# Parking Lot Vocabulary Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692 "2005-09-15T00:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/1 "2005-09-15T00:24:06Z")
Those concrete slabs you sometimes see at the end of parking spaces - do they have a name? Curb? Stop? Bump? What are those things called? ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/2 "2005-09-15T01:03:26Z")
Are you talking about parking blocks? ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/3 "2005-09-15T01:35:37Z")
[wheel stops](http://www.steps-plus.com/parking.htm) ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/4 "2005-09-15T01:43:00Z")
deeleewhackers. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/5 "2005-09-15T01:44:08Z")
Oops. Hit post too soon. Actually, I always thought they were called curbs. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/6 "2005-09-15T01:55:13Z")
“Expensive Car Repairs”. What? ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/7 "2005-09-15T14:13:10Z")
Well, based on \*\*tremorviolet’s \*\* cite, the technical name is apparently “chocks” - but deleewhackers is good too. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/8 "2005-09-15T16:47:42Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#): > > Well, based on \*\*tremorviolet’s \*\* cite, the technical name is apparently “chocks” - but deleewhackers is good too. Thanks! Well, I’d never heard “chocks” until I found that site. In this part of the country, we say “wheel stops” (BTW, I’m civil engineer). I suspect “chocks” is a yankee thing… ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/9 "2005-09-15T17:03:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **tremorviolet** : > In this part of the country, we say “wheel stops” Well, if we’re going to name things based on what we \*call \* them, in my family they’re “them concrete thingys” although “expensive car repairs” would be equally valid. I don’t know about yankee, though. I think “chocks” and “wheel stops” both probably come from the early days of aviation. ---
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/10 "2005-09-15T18:06:04Z")
you mean they aren’t pigs? I’d heard 'em called that. Wheelstops it is, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Just1Lurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c0e974/32.png) [@Just1Lurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just1Lurk)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/11 "2005-09-15T19:34:23Z")
Apparently, the name differs by region: “Curbs” on the west coast, “Wheel Stops” in the Southwest, “Parking Blocks” from wherever \*\*E-Diddy’s \*\* from, and “Pigs” from wherever **xbuckeye’s** from (that wouldn’t be Ohio by any chance would it, **xbuckeye**? This will really come in handy if I ever decide to write a book called, “The Adventures of Charlie Chocks, Cross-Country Parking Lot Detective.” ---
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/12 "2005-09-15T22:33:49Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#): > > that wouldn’t be Ohio by any chance would it, **xbuckeye**? I honestly don’t know where I picked it up…but Ohio seems likely, since I never had another name for them. But then again…how often do you talk about wheelstops? ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/13 "2005-09-15T23:18:18Z")
> [@Just1Lurk](#): > > Apparently, the name differs by region: “Curbs” on the west coast, “Wheel Stops” in the Southwest, “Parking Blocks” from wherever \*\*E-Diddy’s \*\* from, and “Pigs” from wherever **xbuckeye’s** from (that wouldn’t be Ohio by any chance would it, **xbuckeye**? > > This will really come in handy if I ever decide to write a book called, “The Adventures of Charlie Chocks, Cross-Country Parking Lot Detective.” Perhaps xbuckeye is from Northern Ohio. I think that term would elude anyone from Southwest Ohio. Although its not hard to imagine that many things elude us. ‘Chocks’ sounds more correct than my previous entry of ‘blocks’. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/14 "2005-09-16T13:36:21Z")
Airdam crushers. Pull through preventers. Plow inhibitors. Take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/15 "2005-09-16T14:02:19Z")
> [@tremorviolet](#): > > Well, I’d never heard “chocks” until I found that site. In this part of the country, we say “wheel stops” (BTW, I’m civil engineer). I suspect “chocks” is a yankee thing… Nah, you don’t get any more yankee than Massachusetts, and we call 'em wheelstops here. And I also work for a civil engineering firm and we specify them a lot. Too much, IMHO; they really aren’t appropriate where there are snow plows. They are made of precast concrete, and when a plow hits them, eventually the salt and ice start to spall them. Or else the plows lift them up and carry them along. We have a lot of granite here in New England, and it makes great curbing. The initial capital cost is steep, but it lasts forever. And, it does a lot less damage to cars. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parking-lot-vocabulary-question/321692/16 "2005-09-16T17:26:29Z")
Speedbumps? (I have a big truck and can ignore a lot of obsticles.)