'--makes me wonder if there really is much of a difference. But I can only speculate. It does also seem to me that dogs that are permitted to run free would develop better habits toward each other and other people simply by virtue of the expectation that they behave off lead.

[Eileen Stein]

At Kingston, most of the dogs were on leash when not competing.

 

I was surprised when I first read this, because I was at Kingston and my impression was that most competing dogs were off leash. But I assume Kristi must be right, since she was paying attention to leash status and I was not. I don't think my dog was ever on leash, which I suppose might have affected my perceptions.

 

Regarding the original post and other observations I've read on these boards, dogs mounting others, whizzing on equipment., lunging from under trucks, snarking at other dogs, and running onto the trial field kind of makes me rethink the idea that dogs are better behaved at trials than they are at other venues, but I cannot really make any determination from other than first hand experience.

 

FWIW, I very rarely see at trials the kind of behavior Pam and Elizabeth are describing. Not never, but very rarely. I like the fact that dogs are generally loose and generally well-behaved -- I think it's a credit to dogs and handlers, and something to aspire to. But different strokes, I guess.

 

Oh, and I would say "duct tape," because "duct tape" is the generic and "Duck tape" is a brand name (and not one with a particularly large share of the market, around here anyway).

[workindogs]

Eileen,

I suppose I should have clarified that dog trial handlers are generally very conscientious and working border collies well mannered.....which leaves the handful bad mannered individuals all the more offensive.

Yes, bad manners are the exception not the norm.