My ex-Coastie brother-in-law, I’m sure, has used this question to confound his students, too. Why am I not surprised that a military branch had to write this down in a procedure!
Yeah, he’s messin’ with ya…
Well in defense of the Chief, If you don’t know the term, you haven’t read the manual. If you haven’t read the manual, well . . . promotion goes to those that read the manuals.
well I had to flop a wrench this afternoon. stupid steering damper…
I’ve never heard that “flop” term, but it makes sense. A more interesting question I would ask someone who I wanted to judge their engineering skills is: what is it about the wrench design that makes flopping the wrench useful?
Military terminology, reminds me one time I worked with a fellow who was ex-Navy, not an admiral but something pretty high up in the command, and he gave me a lot of grief whenever I referred to what he called “ships” as “boats”. Like I’d say “Dave, which boat were you on in the Navy?” … he’d reply: “#$#!@$#!@(# … it’s a SHIP, not a boat!!!”, well you know Navy talk … I’d take him out for a beer and he’d quickly forget I called his ship a boat … well, I wasn’t trying to insult him, to me if it floats and you can ride on it, its a boat, right? …
I dated someone in the military one time, she lived on base in a military housing area, and one day she called and said she’d be late because the commander had complained there were too many weeds in the area and before she could leave she had to “de-weed” her lawn … lol …
How is “flopping” a thing? Anybody who’s spent more than 10 minutes using a wrench in their life knows this “trick”
Tsk tsk tsk. Never call a ship a boat or a rifle a gun. Its a mistake only made once. Need I go on?
Officer: “What job did you have before joining the Navy?”
New Recruit: “Flopping hamburgers at McDs.”
Officer: “You’re certainly Navy material!”
I used to “flip” hamburgers but I “flopped” the hash browns.
In the Navy, boats do not float, they sink on purpose only to surface several months later. Ships do not sink, at least not intentionally (except for old decommissioned ships that are made into artificial reefs), and if they do, they do not resurface at a later date.
My Dad taught me this trick way back 50 years ago. When all wrenches were made of rawhide and willow branches.
I don’t remember if he said to flip the wrench, flop the wrench, reverse the wrench, turn the wrench, or roll her over and take another bite.
Never knew the practice had a name.
Yosemite
Never call a ship a boat
The ex-Navy co-worker explained to me during one of our late-night beer drinking sessions that when you are out in the middle of the ocean, 1000 miles from land, you learn the need to respect the ship, as your life depends upon it. That’s the reason he told me they never refer to it as a “boat”, only as the more respectful term “ship”. Makes sense to me.
I was informed a “boat” is a vessel capable of being stowed aboard a “ship.” (I.e. life boat). I guess that was a bone of contention amongst PT “boat” Captains during WWII.
I always just turned my wrench over.
Please join us next week for the ongoing drama of As The Wrench Turns…
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(sobbing) Mom he told me he was busy flopping with some wench and that’s why he never came home for dinner!
Are you sure it wasn’t a wRench he was flopping?
Oh c’mon mom, who ever heard of flopping a wrench, everybody knows you FLIP a wrench!! I just know he’s cheating on me!
Cue the corny music…
Not that they weren’t very important and effective, but those banged together plywood PT Boats, were certainly not ships. Did they ever reopen the boat works museum in New Orleans after the flood? I always wanted to see it.
With the quality of the current TV, that As the Wench Turns may be a hit. Uh, wrench.
flopping a wench is much more fun, than flopping a wrench…
I did NOT flop that wrench!Back to the “ship vs. boat” discussion…
Submarines are considered “boats,” not “ships.”
Perhaps a lesser known “trick” : when more leverage is needed and space allows, hook the closed end of another wrench over the open end of the wrench that needs more leverage. You can lock them together and really increase your power.