I work with a young guy, and I held out my hand and asked him to hand me a pair of dykes...when nothing plopped into my hand, I looked away from what I was working on, only to find him staring at me in a very odd way.
When I asked him what was wrong, he said “You called the wire cutters “dykes”, and I realized...he is of the class of people ruled by political correctness. He was horrified and puzzled.
I told him they had been called dykes since long before the moniker had been applied to lesbians...to my knowledge.
When I was a child in Southern Oregon my dad worked on the weekends for the man who owned half the phone company. I would go out and they would be up two poles and I would grunt for both of them. I learned at an early age what dykes were and when I’ve told others they don’t believe.
Dikes = wire cutters
Dykes = ...you know
Same pronunciation, different spelling.
Good thing you didn’t ask him for a pair of “nippers.” Probably would have had a PC anti-racist melt down right on the spot.
Dikes: Diagonal Cutters
At least that’s what I call lesbians...