Whacker

[daedalus]

Does anyone know the origins of the word and how it came to be used to describe the people it does?

 

[usafmedic45]

I'd never heard it used prior to coming here (and still have never heard it used anywhere else despite having worked in multiple states in widely disparate regions).

So far as I can tell it's most likely taken from various self-stimulatory activities that are colloquially called "whacking". I guess the analogy is taken from the people that this forum likes to call "whackers" are more or less engaged in a masturbatory exercise by which they make themselves feel really good (about themselves) through stroking of their egos. At least, that's the way I've always figured it. I could very well be wrong.

 

[fortsmithman]

Before I started using this site the only time I heard the word wacker is the words weed wacker.

 

[akflightmedic]

VERY common term in SC and FL, we also used squirrel (see below).

In AK, we called them Rickeys or squirrels (as in Ricky Rescue or always searching for a nut).

 

[Sapphyre]

I also never heard it until I came here. As you know, here we call them Ricky or Ricky Rescue.

 

[medicdan]

h/t to Mr. C for the link. See discussion below for near Merriam Webster definition, and a little discusssion of etymology.
http://www.emtlife.com/showthread.php?t=833

 

[MMiz]

Urban Dictionary has some insight.

 

[firecoins]

never heard it unti here either and now I hear it from other people all the time. Very Odd.

 

[Sasha]

Because they get so annoying you wanna whack 'em

 

[reaper]

Used all over the south!

 

[Medic744]

Have never heard of it before this site. Mostly we use whoo-whoo (even had a boss that had that as her license plate)

 

[NEMed2]

I've heard it since I was a kid, growing up in the FD with all the other wackers. VERY common here. As is Sparky & Squirrel.

 

[Sapphyre]

I've heard it since I was a kid, growing up in the FD with all the other wackers. VERY common here. As is Sparky & Squirrel.

LOL, we call one of our medics Sparky, for, um, OTHER reasons....

 

[Dominion]

Squirrel is used mostly here, only heard whacker a couple times outside of the internet.

 

[PapaBear434]

I am actually told by my station that I need a rescue plate on my car. They ALL have them, almost every last of the 130 or so of them. I'm one of ten or twenty that don't.

Just don't see what it does for me outside of making me look like an a**hole when I drive past an obviously low damage accident without stopping.

 

[nomofica]

I am actually told by my station that I need a rescue plate on my car. They ALL have them, almost every last of the 130 or so of them. I'm one of ten or twenty that don't.

Just don't see what it does for me outside of making me look like an a**hole when I drive past an obviously low damage accident without stopping.

Only thing I can think of is making it easier for identifying you if you happen upon an MVC or some other trauma/med scene that requires obvious immediate medical intervention.

Other than that, makes your whole dep sound like a whacker home.

 

[dmc2007]

I've heard it said as Stem Whacker, which may be related to the masturbation theory.

I've heard it used around here, but I'd say the term Buff is much more frequently used (although buff doesn't carry nearly as negative a connotation, if at all).

 

[TransportJockey]

We tend to use the term Joey or Ricky Rescue out here...

First time I had heard it used was when I read EMS : The Job of Your Life.

 

[PotatoMedic]

This might help: http://policeposers.com/what-is-a-whacker-or-wannabe/

 

[DV_EMT]

probably from the term "Bush-Wacker" which is someone who pops up outta nowhere... usually a military term.