# Behaviours still done though they're no longer needed **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 21, 2020, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257 "2020-04-21T08:35:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![MDfive21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@MDfive21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MDfive21)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/162 "2020-04-29T20:11:54Z")
Dupe ---
**Author:** ![jonesj2205](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecc23a/32.png) [@jonesj2205](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonesj2205)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/163 "2020-04-29T21:31:22Z")
> [@Orr\_G](#): > > I was referencing a meme I’ve seen about clueless older folks and the internet. > > Oddly, however, I fairly often do this, in a way. Chrome’s address bar (by default, I think, otherwise I set it up years ago and forgot) acts as an input box for Google’s search engine if you just throw keywords in there instead of an address. If I want to go to a website, it’s often easier for me to just type in “Amex” or “Comcast” and then click the first link instead of entering the whole address. Not vastly easier, granted, especially now that we can leave off the “www”, but whatever. It took me years to break my father of the habit every time he wanted to go to a website he’d go to google’s search page, type [www.cnn.com](http://www.cnn.com) in the search and then click on the link. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/164 "2020-04-29T22:34:16Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Not putting a period after an abbreviated name like that is contrary to virtually every style guide I’ve ever heard of. You’re free to do it yourself, of course. But you’ll be on your own. > > Before some other smart-ass – besides me – comes along to point it out, yes, Harry S. Truman did not have a middle name. (According to [Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/harry-truman-middle-name/), his parents couldn’t decide which of two S-named relatives to honor, so gave him just the initial S.) This has led some people to assert that his S shouldn’t take a period, because it’s not an abbreviation of anything. However, as Snopes points out, Truman himself used the period, both in his signature, and in his personal letterhead. That would lead me, as an editor and creator of style guides, to follow his example and not create an exception to the standard style. Is there such a thing as a “non-sentence end period” in Word, in the same manner that shift-Enter gives you a lf/cr that is not a paragraph end? ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2020, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/165 "2020-04-29T22:44:05Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Didnt Mythbusters cover that also? It was very difficult, iirc. Yes, and I’m almost certain it was the one that led to the famous Adam Savage quote “Am I missing an eyebrow?” ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/166 "2020-04-30T01:53:45Z")
> [@MDfive21](#): > > … > Does anyone know the dope on turning off your car while fueling? Seems modern cars should be safe enough to fuel up while running but is there still risk? Why leave it running? You’d just be wasting fuel. Not to mention that the person doing the fueling will be breathing in the exhaust. ---
**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/167 "2020-04-30T01:53:49Z")
**@Ulf the Unwashed** > [@](#): > > Of course, if I have to go back to 2004 to shake loose the only case I’ve ever heard of, it certainly isn;t a daily event… My understanding is that when cell phones came out there were several cases of fuel pump fires attributed to them (maybe this one?) but in detailed post-fire investigations they found in every case it was not actually the cell phone that caused the fire but rather static from clothing or from one’s body etc (sorry no cite provided). It was just coincidence that people were on their cells when they touched the pump handle. IIRC - There is much higher incidence of pump fires in the winter because people wear bulkier clothing like wool that attracts static. As noted on Mythbusters cell phone related pump fires just don’t happen in reality, regardless though, we still don’t like to use cell phones at pumps. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/168 "2020-04-30T06:33:38Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > …yes, Harry S. Truman did not have a middle name. (According to [Snopes](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/harry-truman-middle-name/), his parents couldn’t decide which of two S-named relatives to honor, so gave him just the initial S.) This has led some people to assert that his S shouldn’t take a period, because it’s not an abbreviation of anything. However, as Snopes points out, Truman himself used the period, both in his signature, and in his personal letterhead. That would lead me, as an editor and creator of style guides, to follow his example and not create an exception to the standard style. My father and his brother were middle-named to honor ancestors with unkind biblical monikers. Their Quaker farmer parents were kind enough to provide the 20th-century California boys with middle initials K and A rather than Kenaniah and Abednego. No periods on either, nor on my MI. Cleaner that way. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/169 "2020-04-30T19:10:03Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Is there such a thing as a “non-sentence end period” in Word, in the same manner that shift-Enter gives you a lf/cr that is not a paragraph end? I’ve never heard of one, but I suspect that if many people needed to have a sentence count they might have implemented one. I still don’t understand why anyone feels the need to count sentences vs. words or characters. Still waiting for an answer, **Doug K.** > [@RioRico](#): > > My father and his brother were middle-named to honor ancestors with unkind biblical monikers. Their Quaker farmer parents were kind enough to provide the 20th-century California boys with middle initials K and A rather than Kenaniah and Abednego. No periods on either, nor on my MI. Cleaner that way. As I said to **Bert Nobbins** , it’s your privilege to do so, but very few others follow that style. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/170 "2020-04-30T20:53:19Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I’ve never heard of one, but I suspect that if many people needed to have a sentence count they might have implemented one. I still don’t understand why anyone feels the need to count sentences vs. words or characters. Still waiting for an answer, **Doug K.** Why do you need to count words or characters? It’s for similar reasons. Sentences are a part of language, and sentence count is just as valid as word count or character count in analyzing text. Knowing the sentence count compared to the word count can help point out too many run on sentences. And it’s not just counting. It also useful to extract individual sentences from the text so you don’t get sentence fragments. There are numerous online tools that attempt to give statistics like sentence count, average words per sentence, etc. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2020, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/171 "2020-04-30T21:10:28Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Why do you need to count words or characters? I gave my reasons: as I write and edit my newsletter, I need to know how much more material will be needed to fill the available space. Word count works for that, whereas a sentence count would be less accurate and harder to get, as you have pointed out. > [@](#): > > It’s for similar reasons. Sentences are a part of language, and sentence count is just as valid as word count or character count in analyzing text. Knowing the sentence count compared to the word count can help point out too many run on sentences. And it’s not just counting. It also useful to extract individual sentences from the text so you don’t get sentence fragments. There are numerous online tools that attempt to give statistics like sentence count, average words per sentence, etc. All this is quite true. What sort of work do you do that calls for this kind of analysis? Just curious, as were **Ulf the Unwashed** and **jaycat**. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/172 "2020-05-01T00:49:43Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Is there such a thing as a “non-sentence end period” in Word, in the same manner that shift-Enter gives you a lf/cr that is not a paragraph end? > [@commasense](#): > > I’ve never heard of one, but I suspect that if many people needed to have a sentence count they might have implemented one. I still don’t understand why anyone feels the need to count sentences vs. words or characters. The technical term I was groping for is a baseline dot that is not a [Full stop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_stop). I hunted through Windows Character Map and if you wanted to badly enough there are a couple of fonts such as Symbol that have non-Full stop dots one could use. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/173 "2020-05-01T01:40:45Z")
I still step over the last stair of the staircase at my parents house because it had a rotten board…which they fixed in 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/174 "2020-05-01T03:29:02Z")
For USB Flash drives/Thumb drive going to the PC start menu and clicking to “Safely Remove Hardware” before unplugging, as opposed to just unplugging it straight away. From what I understand just as long as you aren’t actively writing to it when you disconnect there’s absolutely no danger in just taking it out without a PC command, however a lot of people still hit Safely Remove Hardware just to be safe. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/175 "2020-05-01T04:16:29Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I gave my reasons: as I write and edit my newsletter, I need to know how much more material will be needed to fill the available space. Word count works for that, whereas a sentence count would be less accurate and harder to get, as you have pointed out.All this is quite true. What sort of work do you do that calls for this kind of analysis? Just curious, as were **Ulf the Unwashed** and **jaycat**. I knew why you would need to get word counts. My point was that someone not knowing why you need to do something doesn’t mean you don’t really need to do it. Not that it should matter, but right now (and probably until I retire, since I only have 5 years to go) I’m a paraeducator. It comes up occasionally when helping students with righting. But previously when I was a tech guy for a different school system I frequently needed to break up plain text files into sentences to import the information into a database system. Not having sentences unambiguously terminated could turn a job that should have taken a few seconds with a sed or awk one-liner into hours or even days of tedious hand editing. > [@Asuka](#): > > For USB Flash drives/Thumb drive going to the PC start menu and clicking to “Safely Remove Hardware” before unplugging, as opposed to just unplugging it straight away. > > From what I understand just as long as you aren’t actively writing to it when you disconnect there’s absolutely no danger in just taking it out without a PC command, however a lot of people still hit Safely Remove Hardware just to be safe. Even with Quick Removal turned on (which really means turning off write caching) it’s probably safe to just yank it out, but there’s still a risk that something may be writing to the drive in the background. And there’s also [this](https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/do-you-really-need-to-eject-a-usb-drive-before-removing/): > [@](#): > > Just as the computer and the drive have an introduction phase like above, they also have a goodbye phase where they shake hands one last time, finish talking, and then the computer disconnects from the USB, and stops providing power to it. > > If that does not happen properly, corruption can happen. Apparently, the computer and USB need closure at the end of their relationship. The power supply part is important too. Ever unplug something from the wall and saw just a little flash of electricity? A similar thing can happen when pulling out the flash drive and this can cook your drive. It almost never happens, but it still happens. > > What is the Worst that Could Happen? > > The worst-case scenario is that your USB drive stops functioning completely. You cannot write to it, you cannot read from it, it just does not work. Ejecting the drive takes almost no time if you get in the habit of just doing it automatically. Why take an unnecessary chance? ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2020, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257/176 "2020-05-01T11:27:58Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I knew why you would need to get word counts. My point was that someone not knowing why you need to do something doesn’t mean you don’t really need to do it. I don’t think any of it had to do with not believing you need to do it - but knowing _why_ you had to do it gives a better picture of how common the need is. And how common the need is is going to have an effect on my opinion of whether double-spacing “matters” - I see no reason to continue the traditional double-spacing after the end of a sentence if one person in 100,000 needs it for the reason you do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/behaviours-still-done-though-theyre-no-longer-needed/852257.md?page=8)