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'A shed load'


paddy

I think the phrase shed-load comes from...  

51 members have voted

  1. 1. I think the phrase shed-load comes from...

    • the amount that would be in a load which is shed by a lorry, a shed load.
      25
    • the amount that fits into a shed, a shed load.
      27


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I've just seen the poll. How can I vote for both as 'shed load' can mean both? Context is the key!

The question is whether you think a shed load relates to the amount lost by a lorry or the amount you can fit in a shed. The literal meaning of a shed load is a given.

If a traffic report annouces a 'shed load' I think it relates to a load that has fell off the lorry (large or small - it's holding up traffic).

If someone refers to a shed load of something (biscuits, crack(!), whatever), I think it relates to the amount (an exageration of volume - enough to fill a shed).

Am I still missing the point? :? :)

A little. You're vote for an amount that might fit in a shed is so strong you're not seeing the other side of the fence.

I believe that when a traffic report annouces a 'shed load' I think it relates to a load that has fell off the lorry (large or small - it's holding up traffic).

I also believe that when someone refers to a shed load of something (biscuits, crack(!), whatever), I think it relates to the amount (an exageration of volume - like the amount that might fall off a lorry that's shed it's load.

I've re-re-re-read the poll and I think I finally understand it! :oops:

When someone refers to a large amount of stuff as a 'shed load', I think of enough stuff to fill a garden shed. I don't think of a lorry load at all because the 'shed load' in the lorry context refers to the lost load and not the size of it. After all the lorry's shed load could be quite small! It's easier for me to visualise a garden shed in volume than something small, medium or massive that has fell off a lorry!

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I'm still standing by it being a polite version of shitload that just so happens to make sense as well thanks to a shed having space for a load of stuff.
Shitload is the impolite version of a shed load.

I''m absolutely in the "a shed-load of biscuits" meaning a lot of biscuits, say for example the amount a lorry might lose if it crashed and not "a shed-load of biscuits" as in the amount you might fit into a shed.
Is the correct answer.

The origin is pretty obvious to me "wow, that's a shed load of biscuits" would be the comment as you drove past it, hence "a shed load" would then be adopted to mean a lot.

No chance, a shed load of biscuits would be sold as seconds :mrgreen:

A shed load isn't quantifiably large or small so in the "shed load of beer" context it can't possibly come from the lorry derivation, it comes from the garden shed derivation

And how bigs a garden shed? About as big as this piece of string?

Neither a shed load from a lorry, or a garden shed, has any specific sizing, so that argument doesn't really hold water.

I think the load lost from a lorry can vary in volume (a few bricks to a dozen pallets), a lot more than a garden shed (6' x 4' to 12' x 12'?)

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In the context of soemone saying "**** me, that's a shed load of watermelon pips", I assume it to mean the amoutn you can fit into a shed, not of a lorry's shed load, which also happens to be large.

I think that's what Paddy was asking?

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I''m absolutely in the "a shed-load of biscuits" meaning a lot of biscuits, say for example the amount a lorry might lose if it crashed and not "a shed-load of biscuits" as in the amount you might fit into a shed.
Is the correct answer.

The origin is pretty obvious to me "wow, that's a shed load of biscuits" would be the comment as you drove past it, hence "a shed load" would then be adopted to mean a lot.

If the lorry only had one box of biccies on board then it would still be a shed load but would be unlikely to be referred to as a shedload of biscuits.

A shed doesn't have to mean a garden shed, it could refer to any size of storage facility. The idea of a shedload is that it is a large (yet indeterminate) amount that would have the imaginary facility fit to burst. The size of the shed, therefore, varies to fit the large amount of whatever it is that is in question.

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I'd never really thought about this until today when I heard a traffic report on the radio.

Were you listening to Planet Rock?

Because the guy on there this afternoon said the same thing, regarding a lorry load of springs I think he said

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We use the term a 'shed-load' for a lot of something, but also for a lorry losing it's load, Paddy to my mind is wondering if the term for a lot, is born of the idea of the amount a lorry might lose if it lost it's load.

Chindie's right.

I'm well aware it can mean both. What I'm asking is where the phrase 'shed load' meaning 'a lot' came from?

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I'd never really thought about this until today when I heard a traffic report on the radio.

Were you listening to Planet Rock?

Because the guy on there this afternoon said the same thing, regarding a lorry load of springs I think he said

No I've never listened to Planet Rock in my life to be honest.

I listened to a traffic report on 5live which got me thinking about it.

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I Can't believe 15 people voted the second one.

Whoever uses "Shed load" to describe how much fits into shed?

No, people use the word 'shedload' to represent a large amount - the question is about the derivation of the phrase.

They are the same kind of people who might also refer to a large amount of something or some people as, variously, a truckload (i.e. the amount that could fill a truck), a butcketful, a houseful or any other specified container to which one could append the suffix 'ful' to form a noun.

If so, how do you message? "we are a spade away from a shed load?"

I know it was late when you posted that but I've read this bit about a dozen times and I still don't get what the hell you are on about. :D

Surely it's more commonly used like "I've got a shed load of old antiques in my garage..." etc...

According to you, wouldn't they have somehow got in there from the back of a lorry?

You are Lovejoy and I claim my £5. :winkold:

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I've always assumed that the expression comes from a load which has been shed. The shed in the garden isn't involved in the common phrase in so far as I'm aware, it just happen to sound the same.
Precisely. The origin is from traffic reports and is taken to mean "enough stuff to close a motorway".
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It coming from enough to fill a shed makes no sense. The term load to define an amount of something has it's roots firmly in transportation, it doesn't just mean a large amount, it means a quantity to be transported.

So why, would you say, you have an amount that could be transported, which is big enough to fill a shed? It makes zero sense.

Shed load being from the actual term of shedding a load has both words from exactly the same origin, that being in transport.

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According to this website Chambers dictionary agrees with me that it is derived from the garden storage unit. Not having my copy of Chambers here in me hotel room, I can't verify it but.......

I agree with bickster and Chambers dictionary.

An amount of stuff which will fill a typical garden shed is easier to visualise than an amount that has fell off a lorry! I mean why does the load need to have fallen off the lorry to use it as a description for an amount? Why not just say 'a lorry load'? In fact, isn't 'a lorry load' used as another description anyway? Maybe that's why people are confusing 'a shed load', when talking about an amount of stuff, with lorries! :winkold:

'A shed load' from a lorry has nothing to do with an amount of stuff. The important bit is the fact that the load has been shed (fell off), not what amount has fallen off. As the question was about using 'a shed load' to describe an amount or volume of stuff, it is clearly the volume of a typical garden shed, NOT an amount that may have fell off a lorry!

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