When people who don’t know about ‘little airplanes’ talk about ‘little airplanes’, it’s not uncommon for them to call them ‘Piper Cubs’ (or ‘Pipercubs’) or ‘Cessnas’. To them ‘Piper Cub’ or ‘Cessna’ is the generic term for ‘little airplane’. The former name has been supplanted by the latter, as most people haven’t seen an actual Cub.
A large truck (a ‘big rig’, ‘tractor-trailer’, ‘semi’, or for you people with the steering wheel on the right side, ‘articulated lorry’) is often called a ‘Mac truck’. I used to see Macs when I was a kid in the early-'70s, and I still see the occasional one today. But mostly I see Peterbilts (How’s yours? ) and some Kenworths. I’ve heard two different news stories recently where a witness tom something-or-other described the thing as a ‘Mac truck’. It seems a little dated since, at least in this part of the country, Macs are few and far between. (I also hear them called ‘eighteen-wheelers’. Sometimes I’ll count the wheels when I’m stuck in traffic, and I come up with 20 or 22 wheels.)
We all know about ‘Xerox’ (though mostly I hear people say ‘photocopy’ or just ‘copy’), ‘Band Aid’, and ‘Kleenex’. But these seem different because the number of players in their markets were comparatively fewer. With ‘Mac truck’ or ‘Piper Cub’ it strikes me more like someone calling all cars ‘Fords’, or at least all Japanese cars ‘Datsuns’ (chosen because, like the Piper Cub, you don’t see to many of those).
Actually, a Mack truck - they are still reasonably common. (Macs are really quite common, though rarely seen rolling down a highway.)
The typical count goes like this:
On the tractor: 2 steerable wheels plus two axles each with 4 wheels = 10 wheels
On the semi-trailer: two axles each with 4 wheels = 8 wheels
Total = 18 wheels
Some tractors have a 4th axle. It’s located in front of the forward drive axle. It’s not a powered axle and can be hydraulically raised off the ground. It may or may not have brakes. It’s there for weight.
In the US, for a standard big rig, the gross weight limit is 80,000 lbs; 12K on the steering axle, 34K for the pair of drives, and 34K for the tandems (trailer axles). The manufacturer rates axles at 20,K lbs, but safety factors are nice. I imagine for an extra axle near the drives, you might be permitted more weight up there. I don’t know how that would effect your max permitted gross. You might need to pay for an Overweight Permit.
Some flatbed trailers have an extra axle on the back that flips down. And I’ve seen box and dump body trailers with a 3rd axle. It’s all about dividing the weight between the axles, keeping legal, and therefore avoiding overweight fines.
I’ve seen heavy hauler rigs with 22 axles! All sorts of dollies (aka “jeeps”) in front of and behind the actual trailer that carried the load. I thought the icing on the cake was the final dolly. Just one axle, but mounted on top was an air compressor to power the air suspension and brakes that the tractors air system couldn’t handle.
When I think of “Mack truck”, I think of dump truck, trash, or a fire truck more than an 18-wheeler.
BTW, many of the traditional 18-wheelers are now 14 or 10 wheelers, with the pairs of wheels on the back of the cab &/or the trailer being replaced by one, wider tire. It’s not quite as wide as two tires, but ends up being (roughly) the same amount amount of rubber on the road & much less wasted rubber (only one set of sidewalls instead of two), & therefore much less cost when you have a whole fleet of trucks.
Take me for a ride in your Mack truck.
Take me for a ride in your truck, Mack.
Take me for a ride,
Take me for a ride,
Take me for a ride in your Mack truck.
Mack.
Around here it was a “Dipsey Dumpster” or just a “Dipsey” until the late 70’s when “dumpster” took over.
Any rotary cutting/sanding tool is a “Dremel” also a verb “to Dremel” something is the cutting equivalent of “Duct it.”
In some Eastern states (Michigan also springs to mind) there is a lbs per axel limit to protect the road surfaces and bridges. The extra friction has a terrible effect on diesel mileage though, so many trucks, especially large dump trucks, will have an extra axel or two that can be raised or lowered as required by local law/statute, etc.
Tylenol is a common referent for acetaminophen, but did you know that “aspirin” was a brand name in the beginning?
Coffee-mate is also used to refer to any old fake creamer around here.
You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone that would call a reciprocating saw anything other than a Sawzall. Sawzall is the one Milwaukee Brand makes. The only time I really hear “reciprocating saw” is on TV when they’re going out of their way not to use brand names.
Maybe that’s regional, 'round here it’s almost always called drywall.
) and some Kenworths. I’ve heard two different news stories recently where a witness tom something-or-other described the thing as a ‘Mac truck’. It seems a little dated since, at least in this part of the country, Macs are few and far between. (I also hear them called ‘eighteen-wheelers’. Sometimes I’ll count the wheels when I’m stuck in traffic, and I come up with 20 or 22 wheels.)