Why do Americans answer the phone with "Gopher"?
Why do Americans answer the phone with "Gopher"?
Like for instance someone saying "Gopher John" when answering the phone. What does this mean?
50 comments
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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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ok thank you 😃
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And what is Ted supposed to copy?
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Signifying that he received a good copy of the message
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Ooooh thank you! I'd always wondered about this too.
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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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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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“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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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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I’ve only ever used this on a movie set radio. It’s real but limited in its uses.
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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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thanks 😃
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Is this the same context in which you heard it?
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Go for john
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😃
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You see in the US there are secret underground copies of all of our houses and gopher versions live there.
They are making it clear if you are speaking to John or Gopher John.
Sorry, for real I've never heard this before. Can you tell us where you heard it from? I'm really curious now.
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Never heard it in real life, but have in multiple war/military movies.
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I’ve never heard anyone say this. Maybe we need more context?
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Where did you possibly here that this is a thing that's said?
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It's our national rodent and I'll thank you to take appropriate pride in her. Squeeker squeek.
I think they're saying "go for John". I saw it on a movie once and thought "huh" and my buddy Chris did it a couple times, but that's about all my IRL experience with it.
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"go for" sounds like the kind of expression a British BBC sitcom would use to exemplify American language. Even though Americans never say it.
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That's not a thing.
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:(
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American here, and I’ve never heard anyone seriously answer the phone this way. I did have a co-worker who would answer “Go for Mike” as a joke when he knew the caller. I had the impression it was from silly comedy or sit-com or meme that went around for a while.
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I'm American and I don't answer my phone.
On the rare occasion I do answer, I respond with "Whatcha want?"
Friends will reveal themselves real quick, scammers will also reveal themselves real quick...
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And I've habitually called him Papa Palpatine ever since.
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Pretty sure it's an old businessman thing. "Go for (my name)!" in a cock-sure tone is pretty much how I would expect any old business hot-shot asshole to answer the phone.
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We would say, "go for (name)" at work over the handheld radio, never heard of anyone using this on the phone. Sometimes I'd get bored and say "go for Zap Rowsdower" or whatever
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Never heard this before.
Maybe this is related: when I did a huge remodeling construction job for a summer as an unskilled laborer, I basically ran around and helped different people on everything. That's sometimes called being a "go-fer boy". "Go for this, go for that" meaning I would always run around and fetch tools and do simple tasks.
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It’s uncommon, I’ve heard it used every once in a blue moon like Barney Stinson (HIMYM) answering his phone and I haven’t seen a definitive answer other than indicating to the caller that he, Barney, is the one answering the phone.
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This question has plagued my mind for decades, because the main character of the tv show Eureka, Jack Carter, always answered his radio/phone with this. And to this day I have no idea what words he was saying or why he always said it. I had started to think he was saying "gofer" which is
An employee who runs errands in addition to performing regular duties.
But that seemed a bit weird for the sheriff to say
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"go for", not gofer. As in "go for Jack"
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ohh
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50 comments