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For people who are confused: A widowmaker is a dead tree that could fall, and kill somebody [in the namesake a probably-male logger]; thereby creating a widow.
by blhack 13y ago
For people who are confused:
A widowmaker is a dead tree that could fall, and kill somebody [in the namesake a probably-male logger]; thereby creating a widow.
- philbarr 13y agoAh - living in the UK I thought that would be some kind of weird spider or snake or something. Thanks for that. We don't have weird dangerous stuff here except for the politicians and bankers.
- jacquesm 13y agoApologies, I spent too much time around loggers. I'd hate to be under a tree that sheds politicians and bankers :)
- Xophmeister 13y agoWe still have trees, here...
- daemin 13y agoIn Australia, and I had the same thought, that 'widowmaker' referred to a spider.
- epochwolf 13y agoOr any number of dangerous mammals. ;)
- timv 13y agoIn Australia here, and I knew exactly what he meant. I guess it just depends on whether you've done much tree-work. (I'm ex-SES in an area with lots of National Parks/State Recreation Areas)
- bmunro 13y agoWidowmaker was also the name used for the hammer drills used in the Australian goldfields. The dust from the drilled rock got into the miners lungs and killed them prematurely.
- ben010783 13y agoWhen talking about watercooled VWs, it refers to this jack: http://www.quickcashauto.com/How-To-Articles/images/Jack.jpg http://www.quickcashauto.com/How-To-Articles/images/Jack.jpg The term seems to be used for all sorts of things.
- mixmax 13y agoI was rather confused since I know more about finance than logging. In finance, "Widowmaker" means one thing: Shorting Japanese Government Bonds (JGB) and inevitably losing money. Because of Japan’s gigantic national debt, and because the Japanese bond rally has gone on so long, investors have called the top in the Japanese bond market for years, only to get impaled. thanks for clearing it up.
- dclowd9901 13y agoNow I've learned two things.
- kefka 13y agoA widowmaker, in the medical sense, is a highly stenotic left main coronary artery. In other words, a heart attack by clogging the arteries that feed the heart blood (not the main pump supply). That's how my dad died last year.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]