swamper
n.— «The man killed at an oil rig site in west central Alberta yesterday was a second year apprentice who had only been working for the company three months, say family.…He was what the industry calls a swamper, “the right hand man of the driver,” said Rocky Mountain House RCMP Cpl. Alex Courtorielle. The pair were dismantling the rig and preparing for a move at the time of the accident. The swamper’s job is to hook-up whatever the truck needs to haul.» —“Dead man on the job only 3 months” by Elise Stolte Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada) Mar. 21, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
You must log in to post a comment.
Up Your Alley (episode #1504) 07/30/2018: Book recommendations, including a collection of short stories inspired by dictionaries, and a techno-thriller for teens. Or, how about novels with an upbeat message? Publishers... [more]
Piping Hot (episode #1503) 07/23/2018: The game of baseball has alway inspired colorful commentary. Sometimes that means using familiar words in unfamiliar ways. The word stuff, for example, can refer... [more]
Mimeographs and Dittos (episode #1502) 06/24/2018: In this episode: How colors got their names, and a strange way to write. The terms blue and orange arrived in English via French, so... [more]
Spicy Jambalaya 06/18/2018: Teen slang from the South, and food words that are tricky to pronounce. • High schoolers in Huntsville, Alabama, told Martha and Grant about their... [more]
Chopped Liver 06/10/2018: There's a proverb that goes "beloved children have many names." At least, that's true when it comes to the names we give our pets. "Fluffy"... [more]
Also, in forestry terms in the US, a swamper is the person who assists a chainsaw operator. Typically the swamper will carry gas and oil for the saw and will clear out cut vegetation as the chainsaw operator cuts it. Very common in the wildland firefighting world.