When I was in college, in the fifties, I considered myself to be something of a railfan (my history professor, also,was interested in railroads). One day, the treasurer spoke to me about my liking, and said something about my being a rail buff. Believing he was from Iowa (he was a graduate of Coe College), I did not argue with him. (We got along together very well.)
I was under the impression that gricer was a phonetic misspelling of a certain English accent, describing a rail enthusiast heading out trackside to “grice [grace] the railway with his presence”, spoken in a somewhat sarcastic way. No doubt a suitable acronym from it could be invented but I can’t be bothered.
John
John, you might be correct about pronounciation. The Oxford Dictionaries give the following origin: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/gricer
1960s: origin uncertain; perhaps a humorous representation of an upper-class pronunciation of grouser ‘grouse-shooter’.
Regards, Volker (Germany)
The story as I heard it was from the mid-1970s, and I think Ross Rowland will remember the exact context - it may take me a while to find the specific reference, which IIRC was a book or perhaps thread about one of the excursions running a Reading T1. The original was either “Far Out And Mentally Incompetent Train Enthusiast” or “Far Out And Mental” something beginning with I, but clearly implied was the pun on ‘fomites’ (q.v. if your are interested).
“Foamers” came along so much later, in my limited experience at least, that it’s likely to be either a backformation or folk etymology of some kind.
Again in my limited experience, the term does not apply to serious ‘railfans’ or ‘train buffs’ or whatever, even to rivet counters or tech nerds. It has more to do with the kind of person you see wearing bib overalls and a hat with hundreds of roadname pins, conducting loud conversations and often arguing over minutiae with their compatriots – as noted in another thread, usually devoid of interest in real-world railroad operations or things railroaders find important. On RyPN there is some further division into ‘types’, including the kind of person who complains bitterly that numberboard frames are painted the wrong color and then goes on to insist vehemently, and often insultingly, that they be fixed right away.
I like that first French term - ‘ferrovi’ is likely a slangy contraction of 'ferroviaire’which is things having to do with railroads, and ‘pathe’ – as in ‘sociopath’ – is probably having an obsessively mental syndrome about it – I encourage schlimm to provide an appropriate technical term for English. T
Welcome to the Forum Volker! We learn a lot from each other here, well most of the time anyway, and while you’re here pay a visit to the “Model Railroader,” “Classic Toy Trains,” and “Classic Trains” Forums. Admission’s free and they’re all fun.
Let me make a guess about “ferroviphile.” “Ferro” may come from the French “Chemin de Fer,” or “road of iron.” Ferro (I think) is the Latin for iron.
“Phile” is a word used in English as well for someone who’s enthusiastic about a particular subject, or anything for that matter. “Anglophile” is a term used here in the US for anyone who’s crazy about the British or British culture. We’ve also got Germanophiles, Francophiles, and lots of other philes as well.
“Landwehr?” Wow, the last time I heard that phrase it referred to the reserve army in Kaiser Wilhelm’s Germany. Does it have the same meaning now?
Had to work with them while in the Army in the 1980’s they inspected our tiedowns and bracing of armored vehicles before the train could leave and they inspected the mixed train while in operation…never a critical or angry word from German rail crews. They always gave us compliments on how quickly we got things done (of course in the Army labor is cheap and plentiful compared with DB…so unfair comparison but…it is what it is).
Ferro is iron. Atomic symbol Fe. Chemin de Fer is common in Canada on Atlas’s and Roadmaps as we are officially bilingual and as Firelock pointed out means literally “road of iron” or railroad. A railroad in Quebec is Chemin de Fer, also obligatory in New Brunswick.
A bit nasty there RME! What do you make of poor little ole moi at the NMRA National Conventions wearing my vest with all the patches?
Do not have the bibs and hat adorned with many pins but I do wear a CPR pin and a CNR pin occasionally on my blazers that I wear in my lectures. Of course with the obligatory elbow leather patches, you know to look smarter than I really am. Smoke a pipe too!
Chemin de Fer is the name of a station on one of my NTrak modules just for fun. People ask what it means and I answer “really?”
It is just my last name. In the beginning Landwehr had nothing to do with armies. In the middle ages it were border markers in the form of canals, hedges, walls etc. There were locations named Landwehr too.
Landwehr in the meaning of reserve forces beside the regular army was established much later.
Landwehr as reserve army isn’t used anymore.
Regards, Volker (Germany)
Thanks Volker, that was interesting!
Wayne
I know and it’s mainly the guys from back east, the train crews, and those who have read the book The Road, or watched Emperor of the North you are making it worse. Back East has a lot of gangs and they use a lot of slang and profanity. Back East, overseas, and in Canada and Mexico it does not count as a profane acronym but here in the United States and on the west coast it is a profane acronym. And don’t make me say it again it is very very bad most of us railfans have autism when the word foamer is used as an acronym it insults us. I am a railfan nothing more I am not the F word, I am not Overreactive, I am not Arrogant, I am not Mentally Retarded, and I am not an Eccentric. I was born a railfan I will die a railfan I am nothing more.
It is mainly those that are owned by European companies originating out of Great Britain and France and mostly out of Spain and Portugal in other words the EU block. These companies being DB transportation, Freightliner, Canadian Pacific, CN, CSX Transport, and Norfolk Southern all railroads who operate in the big cities. There are only two railroads in the United States that don’t go through the big cities except Chicago and they don’t like the word foamer these being Union Pacific and BNSF. Both of them operate in railfan territory and they have a public relations department they don’t go out arresting and brutalizing railfans and they don’t kill hobos. But they have asked us to stay off their property and take Operation Lifesaver classes most of us have I have 6 times I was given operation Lifesaver class in Head Start, Elementary School, and High School and I subscribed to the Operation Lifesaver Channel on YouTube and Facebook and Twitter. And I ask all of you to do the same. We are here to photograph and tape trains we are not here to break the law and we are not each of the insults defined in the acronym for foamer. I want all of you to be safe especially those who are chasing 844 this week the last thing I want is people getting hurt or worse arrested I don’t want to see any of your obituaries in the newspaper.
I know a great number of railfans who are not autistic. Watch your generalizations.
The term can’t hurt you unless you let it. And, as was pointed out, virtually any word can be made an acronym. I’m sure I could come up with an acronym for foamer that was highly complimentary to rail enthusiasts if I tried.
Many folks use terms to lump together groups of people. If its a group of people they don’t “get,” they will often use the term in a less than complimentary sense.
Take the term “geek.” Folks who have a lot of tech (or other specialized) knowledge will take the title with a bit of pride - recognition of their knowledge. There’s even a business that includes “geek” in their business name. Yet some folks use the very same term with derision.
And I have heard folks called “train geeks.”
When I the word “foamite” I think of American LaFrance Foamite, a predecessor name for the well known American LaFrance fire apparatus builder. It has to do with one way of making fire extinguishers work, and is prominently included on items built by that company during the period.
If you w
Larry, does anyone like that show up at the Adirondack Scenic Railroad?
It’s embarassing to hear such.
Geomodelrailroader,
What is your definition of a TROLL?
And, Emperor of the North is a great movie, I don’t give a fat rat’s petoot what you think!
[soapbox]
I have to agree with Big Jim and his position! As a retired, old, fart, I tend to have positions that are contrary to mainstream thought(s?); and I speak what is on my mind. The ‘less-seasoned’ members of the current generation, seem to wear their feelings on their sleeves, many do not grasp historical context or that significance of what has gone before; at the same time, they apparently, want to turn over rocks to find things to be offended by.
There is a semi-appropriate, Latin saying that many of the younger generations might look to for advice about life and what it does as one ages.
“…noli illegitimi carborundum…” The Etyomology of which, Is generally attributed to Gen, “Vingar Joe” Stillwell who learned its meaning from British Intelligence sources during WWII… Was further modernized by Barry Goldwater and also Jimmy Hoffa, who used it as: “… noli illegitimi carborundum/” Don’t let the [Bast…] grind you down…" Lessons yet to be learned by those who have not lived long enough, or fought for, the things that mean so much to many… [2c] [banghead]
It was a bit snarky, wasn’t it?
It’s more the ‘activity’ that goes with, and can often be spotted from a distance by, the pins and ‘historic railroader’ attire conventions that makes the ‘foamer’ distinction. When I was in high school, we had a railroad club (under the auspices of Karl R. Zimmermann), in which we had a couple of underclassmen we called ‘junior railfans’ – kids who thought a fine activity was to put spare change on the rail for the Metroliner to convert to souvenirs. Problem was, when they were seniors they were still junior railfans…
Mind you, some of the archfoam – the famous trainsandhawksfan ‘heritage unit’ video that produced the parody response being a capital example – is so ‘over the top’ it’s almost high camp fun. I have to wonder if the real problem is when aspects of railfanning “we” don’t particularly value or respect become emphasized by others, to what seems to be a ‘socially inept’ degree…
May also be highly relative, of course: I remember John Dvorak’s column in PC Magazine about ‘only nerds know how to run WordPerfect’ … and being a little miffed at the ‘review’ of the Diesel Spotter’s Guide in Playboy Magazine. And I do tend to get upset when various danes don’t get technical details of railroading right…
So yes, it’s probably a ‘spectrum’, perhaps shaded by inmates of the ferroequinological/siderohippological community making some of the taxonomic distinction. (I remember the more blatant examples of ‘problem’ types being described as “frothers” which is a bit more expressive of the rabid encepalopathy stereotype.)
If you want an idea of what most railfans (including the person who made the above parody) envision when they think of foamer, see the original:
(Best to watch this and then watch the parody above so you can pick up on all the little tropes…)
Note how he self-identifies as a foamer without shame - how healthy is that?? I’m not going to criticize enthusiasm.
This is pretty good, but I thought the British sarcastic sense came from grouse-hunting, the idea of trying to ‘make a good catch’ of something unexpected, and coming home with a good ‘bag’ of sightings…