So when I want to give the impression about something being at the over top maximum like for bullshit I’d say, “That pins my bullshitometer”. (IE the pointer on the meter is reading such a high value it’s pinned against the stop.) However I’ve heard and read people write “That pings my bullshit meter”. So are both correct or is pins or pings correct?
I’d call “pins” correct. The needle is so high that it is against the pin that prevents it from going too far out of range. I’ve never heard “pings the meter”.
Pinging just gives a blip on the meter. Pinning it says the indicator goes past 11 and stays until the influence is passed.
The original would be pins the meter, meaning, as leachim says, “makes the meter read at max”.
Pings the meter I’d read as “gives a noticeable reading on the meter”.
I’ve never heard pins the meter.
“Pegs” the meter is what I’ve always seen/heard.
I’ve never heard “pins the meter”. If you say something is pinging your bullshit meter, you mean that something seems off – the meter is responding. Otherwise, you would just says something was obviously bull.
So, things seemed OK, but my bullshit meter was pinging – something seems off.
Something is obviously bull? My meter asploded.
Pin, which means “to hold fast in a spot or position.”
“Ping” is onomatopoeia and is related to acoustic events; the slang usage of “ping” is related to its association with sonar/echolocation, and when used as such it refers to making communicative contact with another person.
Now that you mention it, that sounds more familiar than both of the OP’s options.
“Pegs the bullshit meter” - maxes it out.
“Pings the bullshit detector” - triggers the detector, as in pinging a sonar.
“Pins”… never heard it.
Pinned the speedometer. I think you could pin or peg both the speedometer and the bullshitometer. They are synonymous.
“Ping” means make a sound, as in any kind of positive response. So a BS meter can ping when anything possibly false (but possibly true) comes up.
An analog meter with an actual rotating needle is “pinned” (or “pegged”) when the reading is so high that the needle maxes out by hitting a little peg that keeps the needle from going any farther. This peg is probably past the printed markings showing possible readings, so it would be both ‘pinned’ and ‘off the scale’. A BS meter would be pinned when 1,000% pure male bovine excrement is coming at high velocity.
on analog electrical meters there is a moving needle (indicator) which (on better quality meters) would have a stop (pin) on the face at the maximum reading so that its mechanical works wouldn’t be so easily damaged if a beyond maximum reading was measured.
“Pinning” the meter means you’ve sent the pointer past full-scale, until it’s hit the stop. You can see the actual pins on this meter.
“Pegging” the meter means the same thing.
“Pinging” the meter means that you have registered a single detectable event.
That is my take. There is a little peg at the end of the scale on some analog meters that stops the pointer from going too far and perhaps damaging the meter. Hence “pegging the meter” means whatever you are measuring has gone off the scale.
Yes, to pin or peg the meter is to max it out. Pings would mean to me that you got an indication on your BS meter but not a maxed out reading.
Pins or pegs may be a regionalism. I would say pegs for max. The speedometers in older vehicles used to have an actual peg or pin at the very maximum reading to keep the needle from going past.
I’ve seen/used the variant “pins the needle on the whatevermeter”.
That is, the needle/pointer on the meter dial is pinned to the maximum value.
So you “ping the meter” for a detectable but not extreme reading, and you either “peg the meter” or “pin the needle” for an over-the-top reading.
Was this question inspired by the current GQ thread Organ harvesting? My B.S. meter is pinging.?
I don’t know what make & model of BS meter you all have, or where you got yours, but the way mine works is, it pings whenever I read or hear something that shouldn’t be accepted uncritically, that needs to be checked out as possible BS. For those of you who have a needle-type, analog BS meter, how does it work? Does the needle point to the degree of BS, or the likelihood of BS, or what?
Same here. In older dashboard instruments (for instance) the indicator was prevented from going any further in its maximum direction by a little peg. I guess other areas of the country would refer to that as a pin, so pin is close in that sense.
Though not asked for, a similar expression is “red lining” due to the red coloration on such gauges as tachometers, where an engine causing the needle to go into the red area was in danger of blowing or at least doing itself damage.
I think the OP misheard “pings” as “pins” at some time, and started to use the latter, inventing a rationalization for it. He may not be the only one, though.