Dikes : Diagonal cutter jargon

[sgtmac]

I just started a thread about cotter pin pullers and I used the term " Dikes" referring to diagonal wire cutters. I wondered why I have used this term for years without really thinking what it meant. Here's what I found.

Diags or Dikes (a portmanteau of "Diagonal CutterS" is pronounced "dikes") – as in the phrase "a pair of dikes" or "hand me those dikes" – is jargon used especially in the electrical industry, to describe diagonal pliers. Dike can also be used as a verb, such as in the idiom "when in doubt, dike it out". "It is also the term used for hose clamping pliers that crush a hose, shutting off the flow of fluid with a pair of parallel surfaces that come together."

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, diagonal pliers are commonly referred to as snips, and in Australia and Canada they are often referred to as side cutters.

 

[mbshop]

I have always used the term wire cutters.

 

[CJM8515]

I call them dikes or wire cutters

 

[Lotek]

Was helping my brother wire a home theater system for a lady who was in the film biz, when we got to the jobsite, he held up a pair and said "For today, these are side cut pliers, not dikes."

 

[Ign]

I call them dikes or wire cutters

Me too.

I grew up with my dad referring to them as dikes.....he meant no disrespect it just seemed an industry standard of sorts.

I always envisioned it spelled as dykes (for no particular reason - truly) and I see others might too as several here use that spelling:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=99727

Are they ALL auto-correct? Likely not.

However YES I agree with dIagonal spelled as it is dIkes makes more sense. However as it's apparently a slang term I'm not sure a technically correct spelling exists....even if a random wiki link might swear there is.

For me it'll always be dykes as that's how I've "seen" it in my head since I was probably seven years old. I'm the type who tends to see words spelled in my head as I use them. That'll make sense to some people, others won't get it.

When I was around seven my dad gave me a pair of dykes for "my" tool kit. They were all-metal likely built before rubber overmolds were a thing. They were a grayish patina'd and had no markings. I used those cutters through my early twenties, repeatedly cutting stupid stuff with them. They'd cut anything and everything and seemingly never dulled. I think they're still in my old toolbox in my trail rig. For years they were one of the few "quality" tools I owned.

But alas, for me they'll always be dykes.

 

[Tim37]

Was helping my brother wire a home theater system for a lady who was in the film biz, when we got to the jobsite, he held up a pair and said "For today, these are side cut pliers, not dikes."

I worked with a guy who claimed that he got fired because he used the term dikes on a job site, and someone took offence

 

[davewo]

They've always been "dykes" to me.

 

[larry_g]

In 1977 or so I went to work in a hi-tech electronics manufacturing plant. I was soon informed that dykes was not to be used, they were wire cutters or diagonals or whatever, just not dykes.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[davethorik]

Must be a regional thing, I had literally never heard them called "dikes" til I came here. I doubt you will find "dikes" in any catalog either lol. I call them side cuts. Snips are for cutting sheet metal.

 

[KMdef9]

< Was an electrician, they all called them dykes/dikes.

Obviously the proper name (I found out later) is diagonal cutters.

Never heard them called wire cutters, that's more a general description, as many cutters can cut wire. Plus it doesn't rule out the straight cut style.

 

[KMdef9]

Also, we called these side cutters, "linemans".

https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/...cutting/9-heavy-duty-side-cutting-pliers-slim

 

[Pitalplace]

I have always call them side cutters.

 

[Alchymist]

Also, we called these side cutters, "linemans".

https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/...cutting/9-heavy-duty-side-cutting-pliers-slim

Different tool altogether. These are "dikes":

 

[ToddW]

I've heard the term used on the East coast and West Coast.
It's not regional.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I've always called them dykes. Never called them diagonal cutters. I've heard them called wire cutters by some, but I use about 5 different tools to cut wire.

 

[Thumper68]

For me it is Dykes, Side cutters, or Diagonal cutters depending on the company I am in.

 

[bibman]

I have always called them Dykes ....the term side-cutters or nippers I've always thought were for the PC crowd that cannot handle terms like...dykes, *******, ******, male-female connectors, ***, retard (in reference to timing)...

 

[FMC1959]

I am sure they have been called dikes years before the term became associated with lesbians.

 

[Dave455]

In the United Kingdom they are simply 'diagonal cutters'.

Here, pliers are for gripping and cutters are for cutting!

Hearing Americans describing cutters as 'diagonal pliers' is one Americanism I just can't get used to, or bring myself to use!

It sounds like a '****' is the same thing everywhere though...!

 

[FMC1959]

In the United Kingdom they are simply 'diagonal cutters'.

Here, pliers are for gripping and cutters are for cutting!

Hearing Americans describing cutters as 'diagonal pliers' is one Americanism I just can't get used to, or bring myself to use!

It sounds like a '****' is the same thing everywhere though...!

Not sure where you got diagonal "pliers", every term referenced above, I have never heard them called diagonal pliers.

EDIT - just noticed the OP refers to them as diagonal pliers. Never heard this before and OP might be mixing his words. Always heard diagonal cutters not pliers.

 

[sgtmac]

I'm originally from Missouri and always heard them referred to as Dikes(dykes). Never thought why.

I worked with a guy from the U.K. We were doing some sheet metal work and he asked to hand him a "Windy". I had no idea what he meant. I was afraid I was setting myself up for a joke but I had to ask what in the world he meant?

He politely informed me a " windy" was his slang term for an air drill?

 

[L5wolvesf]

I always envisioned it spelled as dykes (for no particular reason - truly)

But alas, for me they'll always be dykes.

Same here

 

[vettex2]

political correctness isn't

dikes is what they are called

 

[Sine Swept]

I call them side cutters being from northern mexico.

Knipex calls them diagonal / side cutters

 

[Premium08]

Was taught they were dikes and have always called them that just like any brand of 9in side cutter plier is called "kleins".

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[NYBODYMAN]

My father always called them dykes and that's what I call them.

 

[icthruu74]

It's a term I had never heard until recently, and that is from a friend that calls any type of pliers 'dikes'.

Growing up we called those 'wire cutters'.

 

[Indexmill]

are we talking about lesbos?

 

[Meursault74]

I had posted a thread on unusual names and politically incorrect names for garage related items in the Free parking section today. There were several mentions of the above name before the thread was pulled. Seems 3 years ago this one survived.

 

[Amiga]

I worked in 3 separate manufacturing plants during the '70s and '80s. One built ham radios, one built car alarms, and one manufactured switchable circuit boards. In all three the slang or short term for diagonal cutters was "dikes". We never used another word on the factory floor. 90% of the work force in those plants were women.

 

[SuperCat]

My Dad was an electrician and he always called them dikes. Later on, in auto shop in high school, I was taught they are called wire cutters. So, I use both terms. But on the rare occasion that someone else is in my garage when I am working, I follow the wisdom of the ages when deciding which term to use: "Choose carefully, Grasshopper." Lol.

 

[pizza]

i find it interesting that klein distinguishes between dikes and side cutters.. or should i say sikes?

https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/journeyman-series/journeyman-pliers


also, is it just me, or are these 'side cutters' and linesmans basically the same thing?

https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/high-leverage-side-cutters/9-inch-journeyman-pliers-side-cutting
https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/...ters/linemans-pliers-9-inch-journeyman-handle

 

[ZRX61]

It's not rocket science.. it's an abbreviation.
DIAgonal CutterS: Diacs = dykes.

 

[Dennis Leigh Henry]

Dykes to me.. think my father and my uncle (an EE) called them that all the time. I've heard "sider cutters" a fair amount too.

 

[cvairwerks]

Side cutters have the cutting edges parallel to the handles, while diagonals don't...

 

[anndel]

That's what we call them in electronic and auto shop in high school back in the 80's. That's what we called them when I worked at Hughes Aircraft in the 80's, that's what I call them now - dikes.

 

[measuredtwice]

also, is it just me, or are these 'side cutters' and linesmans basically the same thing?

Other pliers, such as long nose pliers, can also be side-cutters. See examples in your first link.

 

[MushCreek]

Remember the old days, when you could go into a hardware store and talk about bastards, ballcocks, and dikes, and nobody got offended?

 

[redwrench60]

Diagonal cutters are dikes
9” Side cutters are Kleins or Linemans

If you ask most any tradesman hey man, lemme use your side cutters real quick They’ll ask which one, dikes or Kleins/Linemans?

 

[Ton ton]

H.d. supply has the diagonal-cutting pliers with angled head for $51.69. 8".