pet peeve thread

[ggwhiz]

Loud construction work going on outside my window before about 10 in the morning.

 

Google maps came through and put my home on. Judging from the construction equipment in the front yard it was in either May, June, July, August or September

[blackshoe]

Hmm, never real noticed that, but you're right: John Wilkes Booth, James Earl Ray and Lee Harvey Oswald. But not Sirhan Sirhan or Jack Ruby.

Booth killed Lincoln, Ray killed Martin Luther King (3 names!), and Oswald killed JFK. I'm not aware that any of them was accused of multiple murders or of being a serial killer.

 

It's common these days to call people by their last names, even people you don't know. Once upon a time, that was considered rude. In fact, the norm when addressing strangers was to use Mr. or Mrs. or whatever and their last name. Nowadays when you're introduced to "Judy Jones" you usually start calling her Judy immediately. Times — and mores — change.

[barmar]

Booth killed Lincoln, Ray killed Martin Luther King (3 names!), and Oswald killed JFK. I'm not aware that any of them was accused of multiple murders or of being a serial killer.

I was just thinking of (in)famous murderers, not specifically of the mass variety. Are the latter mostly 3-named?

[barmar]

I'm not familiar with the specific case, but if some people know him as James and others know him as Whitey, then you're well advised to cover the bases. Not everyone is known universally by the same name.

I think he was mostly known by his nickname -- before he was caught, that's how I mostly remember news reports referring to him. I think they feel the need to be more formal now that they're reporting on the trial, so they use his given name. But it still grates on me when they throw them together -- I doubt ANYONE ever called him "James Whitey". His family probably called him James (or Jimmy, I'll bet), everyone else knew him as Whitey.

[blackshoe]

I was just thinking of (in)famous murderers, not specifically of the mass variety. Are the latter mostly 3-named?

That was the assertion that Mike777 made, and to which you replied. :ph34r:

[GreenMan]

I was just thinking of (in)famous murderers, not specifically of the mass variety. Are the latter mostly 3-named?

 

Well, there's Son Of Sam ...

[barmar]

That was the assertion that Mike777 made, and to which you replied. :ph34r:

Problem was he didn't actually give any examples. So when I started searching my memory, the ones that came to mind were murderers of famous people, not mass murderers.

 

Wikipedia has a list of serial killers, of course. It doesn't look like having 3 names is common among them.

[dwar0123]

Problem was he didn't actually give any examples. So when I started searching my memory, the ones that came to mind were murderers of famous people, not mass murderers.

 

Wikipedia has a list of serial killers, of course. It doesn't look like having 3 names is common among them.

What is it with Columbia and child killers.

[jjbrr]

Staunch NY style pizza puritans who argue that Chicago-style is something other than pizza.

 

Chicago-style is still pizza. EAD.

[Trinidad]

They have pizza in the US?!?

 

Rik

[barmar]

That's such a silly argument. Pizza differs greatly from region to region, so it's become an extremely general term. Almost anything with sauce and/or cheese on top of bread and baked in an oven can be called "pizza". And most people simply prefer the style they grew up on, and consider everything else "ersatz".

[billw55]

I traveled to Wisconsin last week. Looking at the map, I was reminded of my longtime annoyance at upper Michigan. It should just be a part of Wisconsin IMO. No real significance to this, it has just always bugged me.

[barmar]

Go get a DVD of "How the States Got Their Shapes", there's an episode that discusses how Michigan happened.

[bd71]

I traveled to Wisconsin last week. Looking at the map, I was reminded of my longtime annoyance at upper Michigan. It should just be a part of Wisconsin IMO. No real significance to this, it has just always bugged me.

 

Go find a map of the Northwest Angle in Minnesota. Does it seem to you like this should belong to Canada?

[billw55]

Go find a map of the Northwest Angle in Minnesota. Does it seem to you like this should belong to Canada?

Yes! We should give it as a present ;)

[mike777]

Go find a map of the Northwest Angle in Minnesota. Does it seem to you like this should belong to Canada?

 

 

The initial establishment of Angle Township being in the United States was due to a map-maker's error. Benjamin Franklin and British representatives established the initial U.S. and Canadian borders in the Treaty of Paris in 1783 from the Mitchell Map of colonial American geographer John Mitchell, which mis-represented the source of the Mississippi River.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Angle

[barmar]

Yes! We should give it as a present ;)

They gave us William Shatner and Michael J Fox. We owe them.

[mycroft]

Hey, for our credit, we also gave you Alan Thicke. Partial repayment, right (*)?

 

(oh, and I love

where they scroll up all the 'subversives' that have infiltrated the USA, 'taking our jobs'. The first minute or so)

 

(*) riffing off an 80's comic's routine "You gave us the ozone hole and acid rain. We gave you Alan Thicke. I guess we're even." Apologies to the Thickes, Sr. and Jr. for the obvious maligning.)

[Antrax]

There's something that really irritates in some Bridge discussions, though it's a lot more common over at Bridgewinners: there are some people who seem compelled to spout bridge memes. They go into any discussion looking for opportunities to use expressions like "the boss suit", "beer card", "it's a bidder's game" etc, which really add very little to the discussion.

Of course, occasionally these expressions do mean something and they might even be relevant. I'm referring, however, to the phenomenon wherein some posters go into threads and make comments like "I wish you held the ♦7 so you could squeeze him with the beer card". Bleh.

[kenberg]

I keep thinking that I should learn about the beer card, and then I think why should i? And it's a bidders game except when it isn't. Really saying that in close decisions you should bid simply moves the line for close decisions to another spot. I agree that this adds nothing to a discussion. There is a lot of nonsense like this. We are advised that some percentage or other of the times that we double a contract it is supposed to make, otherwise we are not doubling enough. Well, maybe so, but we still need to select the right times, not just the right percentage. Saying that "bridge is a game of choices and you won't always be right" is pablum, but at least it makes sense.

[mycroft]

Well, I'm not sure of the phrasing above, but "if you set all the contracts you double, you're not doubling nearly enough" *does* make sense. What percentage? Which ones? Well, yeah, that's another story.

 

I've suggested to newer players that (at least where they don't have teammates to annoy), "for the next month, if you're thinking about balancing, balance. If you're thinking about (penalty) doubling, double. You will go for numbers, and you will let through numbers. At the end of the month, review your results, and see if you can work out which of your 'maybes' were right, and why (even the ones that 'didn't work', if it was 'right, but bad play/defence'), and which ones were mistakes and why." But that's not "bridge is a bidder's game."

 

While I'm on that, can I put "don't know how to Alert, don't know how to Announce, don't know what not to Announce, and definitely don't know how to handle 'partner misinformed'" on the list? Maybe lump them in with the "don't know how to explain/don't want to explain fully" crowd?

[kenberg]

 

 

I've suggested to newer players that (at least where they don't have teammates to annoy), "for the next month, if you're thinking about balancing, balance. If you're thinking about (penalty) doubling, double. You will go for numbers, and you will let through numbers. At the end of the month, review your results, and see if you can work out which of your 'maybes' were right, and why (even the ones that 'didn't work', if it was 'right, but bad play/defence'), and which ones were mistakes and why." But that's not "bridge is a bidder's game."

 

 

Sure, that's good advice. It involves looking over the hands, and tryng to decide if there were clues that might have said bid here, don't bid there. it's what makes the game interesting.

[barmar]

There's something that really irritates in some Bridge discussions, though it's a lot more common over at Bridgewinners: there are some people who seem compelled to spout bridge memes. They go into any discussion looking for opportunities to use expressions like "the boss suit", "beer card", "it's a bidder's game" etc,

I suspect that when novices start learning the lingo, they look for any opportunity to use it so they can feel like they're part of the community. I don't think this phenomenon is limited to the bridge world -- every specialized community has its jargon, and spouting it is the way new entrants declare membership.

 

The problem, as you say, is that some of them overdo it. Trying to force a meme where it doesn't really belong marks them as not really an insider yet. I think it's a phase that many people can't help going through.

[mike777]

I suspect that when novices start learning the lingo, they look for any opportunity to use it so they can feel like they're part of the community. I don't think this phenomenon is limited to the bridge world -- every specialized community has its jargon, and spouting it is the way new entrants declare membership.

 

The problem, as you say, is that some of them overdo it. Trying to force a meme where it doesn't really belong marks them as not really an insider yet. I think it's a phase that many people can't help going through.

 

in the real world knowing the words of jargon is often the most important point....in getting a job....I know that sounds sad but true.

 

As it turns out one can always debate the real...true...best meaning of the jargon...but you still got to know the words...

 

I mean look at bridge jargon....

 

and that seems true of computer jargon...know the words..debate the true/best meaning later...

[Vampyr]

Well, there is jargon and there is babyish slang. "Dive" for sacrifice is one which I don't even understand, since we're bidding higher, not lower. Another kind of annoying thing is when people use those weird colour-codes for vulnerability, because they are ambiguous; if you say "red", does that mean that we're vulnerable or does it mean that we are at unfavourable vulnerability?