Ram? (technology for country folk)

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HiWith tremulous fingers I type the following :http://www.haukenfrers.net/Giggles/Technology/ My fingers are tremulous because I'm sure everybody in this newsgroup is already familiar with it the author of the page seems to imply that it has long been part of the folklore of "email joke lists".Anyway, I've just encountered it, so please bear with me.Here are my two questions:What dialect do you think is represented here?And what about "ram"? I can see the picture, I can understand the definition That thar thang what splits the farwood, which I guess means "that implement you can see and which is used to split the firewood", but that definition of "ram" seems to be missing from the AHD4 and from the OED.Is it a dialect word? And what's the standard word for it? Is it the same thing as a "wedge"?Isabelle "technologically challenged" Cecchini

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Hi With tremulous fingers I type the following : http://www.haukenfrers.net/Giggles/Technology/ My fingers are tremulous because I'm sure everybody in this ... Is it a dialect word? And what's the standard word for it? Is it the same thing as a "wedge"?[/nq]
I have never heard "ram" for what is obviously a wedge in that picture. That does not mean that no one anywhere could call it a ram.
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hi With tremulous fingers I type the following : http://www.haukenfrers.net/Giggles/Technology/ My fingers are tremulous because I'm sure everybody in this ... Is it a dialect word? And what's the standard word for it? Is it the same thing as a "wedge"?[/nq]
The item in the picture is a wedge. The cartoon indicates that the log will be split by the "sledge and wedge" technique. However, people serious about splitting logs use machines to drive in the wedge, and these machines are rated by ram power in tons. The more ram power, the larger and longer the log can be that is to be split.

The dialect is the city boy version of what the country boy talks like. It's just an exaggeration.

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[nq:1]With tremulous fingers I type the following : http://www.haukenfrers.net/Giggles/Technology/ My fingers are tremulous because I'm sure everybody in this newsgroup ... encountered it, so please bear with me. Here are my two questions: What dialect do you think is represented here?[/nq]
It's not at all an accurate representation of any particular dialect, but it's clearly supposed to be suggestive of "rustic American". Some of it seems meant to suggest stereotypes of hillbilly AppalachianE. In this regard, note the use of "flatlander"; I would assume that that means "non-hill-living person" here. Other features of it suggest Southern or South Midland AmE. Note the reference to "Northerner talk" and "y'all", and also the pronunciation implied by "farwood". Not that Appalachian hillbillies and Southerners are mutually exclusive categories. OTOH, the depicted people seem to be dressed rather warmly, and notice the evergreen tree in one picture. I'd almost be inclined to think of Northern lumberjacks if it weren't for the non-Northern references.
[nq:1]And what about "ram"? I can see the picture, I can understand the definition That thar thang what splits the ... Is it a dialect word? And what's the standard word for it? Is it the same thing as a "wedge"?[/nq]
I confess that I am as confused about this one as you. If it's not a dialect word, it's a specialist's word. Check with Coop.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hi With tremulous fingers I type the following : http://www.haukenfrers.net/Giggles/Technology/ My fingers are tremulous because I'm sure everybody in this ... Is it a dialect word? And what's the standard word for it? Is it the same thing as a "wedge"?[/nq]
The 'joke' appears in various places on line under various guises. Here it is purporting to be Cajun:
http://members.tripod.com/~pegglegg/jokes.html
but note that 'ram' is
And again in its redneck guise :
http://www.chipsnet.com/users/dharris/computer.html

And I'm sure someone somewhere calls it hillbilly.

'Ram' as a hydraulic tool makes sense. Maybe the person who produced the web page you found didn't know what 'hydraulic' meant and just caught the 'splitting wood' allusion. AFAIK the thing in the picture that looks like a cartoonist's cheese is a wedge.

John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply

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Thanks, Skitt, Tony, Areff and John! That's still another puzzle which has been cleared for me in this invaluable newsgroup.
Isabelle Cecchini

Ram? (technology for country folk)

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