Like for instance someone saying “Gopher John” when answering the phone. What does this mean?

132 points

It’s commonly used when you pick up a radio on a public band.

So if you have a jobsite where there are 100 radios, and someone needs to reach Ted, they’ll page the radio and say something like “Hey Ted, do you copy?” and Ted will respond with “Go for Ted,” which means yes, Ted is here and he’s listening, go ahead.

It was used in a small way some 40 years ago and never really caught on.

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8 points

ok thank you 😃

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8 points

And what is Ted supposed to copy?

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14 points

Signifying that he received a good copy of the message

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2 points

Ooooh thank you! I’d always wondered about this too.

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-4 points

And, if you’ve reached Gopher Ted, you might respond with “Go for Gopher Ted”

Roger, Roger! What’s our vector, Victor?

Tower to radio clearance, over!

That’s Clarance Over!

What? Huh? Who?!?

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121 points
*

I’m American and I’ve never heard this used.

But after thinking about it, gopher is a play on words that means “go for”. So saying gopher John is like saying “go for John” and can be a greeting.

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68 points

“Go for X” was somewhat common, including in media. I think OP was mishearing that. There’s virtually no way to differentiate between “gopher” and a rushed, casual “go for” in speech.

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30 points

Me too and me neither. I’m over sixty, I’ve lived in various parts of the country, and I’ve never head anyone say that.

I want to know what that’s about too!

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6 points

I’ve only ever used this on a movie set radio. It’s real but limited in its uses.

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95 points

They don’t

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38 points

What rodent do you start your greetings with

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26 points

Rat’s up?

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3 points

I like this. I’m using this now.

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15 points

Stoat me!

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8 points
Deleted by creator
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7 points

Obviously a lemming.

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4 points

Always lead with the beaver

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3 points

Ahh… nice marmot.

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1 point

Gadget be praised, how may I help you?

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77 points

Bone apple tea

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I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say that at the start of a phone call but it’s common when communicating with two-way radios like:

“Alex for John, over”

“Go for John, over”

“”

I mostly heard that when working in large retail stores, usually the walkie talkies have an end-transmission sound que so we didn’t actually have to say ‘over’ at the end

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2 points

thanks 😃

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2 points

Is this the same context in which you heard it?

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