Where do you Stand on Man Holes?

The title of this thread is obscene squared.

Damn you, I have beer running out of my nose.

Considering what's underneath, the ladies will probably let us have this one.

At least it has generated enough controversy to spawn its own tiff on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AManhole_cover (Then again, what hasn't?)

Result: "manhole cover" was retained over "maintenance cover" or "maintenance hatch cover" because, well, who the heck says "maintenance cover?"

And speaking of "maintenance," carry on.

/thread

If you are opening it you have to stand on one side and use a pinch bar.  

If you're accessing it, not sure if that quallifies as "stand on", you might use a pre installed ladder, a suspended winch or utility truck.

Side note.  I was watching some show (maybe Mythbusters) and they said a "manhole" cover is round because it's the only shape that can't fit through the opening and fall in...

I thought about it for a while, and they are wrong.  An equilateral triangle can't fit through the opening either.  So round is not the "only shape" as stated...  But that would make for and odd opening.

I get nervous walking on the steel plates that cover the basement elevators on the streets of old chicago and new york (and other cities, I'm sure)

It's also creepy to walk on the vent grates in the sidewalk and realize you are 30' above the bottom of the pit.  What if it should give way...

This thread has my vote for best COJ thread EVER.

The fact an area might be voting to change manholes to personholes cracks me up.

Have any of you ever been in a manhole?  When I was a kid playing with my friends one summer we came across an extremely deep manhole.  We found a pry-bar and opened the manhole cover...it stunk!  A couple of us climbed down and saw some interesting things...it was a stream of everything that gets flushed down a toilet.  Fascinating stuff to a 10 year old.

Any other manhole stories out there?