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old hand
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old hand
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I'm amazed that the John Deere sense wouldn't be the first one that comes to mind on hearing the word tractor (at least for a US'n - I never know which way the rest of y'all's gonna jump), and I'm a city boy, born and raised.
I concur with the above, except I would not have used the word amazed. Flabbergasted, dumbfounded or stupefied would come closer to describing my reaction to learning that anyone thinks of anything other than a "John Deere" type of vehicle when they hear the word tractor. That which you call a semi is also so-caled here, but I would tend to think of it simply as a truck, part of a truck-and-trailer unit.
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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yep. tractor. farmers use 'em. John Deere. Massey-Ferguson. International Harvester. Ford. lots of Kubota around these parts.
semi. short for semi-articulated, I believe. 18 wheelers. 10-4 good buddy.
Bobcat. sort of a catch-all name, now. little loader, dozer, sweeper. back-hoe. etc. they make all sorts of attachments for them now.
that little Skidster is cute. never seen anything like that over here in the US. I could use one of those. most people would use a Kubota tractor for the same jobs.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I dunno... I think of Caterpillar first (possibly because they have such a huge presence in Brazil, where I used to live) and John Deere second.
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old hand
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old hand
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Caterpillar has a huge presence everywhere - I have yet to see a small one. <g>
Here, though, that sort of machinery would tend to be called an earthmover, bulldozer, or something similar. Tractors are for farmers, here. Bobcats, on the other hand, are universally used, in the same generified way mentioned above.
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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right, sjm. a Caterpillar would be a bulldozer, and would have tracks, as opposed to tires.
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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i would call the farm thing a tractor, its just not my first frame of reference when i hear tractor.. (in a word association game, if you said tractor, i would say trailer.) i rarely call them semi's, or 18 wheels-- though i know both terms..
likewise, i call my car a wagon (not a station wagon) and that is my first association for that word. a wooden wagon or a conastoga wagon, or a buck board would be 2nd and 3rd meanings for the word.
i drove to Michigan this summer, i noticed even the road side mowers are bigger in Upstate NY, Pennslyvania and Ohio and Michigan than they are in the down state area. there are fewer and fewer farm left on Long Island and in lower NE. I remember seeing many as child, now there are almost none left.. Miles of the Connecticut river valley, once tobacco farms are now strip malls.. Long Island potatoes, like Long Island ducks are rare. there are still some dairy farms, and some new vineyards, and some places that grow corn, but most of LI is suburban, and i can't remember when i last saw a tractor- farm style!
and Yes, catapillars are big earth moving equipment.. i still see that.. but bob cats are much more common in may area.
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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when I hear wagon, I think of my little red wagon that I had as a kid, and have passed on to my own kids... a Radio Flyer, I believe...
ah, those were the days... perpetual blue skies and summer... trees to climb and dirt to dig. still have my tonka's, too...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have yet to see a small one.
Ha! Good one, sjm.
Eyes, if you wouldn't mind saying, do you have a British connection? I've never seen anything like that Skidster. Where is the operator positioned?
The various images of "wagon" made me realize how important context is. If the reference is about cars, then people would know that wagon meant station wagon. My image came from my uncle's farm in Tennessee, when he would haul all kinds of things on the old wooden wagon, which I can barely remember being pulled by his mules, George and Henry. For most of my times there, though, he hitched it up to the tractor--a faded red Massey-Ferguson--and I'd catch a ride on it unless it was loaded with tobacco stalks, for which he would put the sides on it. But in my childhood, if I said I was going to ride my wagon down the hill, it was understood that I meant my Radio Flyer (hi, eta!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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RE: The various images of "wagon" made me realize how important context is--yes, we were discussing donuts, and crullers when Bean threw in "tractor tires"
"tractor tires" to me, are the failed re-treads of tractor-trailers that litter highways! its was the juxtoposition of the words that brought up the first image, as much as the word tractor.
Never having had much contact with tractors, i didn't think about their tires as being special, (i did make the connection in 30 seconds or so.)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear of troy: to quibble a bit, the tires on tractors of tractor-trailers are watched
very closely for wear and safety. You don't see many of those on the shoulder of
the main highways. But the trailers have so many tires that are pushed to the
limit, that they are the ones you see.
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