So the writer describes the guy who does the CSI on the car as a "grease monkey" and implies he is an uneducated hick. Yet it was his work that figured it all out.
Have you ever used a Tech 2 scanner to diagnose one of those cars? They are quite complex, with mutliple computers networked over the canbus system.
Grease Monkey. Like Code Monkey or Porch Monkey. Derogatory.
I didn't read anything implying he is an uneducated hick unless you think the term "grease monkey" itself has that implication. But I don't that that term has the connotation you're saying it does. Whenever I've heard "grease monkey" it seems more like the car equivalent of "hacker" – that tinkering with cars is something you deeply understand and enjoy, not just a job.
Yeh, I've always taken the term 'grease monkey' as the mechanic equivalent to 'hacker', and not bad at all. IIRC it was popularised during WW2 where guys with a mechanical knack would hack together repairs to their vehicles out of spare parts. Those guys were the grease monkeys and were well-respected for keeping the mechanised fleet operating when everything was going to hell.
"Charlie Miller has been a grease monkey for almost his entire life. Born in Tippo, a tiny town in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, Miller overhauled his first engine when he was 12. He put himself through a local college working as a mechanic while supporting an addiction to drag racing and after he graduated he become a professional hot rod driver. In 1974 he opened an auto repair shop in Merigold, but it was 15 years before he was asked to offer an expert opinion, and only because of happenstance"
That didn't sound very complimentary to me. Maybe it could have been written like:
"Charlie Miller was asked by a friend to help in a court case. His friend has asked for help because of Charlie's unique background. Charlie had a love for cars since he was a child, and was smart enough to overhaul an engine at the age of 12. He was not only good with tuning an engine, he could also drive. He competed in drag racing as an amateur before becoming a professional driver. A graduate from a local college, Charlie was able to combine his love of cars, his self directed education and his keen diagnostic sense to solve his friends problem as an expert witness, and that is how he started his path to become the guy who solved the biggest recall in automotive history. "
There is nothing insulting in the bit you quoted. It describes someone from a rural background who turned a teenage racing hobby into not one but two careers. Maybe you're so sensitive to country folk getting shit that you think just mentioning his rural background must be done with a snicker and a sneer, but I don't. It's the plain facts.
And "grease monkey" is not an insult. It's more of a compliment, if anything.
If it is such a compliment, then why not go to an auto shop and say "Hey you grease monkeys, how are you?" and then see if you get punched. I am not brave enough to do that, and I have been working in automotive for 25 years.
It would not be the same as talking to computer programmers and calling them 'hackers'
Have you ever used a Tech 2 scanner to diagnose one of those cars? They are quite complex, with mutliple computers networked over the canbus system.
Grease Monkey. Like Code Monkey or Porch Monkey. Derogatory.