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Blivet?

Blivet?

(OP)
Several people I work with use the word "blivet" (pronounced with a short i) when referring to a cylinder of metal, wood, foam, etc.  I have always used the word "billet" instead.  I can't find "blivet" in a dictionary, and I'm perplexed as to why anyone would use blivet when billet seems to be correct and is easier to pronounce.

Has anyone run into this word before, and if so, does it have a meaning that distinguishes it from the more common (in my experience) billet?

RE: Blivet?

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=blivet

I like their definition: Ten pounds of manure in a five pound bag

It also describes it as "any random object of unknown purpose".

So saying "pass me that blivet" might just mean "pass me that whatchamacallit."

RE: Blivet?

I really liked two of the other uses described by that site:

3. A tool that has been hacked over by so many incompetent
programmers that it has become an unmaintainable tissue of
hacks.

4. An out-of-control but unkillable development effort.


They seem to describe all those spreadsheets, VB programs and Matlab scripts that pass from engineer to engineer, long after anyone knows what they were originally written for and by whom.

RE: Blivet?

Blivet almost works in place of [/i]billet[/i] if it is used in the context of forming or forging.  Consider taking a large, wide piece and forming it bu forcing it through an opening that is too small...

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