Stupid Things People Say

[Adm_Hawthorne]

My mom says 'irregardless'
And my dad says 'odviously'

My oh-so-Texan granny used to say "rememorize".

It means exactly what you think it means.

 

[Kestra]

That's a bit like the menu at Tim Hortons saying "Chai Tea". Realistically, you only need to say Chai, since in India where it originates, that is the word for Tea, so it's a bit like saying Tea Tea, but for North Americans to understand what they're ordering, most restauraunts say Chai Tea.

Someone else that realizes this! It made me laugh a bit at first to see "Chai Tea" everywhere, but I realize it's come to mean a different thing here, so I'm fine with that. I have to admit, I order it myself.

 

[Smiley]

If we're going with twisted versions of common phrases, "I'd just assume" in place of "I'd just as soon" drives me nuts. The words sound similar, but the first has a completely different meaning. Here's a simple way to remember the correct one. If you substitute "kiss a Wookiee" for the end of the sentence, does it make sense to you?

 

[NickInABox]

My mom says 'irregardless'
And my dad says 'odviously'

My oh-so-Texan granny used to say "rememorize".

It means exactly what you think it means.

See, that's just cute. My mom was an English major, and she should know that irregardless isn't a word. Also, she says that the flag is 'at half mask'.

 

[Owain Taggart]

That's a bit like the menu at Tim Hortons saying "Chai Tea". Realistically, you only need to say Chai, since in India where it originates, that is the word for Tea, so it's a bit like saying Tea Tea, but for North Americans to understand what they're ordering, most restauraunts say Chai Tea.

Someone else that realizes this! It made me laugh a bit at first to see "Chai Tea" everywhere, but I realize it's come to mean a different thing here, so I'm fine with that. I have to admit, I order it myself.

Hah, yeah exactly. When I first saw that, I was taken aback. Almost went to the counter to tell them they were wrong lol. Would love to prank them and ask them for 'Tea Tea', but I realize that could sound like I'm saying titty and I'd likely get weird looks.

 

[John Picard]

OK, just got a golden nugget listening to the radio today:

Female caller: "blah, blah, Obama's oil spill speech, blah blah, blah"
Conservative Host: "Right, *long winded explanation*"
Female caller: "blah, blah....after all, Obama wants to remove In God We Trust from our currency, blah blah, blah"
Conservative Host: "Hold...what? What? I hadn't heard that. Where did you hear that Obama wants to remove In God We Trust from our currency?"
Female Caller: "Well...you know -- those liberals are plotting and scheming that because *they* want to tear the country down, so....you know..it's OBVIOUS he supports that."


Apparently, someone takes all of the FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD: FWD:
e-mail messages a bit too seriously.

 

[tharpdevenport]

I had someone tell me yesterday that they wanted me to slown the burning speed down for a CD-R copy, 'cause otherwise it would decrease the life of the CD-R.

That's like saying running real fast will make the day shorter, or washing a car will extend the life of your car. I tried explaining the reality to him (who fed him that bunk???) but he ended his reply with "Still" and insisted I slow it down; translation: he didn't get it.

NOTE: I'm not slowing it down. I'm not dumb.

You're right that burn speed should have no impact on the useful data life of the disc, but slower burning does increase reliability on a greater number of devices. Not all optical drives are created equal. Some are better at reading or burning than others. A slower burn can help mitigate those deficencies. Most importantly, you should never burn at a higher speed than the disc is rated.

So I have a question. Are you saying that you ignored your bosses orders and burned as fast as you felt like anyway? If you did that to me more than once, I'd probably fire you. I do a lot of DVD burning at work. Whenever I've experimented with burning at the full rated speed, I've always regretted it. Usually in a run of 20 or 30 discs, one or none come back fro
the customer as unplayable. When I burn at the full rated speed it's more like 4 or 5. In both cases, each disc has passed verification against the master disc image.

No, I burned at the speed the drive is set at, which is just fast, but just under the limit of the CD-Rs I use. It's fast, and no errors have ever occured while using it.

And I rip copies with EAC.

 

[Kestra]

Hah, yeah exactly. When I first saw that, I was taken aback. Almost went to the counter to tell them they were wrong lol. Would love to prank them and ask them for 'Tea Tea', but I realize that could sound like I'm saying titty and I'd likely get weird looks.

It's not the sort of thing I'd expect anyone in the US to know, so I wouldn't tease anyone about it. I blame the person who first popularized the term over here, although I have no idea who that would be.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

I had a customer a while back who was completely confounded that our color copiers did not add the color back into her black and white photo.



I also had to explain to a woman that we couldn't copy a book because it was copyrighted. She got all upset, and on top of that, corrected me, saying "The word is copywritten!"

 

[Trekker4747]

I was outside a little while ago watching one of my niece's softball games. In the stands near me a father was sitting with his child and we were in late dusk/twilight and the moon was out. Waxing Crescent. The boy asked his dad why we can only see part of the moon sometimes. The father answered, with no detectable humor in his voice and with all seriousness, that we could only see part of the moon sometimes because the back-side of it was darker than the front and when that side faces us we couldn't see it.



I hope to god he was kidding, but it didn't seem like it. I mean, why lie to your kid about the moon's phases?

 

[Tiberius Jim]

That reminds me of the time at a Giants game when a little boy asked his dad why the Strikes scoreboard had signs with both regular Ks (struck out swinging) and backward Ks (struck out looking). The dad says "Well sometimes the people putting out those signs don't pay attention to which way the letters are turned." Now, its not so much that the guy didn't know...but dude, if you don't know the answer, don't just make something up! I had to resist the urge to make the guy look bad in front of his kid and tell him the real reason.

 

[scotpens]

I also had to explain to a woman that we couldn't copy a book because it was copyrighted. She got all upset, and on top of that, corrected me, saying “The word is copywritten!”

That's like people who write “playwrite” instead of the correct “playwright.” The suffix wright means “one who makes,” as in wheelwright, cartwright, shipwright, etc. Understanding the origin and meaning of words can help you spell them correctly.

One of the little stupid things I was reminded of today, unfortunately, is the bizarre misunderstanding that makes some people use the phrase, “Taking things for granite.”

That's a malapropism -- or is it an eggcorn?

My mom was an English major, and she should know that irregardless isn't a word. Also, she says that the flag is 'at half mask'.

That's definitely a malapropism.

 

[Trekker4747]

This one is against my parents, unfrotuantly.

They bought a new TV last week and it's a 3D TV (they got a hell of a good deal on it and it didn't really cost them that much more for the TV, 3D Blu-Ray and 2 pairs of glasses, than it would've cost them to get a non-3D TV without the player. The package, with ESP and a new stand cost them around $3000 with a 3-year "same-as-cash" credit plan.

Anyway, they were out roaming around the other day and still looking and comparing TVs, even though they had already bought the new one, and were asking the clerk about the glasses. The clerk told them the glasses were "on sale for $110 a pair." My dad was elated! That was damn cheap! So he went to check it out only to discover they were $110 for one-set of glasses. Not for two glasses. Since that one set of glasses is considered "a pair of glasses" there was some confusion. They thought the clerk said the glasses were 2 for $110, "a pair" being two sets of glasses in their view.

Both my parents were fooled by this. Both of them wear glasses themselves and should know when you talk about "a pair of glasses" you're talking about one set of glasses. One set being "a pair" (I guess since they contain two lenses, I dunno I never understood it either.)

 

[RoJoHen]

(I guess since they contain two lenses, I dunno I never understood it either.)

It's the same thing as a pair of pants. Is one leg considered a pant?

 

[Amaris]

(I guess since they contain two lenses, I dunno I never understood it either.)

It's the same thing as a pair of pants. Is one leg considered a pant?

It is if a supermodel asks you to take them off.

 

[Finn]

I was outside a little while ago watching one of my niece's softball games. In the stands near me a father was sitting with his child and we were in late dusk/twilight and the moon was out. Waxing Crescent. The boy asked his dad why we can only see part of the moon sometimes. The father answered, with no detectable humor in his voice and with all seriousness, that we could only see part of the moon sometimes because the back-side of it was darker than the front and when that side faces us we couldn't see it.



I hope to god he was kidding, but it didn't seem like it. I mean, why lie to your kid about the moon's phases?

that sounds more like the Dad wasn't good at explaining it. I've seen people having hard time explaining something when I could easily explain in a few words.

 

[auntiehill]

One of the little stupid things I was reminded of today, unfortunately, is the bizarre misunderstanding that makes some people use the phrase, “Taking things for granite.”

That's a malapropism -- or is it an eggcorn?

Uh,yeah..... . Hence my including it in the "Stupid things people say" thread.

 

[Aragorn]

Ever work in retail? Stupid people left and right. Actually, you don't even need to work there, just being at the store will likely lead to you witnessing their stupidity.

 

[Kestra]

Actually based on the stories from people here who have worked retail, I'm starting to hold retail workers in less esteem than the customers.

 

[auntiehill]

I remember, years ago, some guy wanted to buy a dozen or so balloons from the party store where I used to work. He wanted to know how much each balloon cost and what was the cheapest price he could get. I told him that balloons were sold by the piece, not the dozen. They were something like .75 cent each, with helium and a ribbon.

He then asked me how long they would stay afloat without helium.

I started back at him for a second, waiting for him to realize what he just said.

He didn't.

I filled a balloon with the air pump, tied a ribbon to it and let it fall to the ground.

"About that long."