# Another name for "crotch wood"?



## Bonanza35 (Jan 20, 2011)

Is there another commonly used term for crotch wood or crotch figure? It's just not a flattering term and I get that same puzzled look from every non-woodworker as they try to come up with a clever joke about it.


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

fork of the tree maybe?


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

You could try groin. :blink:

It becomes much worse when describing a rotten piece. :smile:


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## calcnerd (Dec 7, 2012)

mdntrdr said:


> You could try groin. :blink:
> 
> It becomes much worse when describing a rotten piece. :smile:


Spalted crotch wood :laughing:


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## mdntrdr (Dec 22, 2009)

Feathered, Flamed, Highly figured... :smile:


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

I have a big spice rack, like a test tube rack, which uses 1" x 12" pyrex glass test tubes. 14 of them.
The wood is birch. Cut from a fork in the tree, the slabs for both the base and for the tube support
were called "flitch-cut." Does that help?

Plan B: What's the word in Swahili for 'crotch?'


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## NCPaladin (Aug 7, 2010)

I'll have to go with Scott and "feathered"
From the web..._Crotch is a figure that develops when a tree knits a trunk to a branch or two branches together (image 1). It is often referred to as a plume or a feather (image 2). Almost all hardwood trees have crotches although not all crotches are created equal in splendor._

_Now if you had a piece of crotch wood and needed to remove the center you would have to explain why you need to "turn the pith out of it".:laughing:_


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## HLW (Nov 19, 2008)

How about using " the naughty spot" instead of crotch? Be glad you weren't turning a piece of ash.:blink:


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

Explain that woodworkers get excited at the prospect of a slightly rotten, bug infested crotch.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

*What is in a name....*



Bonanza35 said:


> Is there another commonly used term for crotch wood or crotch figure? It's just not a flattering term and I get that same puzzled look from every non-woodworker as they try to come up with a clever joke about it.


Growing up in the UK then moving to the US meant that I used certain words which were common in the UK, but had a different meaning in the US.

Working in an office environment in the late 70's when pencils were still common. I got a snicker when I asked a colleague if the supplies cabinet had any rubbers.

It was common in the UK to hear people calling for their cat to come in "Here pussy...."

A Dutch bakery was trying to sell their product in the UK. It was not selling well. They then found out the problem and started an advertising campaign to explain the product was pronounced as "Booms" bread. Sad that in Holland it was spelled "BUMS".

The word "nuts" can have a very different meaning in the UK, depending on context.

It can be challenging for our words or phrases to not cause a snicker.


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## cuerodoc (Jan 27, 2012)

+1 to what Dave P says:

Ahhhh...that's the beauty of the English language--context, syntax, and regionality. I think that's what makes the language one of the most difficult to learn. :laughing:

Dave H


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Dave P,
I have been watching Wheeler Dealers recently and get a kick out of the way the people on that show talk. I have a buddy that was born in England, but came over here as a youngster. He doesn't have any accent. I always kid him when I watch a show from across the pond. I ask him "when are those guys going to learn to speak english?". He laughs and starts asking me if I ever travelled down south and talked to any of the old time southerners. Jimmy Clewes was doing a demo for our turning club a few years ago and he was explaining some of the terminology that used to get him some funny looks here. It took me about 15 minutes before I could understand him. I have done some work for some British couples locally, and always enjoy talking to them and comparing notes. 
Mike Hawkins


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

firehawkmph said:


> Dave P,
> I have done some work for some British couples locally, and always enjoy talking to them and comparing notes.
> Mike Hawkins


I often think about the comment of Winston Churchill who said, two countries divided by a common language.

:laughing:


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Dave Paine said:


> I often think about the comment of Winston Churchill who said, two countries divided by a common language.
> 
> :laughing:


I can't understand how our version got so different from the original. I actually like the original better. Seems much more so polite and cheery. Watching the shows from the UK, people seem so much happier just in talking.
Mike Hawkins


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

I have been known to cause a Snicker. I have eaten my share of them, too.


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## Woodwart (Dec 11, 2012)

I came to Canada from England, and a few years after I got here, one of my acquaintances asked me why I was always scratchine my, er, well.... I didn't understand him, because in England your 'nut' is your head, and I only had one. I don't think I was, anyway. The guy was a bit of a jerk.


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## TomC (Oct 27, 2008)

I love it at the BS with a piece of wood when I have to "cut the pith out of it".
Tom


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## NCPaladin (Aug 7, 2010)

TomC said:


> I love it at the BS with a piece of wood when I have to "cut the pith out of it".
> Tom


But don't you hate it when the cut is off, either by just a little or by a high amount?
Results in you being "a little pithed off" or "highly pithed off".


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

firehawkmph said:


> I can't understand how our version got so different from the original. I actually like the original better. Seems much more so polite and cheery. Watching the shows from the UK, people seem so much happier just in talking.
> Mike Hawkins


Ye be bloody right about that!


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## duncsuss (Aug 21, 2009)

NCPaladin said:


> Results in you being "a little pithed off" or "highly pithed off".


I've been living in America for 18 years now, but I'd been on enough business trips and holidays (a.k.a. vacations) here to know most of the language variations in advance of that.

One of the oddities is that in Britain, there's a big difference between "being pithed" and "being pithed off" ...


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## ctwiggs1 (Mar 30, 2011)

I suppose now you are going to say you don't like to light up a ****** to stay warm?


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

Well! Pith my frog!


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