26
Dec
Dec
When repairing a road or bridge, I am told the temporary path around the constructions site to the other side is called a shoe fly. So far no heavy equipment operator or construction company I’ve asked knows why they call it a shoe fly.
Try looking it up with the spelling "shoo fly." Apparently hobos used the term to refer to a detour track built around a temporary obstacle, and to avoid passing though a hobo-hostile town.
There are also a great many references to the quilt pattern called shoo-fly; the pattern was an indication of safety during the days of the Underground Railroad.
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2 Responses so far to "Where did the term "shoe fly" come from at road repair/construction sites?"
December 27th, 2009 at 3:12 am
I put ’shoe fly’ into the dictionary.reference.com database, and they say that it comes from the railroad industry. Like ‘the real McCoy.’
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shoe+fly
References :
December 27th, 2009 at 3:35 am
Try looking it up with the spelling "shoo fly." Apparently hobos used the term to refer to a detour track built around a temporary obstacle, and to avoid passing though a hobo-hostile town.
There are also a great many references to the quilt pattern called shoo-fly; the pattern was an indication of safety during the days of the Underground Railroad.
References :