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

[lady_disdain]

Fluffy bacon-fed knave pomeranians don't bother me at all and I seldom have any issues with Labs,  German Shepherds, or chihuahuas.

Bacon fed pomeranian? That must be one happy pup

[wheeitsme]

My friend was confused why I was allergic to our other friend's dogs. "But they're short-haired," she said. "That's makes them hypoallergenic!"

Um, no, the length of the hair has nothing to do with it. The severity of my allergic reaction depends on how much the dog sheds, and then dander.

Which she should know. B/c she's allergic to dogs, too.

I have specific breeds that are worse for me and some breeds don't bother me at all.  Example: I'm terribly allergic to beagles and to a slightly lesser extent, poodles,  like my eyes will swell shut and I will have trouble breathing before I make it to the front door of someone who has one. Fluffy bacon-fed knave pomeranians don't bother me at all and I seldom have any issues with Labs,  German Shepherds, or chihuahuas. Most others cause a mild reaction.

My MIL is allergic to cats, but is much more allergic to male cats.

Interesting. Labs and German Shepherds are double coated.

[Wintergreen]

This was a teen, not an adult, but still:

My brother had some friends over.  My mom made veal parmesan.  One of the girls didn't know what that was:

Mom: Veal?  You know?

Girl: *blank stare*

Mom: Veal is baby cow.  You know, like lamb is baby sheep?

Girl: People eat sheep?

I was almost going to say in this thread that I wonder how anyone with two brain cells cannot understand where food comes, even without being told it. I never remember being told, it was so clear, we would eat chicken and pig and so on, and you know they are animals too. But then I started to wonder the English language, and how there is beef and pork and so on. I'm not a native speaker, but I've understood that these terms are usually used about meat, not really as "oh, there is the pork walking around, saying oink". So maybe it's not as clear if your mother says it's going to be pork today compared to if she would say it's going to be pig today.

On the other hand I do remember a friend who claimed to hate fish, yet ate canned tuna fish with good appetite because she did not realize it was fish... So maybe my theory is totally wrong

On different topic, I had to tell an adult female that getting her tubes tied would not stop her having periods.

[WolfWay]

This was a teen, not an adult, but still:

My brother had some friends over.  My mom made veal parmesan.  One of the girls didn't know what that was:

Mom: Veal?  You know?

Girl: *blank stare*

Mom: Veal is baby cow.  You know, like lamb is baby sheep?

Girl: People eat sheep?

I was almost going to say in this thread that I wonder how anyone with two brain cells cannot understand where food comes, even without being told it. I never remember being told, it was so clear, we would eat chicken and pig and so on, and you know they are animals too. But then I started to wonder the English language, and how there is beef and pork and so on. I'm not a native speaker, but I've understood that these terms are usually used about meat, not really as "oh, there is the pork walking around, saying oink". So maybe it's not as clear if your mother says it's going to be pork today compared to if she would say it's going to be pig today.

As I understand it, this difference in words for the animal and the product that comes from it comes from a linguistic divide in English history when the ruling class and the working/farmer class spoke two different languages.

So the working class Anglo-Saxon farmers would call the animals by the name of the animal (because that what they saw mostly, the whole animal) like Cow, Sheep, Pig.

The ruling class Norman elite who never really saw the full animal, only the final processed product used words like Beef, Mutton and Pork.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2008/why-do-we-eat-beef-and-pork-rather-than-cow-and-pig

This could be a historical fairytale, but it's still a nice explanation of the split.   

I have been known to jokingly say "We're having oink sausages today", or answering a question about what kind of burger I'm eating with "Cow", but that's just me being silly and nonsensical. Using the name of the animal just sounds wrong. "Pig sausages" just sounds kind of gross, no matter how accurate it may be.

[MommyPenguin]

This was a teen, not an adult, but still:

My brother had some friends over.  My mom made veal parmesan.  One of the girls didn't know what that was:

Mom: Veal?  You know?

Girl: *blank stare*

Mom: Veal is baby cow.  You know, like lamb is baby sheep?

Girl: People eat sheep?

I was almost going to say in this thread that I wonder how anyone with two brain cells cannot understand where food comes, even without being told it. I never remember being told, it was so clear, we would eat chicken and pig and so on, and you know they are animals too. But then I started to wonder the English language, and how there is beef and pork and so on. I'm not a native speaker, but I've understood that these terms are usually used about meat, not really as "oh, there is the pork walking around, saying oink". So maybe it's not as clear if your mother says it's going to be pork today compared to if she would say it's going to be pig today.

We got some chickens the other day (live chickens) that will be for meat.  They are young but not babies (fully-feathered, etc., not little downy chicks).  My SIL saw them, and she was horrified at the thought that we'd be eating them.  "So you're just going to let them live outside in the sunshine, and walk around the yard, and play outside, and then you're going to kill them and eat them?  That's inhumane!"  She's not a vegetarian and has no problem eating chicken from the grocery store, but apparently having chickens live free range until they're ready to eat, rather than live in boxes at a chicken farm, is inhumane.  Or maybe it's the whole "seeing your food alive before you eat it" that is disturbing.

[ladyknight1]

^ We get the same thing when people ask what we plan to do after retirement and we tell them we are going to have a small scale subsistence farm with heritage animal breeds. One cow for milk to make cheese and a steer for meat. Chickens for eggs and meat, and so on. Nothing like knowing what kind of life your food had.

[gramma dishes]

...  "So you're just going to let them live outside in the sunshine, and walk around the yard, and play outside, and then you're going to kill them and eat them?  That's inhumane!"  ...

This is not my quote and unfortunately I don't remember the name of the guy who said it, but it goes something along the lines of this:

The animals lived a wonderful, carefree life with the best quality food, normal social interaction within the species, plenty of water, fresh air and sunshine and no predators to avoid. 

And then they had one very bad day. 

[Outdoor Girl]

Years ago, there was an article in the Toronto Star with the columnist working with a well known chef.

They were making a rabbit dish.  And started with a live rabbit.

The comments on that article were insane.  The shock, the outrage, the 'how could you write about this in the newspaper' - almost all were from the omnivores.  The veg*ns?  'At least you experienced where your food comes from, if you chose to eat meat.  Bravo!' type comments.

I'd love to have some chickens for the eggs and meat but it's not allowed in the city limits.  Some day...

[sempronialou]

Ants are ESSENTIAL to peony buds turning into blooms- they nibble the buds open. So getting rid of all the ants on your peony bush is bound to lead to gardening disappointment. BTDT.

That's not true.  That's an old wives tale.  Ants are not essential for peony plants to bloom.  The ants are attracted to the peonies and take advantage of the sugar, water, and amino acids.  They may drive off pests that might nibble at the buds.  So if your peonies do not have ants, they'd still bloom.  Ants have nothing to do with it. 

[Lady Snowdon]

I did a craft fair this weekend, and two of the products I had out were lotions in 4 oz bottles and lotions in 1.7 oz jars.  Obviously, they were two different prices, with the 4 oz lotions being the more expensive.  I had someone come up to my booth, look at both sizes of lotion, look at my pricing sheet and ask me in all seriousness if the 1.7 oz lotions were the larger size that was listed at $5.    I said, "Nope, the 4 oz lotions are the larger ones that are $5".  She replied "Ohhhhh!" as though experiencing a revolution in thought.  I was dumbfounded.  I thought all those stories on Not Always Right about people who don't know the difference in sizes of things were made up!

[Kimblee]

...  "So you're just going to let them live outside in the sunshine, and walk around the yard, and play outside, and then you're going to kill them and eat them?  That's inhumane!"  ...

This is not my quote and unfortunately I don't remember the name of the guy who said it, but it goes something along the lines of this:

The animals lived a wonderful, carefree life with the best quality food, normal social interaction within the species, plenty of water, fresh air and sunshine and no predators to avoid. 

And then they had one very bad day.

And if its a large animal on my cousin's farm, it doesn't even have a bad day... just one day it gets roaring all down drunk and doesn't ever get back up. (He feeds buckets of beer to cows, pigs and sheep he's going to slaughter.)

[MommyPenguin]

I love that quote, Gramma Dishes!    That's great.

Kimblee, I love the idea of getting them drunk!  That's so funny.

Lady Knight, that sounds like a great retirement plan!  We recently found out about "mini cows," and now we really want one.    I told my husband that maybe our next location, especially if we end up in a part of the country where land is cheap, we should try for a small farm.  He really wants the pig, I really want the cow.  My 7-year-old *desperately* wants a cow and promises to feed it, milk it, muck its stall, compost its manure, etc. if I will only buy her a cow.    She's determined to be a farmer when she grows up.  She wants all the animals plus the land to farm.

My dad says our backyard looks like a farm, between the chickens and the extensive garden beds, latticework and teepee for peas, etc.  And we're lucky enough to have woods and a creek just behind.  Sometimes I wish I were one of my kids, I'd love to grow up that way.

[ladyknight1]

Me too. I was never meant to live in the city.

We will most likely have a few horses, two cows, two pigs, 10-20 chickens, and possibly goats. Two planted acres, and one acre orchard.

[PastryGoddess]

Me too. I was never meant to live in the city.

We will most likely have a few horses, two cows, two pigs, 10-20 chickens, and possibly goats. Two planted acres, and one acre orchard.

This is all so interesting.  I am such a city girl, it's not even funny

[jedikaiti]

Me too. I was never meant to live in the city.

We will most likely have a few horses, two cows, two pigs, 10-20 chickens, and possibly goats. Two planted acres, and one acre orchard.

This is all so interesting.  I am such a city girl, it's not even funny

You & me both. Although I would like to have beehives - DH is on board in spite of being allergic, the goof - and we go back & forth on chickens. We'd love to have the eggs, but not sure if we want to actually care for chickens. So we'll just stick with buying those.