Why the clock is called "boilers": common versions

What can be common between boilers and watches? Strangely enough, it is the term "boilers" that can often be heard in relation to a wrist accessory in the common people. How to explain why the clock is called "cauldron"? In fact, there are several reasons for this.

Tragic version

It's no secret that prisoners of labor camps in the USSR did not have personal belongings, in particular, watches. Therefore, the bell should serve as a warning for the beginning of a lunch break or the end of daily hard labor. Since most of the camps did not want to puzzle themselves with the search for a special device that would produce a sonorous signal, the old cauldron often served as a substitute for it. Sometimes the alternative was pots that were no longer suitable for use for their intended purpose.

As is known, hard labor was carried out on quarries, where the impact of tools on the rock created a very high level of noise. Therefore, it was difficult to hear even the most strained cries of the supervisor. To draw attention of prisoners could only fight a heavy object in suspended boilers, which, in fact, became associated with the convicts with chimes of the clock.

Criminal jargon

Why do watches call "boilers" in thieves' environment? First of all, this is part of the usual jargon of criminal speech, which was invented to protect oneself from suspicion on the part of others during the conversation. Most often, thieves' jargon does not hide a secret, profound meaning. Most representatives of the criminal world and themselves can not really explain why money is called "loot," and the police car is "bobik." The same applies to the concept of "boilers". The clock actually has something else in common with them.

Outward similarity

Explain why the watch calls boilers, you can visual similarity of these items. Naturally, we are not talking about modern wrist watches, which do not resemble the subject of kitchen utensils. However, if you look at the ancient devices, most of them were distinguished by a special massiveness, a convex hull shape, the presence of an opening lid. There were also large ears for fixing the strap, which outwardly resembled the handle of the pan. Therefore, if you include the imagination, you can understand why the clock is called "cauldron".

The concept, borrowed from the Yiddish language

The presented version has the right to life only for the reason that the bulk of the so-called blatnykh words, which are used in popular speech, are taken from the Yiddish language. Here the word "boiler" is correlated in meaning with the round tower on which the clock is mounted.

Jargonism from English

As is known, in the Russian language there are many words borrowed from other peoples. It is enough to take only the French lyrique - the lyrics, or the English positive - positive.

In the same English language there is such a commonly known concept as kettle banger . It is used as a designation of all persons who are engaged in pocket theft, in particular, specialize in the theft of wristwatches. The consonance of the words kettle and "cauldron" is a perfectly logical explanation why the watch is called "cauldron". It is to this version that most people are inclined to study the origin of jargon.

Finally

So we reviewed the basic versions, which are able to explain why wristwatches are called boilers. In fact, each of them has the right to life.

Many young people still continue to call the clock boilers, but do not even guess what lies at the root of this concept. Having studied all the versions presented in the material, you can flash your own erudition while talking with your friends, dedicating to the unenlightened in the subtleties of this concept.