Dictionary Definition
galoot n : a disreputable or clumsy man
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Extensive Definition
"Galoot" is an old word used, primarily in
Scotland, that means a person with an ungainly, cumbersome, and
clumsy personality.
Within Internet-based
woodworking
communities, a galoot is a hand tool
aficionado, specifically old hand
tools. This is contrasted with users of any hand tools who are
called neanderthals in a number of internet woodworking
communities. For many, the two terms are interchangeable. In this
context, a galoot or neanderthal is one who hunts used hand tools
and/or insists on using hand tools in preference to power tools,
especially hand planes.
Galoots may also champion tools that others would consider a lost
cause, lovingly restoring a rusted or damaged tool by sanding, scraping,
lapping, or using
electrolysis to
remove rust and repairing or replacing parts required to restore
the tool to a usable state.
The galoot community includes, but is not
restricted to, collectors of old tools. The only qualification for
being a galoot is a love of hand tools (especially older hand
tools) and a willingness to admit that this love may seem odd or
unexplainable to others. By extension, galoots are often interested
in old methods of achieving wood or metal work. For example, it is
not uncommon for a galoot to create a replacement tool handle with
a spokeshave, to
resaw a plank with a frame saw, or even to forge and temper his or her own chisels.
Many galoots hold Roy
Underhill, of the
PBS series The
Woodwright's Shop, in extremely high regard and may refer to
him with the shorthand "St. Roy".
Other uses
'Galoot' is a word used by the cartoon character Yosemite Sam - he frequently refers to Bugs Bunny as a 'idjut lop-eared galoot'.Galoot is a left-recursive
acronym which means "Galoots are lovers of old tools".