What's up with everyone calling each other HAND on the CB?????

It has always been used as long as I can remember. It is not used as much in trucking as it was 25 years ago, but not a new term.

 

Not really.....In the old west days a worker an a ranch was called a "hired Hand" and you can't deny the link between truckdrivers & the "OLD WEST" especially when you consider how many drivers wear the western gear ( Boots, belts, etc. )

 

While that is the origin of it, there are many industries that refer to their hired help as a hand. Most notably to my recollection is the oilfield industry. Also it's used to refer to someone working for little or no money (See Toby Keith's song "Honky Tonk U" where he sings about workin' at his gramma's night club stackin' "up those empty long necks and make a hand.") With the pay we drivers make compared to the hours we put it, this reference is obvious.

 

When I was a teen I would take jobs hauling hay and working in a motor rewind shop and my grandfather would always tell me to give an honest days work and to make them a good hand. I have been hearing that saying since i was a little kid.

 

They mostly say driver now, automatically assuming the other guy is a driver. I think hand is more suitable as everyone using the cb is a hand.

 

I agree that it is an old term and is being replaced by "driver" I understand driver has it's place since you don't know who you are speaking to most the time but I still prefer "hand" it's what I learned and am used to I guess.

Of course there is also "good Buddy" which means something TOTALLY different now than it did 15 years ago