Did you ever use the term 'snow machine' before the Palins came on the scene?

[Stinky The Clown]

Did you ever use the term 'box truck' before the DC sniper rampage?



Did you ever use the term 'box cutter' before 9/11?



I always used 'snowmobile', metro van, and razor knife.

How about you?

It seems that some things, often misnomers uttered by someone in the spotlight, suddenly gains currency even when it is undeserving.

Yeah .... small and trivial, but a part of how propaganda gets propagated. Leading sheeple by their noses.

When I was in the Navy, I balked at words like 'deck' bulkhead' 'overhead' and 'ladder' when I wasn't actually on a ship.

[That Is Quite Enough]

1. I know I've always called them boxcutters.

Snow machines...not so much. But I also refer to the vehicles as box trucks.

[SharonAnn]

14. Snowmobiles, parcel vans, and utility knives.

Snow machine meant something that made snow and would typically be found at a ski resort, especially in a climate with marginally snowy winters.

[jberryhill]

I first thought he raced a snow grooming machine or something...

AKA a Snow Cat.

So, when they say "snow machine", they mean "snowmobile"?

[NEDem]

2. never heard 'snow machine' until they came along

the other two I have always used.

I'll bet its a regional thing.

[Book Lover]

3. I've never said snow machine or snowmobile

Truck, not box van.

But yes, box cutter always. Maybe these are regionalisms, and not misnomers?

[BuyingThyme]

4. Yes, it's what they use to make snow at ski resorts.

Yes, because box trucks are boxy.

Utility knife.

[hobbit709]

5. I thought a snow machine was one of those artificial snow makers

and a snowmobile was one of those things you rode instead of a dogsled.

[silverojo]

25. You're right.

Trust Alaska's ice rednecks not to know the difference.

[WindRiverMan]

6. It is an Alaskan thing.

Calling them a "snowmobile" is like calling a coyote (ki - yote) a Ki-yo-teee out west.

[dgibby]

12. Yeah, but no matter how you pronounce it,

if you wake up with Sarah in your bed, you still have to chew your arm off!

[cali]

36. actually, it's not solely an Alaska thing. I've heard them called

snow machines for years now here in northern vt- as well as snowmobile.
most of those into it call them snow machines.

[mile18blister]

7. Boxcutter yes.

But a snow machine is what ski resorts use to cover the ground when there isn't enough snowfall. :shrug:

[Blue_In_AK]

22. That's a snowmaker. n/t

[begin_within]

8. I have never used the term "psycho bitch from hell" until now.

[gateley]

9. Snow machine was what I called those machines that make fake snow.

Called these things a snomobile.

Truck

X-Acto (regardless of the size or purpose)

[dflprincess]

10. I've never heard boxcutters called anything else

but I worked in a grocery store in high school & college (a long time ago) and that's what we called them.

Never heard "snow macnine" I think everyone in Minnesota says "snow mobile" and the "box truck" would just be a truck.

[FarCenter]

11. "Snow machine" goes with the secret AIP handshake

"Snowmobile", "truck", and "utility knife".

[juno jones]

13. Always called them "snowmobiles" in IL,

"Snowmachines" is just so elitist.

[phaseolus]

15. I've heard "snowgo"

...from somebody in an online community for hand tool woodworkers I used to frequent, a man living in a remote part of Alaska along the Yukon river, in pretty much the center of the state.

I always called that knife a "utility knife" -- "box cutters" to me always were the cheap sheet metal stampings that held a single-edged razor blade:

[Stinky The Clown]

19. Yeah, that's exactly what I always called a box cutter ....

.... that cheap stamped metal thing. What I showed in the OP was, to me, either a razor knife or a utility knife.

As someone said upthread ...... probably regional things.

[ferrferr]

16. I worked for Amazon, it's always been box cutter...

Snow mobile, and I'd have called it a moving truck more than likely :p

[IDemo]

17. Most snowmobile owners I know use both terms,

and I have always used the term 'box knife'. 'Delivery truck' would be my choice for #2.

[hay rick]

18. In Jersey...

It's snowmobile and utility knife. I'd call the one pictured a box truck but I think you might get some variation on that.

[jberryhill]

20. That's a Utility Knife, not a Box Cutter

A box cutter is one of these:

[Blue_In_AK]

21. That's what they've ALWAYS been called up here.

"Snowmobile" sounds so sissy. :rofl:

Really, NO ONE calls it a snowmobile.

[laconicsax]

23. What are you even talking about?

[Cleita]

24. Gotta say I used the word box cutter back in 1980 when

I worked in a job that required slicing open boxes to release the contents of the boxes for resale. That was the word we used.

[silverojo]

26. I never heard "metro van"...is that an Eastern thing?

And I've never heard a box cutter referred to as a razor knife. I've only heard it called a carton cutter, box cutter, or a utility knife. I guess I learned something new today...something Sarah Palin can't say, LOL!

Here's more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_knife

[lithiumbomb]

27. i think you might be looking at this too deeply

America is a big place, English is a screwy language. We have regional dialects.

I would call the first item a snowmobile. I've never heard the term snow machine, but if that's what Alaskans call them, then that's what they call them.

The second I would call a box truck, a panel truck, or cargo van. I've seen the term "metro van" or similar painted on rental trucks intended for urban usage, but I've interpreted that as more of a branding than any sort of proper name for a type of vehicle. (Ie: A Ryder Metro Van).

The third item I would call a utility knife. I would call this a box cutter:

[polly7]

28. yes

we've used the term snowmachine for a long time.

[johnaries]

29. I used to stock groceries and used box cutters. But snow machines

were the machines they used in Gatlinburg to make fake snow for the ski trails.

[Hekate]

30. Snowmobile, delivery truck/van, box cutter. I've never seen a snowmobile, but I've opened boxes...

... with that sharp doohickey plenty of times.

I think these are regionalisms.

Hekate

[Canuckistanian]

31. "Snow machine" is fairly common here in Canada

"Snowmobile" sounds so formal to me.

And I'm so old I can remember when we all called them "Skidoos" (regardless of what company made them).

[Posteritatis]

35. Old? I was born in the eighties and they called them Skidoos where I lived (nt)

[bridgit]

32. Um, well, no; I live in California's Cent Valley and the only 'snow machines' we use...

are to groom our slopes up in the Sierra's when the snow is low :(

[MrScorpio]

33. In Michigan, we call them SNOWMOBILES!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

38. Same here in NY and in fact, I have never heard them called snow machines..ie tv, movies,books, etc.

[Kitty Herder]

34. Yes, but only in Alaska. I had to have the term explained to me when I first moved there because I

thought for a moment that they meant the machines used to make snow at ski resorts.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

37. LOL! When I heard he raced snow machines, I thought..why do they need snowmaking machines in Alaska?

[DRoseDARs]

39. Snow machine? Yes, but in reference to snow-making, not recreational vehicles.

All the ski resorts in and around Lake Tahoe have used them either when Mother Nature falls short in snowfall or the resorts want to extend the ski season a little longer.

"Box truck" = Delivery truck (Lorry, if I'm feeling British ;) )
"Box cutter" = Carpet knife or Utility knife
"Snow machine" = Snow(-making) machine
"Snowmobile" = Snowmobile

[slampoet]

40. A Snow Machine to me is used to make Snow on Ski slopes at night when it is cold.

[Marrah_G]

41. No, Yes, Yes