terminology and their origins

[NW Mailing List]

We also used "trick" in the military in exactly the same way. Day trick, swing trick, night trick and one trick was off. To make the math work, we worked 6 on 2 off rotating days to swing to night. No idea about origins.

Tom Cosgrove 



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On Wednesday, March 31, 2021 NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
To the turnip master and all others interested:
The term "hooter" as we use it for locomotives has long been somewhat cloaked in mystique and who knows from where. 

That brings me to my conundrum query: what is the origin of the word "trick" as it applies to the railroad and the shift the employee worked. Yes, we all know the other uses of both of these but WHERE, WHEN and WHY were they applied to railroad terminology. I have chased down more empty rabbit holes searching for the origin of "trick", even for the non-railroad origin but can find nothing, zip, nada.
Since the railroad didn't exist before the 1820's we know it didn't exist in that environment prior but ....... where and why?

Anyone got any ideas or at least where these may have been first applied to whatever they were first applied to. I'm sure that we don't have to go back to Shakespeare for their origins ..... do we?
Bob Cohen
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