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

[Jocelyn]

Tonight I went to a lecture at the library about conservation efforts to re-establish large game populations in this area. The lecturer covered that all the animals he was talking about are protected and cannot be hunted, but as populations increase, hunting may be an option in the future. Someone asked if all the animals were edible, and he replied that all were edible, but some were not particularly tasty, but that elk were very good eating. (elk being the largest of the deer family).
Then one woman asked if one could go to the Elks Lodge and eat elk.
He very kindly explained that the Fraternal Order of the Elks was just that, a fraternal service club not unlike the Masons, and no, they did not eat elk at their lodge. 

[VorFemme]

Some people are very, very literal minded...she must have been one of them.

[Breezygirl]

Years ago when one of my sons was in play school I was a volunteer from time to time in his class. Once the children were all gathered around the teacher in a circle on the floor. The teacher asked them to name things that started with the letter "N". The children said things like "nail, night light, noodle, napkin, nut....." Then one of the boys said "knife". The teachers said that was correct.

After the class I was talking to the teacher and nicely told her that knife started with a "K" not a "N". She said it did not and that it started with an "N" and got quite offended when I assured her it did and huffed away saying she was right.

[Shalamar]

That reminds me of when I finally got the joke in the line "Silly English k-niggets" from Holy Grail. 

[staceym]

Years ago when one of my sons was in play school I was a volunteer from time to time in his class. Once the children were all gathered around the teacher in a circle on the floor. The teacher asked them to name things that started with the letter "N". The children said things like "nail, night light, noodle, napkin, nut....." Then one of the boys said "knife". The teachers said that was correct.

After the class I was talking to the teacher and nicely told her that knife started with a "K" not a "N". She said it did not and that it started with an "N" and got quite offended when I assured her it did and huffed away saying she was right.

this reminds me of something that happened last week.  I belong to a social club and work there on Friday/Saturday nights when they have a DJ.  One guy who does the announcements of events coming up and prints an events calendar asked me how to spell buffet.  And I spelled it correctly - buffet.  He told me no, that isn't how you spell it that is buff - et.  I grinned and said, no you really spell it like I did.  He kind of argued back and then I said "well how else could it be spelled" because at that point I was starting to doubt myself?  He went buffey 

[poundcake]

That reminds me of when I finally got the joke in the line "Silly English k-niggets" from Holy Grail. 

  Of course, in Middle English, it WAS pronounced "k-nick-t" so not only did you get the joke, you got a taste of linguistic history, too. But don't worry, it's just a flesh wound.

[jpcher]

Today we were discussing what's for lunch in the cafeteria. One CW said that she was getting the fageeta buffet. I had to ask her three times to repeat the word and then asked what the heck is on a fageeta buffet? She laughed and said "It's really fajita's but you gotta pronounce the J don't you know." (yes, she was joking. )


Same CW asked me today why her white box wasn't printing on colored paper. I had to tell her that they don't make white ink.

[Louie_LI]

That reminds me of when I finally got the joke in the line "Silly English k-niggets" from Holy Grail. 

  Of course, in Middle English, it WAS pronounced "k-nick-t" so not only did you get the joke, you got a taste of linguistic history, too. But don't worry, it's just a flesh wound.

Hah! Well played!

[JenJay]

DH loaned our carpet cleaner to some friends and, apparently, they needed to be told that you have to 1) vacuum first, and 2) wash everything out when you're finished. It took literally an hour to clean all the clumps of filthy dog hair out of the thing. I had a huge handful of it when I was finished. Think about how a handful of dry pet hair, if wetted, will amount to a tablespoon or so of gunk. Imagine how much hair must have been clogging up the cleaner to amount to a handful while wet and squished. And so dirty it was like mud. I was... displeased.

Oh, and it had sat in our garage for a week after they returned it (we had no clue it was dirty) so when I brought it inside to use today bugs flew out of it. Bugs, you guys. Did I mention I took it apart with a screwdriver and cleaned every nook and cranny? Because bugs. I'm just glad I woke up this morning and thought "Hey, I should clean the carpets!" because if it had sat like that for another week+ I probably would have had to throw it away.

Their house is really clean and they're truly very considerate people. I don't know what happened but we won't be loaning them any appliances ever again.

[VorFemme]

DD got a new Rainbow floor cleaning system.  She takes after her paternal grandmother, who is a little OCD and her maternal grandfather, who comes from German stock (things must be clean in a house for both of them).

The demonstrator used her vacuum cleaner to clean the carpet - then used the Rainbow.

Which clearly pulled even more gunk out of the carpet than her previous machine (Kirby) had.

I vacuumed a couple of times while I stayed with them and did some spot cleaning with the steam cleaner attachments.  There was a lot of tiny bits of sand, gravel, pet hair, cat whiskers, muddy dust, and I don't know what else pulled out of the carpet (they bought the house in 2007 and have been living in it for seven years - she does tend to vacuum but not nearly as often as "Grandma" - who used to vacuum twice a day because she didn't like footprints in the carpet, they didn't look clean with footprints).

Grandma is now 80 and the house is vacuumed a couple of times a week instead of a couple of times a day...

I made sure to clean the tank immediately as it sets up as an air purifier to get airborne dust out of the way - allergies run in the family, too, not just tendencies to OCD.  I did not need any allergy meds as long as I stayed inside the house for five weeks...

Having a clear plastic tank that you can see into does make it very clear that the tank needs to be emptied.  My own Bissell is inside two layers of green plastic and the used steam cleaning mix cannot be seen at all.  But if you don't empty it, you can smell it fairly quickly...Houston is warm and things grow quickly...

[JoW]

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.......   

I happen to know the answer to that one.  I learned it in a history class decades ago.

It dates to the days when the Normans (French) ruled part of England.  Google says that was the 11th century.  The native Anglo-Saxon raised pigs, and cattle, and chickens.  The French ruling class ate porc, boef, and poulet.  (I probably mangled the French spellings.)  And that led to the English words pork, beef, and poultry. 

[JenJay]

DD got a new Rainbow floor cleaning system.  She takes after her paternal grandmother, who is a little OCD and her maternal grandfather, who comes from German stock (things must be CLEAN in a house for both of them).

The demonstrator used her vacuum cleaner to clean the carpet - then used the Rainbow.

Which clearly pulled a LOT more gunk out of the carpet than her previous Kirby had.

I vacuumed a couple of times while I stayed with them and did some spot cleaning with the steam cleaner attachments.  There was a lot of tiny bits of sand, gravel, pet hair, cat whiskers, muddy dust, and I don't know what else pulled out of the carpet (they bought the house in 2007 and have been living in it for seven years - she does tend to vacuum but not nearly as often as "Grandma" - who used to vacuum twice a day because she didn't like footprints in the carpet, they didn't look CLEAN with footprints).

Grandma is now 80 and the house is vacuumed a couple of times a week instead of a couple of times a day...

I made sure to clean the tank immediately as it sets up as an air purifier to get airborne dust out of the way - allergies run in the family, too, not just tendencies to OCD.  I did not need any allergy meds as long as I stayed inside the house for five weeks...

Having a clear plastic tank that you can SEE into does make it very clear that the tank needs to be emptied.  My own Bissell is inside two layers of green plastic and the used steam cleaning mix cannot be seen at all.  But if you don't empty it, you can smell it fairly quickly...Houston is warm and things grow quickly...

That sounds like a great machine! I have an old machine that weighs far too much and doesn't hold nearly enough so I'm emptying the dirty water every 5 minutes. I keep saying I need a new one but when it works well and only gets used 2X a year, replacing it doesn't rate high on the list of priorities.

When I clean the carpets I always get a lot of dirt and cat hair, even if I vacuum first (and I have a good vacuum). I don't fault our friends for a ton of gunk coming through the machine, I fault them for not washing it out when they were finished. There's a handheld attachment for doing upholstery and stairs and the (clear) hose to that was full of big clumps of dog hair. The main suction part at the front (also clear) was completely clogged. There was so much hair matted in the brushes that I destroyed a fine toothed comb cleaning them out. The dirty water tank is gray but the lid is clear and was filthy. There's no way they didn't know. It just blows me away that anyone would return something in that condition, you know?!

I rinse the dirty water tank every time I dump it so hair doesn't get matted in the corners (which, unfortunately it now is and I cannot find anything that can reach it). When I'm completely finished cleaning I remove the brushes and clean them, and set the machine in the tub with a little bit of water running so it can suck up a tank or two of clean water, just to make sure everything is flushed through. I asked DH if he'd told them to do that and he said he did so I don't know what happened. They just forgot, I guess, or decided I was asking too much. Well, they'd better not ask me again or I'll have to modify a quote from Seinfeld and say "No shampooer for you!" 

[VorFemme]

My Bissell Big Green Clean Machine is about twenty years old.  The parts are no longer available - I found an authorized dealer in town & bought what he had in the last 18 months. 

I am going to miss it when it no longer works as a steam cleaner - although it is also a tank vacuum cleaner (which can be easier to maneuver when cleaning a vehicle or stairs).  But what I bought it for was steam cleaning cars - it cost less than having two card get detailed for me and I knew that the previous owner's stuff was out of the carpet (we usually bought used cards - the "loss" in value in driving a new car off the lot is so high that my account/VorGuy just can't stand the very idea most of the time).

Trading in or selling a really clean used car does help the price and can be the difference in selling it fast instead of having a lot of people turn up their nose due to cigarette smoke (part of why I wanted a car we'd bought detailed - we don't smoke), spoiled formula (baby bottle leaked), other baby smells (don't ask), dead lizard (bought the vehicle, found it under a seat), red clay dust in Georgia thick enough to turn the water to red mud, and spilled sodas or coffee.  Come to think of it - stale French fries under a seat don't smell too good six months later...or however long the previous owner had left them in the vehicle. 

I like the idea that the traces of a previous owner are gone - VorGuy likes the smell of the cleaning solution more than cigarette smoke, coffee, spoiled milk or creamer, and whatever else might have been spilled in there.  I remember one car that supposedly belonged to a cop who'd done stakeouts in it.

I could have used a shovel to remove debris from the back seat - but there was enough change in the car (under the seats and on the floor) to pay for a car wash, a vacuum cleaning at the car wash, and an air freshener...it was part of my support for needing my own steam cleaner...and my supporting argument was strong enough that I got one!

[cabbageweevil]

Today we were discussing what's for lunch in the cafeteria. One CW said that she was getting the fageeta buffet. I had to ask her three times to repeat the word and then asked what the heck is on a fageeta buffet? She laughed and said "It's really fajita's but you gotta pronounce the J don't you know." (yes, she was joking. )

Sorry, I'm puzzled (or perhaps not very bright). Was she saying "fajeeta" (with the j as in "joke"); or "fageeta" (with the g as in "gas")?  If the former, I think I understand her drift (she knew the correct Spanish pronunciation is "faheeta", but she insisted on giving the word an English mispronunciation). If the latter -- her humour just seems randomly weird and meaningless.

[jpcher]

Today we were discussing what's for lunch in the cafeteria. One CW said that she was getting the fageeta buffet. I had to ask her three times to repeat the word and then asked what the heck is on a fageeta buffet? She laughed and said "It's really fajita's but you gotta pronounce the J don't you know." (yes, she was joking. )

Sorry, I'm puzzled (or perhaps not very bright). Was she saying "fajeeta" (with the j as in "joke"); or "fageeta" (with the g as in "gas")?  If the former, I think I understand her drift (she knew the correct Spanish pronunciation is "faheeta", but she insisted on giving the word an English mispronunciation). If the latter -- her humour just seems randomly weird and meaningless.

J as in joke.

Sorry for the confusion, I struggled as to how to phonetically spell the word she was saying so I used "gee" as in gee-wiz.