Short form of "fire extinguisher"?

[Torsten]

Hi,

Is there any short way of saying "fire extinguisher"? I'm working with a group of engineers who inspect fire extinguishing systems and they have difficulties pronouncing this long expression.

Thanks a lot,
Torsten
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Conchita]

They can always shorten the expression to 'extinguisher' or even 'fire ext.' (this one would probably be too colloquial, if used at all). I've found the word 'asphyxiator', but would it be less of a mouthful to them?

[Torsten]

Hi Chonchita,

Yes I think 'asphyxiator' might be even more complicated for them and I'm not sure if this relates to a fire extinguisher at all....
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TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Mister Micawber]

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'Fire extinguisher' is the only name I know, Torsten. Interesting, eh? -- But if their job is inspecting the systems, they really should learn the phrase! Have them repeat it 10 times at the top of their lungs.

Parts of the system, or individual systems, may have different names, I suppose-- like, the noise is a 'fire alarm'.
.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Torsten]

Thanks Charles, I'll follow your advice have the engineers break the phrase down into small pieces that are easier to pronounce. Then we are going practice saying the word until they are absolutely comfortable pronouncing it.
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[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

What about 'fire stopper'?

A
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English as a Second Language
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[Mister Micawber]

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That one's not in my dictionary or my vocabulary, Alan. Is it common in BrE?
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Alan]

No, not really - I just made it up!

Alan
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[Mister Micawber]

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OK, then-- I'll write it in the margin of my Merriam-Webster's. And if we use it enough here, it'll soon be widely enough accepted for Torsten's firefighters...

fire stopper, fire stopper, fire stopper!
.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Yankee]

[NinaZara]

Hi,

I always call it "extinguisher", just "extinguisher". Is this acceptable? I think it's having to pronounce two words to refer to it that is bothering them. And what do you think of calling it "fire killer"?

Nina

[Yankee]

Hi Nina

Yes, it is sometimes shortened to just "extinguisher".

The use of "fire killer" would sound like humor to me.
.

[NinaZara]

Thank you, Amy for clearing that up.

Now that I give it a second thought, it sort of resembles "Lady killer" or something like that. Hahahahahahahaha!!