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[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A consultation[YSaerTTEW443543]
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?
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…[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Clearing away the snow[YSaerTTEW443543]
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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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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.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: An artist at work[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Torsten,
What about ‘fire stopper’?
A
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That one’s not in my dictionary or my vocabulary, Alan. Is it common in BrE?
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No, not really - I just made it up!
Alan
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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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If your guys were able to rise to the challenge of becoming engineers, they ought to be able to master the phrase ‘fire extinguisher’ eventually. Maybe you could present the mastery of the pronunciation as an engineering challenge – a challenge to engineer a means by which they can reliably get ‘fire extinguisher’ out of their mouths unscathed. 
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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
Hi Nina
Yes, it is sometimes shortened to just “extinguisher”.
The use of “fire killer” would sound like humor to me. 
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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!!