# What are those concrete things called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2001, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228 "2001-02-20T16:23:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228/1 "2001-02-20T16:23:26Z")
Is there a name for those long skinny concrete slabs at the front of parking spaces, cunningly designed to rip your front bumper off? There’s got to be a name, but none of my coworkers can think of it. Help, Teeming Millions! ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2001, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228/2 "2001-02-20T16:40:05Z")
“Wheel stops” or “curb blocks.” [Cite.](http://www.chamberlaincontractors.com/curb_blocks.htm) I want you to know that it took me far too long to figure this out, and you are naughty for asking such a question when there is Science waiting to be done. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228/3 "2001-02-21T14:09:41Z")
A quick google search also revealed, ‘concrete bumpers’, ‘concrete wheel bumpers’ and ‘parking bumpers’. I always called them ‘berms’ but that seems to refer to a mound of earth. As far as mundane questions go, this isn’t even top 100 🙂 [When you microwave something small, where on the carousel should you place it?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60788) [What is this hairstyle called?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60804) [Do vegans swallow?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=60647)😃 (I like this one) And thats just on page one today. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2001, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228/4 "2001-02-21T18:23:43Z")
Huh. While I certainly appreciate the answers, I feel like there’s a certain…elegance that’s lacking by the phrase “curb blocks”. I was hoping for a single word that, when spoken, would immediately bring to mind the object. Still, it’s nobody’s fault. Sometimes English just lets us down. Thanks, all! ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228/5 "2001-02-28T22:09:23Z")
But here’s my city’s standard design for [parking lot bumper curbs.](http://issweb.ci.austin.tx.us:5151/~aeservices/spec_detail/stdfiles/sd/439-1.jpg) Don’t ask, I just ran across it. ---
**Author:** ![jb\_farley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jb\_farley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jb_farley)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228/6 "2001-02-28T22:14:56Z")
jersy barriers jb ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228/7 "2001-02-28T22:22:55Z")
I prefer “parking curbs”. A friend of mine always calls them “Sure Stops”, but I believe that’s a brand name. Those curbs don’t rip off my front bumper, but sometimes a part of the undercarriage of my car can get hooked on one of them and I hear a weird noise when I back out. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228/8 "2001-02-28T22:34:00Z")
Ian’t the “Jersey barrier” the taller formed-in-place concrete barrier used on freeways to divide the different directions of traffic? Although there are portable prefab versions used around construction areas, now that I think of it. I always just called those concrete parking-lot things “bumpers”. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228/9 "2001-03-01T03:27:59Z")
BTW, the concrete base you often see on light poles in shopping mall parking lots are called “sonotubes.” I have to know that – I’m rewriting a zoning code. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-those-concrete-things-called/55228/10 "2001-03-01T05:30:20Z")
**elmwood,** I think your misapplying the term “sonotube.” A sonotube is the thick (approx .25 inches) cardboard cylinder-shaped form (they look like the Jolly Green Giant’s toilet paper tube) that they use to cast concrete pilings, pillars and, yes, lampost bases. BTW, I believe “sonotube” is a brand name.