... an electrical engineer friend of mine said to me the other day "
You know Pat, a small block is like a civil engineer." Of course, I had no idea what he meant and asked him to explain. His explanation was that "real engineers," be they electrical, chemical, mechanical, or nuclear, view civil engineers as being a joke -- wannabe engineers, if you will. After he explained it to me, it made perfect sense in comparing smalll blocks to FEs.
What an apt expression....