What is this...? (2 Viewers)

[NauticalGent]

I can't maintain this Fred Flintstone physique if I have to resort to manual labor...
Winter is coming and I need to store calories

 

[pbaldy]

here in VA, the whole damn state is crippled.

I do feel your pain though. When my daughter was stationed in DC last time, she said it was sad but funny how badly people handled a minor amount of snow.

 

[Isaac]

we got snow here then they told us don't get excited, it's "graupel". i was like really? Snow is snow

 

[Minty]

I do feel your pain though. When my daughter was stationed in DC last time, she said it was sad but funny how badly people handled a minor amount of snow.

Is it like watching people drive in the rain in California? (as a Brit I found it very funny that no one had any tread on their tires tyres and wondered why they were sliding around like they were on ice!)

 

[NauticalGent]

Is it like watching people drive in the rain in California? (as a Brit I found it very funny that no one had any tread on their tires tyres and wondered why they were sliding around like they were on ice!)

That's because it isn't supposed to rain in Cali...the southern part anyways. I have to be honest though, and I will probably catch some flak for what I am about to say: Americans are among the WORST drivers in the world. The inconsistent speed and the absolute refusal to stay out of the passing lane whilst while not passing is aggraVATING - and that is just a small part of it!

Your misspelling of the word "tires" (you had it right the first time, WHY did you change it?!?) reminds me of an Eddie Izzard sketch where he points out how the US and UK are separated by a common language. In one part he says "you say 'errb (herb) and we say HERb - because there's a F-ing "H" in it!!"

 

[The_Doc_Man]

"erb" vs. "herb" struck a chord in my memory...

"See them down in Soho Square, dropping 'aitches' everywhere, speaking English any way they like."

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

"See them down in Soho Square, dropping 'aitches' everywhere, speaking English any way they like."

That's the beauty of English, it is generated and maintained by the people, not controlled by officials as I understand French is....

 

[AccessBlaster]

"erb" vs. "herb" struck a chord in my memory...

In the 70's erb vs herb had a whole different meaning.

 

[Minty]

Which sort of leads onto one of my favourite ever book titles
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation

Eats, Shoots & Leaves - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Isaac]

That's the beauty of English, it is generated and maintained by the people, not controlled by officials as I understand French is....

Thanks, UG. That is both a unifying AND informative/learned statement

 

[NauticalGent]

Thanks, UG. That is both a unifying AND informative/learned statement

Oh come now...Colin Essex's contributions should be given their proper due as well!

 

[AccessBlaster]

I'm taking an online course titled "how to butcher the English language in 5 easy steps". So far I'm getting a passing grade.

Punctuation is next, wish me luck.

 

[Isaac]

Oh come now...Colin Essex's contributions should be given their proper due as well!

I doubt I'm allowed to give them their due

 

[pbaldy]

Is it like watching people drive in the rain in California? (as a Brit I found it very funny that no one had any tread on their tires tyres and wondered why they were sliding around like they were on ice!)

I was raised in California, and that wasn't my experience. Not saying they're great drivers, but rain wasn't the problem.

 

[pbaldy]

the absolute refusal to stay out of the passing lane

That is a big pet peeve of mine too. How hard is it to "keep right except to pass" like the signs say (left for those of you in the UK)?? Traffic flows so much better.

 

[Isaac]

That is a big pet peeve of mine too. How hard is it to "keep right except to pass" like the signs say (left for those of you in the UK)?? Traffic flows so much better.

I agree with you but disagree in cases of cross town freeways in big cities. There are lines exiting and entering on all sides all the time--and a lane is just a lane. The left lane "now" becomes the middle lane "8 seconds from now" and the right lane becomes the middle lane 3 seconds after that. Out on the open road, where the signs actually do say that, I agree. But some people mistakenly think that while they're in the middle of a big city whatever the left-most lane happens to be in that particular second, is going to make any difference...it's not. In those situations, a lane is just a lane, if you want to weave and drive real fast, feel free. There is one particular spot where I have to be in the left lane because it is the one that turns west (where I am going) rather than east, and it always interests me that occasionally there will be someone real frustrated that I am in the "left" lane, but that's where I have to be to exit. The thing that really just makes me shake my head is when he has 3 open lanes to go around me but refuses to, preferring to spend 3 minutes making a point, a point that isn't even right to begin with. So there are 'left lane nuts' too...

I have ALWAYS been the kind of driver who, if I want to go around someone, I just go around. I don't sit behind them stewing and thinking I am changing the world by making some kind of point. I just go around, happy as a lark, and continue about my day. Both of us happy. But some people are the opposite. Plus I have no sympathy for people going 93 MPH, those are precisely the ones causing murder and carnage for the rest of us, the last thing I care about is hurrying up to "help" them perform their disgustingly dangerous stunt. In my opinion the fact that those people face a few blockages in their path is probably not the worst thing. not saying that I try to block them, of course.

Here's one thing I bet we can all 3 agree on - how annoying is it how semi's do it - "I'm coming up behind someone, he's going 61 and I'm going 62.5. Therefore I'm going to sit in the left lane, on a highway out on the open road (where the signs DO say that) - for 10 minutes while I "Pass" him"). That we can all agree is BS!

 

[The_Doc_Man]

In south Louisiana we have the "New Orleans left-hand turn" which must be executed from the right lane of a three-lane or wider road and the person making the turn must actually cross the OTHER lanes the other way to essentially make a 6-lane U-turn.

In front of the Fair Grounds horse track in our Gentilly neighborhood, I watched a cream-colored Cadillac convertible do exactly that and almost make it, except for the GMC truck speeding the other way on Gentilly Blvd. Yep, they introduced their vehicles to each other, intimately. I say "intimately" because afterwards, both vehicles were completely f***ed.

 

[pbaldy]

I agree with you but disagree in cases of cross town freeways in big cities.

Well, I'm pragmatic so there are certainly times when the "rule" can and should be broken. That said, I can't tell you how often I've been going through town with somebody in the far left of 3 or 4 lanes with nobody in the others. Like you, I have zero problems passing somebody on the right if they aren't moving over as they should.

Trucks can certainly do the "low-speed-pass", but frankly I give them more slack, since they have more difficulty accelerating. I get really miffed at the car that's tooling along for miles next to another car, oblivious to the line of cars stacked up behind them. Okay, yeah, I will also get miffed at the truck at some point.

 

[Dick7Access]

That white stuff is called "Smart Dust". When enough smart dust dust had fallen on me, I moved to Florida!!!!

 

[The_Doc_Man]

In New Orleans, we get that stuff about once every 7-10 years. I remember in 1958, we had a really cold stretch of weather and it actually snowed in my back yard. We made a snowman and Mom made some "snow ice cream" that was interesting. Somehow I managed to avoid frostbite. That time, the accumulation stayed for 3 days before it all melted. But most of the time in only snows on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain and we just get to see pictures of a light dusting of snow that doesn't even last through the morning.