# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 1)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 28, 2022, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380 "2022-09-28T11:33:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 463

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9244 "2024-01-12T22:42:11Z")

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“Doctor say, you going to die, _kemo sabe_.”

No emoticon. Must be serious.

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**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9245 "2024-01-12T23:29:58Z")

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On the way to Kuwait we stopped at Reykjavík and Bucharest to refuel. I don’t count either of these as places I’ve visited. We were shuffled off into a closed portion of the terminal in Reykjavik and weren’t allowed off the plane on the tarmac in Romania. At least Romania I saw from the air. It was the middle of the night in Iceland. Other than that I’ve been to London, Paris, Berlin, Dublin, Brussels and Luxembourg on that list.

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**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9246 "2024-01-12T23:40:38Z")

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> [@peccavi](#):
>
> I know there is a crossover point for Celsius and Fahrenheit, but I haven’t memorized it

How hard is it to remember -40? I mean, yeah, it rarely gets that cold, but sometimes it does.

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**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9247 "2024-01-13T00:09:28Z")

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> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> > [@InternetLegend](#):
> >
> > If you have Book 7 of Elly Griffith’s Ruth Galloway mystery series, though, I’d appreciate you getting done with that one.
> 
> Haven’t been reading those – but just checked, and one of the libraries I go to has at least a couple of them, and they do look interesting. Thanks for the suggestion!

I enjoy them. Some of the story lines are taking an awfully long time to resolve, but I really enjoy the stories and the historical/archaelogical aspects.

I’ve been to the UK, but we only spent a day in London.

I don’t wear shorts any more, and loose cotton or linen pants are plenty cool (or even cooler than shorts).

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**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9248 "2024-01-13T00:52:02Z")

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It’s really more of a navwich than a navburger.

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9249 "2024-01-13T01:10:37Z")

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I call it the pancake menu, because all the lines are the same thickness, unlike a burger with two buns and a patty.

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**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9250 "2024-01-13T01:47:35Z")

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I’ve always heard it called the hamburger button, and that must be the absolutely only applicable name, because it’s there in Wikipedia.

> **[Hamburger button](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_button)**
>
> The hamburger button (the triple bar ≡ or trigram symbol ☰), so named for its unintentional resemblance to a hamburger, is a button typically placed in a top corner of a graphical user interface. Its function is to toggle a menu (sometimes referred to as a hamburger menu) or navigation bar between being collapsed behind the button or displayed on the screen. The icon which is associated with this widget, consisting of three horizontal bars, is also known as the collapsed menu icon.
> The icon was...

🍔

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**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9251 "2024-01-13T02:09:37Z")

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Hamburger, kebab, meatball, bento box

I know there are others, but can’t remember

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**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9252 "2024-01-13T04:04:33Z")

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Definitely “Hamburger Menu”. Nothing else makes sense. The first time I heard that name it struck me as perfect.

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**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9253 "2024-01-13T04:22:32Z")

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I wasn’t sure what to answer about shorts. But i was wearing shorts in the house today, because i was exercising, and i had a couple of little things i wanted to do outside, and i didn’t bother to change clothes. It was a little below 40, so I picked 30.

But i wouldn’t pick shorts if the main thing i wanted to do was that cold.

In fact, like thorny locust, i mostly prefer to wear long pants to keep off the sun. I wear shorts a lot indoors, but mostly don’t wear them outdoors in the summer.

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**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9254 "2024-01-13T05:23:57Z")

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> [@puzzlegal](#):
>
> i mostly prefer to wear long pants to keep off the sun

Not sure why that matters. I keep off the sun because there is nowhere to stand.

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**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9255 "2024-01-13T05:51:18Z")

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> [@peccavi](#):
>
> I also find baggy, calf-length shorts on overweight seniors like me to just be…offputting.

You prefer baggy pants on overweight seniors? Tight short shorts?

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**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9256 "2024-01-13T07:34:36Z")

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And I am \< 55 years old when I realized I shouldn’t post a poll late in the evening.

😊

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**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9257 "2024-01-13T16:40:33Z")

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Voice-activated virtual personal assistants (Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google) are:

Something else … Creepy as all get out and I generally hate them.

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**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9258 "2024-01-13T16:48:49Z")

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The only things I use a voice assistant for is telling my iPhone to set a timer or a wake-up alarm or a reminder (“check laundry”, “water plants”). Alexa creeps me out. A friend used Alexa for everything: turning on and off lights, opening and closing blinds, etc. I don’t get the attraction unless you’re disabled.

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9259 "2024-01-13T17:04:38Z")

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I use Alexa to find movies on my Amazon Fire Stick equipped TV.

I also use Google Assistant in my car to navigate on Google Maps. When i buy gas, I frequently calculate my mpg, and in the car, it’s just easier to ask Google to do it.

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9260 "2024-01-13T17:18:18Z")

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Voice-activated virtual personal assistants (Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google) are… Something Else: something I’m just not interested in.

If you want to use them, fine, but I do not. I much prefer interacting with my electronic devices by clicking buttons, typing commands, etc. than by thinking up the right words to say and then vocalizing them.

Plus I have a strong aversion to asking other people to do things for me that I could easily do for myself, and that’s what using a voice-activated virtual personal assistant feels like.

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**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9261 "2024-01-13T17:24:15Z")

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> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> Voice-activated virtual personal assistants (Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google) are… Something Else: something I’m just not interested in.
> 
> If you want to use them, fine, but I do not. I much prefer interacting with my electronic devices by clicking buttons, typing commands, etc. than by thinking up the right words to say and then vocalizing them.

We installed landscape lights last year. The controller box is outside. It would be a pain to go outside everytime you want to turn them on and off. The guy who installed them said he could put them on a timer, but that has pros and cons as well. I suggested we just plug them in with an Alexa plug and we can not operate them easily from our kitchen or bedroom, including such commands as “turn off landscape lights at 10:00 p.m.”

Alexa also is great for quickly telling us what the forecast is, or when to expect low tide.

I wouldn’t say it’s life changing, and yes, we can do most of these things on our phones But, I like having Alexa around.

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**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9262 "2024-01-13T17:27:35Z")

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We have two Echos (Alexa) in the house. They get largely used for:

- Playing music
- Setting timers

I bought an Amazon Blink video doorbell a month or so ago, which is set up to interact with Alexa, but I haven’t installed the doorbell yet.

On my iPhone, about the only thing I use Siri for is to turn the flashlight on and off; a few months ago, I learned that Siri will respond to Latin (and Harry Potter) words for light (“lumos”) and darkness (“nox”).

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**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-1/972380/9263 "2024-01-13T18:29:57Z")

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I mean, _integral_ is a tricky word, but we regularly use our Echo devices to listen to music, check the weather, set timers and wake-up alarms, turn lights on and off, and less frequently to ask questions, e.g. how long the drive is to a location, local library hours, etc… If the devices went away we would do just fine, it just makes a lot of things easier.

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