Page 15 of 27
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 6:43 am
by Marc Meakin
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 1:02 pm
by Ian Volante
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:15 pm
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:25 pm
Fiona T wrote: ↑Thu Mar 18, 2021 3:45 pm
I'm sure that those involved in medical care have training about what the appropriate language/questions are.
For the rest of us, it's pretty simple. We refer to someone as how they identify - no need to get hung up about genitalia.
One of the things that JK Rowling got into trouble for was referring to herself as a biological woman, so the rules of the game aren't as simple as referring to someone as how they identify.
I know this has been discussed at length before on this forum, but I think to publicly refer to someone as he/she against their wishes is the wrong thing to do just out of politeness if nothing else. But the wider discussion/debate of what things about themselves people get to choose and what they don't is a legitimate one to have.
I think J K was referring to herself as someone who menstruates.
I didnt hear much criticism from post menopausal women though.
The only point i was crappily trying to make is that the rare trans men and women who have been famous identifying as a previous gender dont like ( or their fans dont like) their previous careers being discussed on a gender basis.
So i thought biological or birth gender would be accurate without being offensive
If they don't like it being discussed on a gender basis, how would referring to their previous gender then ever not be offensive? Like dead-naming, there's rarely a reason for it. There are of course arguable subtleties, like the quiz which asks who won the 1976 Olympic decathlon for example; but it feels to me like you're trying to find problems where there aren't any.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 2:07 pm
by Marc Meakin
I was trying to think of the phrase dead-naming.
I believe Ricky Gervaise got in trouble with his Bruce jibes.
I think you have hit the nail on the head about people seeing a problem where no problem exists its just more oxygen for the Twattersphere
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:15 pm
by Mark James
This is hard to describe but what do you call it when you get a bit off skin off the side of your fingernail? I've asked some friends and everyone seems to have their own colloquial name for it. I've always called it a mitch. One friend calls it a ting and his girlfriend calls it a granny. What do you call it and does anyone know what the actual medical name is for it?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:35 pm
by Ian Volante
Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:15 pm
This is hard to describe but what do you call it when you get a bit off skin off the side of your fingernail? I've asked some friends and everyone seems to have their own colloquial name for it. I've always called it a mitch. One friend calls it a ting and his girlfriend calls it a granny. What do you call it and does anyone know what the actual medical name is for it?
I know that as the quick of the nail, and I know the little very pullable items that unexpectedly go all the way up to your elbow causing a week of agony are bloody annoying.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:51 pm
by Fiona T
Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:15 pm
This is hard to describe but what do you call it when you get a bit off skin off the side of your fingernail? I've asked some friends and everyone seems to have their own colloquial name for it. I've always called it a mitch. One friend calls it a ting and his girlfriend calls it a granny. What do you call it and does anyone know what the actual medical name is for it?
It's a hangnail isn't it?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 2:42 pm
by Marc Meakin
Fiona T wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:51 pm
Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:15 pm
This is hard to describe but what do you call it when you get a bit off skin off the side of your fingernail? I've asked some friends and everyone seems to have their own colloquial name for it. I've always called it a mitch. One friend calls it a ting and his girlfriend calls it a granny. What do you call it and does anyone know what the actual medical name is for it?
It's a hangnail isn't it?
Speaking of things without an official name.
What is the name of that childhood game made feom a square piece of paper.
You wrote numbers or colours on the outside and vice versa on the inside and when you opened it after spelling out numbers etc there was 8 different answers like you smell etc and maybe one or two nice comnents.
You operated it with your fingers..
Does anyone know what i mean?
Edit. Its calked a fortune teller or Paku-Paku apparently
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 3:48 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Why isn't it possible to make roads out of stuff that doesn't develop potholes?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:28 pm
by Mark James
Ian Volante wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:35 pm
Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:15 pm
This is hard to describe but what do you call it when you get a bit off skin off the side of your fingernail? I've asked some friends and everyone seems to have their own colloquial name for it. I've always called it a mitch. One friend calls it a ting and his girlfriend calls it a granny. What do you call it and does anyone know what the actual medical name is for it?
I know that as the quick of the nail, and I know the little very pullable items that unexpectedly go all the way up to your elbow causing a week of agony are bloody annoying.
Quick seems to be getting a bit of consensus. Both my folks call it that anyway.
Fiona T wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:51 pm
It's a hangnail isn't it?
I thought a hangnail was something else and I googled it to find out what it is but it appears that is the recognised medical name.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 12:01 pm
by Ian Volante
Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:28 pm
Ian Volante wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:35 pm
Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:15 pm
This is hard to describe but what do you call it when you get a bit off skin off the side of your fingernail? I've asked some friends and everyone seems to have their own colloquial name for it. I've always called it a mitch. One friend calls it a ting and his girlfriend calls it a granny. What do you call it and does anyone know what the actual medical name is for it?
I know that as the quick of the nail, and I know the little very pullable items that unexpectedly go all the way up to your elbow causing a week of agony are bloody annoying.
Quick seems to be getting a bit of consensus. Both my folks call it that anyway.
Fiona T wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 12:51 pm
It's a hangnail isn't it?
I thought a hangnail was something else and I googled it to find out what it is but it appears that is the recognised medical name.
Of course!
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 12:07 pm
by Ian Volante
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 3:48 pm
Why isn't it possible to make roads out of stuff that doesn't develop potholes?
It is, they're just more expensive.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/4/15544 ... sportation
That talks about steel fibres in asphalt, in the past I've read about plastics too:
https://energyindemand.com/2018/11/03/m ... -roadways/
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 6:55 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Intresting. I've always just found potholes a bit odd. It seems to me that road tarmac is the exception rather than the rule for how stuff generally wears out. Most things in the world would wear away more evenly rather than just develop random holes in it
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 6:50 pm
by Ian Volante
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 6:55 pm
Intresting. I've always just found potholes a bit odd. It seems to me that road tarmac is the exception rather than the rule for how stuff generally wears out. Most things in the world would wear away more evenly rather than just develop random holes in it
A mixture of ongoing high and uneven pressure being applied, combined with porosity allowing freeze/thaw cycles.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2021 6:13 pm
by Marc Meakin
Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 12:46 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Why is it that when a car crashes into a house (which seems happen quite a lot going by the news coverage), the wall of the house is completely destroyed and the car basically intact? It's not what I'd expect at all.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:21 pm
by Peter Mabey
Why don't the Three Musketeers ever use (or even carry) their muskets?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 6:22 pm
by David Williams
Because a musket was so big you couldn't carry it around, it was a battlefield weapon.
Under current seating arrangements, how does a Dictionary Corner guest know to say "But Susie has a longer word"?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:35 am
by Mark James
Why is the sex analogy called "the birds and the bees"? Shouldn't it be the bees and the flowers? What have the birds got to do with it?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:37 am
by Gavin Chipper
Or you could say it should be the birds and the other birds and ask what the bees have to do with it.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2021 10:29 am
by Marc Meakin
Mark James wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:35 am
Why is the sex analogy called "the birds and the bees"? Shouldn't it be the bees and the flowers? What have the birds got to do with it?
I believe Samuel Coleridge is responbsible for the first useage in a poem in the early 1800s
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 7:30 am
by Callum Todd
Mark James wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 9:35 am
Why is the sex analogy called "the birds and the bees"? Shouldn't it be the bees and the flowers? What have the birds got to do with it?
Isn't it from kids seeing animals mating in the wild and asking an adult (typically a parent) what they're doing? This does happen. I specifically remember seeing a bee mount another bee in flight as a kid and my mum having to explain what they we was happening.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Sat May 01, 2021 12:42 pm
by Mark James
I've always understood it as a response to where babies come from questions without necessarily being prompted by witnessing actual copulation and the bees pollinating flowers is supposed to be an easy to understand explanation of fertilisation with an observable example.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Thu May 06, 2021 7:58 pm
by Marc Meakin
When was AD and BC first used in history?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Fri May 07, 2021 3:20 pm
by Fred Mumford
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu May 06, 2021 7:58 pm
When was AD and BC first used in history?
Long after 79AD, that's why I hate that twattish advert so much.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Fri May 07, 2021 3:45 pm
by Gavin Chipper
I'd always assumed that they had always used BC without really knowing why and that was why they invented Jesus as an ad hoc explanation.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Fri May 07, 2021 4:22 pm
by Marc Meakin
Fred Mumford wrote: ↑Fri May 07, 2021 3:20 pm
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu May 06, 2021 7:58 pm
When was AD and BC first used in history?
Long after 79AD, that's why I hate that twattish advert so much.
It was the twattish advert that brought me here lol
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed May 12, 2021 10:09 am
by Mark James
Who should be recognised as the last man to walk on the moon? Gene Cernon was the 11th person to step on to the moon and Harrison Schmidt was the 12th but Cernon got back in to the lander module after Schmidt. So Cernon was technically the last person to actually be on the moon but he had walked on it before Schmidt. I would say that Schmidt was the last person to walk on the moon and Cernon was the last person to be on the moon.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed May 12, 2021 12:36 pm
by Gavin Chipper
From that I'd say Cernon was the last person to walk on the moon but Schmidt was the last person to walk onto the moon.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed May 12, 2021 12:58 pm
by Marc Meakin
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 12:36 pm
From that I'd say Cernon was the last person to walk on the moon but Schmidt was the last person to walk onto the moon.
Stanley Kubrick is dead now so it will be difficult to substantiate this
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 5:31 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Apparently when you leave the gas on, the smell is an artificial smell that's been added to the methane as a warning, as methane has no smell. So my question is - why is the smell "Can you smell gas?" rather than "I can fucking well smell that someone has left the gas on!"
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 7:28 pm
by Graeme Cole
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 5:31 pm
Apparently when you leave the gas on, the smell is an artificial smell that's been added to the methane as a warning, as methane has no smell. So my question is - why is the smell "
Can you smell gas?" rather than "
I can fucking well smell that someone has left the gas on!"
"can you smell gas?" = "can you smell the gaseous mixture which includes an odorous additive and which when piped into homes as fuel is commonly known and referred to on the gas bill as 'gas'?"
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 7:54 pm
by David Williams
Before they discovered oil and gas in the North Sea, domestic gas supplies were made from coal. Coal gas, or town gas, had a distinctive smell, instantly recognisable. When they switched over to North Sea gas they put an additive in so that the smell would be the same.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 8:01 pm
by Marc Meakin
In a similar vane electric cars have to make an artificial noise so you can hear them coming
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Sun May 16, 2021 8:26 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Graeme Cole wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 7:28 pm
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 5:31 pm
Apparently when you leave the gas on, the smell is an artificial smell that's been added to the methane as a warning, as methane has no smell. So my question is - why is the smell "
Can you smell gas?" rather than "
I can fucking well smell that someone has left the gas on!"
"can you smell gas?" = "can you smell the gaseous mixture which includes an odorous additive and which when piped into homes as fuel is commonly known and referred to on the gas bill as 'gas'?"
OK...
David Williams wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 7:54 pm
Before they discovered oil and gas in the North Sea, domestic gas supplies were made from coal. Coal gas, or town gas, had a distinctive smell, instantly recognisable. When they switched over to North Sea gas they put an additive in so that the smell would be the same.
Interesting. You'd think that they would make it stronger though anyway.
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Sun May 16, 2021 8:01 pm
In a similar vane electric cars have to make an artificial noise so you can hear them coming
Yeah, I think I might have heard this. But apparently most of car noise is from tyres anyway. Though this might be less so at lower speeds through a town with lots of schoolchildren to run over.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Mon May 17, 2021 9:58 am
by Phil Reynolds
Mark James wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 10:09 am
I would say that Schmidt was the last person to walk on the moon and Cernon was the last person to be on the moon.
Did Cernan not walk on the moon after Schmidt got back into the lander then?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 6:08 pm
by Marc Meakin
When your mobile phone has no signal and says emergency calls only how does that work with no signal?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue May 18, 2021 7:00 pm
by Fiona T
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue May 18, 2021 6:08 pm
When your mobile phone has no signal and says emergency calls only how does that work with no signal?
It shows the signal from your network. Emergency calls will use any network.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Sun May 23, 2021 6:02 pm
by Mark Deeks
How come when you get fatter, your penis doesn't get any bigger?
(My motivations for asking this question are mine and mine alone.)
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Mon May 24, 2021 10:21 am
by Marc Meakin
Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Sun May 23, 2021 6:02 pm
How come when you get fatter, your penis doesn't get any bigger?
(My motivations for asking this question are mine and mine alone.)
If anything it najes it look smaller, or so I'm told
.
Beat solution is loose weight or get a partner with small hands
I chose the latter
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Mon May 24, 2021 11:50 am
by Mark Deeks
To be fair, if I require a partner to have both hands AND no sense of smell, I'm really narrowing my market.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Mon May 24, 2021 4:17 pm
by Marc Meakin
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon May 24, 2021 10:21 am
Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Sun May 23, 2021 6:02 pm
How come when you get fatter, your penis doesn't get any bigger?
(My motivations for asking this question are mine and mine alone.)
If anything it makes it look smaller, or so I'm told
.
Best solution is lose weight or get a partner with small hands
I chose the latter
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue May 25, 2021 12:09 pm
by Ian Volante
Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Mon May 24, 2021 11:50 am
To be fair, if I require a partner to have both hands AND no sense of smell, I'm really narrowing my market.
Hang around at a Covid testing facility, preferably near a travelling circus.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:26 am
by Mark Deeks
What's with the shoes-on-telephone-lines thing?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 9:56 am
by Paul Anderson
Means folk are selling contraband in the area
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2021 10:32 pm
by Mark Deeks
If that's known, why signal it?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 9:18 am
by Paul Anderson
From concerned residents I imagine who don't want to explicitly call someone out, but rather alert the authorities to be on the look-out
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 2:26 pm
by Ian Volante
Paul Anderson wrote: ↑Sun Jun 06, 2021 9:56 am
Means folk are selling contraband in the area
Ha, I find that hard to believe, although it does seem to be a common explanation. Seems more likely highly amusing bullying.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 2:51 pm
by Marc Meakin
When I were a lad in the early 1970s there was a spate of bicycle tyes around lamp posts.
I was always impressed with whoever climbed up the lamp post to do it or even better, was skilled enough to throw the tyre that accurately
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:05 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Why don't almonds taste almondy?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:37 pm
by Marc Meakin
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Jun 14, 2021 6:05 pm
Why don't almonds taste almondy?
They do in CSW
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 7:00 pm
by Gavin Chipper
It's valid in Countdown too.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 10:00 am
by Marc Meakin
What do they taste like, cyanide?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 10:31 am
by Gavin Chipper
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 10:00 am
What do they taste like, cyanide?
Well, you know there's an almond flavour don't you? But if you just eat almonds, they don't taste of it. They're very plain.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 12:40 pm
by Thomas Cappleman
Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 10:31 am
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 10:00 am
What do they taste like, cyanide?
Well, you know there's an almond flavour don't you? But if you just eat almonds, they don't taste of it. They're very plain.
Apparently there's 2 different varieties - one used for eating, one for "almond flavor", with the difference being cyanide.
Source:
http://foodlorists.blogspot.com/2007/11 ... lmond.html
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 12:52 pm
by Marc Meakin
Cant say ive ever eaten plain almonds
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:55 pm
by Marc Meakin
When does winter begin in the Northern Hemisphere.
My partner was born on the 12th December and I day she is an Autumn Baby as i thought winter starts on the shortest day but i have read elsewhere its the first.
What is right?
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:27 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:55 pm
When does winter begin in the Northern Hemisphere.
My partner was born on the 12th December and I day she is an Autumn Baby as i thought winter starts on the shortest day but i have read elsewhere its the first.
What is right?
Tradionally it starts on the shortest day, but some people use the December to February definition, including TV weather forecasters, who like to make it sound like its got more credibility by calling it "meteorological winter". See
this thread.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 8:30 pm
by Fred Mumford
Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 5:55 pm
My partner was born on the 12th December
In the UK at least, the 12th December is normally the date of the earliest sunset time in the whole year - the nights start getting lighter from then on.
However, the shortest day is the 21st as the mornings continue to get darker until New Year's Eve - so from about the 12th to 31st of December both the sunrise and sunset are getting later in the day.
A similar thing happens in summer, albeit for a smaller range of dates - mornings get darker from about the 18th June, but sunsets only get earlier from the 24th.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2021 9:43 pm
by Gavin Chipper
Thanks. I probably could have looked it up.
Having said that, once my mum made some thing with chopped almonds on (normal almonds) and I did notice an almondy taste from them.
Re: Questions you've always wanted answered
Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2021 3:34 am
by Marc Meakin
Why do carrots taste horrible, to me, but i like carrot cake