this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2026
48 points (80.8% liked)
Dad Jokes
24393 readers
417 users here now
Description
This is a community for sharing those cheesy “dad” jokes that invoke an eye roll or chuckle.
Rules
- Clean jokes only please. If you cannot tell this joke to a 5-year-old and they can understand, you probably shouldn’t post it here. Please post edgier jokes to: !unclejokes@lemmy.world
- Adult topics with which to be cautious or avoided: drugs, sex, death, racism.
- Must post text, image (e.g., meme), or direct link. Do not post external links that cannot be viewed directly from the community (e.g., link to joke website, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
- Follow Lemmy.World Code of Conduct
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Close! A 3 alarm fire could be shortened to “a 3 alarmer”. Which in Boston would be pronounced without the Rs for: “a 3 alamah”.
So do people in the US rank the size of your fires in "alarms"??! Like a bin fire is a 1 alarm fire? But a house fire is a 3 alarm?
Do you say, "quick, evacuate the neighbourhood, there's an 8 alarm fire heading our way"
I've never heard of this before today.
The number of alarms is (I think) how many different departments, or possibly fire engines, are needed to fight the fire. So yes pretty much. It’s often how they are described in news articles.
It’s firefighter “units,” generally — kinda a mix of your two guesses.
Hey thanks, I’m in the 10,000 today. Unit count does make sense. I wasn’t aware of the terminology for firefighting teams/groups/trucks.
I've never heard anyone say it as "alarmer", but that could be an East Coast thing I guess.
Maybe, but alarmer isn’t something you’d say alone.
A 4 alarmer implies 4 alarm fire, in shorthand.
Sort or like instead of saying “make a left hand turn” someone might also say “take a left hander”.
Also if it matters I’m a midwesterner. I just know bunch a bastahds from Boston.