Cement Shoes
Cement Shoes
(OP)
A long-running peeve of mine is people using cement when concrete is meant. My wife does it to this day, though I have long since stopped correcting her (homefront security issues).
Join me in ridding the world of the lamentable misuse of cement.
Join me in ridding the world of the lamentable misuse of cement.





RE: Cement Shoes
David
RE: Cement Shoes
RE: Cement Shoes
RE: Cement Shoes
RE: Cement Shoes
As a ME who has had some real knots pounded on my head by Civil Engineers, I have learned that cement/concrete is not the only burr under the saddle of civils.
What about the difference between "soil" and "dirt". (As a ME, it all looks like dirt to me.)
What about beam and column? As long as it holds the load up, I don't care what it is called, but the Civils around me sure do.
It is kind of like cussing in front of one's mother. (not permitted in my generation) I can say the correct terms when in the presence of Civils to keep from riling them up, but when I get back into my subculture of ME's, it is cement, dirt, and everything is a beam, some of them are just vertical.
As for wives, mine drives me nuts when she insists on referring to pulling the "string" to start the lawn mower, and not the "rope." How crass, but for any woman who will mow the lawn you do not hear me complaining to her about her terminology. When the starting is hard, I go out and pull the "string" for her.
rmw
RE: Cement Shoes
RE: Cement Shoes
cup half full- when pouring
cup half empty- while drinking
there is always a reason behind the words.
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RE: Cement Shoes
RE: Cement Shoes
I assume from your tone, you are not one of the mechanical engineers who gets their knickers in a twist about the difference between screws and bolts (which got a thread all of its own)? What about motors and engines? (Just teasing!)
As a structural / civil engineer, my quick definitions are:
A beam is an element which predominantly carries transverse loads by bending and shear; most commonly a horizontal or near-horizontal member.
A column is an element that carries loads predominately in axial compression; most commonly a vertical member.
A beam-column carries its loads by a combination of bending and axial behaviour.
RE: Cement Shoes
But, I almost got a headache reading your explanation of the beam/column difference. I had forgotten I knew some of those words. Too much information. I do know enough to keep myself from getting laughed at when working on a project that requires structural discussions. Some of those fancy heat exchangers I work on rest on beams supported by columns buried in the (was it cement, or concrete?)
To add fuel to the discussion, what about someone who has a pump that won't pump enough pressure, (when they mean volume, which means that the pressure is falling off.)
rmw
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Bung
Life is non-linear...
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Off topic, but could not resist dropping it here.
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I was always told that houses are built but engineers construct.
Concrete is cast but water is poured.
Or is that too pendantic?
Stephen A
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The typical usage for placing concrete in my part of the country (SE) is pour. Also used as a noun (We have a pour scheduled this afternoon).
My first thought when hearing cast is fishing, as in casting a line. Cast is used around here when referring to concrete that is to be differentiated from precast: cast in place. But I have seen poured in place as well.
Are you suggesting that only a pure liquid can be poured? An interesting question. Is it the substance that is being poured that defines "pouring" or the flowing of the substance? I tend to think the latter.
RE: Cement Shoes
And for rmw, it's all dirt unless you're a geotechnical engineer or need it to support your foundation.
Regards.
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Mud = mortar or cement.
JMW
www.viscoanalyser.com
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RE: Cement Shoes
I was driving by a jobsite one day with a co-worker who used to lay brick. He said, after we drove by, that there was a "hog in that wall," meaning that it was bowed out of plane. I looked it up later and one of the informal meanings was, to cause the back to arch like that of a hog, or some such.
Masons have a rich vocabulary.
RE: Cement Shoes
In my area, if concrete is to be poured, the concrete is no good-contains too much water. "Placing concrete" is preferred.
Buy a dictionary, keep it nearby and USE it. Webster's New World Dictionary of American English is recommended, and Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.
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The hull of a ship sags between waves and hogs over a wave. I believe that is because it is like a hog going over a fence.
jeff
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Melts can be poured. Every thing is cast once even if its wrought. (or forged).
Steel comes in coils, toilet paper comes in rolls.
iron is not steel; steel is not iron
All metals are crystals already. (cept the newfangled amorphous alloys)
Metals dont have molecules.
Nick
I love materials science!
RE: Cement Shoes
RE: Cement Shoes
In decreasing structure size, metals have:
bulk > crystals > atoms > protons + neutrons + electrons > quarks (for protons and neutrons only)
Regards,
Cory
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RE: Cement Shoes
TTFN