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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
here is a nice planter you can get in the form of an "18-wheeler" semi truck, where you can get an idea of the four sets of four wheels under the trailer (plus two in front). you could fill this with little bags of sand and use it for an ashtray at your next poker game. http://www.westernstatue.com/4_planters/P-58.htm
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
I would call this an articulated lorry or more probably nowadays an articulated truck. Usually abreviated to "an artic". The term lorry I would normally use for a non-articulated truck (ie: one with a rigid chassis all the way from front to back), which would be a smaller vehicle but too large to be called a van.
So, a semi-trailer's trailer could not be rolled on its own without the tractor as it has no wheels on the front whereas a full-trailer's trailer has wheels at the front and back. Have I got that right? I don't think we differentiate between these in the UK, but I could well be wrong. Anyone know for sure?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
The defining quality of a semi-trailer
Differing opinion here:
The term for the whole assemblage is tractor-trailer. The tractor is the cab/motor stuff up front that supplies the motive power. The trailer is the part that trails behind (duh!). The diference between a full up trailer and a semi-trailer is that the regler trailer has a full set of functional support wheels, fore and aft. A semi-trailer has only rear wheels, relying on the tractor for front end support during travel. There is a set of vestigal looking supports that can be used when the semi-trailer is sitting around not going anywhere waiting for a tractor but they wouldn't be much use while barreling down the highway. Sometimes the term semi is used to describe the whole thing.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
you could fill this with little bags of sand and use it for an ashtray at your next poker game
Or clobber somebody with it from behind while pretending to be in front - or is it the other way round?
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
A semi-trailer has only rear wheels, relying on the tractor for front end support during travel
Got it! Thanks for the confirmation.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Sometimes the term semi is used to describe the whole thing.
Oh Nitpicker of Nitpickers, no one I know or have known calls it a tractor trailer, while that may be technically correct. For example, when it's bearing down on you on the highway, the first words that come to mind is "Watch out - there's a semi passing us!"
So I submit that there are:
(1) technical definition: the trailer only, with the little legs for resting when it's rig-less (2) practical definition: the whole darn thing, rig/cab, trailer included, even if you find out after it's passed you on a narrow highway and scared the bejeezus out of you that it actually had all the wheels and no little legs
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
Or, as I ponder phrasing it another way, if you were to say "Bean, you may not use the word semi-trailer to refer to the entire truck, for that is technically incorrect" I would be at a loss for another word to fill that linguistic hole in my idiolect. Everyone I know calls the whole kit-and-caboodle a semi-trailer. I would get a blank stare for articulated lorry and a very delayed reaction for tractor trailer.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I'll concede to semi being the most common term for the whole thang, but I don't believe that it's common to call the whole thang a semi-trailer, at least not for those who drive them. My votes for most common terms would be semi and rig. The semi-trailer itself would probably be called a trailer, the semi part being understood. I would think that anyone calling the semi-trailer by that name would be thought to be a little pedantic but not misunderstood. Owner-operaters are typically only going to own the tractor, whatever they might call it. The trailers are fungible.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
at least not for those who drive them
I'm sure that that's where the distinction lies. That's often the case for technical terms in general. It drives my husband crazy, for example, that many people call the part of the computer which houses its brains "the CPU" when he says "It's the case, or the tower, and the CPU's inside!!!!!" and then pouts in frustration. But most people are happy to refer to that whole thing as the CPU, even though there's all sorts of other junk in there.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
The Mexican term for the driver, BTW, seems to be trailero. Any comments on that Connie?
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