New word - dogman

[yelnats]

I was surprised when it wasn't accepted...

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/dogman

dogman
noun plural -men
Australian: a person who directs the operation of a crane whilst riding on an object being lifted by it.

I've known it almost forever. I'll accept it may be rare if it's just Australian. And I haven't seen one for a while; may not be good OH&S.

[ensiform]

I'm an American with a British father, and I like to think I have a pretty extensive vocabulary.  I've never heard this term.

[yelnats]

It looks like there are still a lot of jobs for dogmen, including training courses...

Dogman search

Maybe a high attrition rate!

[Ozzyjack]

It looks like there are still a lot of jobs for dogmen, including training courses...

Dogman search

Maybe a high attrition rate!

Hi Yelnats,

I made a small change to your reference.  It should work now in the quote above.
.

[anonsi]

That's not a job I would ever want.

[Ozzyjack]

I’m with you, Anonsi, I get vertigo on the bottom rung of a ladder.   

[TRex]

There was a department store which enclosed an alleyway and placed open-air escalators there between each storey. I was okay on the lowest one, a bit uneasy on the next one, and on the verge of panic on the third one. I went to the older, narrower escalators in the older part of the building which were completely enclosed to go higher. I could never go out on this! Riding on material being moved by a crane, out in the open, not a chance!

I've never heard of dogman, but when I went to a Reverse Dictionary and entered person who directs the operation of a crane whilst riding on an object being lifted by it, dogman was the first suggestion. The OED labels it Austral. and New Zealand, but none of the other suggestions from the Reverse Dictionary seem appropriate. I wonder what the equivalent is in the rest of the English-speaking world?

[anonsi]

I wonder what the equivalent is in the rest of the English-speaking world?

I think the rest of the English-speaking world calls them crazy.

Though in all honesty, when I looked it up, it seems that there are all sorts of safety regulations in place today that make this job slightly less risky. There are man or personnel baskets to hoist people up by crane. There are also safety harnesses and other equipment available. One term I came across for this job was manrider or man-rider.

[yelnats]

Hi Yelnats,

I made a small change to your reference.  It should work now in the quote above.

Thanks Ozzyjack. I've fixed my quote. This  code uses a different format to regular html and I used quotes for the url. I'll try to remember for next time.

[Hobbit]

I’m with you, Anonsi, I get vertigo on the bottom rung of a ladder.   

Me too!  I get petrified if I'm more than a couple of feet off the ground.
My cousin has a big poster of this image on the wall going up the stairs.  Every time I look at it it makes my tummy do a somersault
Sorry I've digressed slightly - nothing to do with dogman!

[Linda]

That poster has always made me feel faint - how on earth ....?

[birdy]

I read something about that picture recently.  Apparently it, and a couple of related ones, were all staged for the benefit of photographers, I think doing publicity for the building.  But if you want to see lots of scary images, just google "empire state building workers photos." Amazingly, only five men died during the construction of the building.

There is another photo showing workers taking a break and reading newspapers on a girder far above the ground - while building Rockefeller Center.  It was a publicity photo: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2206050/The-picture-proves-iconic-photograph-workers-eating-lunch-Rockefeller-beam-publicity-stunt.html

[mkenuk]

Unfortunately, the clip in question does not seem to be available on YouTube, so I haven't been able to post it, but I remember the scene in the TV series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (Series III - A Bridge Too Far, Episode 5) where Oz (Jimmy Nail) has to walk along a girder at mind-numbing heights to do some negotiating.
Obviously staged for the cameras, but still not easy to watch for anyone, like me, who suffers from vertigo!

[Alan W]

Dogman, with this crane-related meaning, is in the online Oxford and Collins dictionaries and in Wiktionary. Merriam-Webster has the word, but meaning a kennelman, or a dog fancier or specialist. Wiktionary has dog-related meanings too.

In future dogman and dogmen will be accepted as rare words.

The earliest citation the OED has for the Australian/New Zealand sense of the word is from 1948, but it's not hard to find earlier examples in the Australian National Library's Trove repository of digitised newspapers. For example a small item headed "Dogman Electrocuted" appeared in the Daily Telegraph (Sydney) in 1914.

[yelnats]

Thank you Alan. With today's OH&S, in the picture he probably should be wearing a mask.