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Comment by Hermel | Hacker News Reader

Ironically, "Gaffer" is the German word for rubberneck.

British English word for "boss", traditionally in blue-collar jobs (building sites, factories, that kind of thing) but used informally everywhere.

Gaffer is the name of the head electrician in film production, the assistant is called the Best Boy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaffer_%28filmmaking%29

Hence "Gaffer tape" which is black, rather than duct tape, which is the same construction but grey.

PSA: Gaffer's tape makes the best ad-hoc mouse pad for surfaces that are not mousable... (at a trade show and your new shiny glass counters are acting weird with mice... make a small square with gaffers tape, which you already use to secure cords under carpet...

Its my favorite tape for general use.

FYI, unrelated to the topic but they make mice that work on any surface how.

I currently use this one on my glass desk: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Anywhere-Mouse-Mac/d...

I replied to myself - but meant to reply to you:

>Haha yeah I have at least ten of those... They do not work on certain glass surfaces, namely any shiny black granite desk.

Do you own one of the 'Darkfield Technology' ones?

That's specifically why I bought this one and it works flawlessly on every glass surface I've tried.

Apparently not, I'll have to try one of those.

Traditional gaffer tape was a cotton cloth adhesive tape. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaffer_tape#/media/File:Black_...

It's a bit harder to get this style, because when people say "gaffer tape" they normally mean "duck tape, or duct tape, or anything like that".

That looks like it is much better. The times I have spent trying to get tape off light stands etc. when it has been heated and cooled.

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