# Dead Weight **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2000, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/6296 "2000-01-18T00:36:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2000, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/6296/1 "2000-01-18T00:36:00Z")
Is dead weight any heavier than live weight? I use to hear my dad say, “100 pounds of dead weight.” So would that 100 pounds be lighter or just feel lighter, if it were “live weight?” If it just feels lighter then how and what makes it feel that way? And while I am writing this dumbassed question I am wondering what happened to the i before e except after c rule in the word weight. * * * “I think it speaks to the duality of man sir.” (private Joker in Full Metal Jacket) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2000, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/6296/2 "2000-01-18T00:43:00Z")
ahahaha. Boy, aren’t you funny. But here ya are, It’s one word, too, dude: dead•weight "ded-"wat\ noun (1660) 1 : the unrelieved weight of an inert mass 2 : dead load 3 : a ship’s load including the total weight of cargo, fuel, stores, crew, and passengers ©1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. All rights reserved. ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2000, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/6296/3 "2000-01-18T00:53:00Z")
“Dead weight”, AFAIK, refers to an awkward weight. Imagine lifting me up. Now imagine lifting a _dead_ me up. It’s much tougher. Aside from the grief of holding the corpse of a well-loved and very handsome SDMB poster in your arms, it would be a huge pain to lift my dead body up since I can’t assist you in the lift by hoisting myself up and what not. Seeing as how I am dead an all. Hypothetically. Hence a 100 pounds of dead weight is worse than a 100 pound weight. > [@](#): > > I am wondering what happened to the i before e except after c rule in the word weight. I before E except after C Or when sounding like “A”, like “neighbor” and “weigh” * * * We gladly devour those who would subdue us. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2000, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/6296/4 "2000-01-18T01:04:00Z")
[QUOTE] Originally posted by Alphagene: it would be a huge pain to lift my dead body up since I can’t assist you in the lift by hoisting myself up and what not. . Hence a 100 pounds of dead weight is worse than a 100 pound weight.\>\> Alpha is very close here. I have lifted dead bodies, and I have lifted unconscious bodies, and I have lifted conscious bodies- all in the last month. Now, when someone lifts you up, and you are aware of it, you do certain things. Your diaphragmatic muscles ( and a host of others) assist in keeping your body erect, if you are being lifted straight up. If you are laying down, you keep your arms on your chest, when told to do so. Your neck stays taut, instead of flopping backwards slackly. You react defensively when moved, it’s hardly voluntary. BUT- all of these things assist the person lifting you. When lifing someone who is conscious, they are more “rigid”, therefore easier to lift. In my experience, there is no difference between lifting someone unconscious, or someone dead. (The emotional response of said lifter being set aside here ). Either way, I tie their wrists together, and isolate the neck. My kid is 9 and a half, and he’s already murder to pick up out of the car, late at night, when asleep. ``` Cartooniverse ``` " If you want to kiss the sky, you’d better learn how to kneel. " ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2000, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/6296/5 "2000-01-18T01:05:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Alphagene: > \*\*“Dead weight”, AFAIK, refers to an awkward weight. Imagine lifting me up. Now imagine lifting a _dead_ me up. > > it would be a huge pain to lift my dead body up since I can’t assist you in the lift by hoisting myself up and what not. Seeing as how I am dead an all. > > \*\* ## Well wouldn’t it still be the same huge pain if you were alive and didn’t help me by hoisting yourself up and things? “I think it speaks to the duality of man sir.” (private Joker in Full Metal Jacket) ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2000, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/6296/6 "2000-01-18T02:23:00Z")
Not hoisting yourself up when lifted is a commonly used tactic by protestors while getting arrested. I’m 6’5", 215 lbs, and if I just went limp, one person is going to have a hard time picking me up if I don’t help. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2000, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/6296/7 "2000-01-18T02:33:00Z")
**aha** These are the responses when I posted the question: [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/002104.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/002104.html) ---
**Author:** ![aha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@aha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aha)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2000, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-weight/6296/8 "2000-01-18T02:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Mjollnir: > \*\ ***aha** > > These are the responses when I posted the question: > [http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/002104.html](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/002104.html) \*\* Thanks MJ excellant reponses too! * * * “I think it speaks to the duality of man sir.” (private Joker in Full Metal Jacket)