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Why do we always use bbl for the acronym for barrel?


John E.B. Rawton

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I was curious as to this bbl acronym everyone adopted to talk about their barrel size. bbl is the one most commonly used but the second does not seem to make sense. I like BL for barrel length but that’s me. I thought the definitions interesting

 

1). The BBL --- Barrel/Bull Barrel (Riflebarrel that is thicker than the normal hunting rifle barrel)

 

2). In the early 1860's, when oil production began, there was no standard container for oil, so oil and petroleum products were stored and transported in barrels of all different shapes and sizes (beer barrels, fish barrels, molasses barrels, turpentine barrels, etc.). By the early 1870's, the 42-gallon barrel had been adopted as the standard for oil trade. This was 2 gallons per barrel more than the 40-gallon standard used by many other industries at the time. The extra 2 gallons was to allow for evaporation and leaking during tranport (most barrels were made of wood). Standard Oil began manufacturing 42 gallon barrels that were blue to be used for transporting petroleum. The use of a blue barrel, abbreviated "bbl," guaranteed a buyer that this was a 42-gallon barrel.

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What you just wrote.

24 minutes ago, John E.B. Rawton said:

The use of a blue barrel, abbreviated "bbl," 

It's not an acronym. It's an abbreviation.

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I haven't found the examples I want - yet - but I know that "bbl" for "barrel" has been around for longer than Standard Oil.  Even the history of Standard Oil written iu, I think, 1904, says that.  

Sometime this weekend I'll find copies of manifests or estate inventories from the 1700s that show it.

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ac·ro·nym
/ˈakrəˌnim/
 
noun
  1. an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as a word

     

    4 minutes ago, Alpo said:

    What you just wrote.

    It's not an acronym. It's an abbreviation.

     

    An acronym by definition is an abbreviation. 

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An acronym is an abbreviation, in the fact that it is an abbreviated version of several words. but as you can see, in the definition you posted, an acronym can be pronounced as one word.

 

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO. Acronym. Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, SCUBA. Acronym.

 

How do you pronounce BBL?

 

Then there is the fact that an acronym is made up of the first letters of several words. How many words are in the word "barrel"?

 

 

 

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Thank you Alpo.

That is why I posted 1). as an example of bbl as first letters of several words which also, can not be pronounced. How does one arrive at abbreviating barrel with only one “b” to “bbl”?

I posed a question to get educated on the usage of bbl and greatly appreciate your additional input on the differences but I beg to differ. Not all acronyms can be pronounced such as LWTS

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12 hours ago, John E.B. Rawton said:

Thank you Alpo.

That is why I posted 1). as an example of bbl as first letters of several words which also, can not be pronounced. How does one arrive at abbreviating barrel with only one “b” to “bbl”?

I posed a question to get educated on the usage of bbl and greatly appreciate your additional input on the differences but I beg to differ. Not all acronyms can be pronounced such as LWTS

 

 

Actually, J.E.B., I believe that to be an acronym, an abbreviation MUST be pronounceable; that's what separates it from being a mere abbreviation.

https://data.grammarbook.com/blog/abbreviations/abbreviations-acronyms-and-initialisms-revisited/

 

All acronyms are abbreviations, but not all abbreviations are acronyms - I think!

 

Your LWTS is an abbreviation, of the type referred to as an initialism; unlike an acronym, it is not pronounceable as a word.

 

LL

 

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So I’ve learned that the word acronym is commonly misused to describe abbreviations derived from initialism. I’ve learned about the abbreviation of singular words.

 

Now returning to the original question. 

Does anyone have an understanding as to why bbl is used to refer to a gun barrel?

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16 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

I haven't found the examples I want - yet - but I know that "bbl" for "barrel" has been around for longer than Standard Oil.  Even the history of Standard Oil written iu, I think, 1904, says that.  

Sometime this weekend I'll find copies of manifests or estate inventories from the 1700s that show it.

 

Reference to ship manifests, using "bbl", before the petroleum use of blue barrels.

 

http://www.natemaas.com/2011/01/correction-why-bbl-is-not-abbreviation.html

 

LL

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When I attended High School (I did show up mostly), english class provided words under a certain number of letters were not to be abbreviated.  I don't believe there is a true abbreviation nor acronym for "Barrel."  At least, not as applicable to a Gun Barrel.  Sort of like there is no 45 Long Colt.  The term is only used in misuse.  :rolleyes:

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Can anybody read all of this manifest?

 

1298623318_SallyManifest.jpg.dff7ffe1d8012f93babb48ad2903ccca.jpg

 

158 hogshead ???

8 gang casks and 20 barrels New England rum

???

40 barrels flour

51 loaves sugar

??? Brown sugar

1800 bunches onions

30 boxes ??? Candles (candies?)

6 barrels tar

2 barrels molasses

24 barrels beef

22 barrels pork

10 barrels ???

??? bread (instead of two items, this might be ten barrels of something something bread, but there appears to be a comma between the two words, which is why I think it is two different things)

25 casks rice

1 box ??? with sundry other articles for (use by?) crew

??? invoice of the same, all of which is consigned to the said ??? Hopkins on (or?) the ??? of the shipper

 

 

 

 

 

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19 hours ago, Alpo said:

An acronym is an abbreviation, in the fact that it is an abbreviated version of several words. but as you can see, in the definition you posted, an acronym can be pronounced as one word.

 

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO. Acronym. Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, SCUBA. Acronym.

 

How do you pronounce BBL?

 

Then there is the fact that an acronym is made up of the first letters of several words. How many words are in the word "barrel"?

 

 

 

Like a fart in a bathtub: "bubble".

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I have used “Bbl” for “barrel” in regards to a gun barrel, a carburetor (2 or 4 barrel) or an actual barrel. Once I figured out that Bbl is reference to barrels or casks that hold fluid I stopped incorrectly using Bbl for guns, carburetors and such. 

 

This link refers to the use of “Bbl” back to 1859 but gives no references for it. That would be 45 years before the Standard Oil reference to Blue Barrel being Bbl.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrel_(unit)#Definitions_and_units

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2 hours ago, Alpo said:

I know what a hogshead is. The ??? is for the word after that. 158 hogsheads of WHAT?

 

GTeirces is what it looks like to me.

 

Alpo:

 

The 10 barrels you are trying to decipher are "menhaden" - a coastal fish native to New England.  Often used by the settlers as fertilizer; not an eating fish.

I'm still stuck on the "6 Tierces"?  Same word is used before "brown sugar".  

 

LL

 

 

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30 minutes ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

 

Alpo:

 

The 10 barrels you are trying to decipher are "menhaden" - a coastal fish native to New England.  Often used by the settlers as fertilizer; not an eating fish.

I'm still stuck on the "6 Tierces"?  Same word is used before "brown sugar".  

 

LL

 

 

 

Treacle? 

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2 hours ago, Loophole LaRue, SASS #51438 said:

I'm still stuck on the "6 Tierces"?  Same word is used before "brown sugar".

I just looked tierce up. It's a cask that held 42 gallons.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tierce_(unit)

 

So they were carrying 158 hogshead, 6 tierces, 8 gang casks and 20 barrels New England rum. That's a butt-load of rum, ain't it? (A butt is a LARGE cask. Two hogsheads.)

 

The tail of the g in England is in the way, but it appears to be 3 tierces of broen sugar.

 

Still don't get what's between the rum and the 40 barrels of flour.

 

Did they ever make candles from whale? The more I look, the more it appears to say 30 BOXES SPERMsomething CANDLES

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Alpo said:

I just looked tierce up. It's a cask that held 42 gallons.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tierce_(unit)

 

So they were carrying 158 hogshead, 6 tierces, 8 gang casks and 20 barrels New England rum. That's a butt-load of rum, ain't it? (A butt is a LARGE cask. Two hogsheads.)

 

The tail of the g in England is in the way, but it appears to be 3 tierces of broen sugar.

 

Still don't get what's between the rum and the 40 barrels of flour.

 

Did they ever make candles from whale? The more I look, the more it appears to say 30 BOXES SPERMsomething CANDLES

 

 

 

 

 

The spermasomething Candles would be “spermaceti candles” which are made from spermaceti wax. This comes from the oil rendered from a sperm whale. 

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23 hours ago, Alpo said:

I just looked tierce up. It's a cask that held 42 gallons.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tierce_(unit)

 

So they were carrying 158 hogshead, 6 tierces, 8 gang casks and 20 barrels New England rum. That's a butt-load of rum, ain't it? (A butt is a LARGE cask. Two hogsheads.)

 

The tail of the g in England is in the way, but it appears to be 3 tierces of broen sugar.

 

Still don't get what's between the rum and the 40 barrels of flour.

 

Did they ever make candles from whale? The more I look, the more it appears to say 30 BOXES SPERMsomething CANDLES

 

 

 

 

 

 

New England Rum D, 17,274 G'n (Gallons), 40 bbl's Flour....

 

There is some sort of accent or apostrophe above the Gn but I can't make out what it means.

 

It is actually the sum total of rum in Gallons

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I don't believe that says DRY. What you are reading as RY, I believe is the number 7. Look at the way they wrote the seven in the date at the bottom of the page 1764. The seven is quite a bit lower then the rest of the numbers. I believe instead of DRY, that says 27, making the number of 27,274.

 

I wonder if that that looks like GN is an abbreviation for gallons. Making it 27,274 gallons of rum.

 

Which does not agree with my calculations in the thread about provisioning a warship.

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On ‎4‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 1:42 PM, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

Like a fart in a bathtub: "bubble".

:lol: (Spewww!)  Some things just set me to laughing!  Like Steve Martin's "Inspector Cluseau" being shown Rorshach blobs, and saying it reminded him of a French Army officer driving a septic tank! :lol: :lol: :lol:

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5 hours ago, Trailrider #896 said:

:lol: (Spewww!)  Some things just set me to laughing!  Like Steve Martin's "Inspector Cluseau" being shown Rorshach blobs, and saying it reminded him of a French Army officer driving a septic tank! :lol: :lol: :lol:

You're easily amused, aren't you?  Thanks, though.

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