[thraxil]

I worked on a groundskeeping team for a small cemetery (in the US) as a summer job when I was in high school. Mostly, it was mowing grass, trimming weeds, cleaning lichen off stones (we got to use the power washer for that, which was always exciting), etc. There were typically only a few burials per month. We didn't do the burying; that had to be subcontracted out because it required special equipment and a lot of paperwork that us minimum wage schlubs couldn't be trusted to deal with. Where we were, the local regulations required that you couldn't just put a coffin into the ground, you had to put it in a concrete vault (probably something to do with the water table). So one of the companies that did that would show up with a truck and backhoe, cut out the sod, dig the hole loading most of the dirt into a truck but leaving a smallish pile there for the ceremony, lower the vault into place, set up the lowering mechanism, then clean up and clear out. After the ceremony, they'd come back, drop the vault lid into place, pack up the lowering mechanism, fill the dirt back in and replace the sod.

[massysett]

The concrete vault helps prevent the gravesite from sinking. The coffin or casket will decompose, and there’s a lot piled on top of it, and people and equipment go over it, so with time it can cave in.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burial_vault_(enclosure)

[ranting-moth]

I friend of mine asked to borrow my hoe. After me saying '?' and '!', then he explained that, yes, in the UK you dig a hole with a hoe.

[KineticLensman]

> in the UK you dig a hole with a hoe

(Pedantic Brit here) I think most Brits would say 'with a spade' if asked how to dig a hole and would use a hoe to break up soil, disrupt weeds, harvest roots, etc [0].

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoe_(tool)

[tengwar2]

As a Brit, I would say the same. However it may be some specialised terminology - for instance the wooden beams that support the coffin over the grave before it is lowered are "putlocks", a word I had not come across before. So it would not surprise me if a sexton referred to a spade as a hoe.

[KineticLensman]

(going down a rabbit hole now. I think that's the right phrase)

There are loads of sites that offer grave digging services or equipment (e.g. [0]) although none mention hoes that I can see. However, I did find more about the use of hoes to actually dig holes (coming back to the original subject): [1]. How could I have forgotten about 'mattocks'.

[0] https://www.equipter.com/equipter-articles/grave-digging-too...

[1] https://grasstrimmerreviews.co.uk/best-digging-hoe-uk/

[tengwar2]

It's possible that the word "hoe" is rarely written down in this context. I wasn't able to find "putlock" in this context on the web, although I found a blockchain protocol where the name clearly linked the words "grave" and "putlock"

[blowski]

I have a mattock for breaking up the clods on my allotment.

[gadders]

Mattocks are amazing. I've used them for taking up small stumps from shrubs as well.

[culturestate]

A backhoe[1] is not a hoe in the gardening sense, but the colloquial American term for an excavator. You might call it a JCB.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backhoe

[willyt]

In Britain we just call them 'diggers'. JCB is a very common British digger brand though so they do get called that as well. We do have backhoe loaders they are machines with a wide flat shovel for scooping material up and moving it around or loading it into a dumper truck. You wouldn't dig a hole with one but most people would look at it and call it a digger.

[yetanotherloser]

I think you're correct, but if you need to dig a big hole I strongly recommend a mattock. (Source: too much archaeology)

[irrational]

Huh, TIL that what I always called a pickaxe is actually called a mattock.

[mellavora]

you obviously need to play more nethack