Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 19:47:01 -0700 From: mike bueide <mbueide@charter.net> To: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: More trivia: origin of the wheel group Message-ID: <20031222024701.GA1417@charter.net> In-Reply-To: <3FE63E95.2020201@potentialtech.com> References: <3FE500F4.3060108@potentialtech.com> <o9vfo9930c.fo9@mail.comcast.net> <3FE63E95.2020201@potentialtech.com>
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On Sun, Dec 21, 2003 at 07:45:09PM -0500, Bill Moran wrote: > Gary W. Swearingen wrote: > >Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> writes: > > > >>Does anyone know why the wheel group is called "wheel"? I mean, why not > >>"admins" or something like that. "wheel" certainly is a cryptic name for > >>the administrators group. Anyone have any idea why it's called "wheel"? > > > >Seems obvious to me. "Big wheel" was slang for "one who calls the > >shots" or "VIP" as long as I can remember. And "wheel" was common > >slang for "big wheel". Some sys admin must have seen sys admins as > >qualifying. Why "big wheel" had that meaning, I can only guess, but I > >suspect it came from horsey days when people's importance was > >pretty-well correlated with the size of their vehicle's wheels. > > Interesting. I can't remember ever hearing the term "Big wheel" before. > Perhaps it's some local slang that is seldom used in western Pennsylvania? Might it not be a maritime reference? --------- Michael Bueide mbueide (at) charter (dot) net .
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