Balls out
Posted by JOSHVA on March 28, 2002
In Reply to: Balls out posted by TheFallen on March 28, 2002
: : : : : Has anyne heard the term "balls out"? It is often used
in business settings when a company
: : : : : decides to change to a new software system. To go "balls
out" means to install it and use it without
: : : : : worrying about the way we've always done it.
: : : : : Does the term come from the way the pendulum swings all the way out?
: : : : Um. Well. Ahhh. No.
: : : To go "balls out" means to throw caution to the winds and charge full-steam ahead. Without wanting to be too blunt as to the phrase's provenance, it's something which we males could do both figuratively *and* literally (though I can't think of any printable occasions when I'd do the latter), whereas the fairer sex is limited to doing it figuratively.
: : I believe that this expression originated with the early steam engines whose governors were a pair of spinning balls, which described a larger and larger circle as the demanded speed, and hence their rotational speed, increased to control the steam valve and hence the flow of steam from boiler to pistons.
: Ahahahahah. I can actually call to mind the device you describe - a pair of balls, each mounted at the hinge point that joins two rods of metal, right? So when the rods are spun around their vertical axis, the centrifugal force given to the balls causes them to pull out, thus making the hinges bend? Extremely plausible and actually I really and sincerely hope you're right on this, because it'll be pricelessly funny if you are.
Tho I can't give you a definitive source, I can confirm that "balls out" does come from the days of steam engines and their governing devices, just as Mr Barney says. Mr Fallen and Mr Bob too from the look of it can console themselves in knowing that their alternative belief is far more popular than the correct one. And to know this sort of detail about steam engines, you'd have to be kinda geeky about them too.
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03/28/02
- Balls to the wall R.
Berg 03/28/02
- Reprieve From Ignominy
TheFallen 03/28/02
- Reprieve From
Ignominy Bob 03/28/02
- Reprieve
From Ignominy Barney 03/29/02
- Reprieve
From Ignominy Bob 03/29/02
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03/29/02
- Ritalin for the soul TheFallen
03/29/02
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Barney 03/30/02
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TheFallen 03/30/02
- Casey
Jones R.
Berg 03/30/02
- Casey Jones
Barney
03/30/02
- Steaming
lucid
motives
R.
Berg
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- Steaming lucid motives Barney 03/30/02
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lucid
motives
R.
Berg
03/30/02
- Casey Jones
Barney
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- Casey
Jones R.
Berg 03/30/02
- Ritalin for the soul
TheFallen 03/30/02
- Ritalin for the soul
Barney 03/30/02
- Ritalin for the soul TheFallen
03/29/02
- Reprieve From Ignominy Barney
03/29/02
- Reprieve From Ignominy R. Berg
03/29/02
- Reprieve
From Ignominy Bob 03/29/02
- Reprieve
From Ignominy Barney 03/29/02
- Reprieve From
Ignominy Bob 03/28/02
- Reprieve From Ignominy
TheFallen 03/28/02
- Balls to the wall R.
Berg 03/28/02
- Balls out R. Berg
03/28/02