Comments on: Ratholes

By: c

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:01:00 +0000

hey erin,

my family also used the term “birdwalking” to describe meandering conversations. i have no idea where we got it from..

By: Erin

Erin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:38:00 +0000

I’m not entirely sure why, but I have always used the term “Birdwalking” to describe going off on a tangent during a meeting or some kind of conversation. I guess I made it up, Ive never heard anyone else use it.

By: Tru

Tru — Mon, 21 May 2007 18:10:43 +0000

Sounds like every meeting I’ve been to at this company. The whole thing drives me crazy. We’ve never had a name for it. That would mean that people actually realize what they are doing!

Every Monday we have a team meeting. What should take about 10 minutes usually lasts 30 minutes to an hour. Ick!

By: justin

justin — Fri, 18 May 2007 16:03:26 +0000

Ha! While it does sound unsportsmanlike, it also sounds like someone smart enough to play to win. Perhaps the venue should disallow re-joins from the same ID/IP within an hour to prevent abuse.

…yet another ratholed discussion in te replies. :) We never say “rathole” around here, but we do say “take it offline” far too much. Bleh.

And believe me, we manage to have widely meandering discussions without having a name for it. ;p

By: kate

kate — Thu, 17 May 2007 19:33:55 +0000

In the online poker world, ratholing is when a player sits at a table, builds up a big surplus of chips in a few hands, then leaves the table or stands up and sits down quickly with his original buyin.

This keeps the profit off the table and is generally seen as unsportsmanlike; the rat doesn’t give the other players a chance to win their money back.

By: kellie

kellie — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:40:43 +0000

People in my office say “take it offline” which grates on my nerves to no end. Seriously. We’re not online… we’re sitting in a room around a giant table talking face to face. You don’t get much more offline than that already. Can’t you just say “I’ll talk to you about it later”? GAH!

By: Jason!

Jason! — Thu, 17 May 2007 17:15:52 +0000

In oil industry speak, a rathole is a shallow borehole under the derrick where the kelly joint (the part of the drill string that is rotated) is temporarily kept out of the way while new pipe joints are added to the drill string.