Why do people like...?

secretsam

So, why do people like the following things - they are all utterly over-rated IMHO:

- Dyson cleaners: a triumph of marketing over engineering
- Strawberries: nice, but nothing special
- The Lakeland Catalogue: lots of expensive tat that no-one really needs
- Caviar: gritty and unpleasant.

Anyone got anything else to add to the list? I'm open to debate on any of the above.

antfly

I agree about Dysons, if vaccuums with bags were invented after bagless ones they would have been hailed as a great advance ! Also, the plastic bits are always breaking or wearing out, and they are heavy and unpleasant to use.

secretsam

antfly wrote:

I agree about Dysons, if vaccuums with bags were invented after bagless ones they would have been hailed as a great advance ! Also, the plastic bits are always breaking or wearing out, and they are heavy and unpleasant to use.

"Never loses suction". Yeah, right.

The bagless thing kills it for me. Exactly how is having to empty the dust, etc directly into the bin - in the process transferring 99% of it back on to you/your house - "better"????

Guanajuato

With Dysons, its not the cyclone tech that's the real improvement. Quite how they managed to get a patent for technology that's been around for well over 100 years I'll never know. Its all the little bits that improved the ergonomics - e.g motor low down, integrated hose that'll stretch to the top of stairs, brush driven directly by a motor, attachment with a brush powered by the moving air. Even the point the hose connects being low down, so when you pull it, the whole vacuum doesn't fall over. All (rather obvious with hindsight) innovations that others have caught up with but Dyson got there first. And they are rather well-marketed. ;-)

As for Lakeland. My other half works there and there is a hell of a lot of expensive tat (£1000 for a coffee machine?) and solutions for problems you never knew you had. A special tool for removing a teabag from a cup? Really? But their original products of Cling film & bakery stuff are very good quality. Cling film with perforated sheets was genius! And being a teensy bit thicker means it doesn't just curl up on itself the instant its off the roll.

With you entirely on the Strawberries. No idea on caviar and have absolutely no intention of trying it.

antfly

SecretSam wrote:

antfly wrote:

I agree about Dysons, if vaccuums with bags were invented after bagless ones they would have been hailed as a great advance ! Also, the plastic bits are always breaking or wearing out, and they are heavy and unpleasant to use.

"Never loses suction". Yeah, right.

The bagless thing kills it for me. Exactly how is having to empty the dust, etc directly into the bin - in the process transferring 99% of it back on to you/your house - "better"????

Exactly, plus they have to be emptied far more often, bags last for months.

verylonglegs

Add Champagne to the list for me. I enjoy alcohol in it's many different variations and drink for the taste in the main, it's really not about getting hammered, but Champagne is the one I really don't get and see it as one of the most over-rated supposedly premium products there is.

team47b

Why do people like to eat snails, they come to my garden to collect them, but they leave the slugs?

Surely they are easier to eat being ready pealed, fatter and jucier

Don't knock Lakeland, where else are you going to get your Madagascan Bourbon vanilla extract from :roll:

dmclite-3.0

itunes, the way it will ringfence music so you lose it to itunes.
Apple Corp, hype, hype, hype.
Coldplay.

VTech

dmclite-3.0 wrote:

itunes, the way it will ringfence music so you lose it to itunes.
Apple Corp, hype, hype, hype.
Coldplay.

The "ring fence" has saved the music industry, I dont know of many record labels or artists that dont like itunes ?

Daz555

Apple iOS

The hardware I get but the software they chuck onto their phones and tablets? Nasty nasty nasty. Turns a great piece of hardware into a Fisher Price toy.

ballysmate

When Apple first launched their music download facility, there was the US site, .com and the UK site, .co.uk. The US version charged, I think, 99c per track, whereas the UK version charged 99p. The US version spat out an UK IP, so that you had to go to the more expensive UK version. The reason? Overheads apparently. They were more expensive in the UK! Ha ha ha ha.
Don't know if it is still the same, never went back.

edhornby

cheap nasty caviar is gritty and horrid, the good stuff is nice but there is a lot of variation. for a snack on toast you can't beat tapenade or a rough pate or just a great big sundried tomato.... champagne doesn't suit everyones pallette, if you like really dry flavours then great - but don't be afraid to say you prefer other sparkling wines, prosecco can be just as good or a good quality cava (no uk supermarket does these btw)

I don't get why people persist in really expensive wind up watches that cost a riotous amount of money to buy, then don't keep that great time and need a 300quid yearly service !!!

endless telly programmes about other peoples houses - i really don't get it....

mpatts

I once tried having sex with another man. Half of it was pretty nice, but I didn't enjoy it at all.

Does that count?

ballysmate

The closest I have, or will ever get to caviar, is tinned cod roe, sliced and deep fried in batter, from the chippy.
Bostin', as they say round these here parts.
I think a lot of people try champers and are too embarrassed to say that it tastes like vinegar. Because something is expensive, it doesn't follow that it will be to everyone's taste.

ballysmate

mpatts wrote:

I once tried having sex with another man. Half of it was pretty nice, but I didn't enjoy it at all.

Does that count?

Catchin' or pitchin'?

mpatts

Ballysmate wrote:

mpatts wrote:

I once tried having sex with another man. Half of it was pretty nice, but I didn't enjoy it at all.

Does that count?

Catchin' or pitchin'?

Pitchin'

It was a little bit like riding low end shimano. Functional, but leaves you with a sense that all is not quite right.

Pituophis

Sprouts?

arran77

edhornby wrote:

cheap nasty caviar is gritty and horrid, the good stuff is nice but there is a lot of variation. for a snack on toast you can't beat tapenade or a rough pate or just a great big sundried tomato.... champagne doesn't suit everyones pallette, if you like really dry flavours then great - but don't be afraid to say you prefer other sparkling wines, prosecco can be just as good or a good quality cava (no uk supermarket does these btw)

I don't get why people persist in really expensive wind up watches that cost a riotous amount of money to buy, then don't keep that great time and need a 300quid yearly service !!!

endless telly programmes about other peoples houses - i really don't get it....

Life's a bitch ain't it :P

junglist_matty

I love strawberries; the ones that I grow in my garden taste a million times better than in the shops.

napoleond

Friends. The TV show not the imaginary Facebook ones.

Bloody AWFUL!

tlw1

My sister in law

laurentian

Michael Jackson - the Dyson of the music world absolute style/hype over substance.

crescent

The Pet Shop Boys.

Just heard their latest dirge on the radio - Bourgeois something or other, basically sounds like every other offering they have unleashed.
I can't believe they have made a living for nigh on 30 years by one of them playing a stylophone and one singing with a clothes peg on his nose.

bushpixy

Toshiba also originally came up with the bladeless fan (which isn't actually bladeless. They're hidden in the base), but the patent ran out a couple of years ago. Dyson snapped it up and now everyone thinks it was their great idea.

jawooga

Mrs Brown's Boys

Lenny Henry

Milk

crescent

jawooga wrote:

Mrs Brown's Boys

Lenny Henry

Milk

Couldn't agree more with all of these.
Can I also add "Absolutely Fabulous" to the list.

ballysmate

Crescent wrote:

jawooga wrote:

Mrs Brown's Boys

Lenny Henry

Milk

Couldn't agree more with all of these.
Can I also add "Absolutely Fabulous" to the list.

Sort of linked to Ab Fab and Lenny Henry, can I add French and Saunders?
They are to comedy, what Wayne Sleep is to rugby league.

CambsNewbie

The cult of celebrity. Just don't get it.

However, having had a long haired German Shepherd I can honestly say Dysons are great. Gets the hair up and hasn't broken down.

jawooga

French and Saunders is a tricky one for me. Pretending to be fat male sexists wasn't funny. Some of the latter Ab Fab weren't funny on account of being tired, same old cliches and otd acting. However, I think the pair of them have funny bones. When they do their bank holiday radio 2 shows, i find them hilarious - but then it's in the same way i like Mel and Sue.

ballysmate

jawooga wrote:

French and Saunders is a tricky one for me. Pretending to be fat male sexists wasn't funny. Some of the latter Ab Fab weren't funny on account of being tired, same old cliches and otd acting. However, I think the pair of them have funny bones. When they do their bank holiday radio 2 shows, i find them hilarious - but then it's in the same way i like Mel and Sue.

When I posted about F&S, I was going to cite their radio shows. Utter drivel. Says it all if listeners are left yearning for the return of Steve Wright.

ballysmate

This thread is turning into a pale shadow of 'Thunderthingies'