What little things drive you completely up the wall....?

[siamesecat2965]

Lack of handicap parking...On another note, if you see somebody parked WAY out in the back of the parking lot taking up two spaces, it's probably because they created their own "handicap" space, and wanted to make sure that they could get their wheelchair bound passenger into the car when they came out of the store.

As is my mom, and we've done that. She will sometimes hesitate, but I just tell her, park across the two spots, and put your placard in the window. And if you get a ticket, go fight it, and let them know you did that because you had no choice. Never had an issue.

[Morticia]

Corn is a grain, not a vegetable. It makes me insane when people call it a vegetable.

[Lorelei_Evil]

Thank you!  It drives me batty as well. 

[Dr. F.]

The Washington Post ran an article today of a bunch of things "in" or "out" for the new year.

I didn't know what 3/4 of them were.

[Dr. F.]

Corn is a grain, not a vegetable. It makes me insane when people call it a vegetable.

Don't get me started. I'm a card-carrying Botanist and this tends to make me insane. I once had someone argue with me about whether or not the large, showy parts of a poinsettia are petals or not. (They're not.)

[Morticia]

Corn is a grain, not a vegetable. It makes me insane when people call it a vegetable.

Don't get me started. I'm a card-carrying Botanist and this tends to make me insane. I once had someone argue with me about whether or not the large, showy parts of a poinsettia are petals or not. (They're not.)

Bracts. I looked it up.

[Dr. F.]

Corn is a grain, not a vegetable. It makes me insane when people call it a vegetable.

Don't get me started. I'm a card-carrying Botanist and this tends to make me insane. I once had someone argue with me about whether or not the large, showy parts of a poinsettia are petals or not. (They're not.)

Bracts. I looked it up.

Yup. The flowers are the tiny things in the center.

[BabylonSister]

Corn is a grain, not a vegetable. It makes me insane when people call it a vegetable.

Don't get me started. I'm a card-carrying Botanist and this tends to make me insane. I once had someone argue with me about whether or not the large, showy parts of a poinsettia are petals or not. (They're not.)

Is there an actual , botanical definition of a vegetable? I know people get very mixed up with the whole "fruit vs. vegetable" affair because "fruit" has a botanical meaning (part of the plant that contains the seeds) and a culinary meaning (sweet, soft, often eaten raw as a snack or in sweet desserts). Is it the same with "vegetable"?

[magicdomino]

The Washington Post ran an article today of a bunch of things "in" or "out" for the new year.

I didn't know what 3/4 of them were.

I knew about half of them.  Does that mean we are so out, we're in?   

[Dr. F.]

Corn is a grain, not a vegetable. It makes me insane when people call it a vegetable.

Don't get me started. I'm a card-carrying Botanist and this tends to make me insane. I once had someone argue with me about whether or not the large, showy parts of a poinsettia are petals or not. (They're not.)

Is there an actual , botanical definition of a vegetable? I know people get very mixed up with the whole "fruit vs. vegetable" affair because "fruit" has a botanical meaning (part of the plant that contains the seeds) and a culinary meaning (sweet, soft, often eaten raw as a snack or in sweet desserts). Is it the same with "vegetable"?

No, not really. A vegetable is technically the vegetative part of a plant, or anything not a fruit (i.e., not the reproductive part of the plant). They all would have more specific terms depending upon what vegetative part you're eating. It gets a little strange when you start thinking about things like broccoli, which are reproductive tissues (an unopened inflorescence), but not fruits (no embryos).

[PeterM]

Corn is a grain, not a vegetable. It makes me insane when people call it a vegetable.

Well, it ain't an animal or mineral. Or a fruit, for that matter. Unless someone can point me to a darn good definition of "vegetable" that logically excludes corn, I'm going to keep thinking of it as a vegetable that's called a grain for nutritional purposes.

[Dr. F.]

Corn is a grain, not a vegetable. It makes me insane when people call it a vegetable.

Well, it ain't an animal or mineral. Or a fruit, for that matter. Unless someone can point me to a darn good definition of "vegetable" that logically excludes corn, I'm going to keep thinking of it as a vegetable that's called a grain for nutritional purposes.

Technically, it's a fruit. The definition of a grain is a fruit with the fruit and seed walls united. So, yes, each piece of corn is a fruit, but it's a grain because the seed wall (on the edge of the embryo) and the fruit wall (on the edge of the maternal tissue) are conjoined. All grains are fruits, but not all fruits are grains, if that makes sense.

[All of this is in the Botanical sense, which does not correspond to the culinary sense at all!]

[elephantschild]

DH and I keep going 'round about the corn thing. I insist it's a grain. He thinks I'm nuts.

My "little thing" for today? I'm nearly the sole day person in our department. I'm the first one in the building early in the morning, I put out multiple fires (not literally ... usually) during the day, answer the phones, work on projects and deal with any issues, and by 4 p.m. I've worked a full shift, I'm tired and it's time to go home and cook dinner for the family. (And enjoy the 30 minutes or so we have before DH goes off to work.)

Then there's co-worker who saunters in about 3:30 p.m. (aside from me, many of us don't work set hours) and sniffs about how it "must be nice!" to leave at 4 p.m.

Yeah. I didn't see you here at 8 a.m., dearie.

The temptation to say "Well, must be nice to sleep past sunrise!" is overwhelming.

[Lorelei_Evil]

My response to that is usually a chipper: "Well, it was awfully cold at 5:30 this morning, I was glad to get inside to the warm!" 

Then they pout.   

[BabyMama]

I have a coworker on the other side of my cubicle wall who insists on chatting with her BFF every morning for at least 30 minutes. Frustrating enough, since she doesn't really bother lowering her voice. TODAY she told the birth story of one of her friends who was in labor last weekend. With WAAAAY too much TMI. I've had a baby, and I'm not squeamish. But I really don't to hear about how someone's water exploded and the nurses had to clean it off the walls.