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

Now that is a frequently asked question.

I’ve never seen it done. I once wrote a set, and I really only had one frequently asked question, but I had one other question that had been asked once, so I added that, just because it felt so weird to have only a single question in the list.

Re the outhouse poll: The place I vacation for a week every summer has outhouses. The big one near the main dock has been upgraded to a self-composting outhouse, with a fan to keep it all well ventilated. But the ones near the individual cabins are just a shack over a hole, with a heavy cardboard “bucket” in the bottom that can be loaded on the sewage boat at the end of the season.

I was a little unclear on some of the qualifications in the poll, though. What is a “campground terlet”? How would it be different from a residential outhouse?

I have also stayed in someone’s summer home that had an outhouse (so I unambiguously answered “yes”). Due to zoning rules, they couldn’t upgrade to a flush toilet, but they had added a heavy-duty fan that kept it not-too-smelly. Other than the fan, it was identical to the outhouses at the place I vacation, and also at a lot of campgrounds I visited as a kid. I haven’t been to any campgrounds with outhouses recently. Have they changed?

Re the stuffing poll:

If I cook my stuffing inside the turkey, is there a chance I might kill my guests? I’m not saying that’s necessarily a deal-breaker.

–President Jed Bartlet, “The West Wing”

I think it’s a toilet seat on a folding stool that I’ve seen in some camping or fishing supply store. Thus, not permanent and not really a structure.

Ah, a different thing entirely. Thanks.

Technically, I cook stuffing both inside and outside the bird.

When I cook a goose, I usually end up with more stuffing than fits in the bird, and I cook the leftover outside the bird. Even if I add a lot of butter or goosefat to the “stuffing” cooked in a casserole, it’s never as good as the stuffing cooked in the goose.

But I decided that inside was the right answer. :slight_smile:

If you have a single question and you were able to find an answer in the FAQ, great. But. the term FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions, a plural phrase. It could answer one or many questions.

In the 1970’s and into the 80’s, I lived a number of places with outhouses and no indoor plumbing; and also had friends whose houses relied on outhouses. No fans, just a shack over a hole, a boxed in seat with a wood board top, and one or more holes in the board. Some of them had quite a nice view, if you left the door open, which at some places you could. At one place, in the winter, we kept a toilet seat hung behind the wood/coal stove that heated the place; you carried it out with you. I still remember the sensation of sitting on the quite warm seat while January air rose up from underneath.

The real problem wasn’t the outhouse. It was the lack of hot running water in a bathtub/shower; there were various improvisations that worked pretty well in the summer, but less well in the winter. We had what we called the “[Town] Bath Club”: those in our friend group who didn’t have indoor plumbing at the moment would go visit those who did, bearing towels and shampoo.

Some years I’ve made two batches of dressing at Thanksgiving: one goes in the turkey, the other is a vegetarian version that, obviously, doesn’t.

Voted ‘inside the bird’ in the poll, though.

I took it to be more of a usage thing rather than a difference in the structure of said terlet. The poll was asking about facilities in daily use by residents. Not something someone might have to use a couple of times. I put the Army outhouses I’ve used in the camp ground category. They used to have them at ranges and bivouac areas but went to portajohns long ago.

Not, obviously, for me.

I’m wary of eating clotted cream because the only liquids I associate with being clotted are blood and spoiled milk. That’s a nasty visual and I can’t get over it.

I cook stuffing inside the bird. I cook dressing in a pan.


Star Trek movies: I’ve seen 1 and 4, and I hated 1. Very easy one to answer. :smiley:


Okay, I’ll bite: What’s American “High Tea”?

Technically, the leftover stuffing that didn’t get stuffed into the bird is better named dressing. But since it’s so similar to the stuffing, i just label it vegetarian stuffing (if i have any vegetarians over, i only use butter, no rendered fat of dead animals to make it).

And if you’re absolutely against the idea of FAQ as “Frequently Asked Question”, if I’m referring to the FAQ on one web site, and the FAQ on another, and also another, surely that’s “three FAQs”.

That’s how i use the word “FAQs”.

“I needed to write a FAQ for my new website, so i read a bunch of FAQs on similar websites to give myself some ideas of where to start.”

American’s think “high tea” is the upper class thing with little cucumber sandwiches and clotted cream and such, intended as a light snack to tide one over until dinner. That’s actually called “low tea” in England. “High tea” is a larger meal served later in the day, eaten by working class people with physically demanding jobs.

But because of the misconception in America, if you go to “high tea” in America you’re actually having what the Brits call “low tea”.

Ok, I need to change my vote in the “Did you know who Maya Rudolph was before today?” I saw the poll before I saw the the thread about her on Letterman, and the name seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it, so I voted, “No, and I still don’t”. Then I saw the Letterman thread, and I was like “Oh, her. I do know her” I just didn’t immediately connect the name with the person. So I’m changing my vote to Yes.

Would acting a love interest make me fall in love? I really need a “maybe” option. Would it increase the odds? Yes, i imagine so. Especially if i had chemistry with the guy. Would it make me fall in love? That seems unlikely. What if i disliked him? What if we kissed and it just wasn’t there and it was really hard to fake it for the camera?

Yeah, my answer to that one would have been “I have no idea. I expect it would depend on the person.”