# Question for non-Americans? Word for "jacknife"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2019, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898 "2019-02-20T15:24:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/1 "2019-02-20T15:24:54Z")
In the US when we have a semi truck and trailer get into a locked position like shown [HERE](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=E8EE4EE466DA3F71EA0119A49F471FC2B404B082&thid=OIP.-zunh_9N02ELJsjFFuED1AHaDq&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdelawarefreenews.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F06%2FJackknifed-tractor-trailer-I-495.jpg&exph=445&expw=900&q=jacknife+truck&selectedindex=16&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2), we say it is “jackknifed”. Because it resembles a folding pocket knife called a [jacknife](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&id=E25F85AEE6D609A5D2AEE62DFE1284116055C95D&thid=OIP.OuHIYV9_Bu9QGEt2G-H-8wHaFx&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.wisegeek.com%2Ffold-in-pocket-knife.jpg&exph=779&expw=1000&q=jacknife&selectedindex=0&ajaxhist=0&vt=0&eim=1,2). So what word is used in other countries? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/2 "2019-02-20T15:59:01Z")
The same although it is often misused in the press. They tend to describe any lorry that has skidded and slewed across the road as a ‘jacknifed juggernaut’, even if it is not articulated. I imagine that the word and this use of it are American imports. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/3 "2019-02-20T16:45:20Z")
Is the term jacknife (for the knife) particular to the US? My dictionary dates it to 1711. I wonder if we will hear from **Jackknifed Juggernaut** on this thread. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/4 "2019-02-20T17:19:18Z")
[Etymology Online](https://www.etymonline.com/word/jack-knife#etymonline_v_1625) says the origin is “probably American English”. Interestingly, by 1776 it was used as a verb meaning “to stab”. The truck accident sense appeared in 1949. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/5 "2019-02-20T17:27:13Z")
They use the same term in [Australia](https://www.news.com.au/national/dashcam-footage-truck-jackknife-after-hitting-fallen-tree-at-carlisle-river-in-victoria/news-story/5049d71cd93212cbf9a7ea64d5cc5f4e) apparently. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/6 "2019-02-20T17:32:08Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > The truck accident sense appeared in 1949. I doubt if there were many, if any, articulated vehicles in the UK at that time,and that we probably didn’t start borrowing it until the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![polar\_bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@polar\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polar_bear)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/7 "2019-02-20T21:08:29Z")
In Dutch it is “geschaard”. Scissored. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/8 "2019-02-20T21:11:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > They use the same term in [Australia](https://www.news.com.au/national/dashcam-footage-truck-jackknife-after-hitting-fallen-tree-at-carlisle-river-in-victoria/news-story/5049d71cd93212cbf9a7ea64d5cc5f4e) apparently. Yeah, pretty much. The object itself, I would probably call a clasp knife. But nobody would say “the truck clasp-knifed across the road” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/9 "2019-02-20T21:13:43Z")
> [@polar\_bear](#): > > In Dutch it is “geschaard”. Scissored. In English, scissoring is reserved for… something else. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/10 "2019-02-20T21:36:04Z")
In Norwegian we’re more focused on how it got there than what it looks like in the end. In an accident like that the conveyance is described as having gotten a “throw/dangle” (sleng). If it’s the result of a bad job backing up, we say the driver “crossed” the trailer. (tverre) Both can also be described as being scissored, like in Dutch. ---
**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/11 "2019-02-20T22:05:23Z")
I think the Spanish, when describing a lorry jackknifed, is “plegarse”. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2019, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/12 "2019-02-20T23:04:53Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I doubt if there were many, if any, articulated vehicles in the UK at that time,and that we probably didn’t start borrowing it until the 1960s. I can’t put a number to it, but there were actually more registered lorries in 1950 than there are now and it seems that a good many were either articulated or towing trailers with an ‘A’ frame. Of course, they were much smaller than today’s. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/13 "2019-02-21T01:18:37Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > I doubt if there were many, if any, articulated vehicles in the UK at that time,and that we probably didn’t start borrowing it until the 1960s. Before articulated lorries came along the verb _jackknife_ was used with respect to, e.g, carts drawn by teams of horses, which can be jackknifed by a shart turn if (as is common) there is a hinge between the shaft-and-yoke assembly to which the horses are harnessed and the cart behind. The OED has cites back to 1886. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/14 "2019-02-21T03:44:48Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > The same although it is often misused in the press. They tend to describe any lorry that has skidded and slewed across the road as a ‘jacknifed juggernaut’, even if it is not articulated. I imagine that the word and this use of it are American imports. They’re probably making a reference to _Airbag_ by **Radiohead** , which features the phrase prominently in the lyrics. It’s very well known in the UK, enough so that most people would get the reference. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/15 "2019-02-21T03:54:44Z")
In Japanese it’s called (jack knife phenomenon), obviated borrowed from English ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/16 "2019-02-21T05:50:15Z")
Perhaps not surprisingly, the term used in Canada for a jacknifed truck, is “jacknifed truck.” I learned to drive a semi years ago, and I remember my instructor telling me how to get out of a jacknife, should things seem to be heading that way. We also call folding pocketknives “jacknives,” so it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/17 "2019-02-21T06:02:14Z")
> [@bardos](#): > > I think the Spanish, when describing a lorry jackknifed, is “plegarse”. In Spain the action itself is _dar (un) latigazo_; “to give a whip lash”, “whiplash”. The verb gets conjugated as for any other situation, a truck that has jacknifed _ha dado latigazo_. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/18 "2019-02-21T06:26:14Z")
It’s “jackknifed” in South Africa. Even though we call the actual knife a pocket knife or pen knife. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/19 "2019-02-21T07:44:52Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > In Japanese it’s called (jack knife phenomenon), obviated borrowed from English Damn autocorrect and not checking. “obviously” ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2019, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898/20 "2019-02-21T10:41:24Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > ?..I wonder if we will hear from **Jackknifed Juggernaut** on this thread. It definitely caught my eye. :). For the record, mine came from the Radiohead song. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-non-americans-word-for-jacknife/829898.md?page=2)