An Adult Should Really Know This - Silly Things You've Had to Tell People

[katycoo]

My mom's friend--60ish--went on a trip to the American Southwest and exclaimed, "It's so weird, they have all these places with 'butt' in the name!" People in the Southwest probably get that a lot.

FTR, the word is "butte" as in Butte, Montana or Red Butte or Elephant Butte. It's pronounced byoot, like if you were saying "beautiful" but just used the first syllable. It's a geographic feature, one of those iconic straight-sided, flat-topped hills they have in the American West and Southwest. Personally I would expect an adult American to have picked up on that by now, from the movies if nothing else.

I don't know - most of our film and tv entertainment is Amercian and I woudn't have known that.

[sunnygirl]

I know we've moved on from the wild animal discussion but I had to tell myself something obvious this evening: don't try to stroke a massive, furry cat whilst only wearing one contact lens. Because it won't be a cat, it'll be a slightly freaked out fox.

When I was in Romania recently someone in my tour group got electrocuted putting her arm through the fence at the bear sanctuary to take closer photos of the bears. She's lucky she didn't get her arm ripped off.

Also, someone on this thread visited my workplace recently! 

[OSUJillyBean]

My MIL is an interesting woman, to put it bluntly, and an "inventive" cook.

Once she offered then-boyfriend and I what she called "leftover chili".  We agreed that chili sounded wonderful and agreed to have a bowl.  Then she pulled the pot out of the fridge to heat some up for us.

Apparently, in MIL-world, leftover chili is NOT chili that has been made previously, stored, and reheated at a later date.  No - it is an amalgam of all the leftovers in the fridge that are an the verge of spoiling, including half a cherry pie!!      I am not making this up. 

FIL hadn't realized at the time what she'd done but when he saw us hastily changing our minds (pasta, cherry pie, and deity-knows what else was NOT appetizing) he offered to take everyone out for dinner.  He never corrected her or made any disparaging remarks but that was my first clue that life with MIL would never be dull!


ETA - DH corrected me.  it was leftover stew, not chili.   

[ladyknight1]

My in-laws make leftover soup. As in, all meat scraps and broth from every meal is saved and frozen until the soup is made. The soup is made from frozen vegetables and all of these bits and pieces in a 50 quart stock pot and left to boil away for hours (just in case something wasn't fresh enough), then left sitting on the counter until cool and put into containers and frozen.

There are only two people who live there, and they make enough soup for a large group. When their refrigerator and freezer broke last November, DH and I got to throw away 20 quarts of leftover soup. Some of them were from 2009. 

[perpetua]

My MIL is an interesting woman, to put it bluntly, and an "inventive" cook.

Once she offered then-boyfriend and I what she called "leftover chili".  We agreed that chili sounded wonderful and agreed to have a bowl.  Then she pulled the pot out of the fridge to heat some up for us.

Apparently, in MIL-world, leftover chili is NOT chili that has been made previously, stored, and reheated at a later date.  No - it is an amalgam of all the leftovers in the fridge that are an the verge of spoiling, including half a cherry pie!!      I am not making this up. 

FIL hadn't realized at the time what she'd done but when he saw us hastily changing our minds (pasta, cherry pie, and deity-knows what else was NOT appetizing) he offered to take everyone out for dinner.  He never corrected her or made any disparaging remarks but that was my first clue that life with MIL would never be dull!

Oh my. I'm envisaging Rachel Greene's Thanksgiving trifle. You know, the one that 'tasted like feet'...

[Shalamar]

Cherry pie??  And here I thought my MIL was a bit odd for storing cauliflower and raspberries in the same container (presumably to save room in the fridge).

My husband says that his dad is fond of making "leftover soup", too - in fact, it's the only thing FIL does cook.  Somehow, though, it always ends up absolutely blah and tasteless - I don't think he realizes it's a good idea to add spices along with everything else.

[kherbert05]

I've had a couple of friends through the years who went by their middle names....however, their wives called them by their first names. 

I was out once with Donna and mutual acquaintance when she referred to "Frank".  Acquaintance said "Who's Frank?  I thought your husband's name was John."  Donna answered "Oh, Frank is the guy I sleep with." 
 

Donna is hysterical and lightning quick!

OT but my DH has a name (let's pretend it's 'Mark') and ALL of his relatives refer to him as 'Marky' because his dad is also 'Mark'.

I loathe 'Marky' so I just call him 'Mark' and deal with the resultant confusion over 'which Mark?'

Ok I just have never gotten this -


I have many cousins that "share" names. Some actually share them being they are named for the older on or a common ancestor. Others are on completely different branches. Still I know who people are talking about without clarification almost every time. Previously it was "little" first name was used. My Dad and Aunt HATED that convention and put an end to it.

[Luci]

I do remember once when I was young and had a bunch of old people (younger than I am now) and a lot of leftovers at at the camp after a well orchestrated meal who lingered for another meal. I asked my favorite aunt if certain stuff would go together to make a soupy casserole. Somehow I managed to satisfy about 12 people with leftovers, two kinds of soupy casseroles and a lot of leftover bread. Nothing beyond reasonable eating date.

So what I am saying is that if you take a lot of glop and put it together properly, it works. And we can get a lot praise for the effort.

And there was no alcohol involved  Just love. We did hit the alcohol after the guests left!

[greencat]

I am forever confused about what the proper names of some of my relatives should be - sometimes they'll get referred to by four different names in the same conversation.  Some of my relatives on my dad's side sort of go by their legal first names, but the family southern accent has rendered the name quite differently than the spelling would suggest.  Serena became "Shreeny," and Juanita became "Waneeter." 

Back on thing adults should know:
I often find myself having to tell people that it will take more than 15 minutes to drive 20 miles.  Most places on Earth are not connected directly by a straight road with a high speed limit.

[Luci]

I am forever confused about what the proper names of some of my relatives should be - sometimes they'll get referred to by four different names in the same conversation.  Some of my relatives on my dad's side sort of go by their legal first names, but the family southern accent has rendered the name quite differently than the spelling would suggest.  Serena became "Shreeny," and Juanita became "Waneeter."

Have you ever read a Russion novel? Good gravy! For this situation, can you find a nice elder aunt and ask her to help you? Thinking back 40 years to a similar situation. Thanks, Gromania!)

Back on thing adults should know:
I often find myself having to tell people that it will take more than 15 minutes to drive 20 miles.  Most places on Earth are not connected directly by a straight road with a high speed limit.

Do you suppose this is why so many people in the midwest but close to cities say, "It's about a half hour" instead of, "30 miles," or "4 miles" in town?

[PastryGoddess]

Luci, it's not just the midwest.  I'm on the east coast and I speak in time, not distance.  I live 40 miles from DC.  That trip can take 40 min, 1 hour, 2 hours, or 3 hours depending on traffic

[Alias]

Ok I just have never gotten this -

I have many cousins that "share" names. Some actually share them being they are named for the older on or a common ancestor. Others are on completely different branches. Still I know who people are talking about without clarification almost every time. Previously it was "little" first name was used. My Dad and Aunt HATED that convention and put an end to it.

We have 'family' names on my side as well as my husbands, and I refused to use them. I was informed when I was expecting my son (about 7 months on) that there was a family tradition - each first son alternates between John and Joseph in DH's family. DH is the first son, I was expecting our first son and he *should* be named Joseph. He's not. We already had a name picked out at that stage, and my husband hadn't realised that the tradition went any farther than him being named after his father's father. I really wanted to avoid them having the same name as somone, it's just confusing.

[cabbageweevil]

My mom's friend--60ish--went on a trip to the American Southwest and exclaimed, "It's so weird, they have all these places with 'butt' in the name!" People in the Southwest probably get that a lot.

FTR, the word is "butte" as in Butte, Montana or Red Butte or Elephant Butte. It's pronounced byoot, like if you were saying "beautiful" but just used the first syllable. It's a geographic feature, one of those iconic straight-sided, flat-topped hills they have in the American West and Southwest. Personally I would expect an adult American to have picked up on that by now, from the movies if nothing else.

I don't know - most of our film and tv entertainment is Amercian and I woudn't have known that.

This is interesting: I'm in the UK, and have long known the word and its meaning -- from material read, and from gazing at the atlas -- but have never heard it spoken by an American.  I'd always imagined the pronunciation to be "BUTT-eh".  Thanks for the putting-right, Lynn2000; eHell is educational in all kinds of ways !

[OSUJillyBean]

One more MIL story:

DH (Mr. Bean) and I have been trying to get pregnant for more than 18 months now.  Both sides of the family are aware of this.  My side offers their sympathies at our difficulties.  MIL, in contrast, offers her suggestions:  (Apologies in advance if this is tmi!  I will white-out the ickier parts).

"Now if you really wanted to get pregnant you have to stop washing your hair during your period!  That will wash away all the hormones."

She has said this to me no less than half a dozen times over the last few months to the point where I simply cut off contact with her as she was unable to have a conversation with me without giving me this advice.   DH is now under the rule that I am not to be alone with his mother (she only does this when we're alone but I think that's more to avoid getting herself into trouble than worrying about my privacy, based on other past experiences).

Can any eHellers tell me if this is a folk remedy they used to tell women?  Or is it simply a MILism she has invented?

And it should be noted that this woman already has four other grandchildren so I am NOT keeping that from her.  Conversely, my mother has no grandchildren yet and while supportive and eager to hold them once they arrive, is offering support instead of ... well, wackiness.

[Twik]

Most folk remedies were created before people knew about "hormones". But I suppose there was a lot of pseudoscientific stuff since then that she might have picked up on.

Still, it's pretty bizarre, even for an "I read it in the Midnight Enquirer" sort of remedy. Why would you have hormones in your hair? How would removing them from there have any effect on the rest of your body?