Bert Nobbins, I notice that you’re British. Americans usually put periods after initials in names and after Mr., Mrs., Ms., and Dr. They also usually put periods in such acronyms as U.S., U.K., and U.S.S.R. Britons usually don’t put periods there. Also, are you deliberately writing “period” instead of “full stop” as you usually would because you know that most of the posters here are American?
Im American and I usually only use periods to end sentences.
That’s fine, but again it’s usually true that Americans put periods in and Britons don’t.
And both usually put an asterisk in I’m.
I think its true for older Americans. Younger Americans, used to writing on the internet, are much more laissez faire with their grammar.
I share Ulf’s background and his puzzlement. I’ve never heard of a sentence count either. I wonder if this sentence from Proust carries the same weight as John 11:35.
Hmm, does that mean I don’t have to do it to make yogurt, either? I was thinking that ultra-pasteurized milk should be clean enough.
Well, if you heat the milk first, you need to do that or you will curdle to eggs.
Pouring in some hot water, sloshing it around, and pouring it out to re-start with more hot water definitely makes a difference. I thought they were talking about just sloshing some hot water around so the mug isn’t unevenly heated.
I do that so the (paper) cup isn’t too hot to hold. 
Also, the coffee stirs the milk into itself. If I add the milk second, it needs to be stirred a bit.
This. Pork with preservative and salt is called ham, or bacon, or sausage. If someone just says “pork” I expect it to be unadulterated.
I routinely do this. Only I don’t type “www” or “.com”. I just type “straightdope” in the google box, and let it find the site for me. Much easier than typing the whole thing. (Or I use bookmarks. But I pretty much never type in web addresses.)
I have a web page. It’s “myname.us” If you type “www.myname.us”, you get a “site not found” error.
That’s the unnecessary thing – Dad types the entire URL into Google, including the “www” and “.com” parts, and any slashes other stuff after the domain name.
Waste of time.
You can buy salt pork and smoked pork in most grocery stores around here.
2 spaces are required in my office no matter what your age. I had to adapt to it and I am of the older generation.
I never put an asterisk in any contraction; I always put an apostrophe in a contraction. Not useless, proper to distinguish “its” from “it’s”.
Sorry, that was a stupid mistake on my part. I meant apostrophe. I need to be more careful.
Yes, that is one of the useful ones, but not doesnt or couldnt. In fact adding a apostrophe doesnt shorten them. “cant” is possibly confusing but never in context.
In a world of electronic instrument tuning devices, some musicians still rely on tuning forks.
You can buy smoked pork around here, too (and maybe salt pork, though I’m not sure that I’ve noticed it); but it’ll be labeled specifically “smoked pork” (or possibly “ham” or “sausage” or “bacon”.) If the label just says “pork”, it’s plain fresh (or frozen) pork, with nothing added: pork shoulder chops or roast, pork loin roast or chops, or whatever. And any grocery store that’s selling pork at all will have it.
Another one:
Not using your cell phone while pumping gas.
As far as I know there has never been a single case of an explosion or anything else caused by cell phone use at a pump, but many people still don’t do it.
Here’s a case that happened in a town near mine. Big news around here when it happened: Phone Ignites Gas Station Fire - CBS News
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…
In casual texting and email I’ve stopped capitalizing anything other than proper nouns. (This is auto-capitalized)
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?
Didnt Mythbusters cover that also? It was very difficult, iirc.