Like for instance someone saying “Gopher John” when answering the phone. What does this mean?
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.
ok thank you 😃
And what is Ted supposed to copy?
Signifying that he received a good copy of the message
Ooooh thank you! I’d always wondered about this too.
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?!?
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.
“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.
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!
I’ve only ever used this on a movie set radio. It’s real but limited in its uses.
Bone apple tea
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”
“<whatever Alex needs to say to John>”
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
thanks 😃
Is this the same context in which you heard it?
Go for john
😃
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.
Never heard it in real life, but have in multiple war/military movies.
I’ve never heard anyone say this. Maybe we need more context?
Where did you possibly here that this is a thing that’s said?
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.
“go for” sounds like the kind of expression a British BBC sitcom would use to exemplify American language. Even though Americans never say it.
That’s not a thing.
:(
I feel like OP forgot to add the punchline.
no punchline
So you’re not going to explain why you’re asking this weird question?
theres no stupid questions, right ?
Context would be nice.
im not here to educate you
Great attitude you’ve got. Glad you’re here.
So everyone is supposed to educate you, but you’re special?
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.
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.
