The (Not So) Great Unanswered Question

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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,700
    Frank Wilson wrote:
    When do flats become apartments?

    When do terraced houses become cottages?

    So my grandmother, who is basically hyacinth bucket, corrects me EVERY TIME when I refer to my flat as a flat, rather than an apartment.
    _
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    Pross wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    Why do all the alarm clocks I've ever used have the snooze time set at 9 minutes?

    I was sat at my bedside the other day, looking at my alarm clock - a little toblerone shaped digital clock with red LEDs ... been working for over 30 years ... they don't make things like that these days do they ... ;)

    Oh - snooze time - 9 minutes :)

    Ours is a red cube that my wife has had since she was a teen so also about 30 years old. It has a built in radio that's never really worked as 'p!ss off' written in permanent pen on the base where the wife must have got fed up with it waking her up before I even met her!
    Are you sure that wasn't for any over night visitors who might have been over staying their welcome.
  • tangled_metal
    tangled_metal Posts: 4,021
    Why do clock/radio/alarm clocks all have 9 minute snooze time. Even the alarm clock on.my phone defaults to 9 minute snooze. Is there something significant about 9 minutes?
  • capt_slog
    capt_slog Posts: 3,946
    Frank Wilson wrote:
    When do flats become apartments?

    When do terraced houses become cottages?


    When you're trying to sell them?

    But I used to live in a terraced cottage and wondered why it was a cottage. I suppose the front garden the same depth as the house probably made it so.


    Q.
    How come my phone can recognise words such as "Predictive" in predictive text but writes 'hu' and 'tgd' instead of 'it' and 'the'.


    The older I get, the better I was.

  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    Tangled Metal wrote:
    Why do clock/radio/alarm clocks all have 9 minute snooze time. Even the alarm clock on.my phone defaults to 9 minute snooze. Is there something significant about 9 minutes?

    I reckon it's probably because it's just long enough for you to drop back off to sleep before being rudely awoken again..
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Frank Wilson wrote:
    When do flats become apartments?

    When do terraced houses become cottages?

    So my grandmother, who is basically hyacinth bucket, corrects me EVERY TIME when I refer to my flat as a flat, rather than an apartment.

    Why do people say and write "So" at the beginning of sentences? It's superfluous.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Tangled Metal wrote:
    Who cares which way round the car is parked. You walk the child around the side of the car into the car you can do that whatever way around it's parked. It's about getting the child into the car via a safe route. Shopping is secondary to that. If this parking bothers you then IMHO it's a bit obsessive to be bothered by that. Surely it must bother you more seeing a young child being unloaded in a busy part of the carpark because all the P&C spots are taken by selfish ppl.

    I thought it was more about being able to get to the side of the car - trying to load in an uncooperative toddler when you can't actually open the door enough is a nightmare as you're trying to get them into their seat whilst not bashing the car who has parked too close next to you.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,775
    Slowbike wrote:
    Tangled Metal wrote:
    Who cares which way round the car is parked. You walk the child around the side of the car into the car you can do that whatever way around it's parked. It's about getting the child into the car via a safe route. Shopping is secondary to that. If this parking bothers you then IMHO it's a bit obsessive to be bothered by that. Surely it must bother you more seeing a young child being unloaded in a busy part of the carpark because all the P&C spots are taken by selfish ppl.

    I thought it was more about being able to get to the side of the car - trying to load in an uncooperative toddler when you can't actually open the door enough is a nightmare as you're trying to get them into their seat whilst not bashing the car who has parked too close next to you.
    :?:
    That was TM's point.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,700
    Slowbike wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Frank Wilson wrote:
    When do flats become apartments?

    When do terraced houses become cottages?

    So my grandmother, who is basically hyacinth bucket, corrects me EVERY TIME when I refer to my flat as a flat, rather than an apartment.

    Why do people say and write "So" at the beginning of sentences? It's superfluous.

    It makes it sound more conversational, and therefore less formal and final.
    _
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    PBlakeney wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Tangled Metal wrote:
    Who cares which way round the car is parked. You walk the child around the side of the car into the car you can do that whatever way around it's parked. It's about getting the child into the car via a safe route. Shopping is secondary to that. If this parking bothers you then IMHO it's a bit obsessive to be bothered by that. Surely it must bother you more seeing a young child being unloaded in a busy part of the carpark because all the P&C spots are taken by selfish ppl.

    I thought it was more about being able to get to the side of the car - trying to load in an uncooperative toddler when you can't actually open the door enough is a nightmare as you're trying to get them into their seat whilst not bashing the car who has parked too close next to you.
    :?:
    That was TM's point.

    I read it that TMs point was that the P&C spots weren't so busy - and therefore they're safer ... where as I suggested it was down to the available width so you can actually open doors ... I don't let our little munchkin go whether we're in a P&C spot or not...
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Frank Wilson wrote:
    When do flats become apartments?

    When do terraced houses become cottages?

    So my grandmother, who is basically hyacinth bucket, corrects me EVERY TIME when I refer to my flat as a flat, rather than an apartment.

    Why do people say and write "So" at the beginning of sentences? It's superfluous.

    It makes it sound more conversational, and therefore less formal and final.

    Does it? It just winds me up and I tend to ignore what comes after the So ...
    Rather than deflecting a question, could ‘so’ be a tool for covering up that you’re deflecting it? ‘The word is a marker of cause and result,’ says Dr Gardner-Chloros. ‘Someone who starts an answer with “so” is marking that what he’s saying is coherent with what came before — the question. He’s saying what he wants to say, like a politician — but trying to make it sound like it’s an answer to the question.’

    If this is the case, then So-sayers are planting the seeds of their own linguistic destruction. As the technique grows in popularity, we will come to recognise it more easily. It will take on the status of Harrison Ford’s tests in Blade Runner, used to tell androids from humans. Hear someone start an answer with ‘so’, and you’ll know you’re about to be spoonfed some pre-cooked PR-speak. A more sophisticated version of the old joke about knowing a politician is lying because his lips are moving.
    ;) kinda gives weight to my point ...
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,700
    Slowbike wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Frank Wilson wrote:
    When do flats become apartments?

    When do terraced houses become cottages?

    So my grandmother, who is basically hyacinth bucket, corrects me EVERY TIME when I refer to my flat as a flat, rather than an apartment.

    Why do people say and write "So" at the beginning of sentences? It's superfluous.

    It makes it sound more conversational, and therefore less formal and final.

    Does it? It just winds me up and I tend to ignore what comes after the So ...
    Rather than deflecting a question, could ‘so’ be a tool for covering up that you’re deflecting it? ‘The word is a marker of cause and result,’ says Dr Gardner-Chloros. ‘Someone who starts an answer with “so” is marking that what he’s saying is coherent with what came before — the question. He’s saying what he wants to say, like a politician — but trying to make it sound like it’s an answer to the question.’

    .
    ;) kinda gives weight to my point ...

    Sounds about right.

    I didn't necessarily have an answer to the question, but I had an anecdote that I felt may or may not have been revealing, so I thought I'd share it.
    *shrugs*
    _
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,550
    Tangled Metal wrote:
    Why do clock/radio/alarm clocks all have 9 minute snooze time. Even the alarm clock on.my phone defaults to 9 minute snooze. Is there something significant about 9 minutes?

    That was my question!
  • mrfpb
    mrfpb Posts: 4,569
    Slowbike wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Frank Wilson wrote:
    When do flats become apartments?

    When do terraced houses become cottages?

    So my grandmother, who is basically hyacinth bucket, corrects me EVERY TIME when I refer to my flat as a flat, rather than an apartment.

    Why do people say and write "So" at the beginning of sentences? It's superfluous.

    It makes it sound more conversational, and therefore less formal and final.

    Does it? It just winds me up and I tend to ignore what comes after the So ...

    So how do you feel about it's use at the start of questions?
  • tangled_metal
    tangled_metal Posts: 4,021
    Slowbike wrote:
    PBlakeney wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Tangled Metal wrote:
    Who cares which way round the car is parked. You walk the child around the side of the car into the car you can do that whatever way around it's parked. It's about getting the child into the car via a safe route. Shopping is secondary to that. If this parking bothers you then IMHO it's a bit obsessive to be bothered by that. Surely it must bother you more seeing a young child being unloaded in a busy part of the carpark because all the P&C spots are taken by selfish ppl.

    I thought it was more about being able to get to the side of the car - trying to load in an uncooperative toddler when you can't actually open the door enough is a nightmare as you're trying to get them into their seat whilst not bashing the car who has parked too close next to you.
    :?:
    That was TM's point.

    I read it that TMs point was that the P&C spots weren't so busy - and therefore they're safer ... where as I suggested it was down to the available width so you can actually open doors ... I don't let our little munchkin go whether we're in a P&C spot or not...
    It's the whole safety thing, space to open doors wider to strap kids in and location that's got a safe route to the entrance.

    In my closest supermarket the P&C parking spots are.on two parking islands opposite the entrance. A busy area. They have pedestrian zebra crossings to get to the store. Not ideal but ok. The disabled are round the corner in the carpark. That spot is a very quiet and they have direct access to the store without crossing any roadway. Ideally both disabled and P&C spots should have this type of direct, safe access. Just my opinion as a biased parent.

    The other two supermarkets have both disabled and P&C spots with a direct, path to the store entrance in a quiet spot. In one case the P&C are closest to the door the other furthest away. Still they're both better.

    BTW the first store has a very badly designed carpark and carpark entrance. It's on a staggered crossroads that has two separate sets of lights. Basically they're operating as two T junctions with.lights that are virtually on top of each other. The other entrance being to a residential side road. It's on a downhill stretch just after the crest of a hill. Result is ppl look to the second sets of lights ignoring the first one to the residential road. At the second lights to the supermarket there's a crossing. I've personally seen about 5 serious near misses because cars have effectively ignored the first amber light and ended up not stopping for the red light at the second lights with the crossing. IMHO they should have put it as a direct crossroads with one set if lights and putting the entrance further up. That would possibly allow for better parking design too.

    Sorry rant over.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    mrfpb wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Frank Wilson wrote:
    When do flats become apartments?

    When do terraced houses become cottages?

    So my grandmother, who is basically hyacinth bucket, corrects me EVERY TIME when I refer to my flat as a flat, rather than an apartment.

    Why do people say and write "So" at the beginning of sentences? It's superfluous.

    It makes it sound more conversational, and therefore less formal and final.

    Does it? It just winds me up and I tend to ignore what comes after the So ...

    So how do you feel about it's use at the start of questions?

    That seems more normal ...

    It's just one of those irritating words that people are putting in to fit in with the "in crowd" - I've never been a conformist and it annoys me :)
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Tangled Metal wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    PBlakeney wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Tangled Metal wrote:
    Who cares which way round the car is parked. You walk the child around the side of the car into the car you can do that whatever way around it's parked. It's about getting the child into the car via a safe route. Shopping is secondary to that. If this parking bothers you then IMHO it's a bit obsessive to be bothered by that. Surely it must bother you more seeing a young child being unloaded in a busy part of the carpark because all the P&C spots are taken by selfish ppl.

    I thought it was more about being able to get to the side of the car - trying to load in an uncooperative toddler when you can't actually open the door enough is a nightmare as you're trying to get them into their seat whilst not bashing the car who has parked too close next to you.
    :?:
    That was TM's point.

    I read it that TMs point was that the P&C spots weren't so busy - and therefore they're safer ... where as I suggested it was down to the available width so you can actually open doors ... I don't let our little munchkin go whether we're in a P&C spot or not...
    It's the whole safety thing, space to open doors wider to strap kids in and location that's got a safe route to the entrance.
    .....
    Just my opinion as a biased parent.
    Our closest supermarkets are reasonable - Sainsburys is a bit out of the way, but accessible without having to cross the road - although you do have a short walk through the carpark (just for P&C's) to get to the paved area. Tesco have 2 areas - one adjacent to the store, the other on an island - both areas you can walk directly from the car to the paved area - so better in that respect. LSB is only 2 - so quite happy being carried most of the time - although when he sees that damm Noddy outside the shop he has to have a sit in it ... for the next few hours ... :D
  • tangled_metal
    tangled_metal Posts: 4,021
    Bob the builder and Thomas the tank engine here! Grrrrr!
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Paw Patrol .... Call Ryder ...

    although we're starting to get into Fireman Sam ...
  • tangled_metal
    tangled_metal Posts: 4,021
    What? Supermarket rides? By the entrance that takes countless bribes and the cross your heart hope to... promise to ride on the way out to get junior off the bleeding thing?
  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    What comes first? The waddle (caused by knackered hips?) or the obesity?
    Ben

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  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Tangled Metal wrote:
    What? Supermarket rides? By the entrance that takes countless bribes and the cross your heart hope to... promise to ride on the way out to get junior off the bleeding thing?

    Yes - those are the ones ... but at 2 he doesn't understand "Later" ... or if he does, he choses not to comprehend!
  • tangled_metal
    tangled_metal Posts: 4,021
    Wait until the negotiation stage at about 4ish. That's fun!
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Veronese68 wrote:
    mrfpb wrote:
    It's quite handy to have such music for dinner parties, for the point where you want people to start leaving.
    Good point.
    I should add following on from H³ post I will add that there are some of most forms of music that I like. Even some opera and rap, but this was a particularly bad cacophony. I have even been to an opera once, but I was trying to impress a girl. Aida in Verona, we were half cut and fell asleep even though we were sitting on stone steps.

    In some respects, rap and opera are similar, given the lyrical content.

    The difference between rap and opera?

    One is a fat bloke talking when he should be singing, the other is a fat bloke singing when he should be talking.

    I'm no opera buff, but some of it really makes my spine tingle, even though it's in a language I don't understand. Really grabs something inside me and makes it soar.

    Rap not so much, and as an elderly white male, it is also in a language I don't understand.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,550
    Why are people using a thread for asking / answering great unanswered questions for rants when there's a whole thread dedicated to things that annoy you?
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,550
    Ben6899 wrote:
    What comes first? The waddle (caused by knackered hips?) or the obesity?

    The obesity. It's the same with my mother-in-law who 'can't exercise' because of problems with her feet and doesn't seem to realise the foot problems are made worse by excess weight!
  • shortfall
    shortfall Posts: 3,288
    keef66 wrote:
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Veronese68 wrote:
    mrfpb wrote:
    It's quite handy to have such music for dinner parties, for the point where you want people to start leaving.
    Good point.
    I should add following on from H³ post I will add that there are some of most forms of music that I like. Even some opera and rap, but this was a particularly bad cacophony. I have even been to an opera once, but I was trying to impress a girl. Aida in Verona, we were half cut and fell asleep even though we were sitting on stone steps.

    In some respects, rap and opera are similar, given the lyrical content.

    The difference between rap and opera?

    One is a fat bloke talking when he should be singing, the other is a fat bloke singing when he should be talking.

    I'm no opera buff, but some of it really makes my spine tingle, even though it's in a language I don't understand. Really grabs something inside me and makes it soar.

    Rap not so much, and as an elderly white male, it is also in a language I don't understand.

    Pretty much this. I can appreciate the odd bit of rap but none of it really moves me. Opera however can make my hairs stand on end and even move me to tears.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,775
    Pross wrote:
    Why are people using a thread for asking / answering great unanswered questions for rants when there's a whole thread dedicated to things that annoy you?
    Should that rant not have been posted elsewhere?
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,550
    PBlakeney wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    Why are people using a thread for asking / answering great unanswered questions for rants when there's a whole thread dedicated to things that annoy you?
    Should that rant not have been posted elsewhere?

    It's a question hence the question mark at the end.
  • Moontrane
    Moontrane Posts: 233
    Ben6899 wrote:
    Moontrane wrote:
    Ben6899 wrote:
    Moontrane wrote:
    Moontrane wrote:
    Ben6899 wrote:
    Moontrane wrote:
    Ben6899 wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    Hopefully this thread can help get answers to all those annoying, pointless questions that enter your heads from time to time.

    My current one is - why does milk taste so different from country to country when cows in most developed countries eat a similar type of feed? French semi-skimmed is far different to ours.

    Not sure about France, but milk is sweetened in the US and Mexico. It's no wonder every third person is overweight.

    "milk is sweetened in the US"

    Define "milk" and "sweetened."

    A liquid produced by a mammal - normally for feeding offspring.
    Made to taste sweeter.

    Unless I'm missing something?

    Your first definition is what is sold here in the US. Milk is sweetened to make beverages like chocolate or strawberry milk. Otherwise, it's just plain ole white milk.

    If I ask for milk, in a café in the US, to go with my coffee (or what passes for coffee), then the milk is definitely sweeter than what we're used to over here in the UK.

    What am I being served?

    I've never been served pre-sweetened coffee at a cafe or restaurant in the U.S., and the milk served is always plain milk. Vietnamese restaurants serve what is called French coffee, which I find gag-inducingly sweet.

    I can’t disagree with your experience, but it’s different from mine. Are you getting a small plastic container of a creamer? Some of those are sweet.

    Came in a jug, mate. I only made the mistake once, I now drink tea when I'm in the US.

    It must have come from a brown cow.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/won ... 0913a54196
    Infinite diversity, infinte variations

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