Sparks or sparky

[Ohmagain]

Where did the term "sparky" come from and why, surly that's the last thing you want in a person doing work for ya :whatchutalkingabout

 

[guest119]

Ship radio operator I believe.

Boydy

 

[telectrix]

correct. it's due to the fact that the aerials on a ship had quite a significant voltage on them and sparks were common.alternatively, it may come from the early use of spark-gap transmitters.

 

[snowhead]

Not from the spark on a ship Morse code Key then??

Most trades nicknames come from Naval origins.

 

[thekingiam]

bloody seemun goes everywhere

- - - Updated - - -

i meen seamen

 

[Ohmagain]

Sweet, another one from the navy, i suppose that had to entertain them selves some how.

 

[mark ju]

Pretty sure that in the Royal Navy the term for an electrician is " greenie".
Only know this cos recently worked in an ex rear admirals house and he referred to me as the greenie. I'm far too old and contrary to ask him what that meant, in fact i acted like id heard it before. I googled it when I got home.

 

[sparks1234]

Why are/were we called "Greenies"? During WWII, Naval Officers in the RAN and RN wore a coloured stripe between the gold braid rings on their sleeve. This practice was abandoned around 1957. The colours for each branch were:

BRANCH	COLOUR
Executive	BLACK
Electrical	GREEN
Engineering	PURPLE
Special Branch *	EMERALD GREEN
Medical	SCARLET
Dental	ORANGE
Schoolies	LIGHT BLUE
Supply	WHITE
Shipwright	SILVER GREY
Wardmasters	MAROON
Ordnance	BLUE

​

​

 

[MisterE]

Pretty sure that in the Royal Navy the term for an electrician is " greenie".
Only know this cos recently worked in an ex rear admirals house and he referred to me as the greenie. I'm far too old and contrary to ask him what that meant, in fact i acted like id heard it before. I googled it when I got home.

Looks like Sparks1234 beat me to it :-

Yes, the Navy call the electricians* "greenies" as (in the old days) the electrical officer had green between the stripes on the sleeve of his uniform jacket (medical officer had red).
In my day (late 1970's) this was stretched to also include "Pinkies" for "Radio Electrical Mechanics" with "Greenies" being the "Ordinance Electrical Mechanics" (who for some reason also looked after the small arms)

* we were never referred to as "Electricians" probably because our training was very specific to ships

 

[Resu]

Sweet, another one from the navy, i suppose that had to entertain them selves some how.

I heard they entertained themselves otherwise? :whatchutalkingabout

 

[Knobhead]

Anyone properly qualified should take exception to either reference.

I qualified as an “electrician” and I’m proud of that fact. I won’t have it degraded.