And the answer is not Captain Ahab.

At lunch today one of the fellows was talking about pouring a concrete wall in a basement/crawl space conversion. He started asking our opinion about how to build a whaler. I said "what's a whaler?" I knew it was some sort of a piece of wood related to the formwork but was not sure exactly what he was talking about.

One of the other fellows started laughing loudly at me because I asked what a Whaler was....I turned to him and said "F you and the horse you rode in on, I would never laugh at you because you don't know something."

(He's an Engineer so he and I often rub a little bit because of the age old Architect/Engineer rivalry.) He said didn't they teach you that in Architecture school? I said no did they teach you that in Engineering school? He said he couldn't remember, he probably learned it when he was a kid because his daddy owned the local concrete plant.

Then I just sat back and fumed a while, while he continued talking to the first fellow. In a few minutes he said to him "now is a whaler a vertical or horizontal board?" (Ahah!) I said "you're a real piece of work, you laugh at me and you don't know what a whaler is yourself!"

Vindicated I got to laugh a bit myself. The rest of the lunch was enjoyable.

I detest degrading another person for a laugh....not least if it is me!

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.