# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 16, 2024, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636 "2024-02-16T02:56:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 169
**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:** [September 10, 2024, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3362 "2024-09-10T22:43:47Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > a hardcover is really nice to read while eating, as it’ll more easily lay flat. I can’t be the only one here who uses book weights on paperbacks at the kitchen table just to have two hands free for my sandwich (edit: generic internet picture—I just use one at a time). [![](https://www.levenger.com/cdn/shop/products/AD9800_LEATHER_BOOK_WEIGHT_CSW_1_ed8fb7ff-2f06-4152-b19a-822fb21ecb55_1024x.jpg?v=1715001143) ](https://www.levenger.com/cdn/shop/products/AD9800_LEATHER_BOOK_WEIGHT_CSW_1_ed8fb7ff-2f06-4152-b19a-822fb21ecb55_1024x.jpg?v=1715001143) ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3363 "2024-09-10T22:48:41Z")
When I was doing it, it was much more homemade solutions. These days, more like: [![](https://i5.walmartimages.com/seo/Fintie-Flip-Case-6-8-Kindle-Paperwhite-Signature-Edition-11th-Generation-2021-Slim-Fit-Vertical-Multi-Viewing-Stand-Cover-Auto-Sleep-Wake-Ocean-Marbl_51c5c02d-f576-4703-914e-848aa2e1ae36.fe4875ddd6223497ec57b29cb8832704.jpeg?odnHeight=117&odnWidth=117&odnBg=FFFFFF) ](https://i5.walmartimages.com/seo/Fintie-Flip-Case-6-8-Kindle-Paperwhite-Signature-Edition-11th-Generation-2021-Slim-Fit-Vertical-Multi-Viewing-Stand-Cover-Auto-Sleep-Wake-Ocean-Marbl_51c5c02d-f576-4703-914e-848aa2e1ae36.fe4875ddd6223497ec57b29cb8832704.jpeg?odnHeight=117&odnWidth=117&odnBg=FFFFFF) Or the equivalent on my 10" tablets. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3364 "2024-09-10T22:55:25Z")
That’s the design on my (physical) appointment book. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3365 "2024-09-10T23:00:51Z")
My favorite Costner movie wasn’t on the list, so I opted for _Bull Durham_. My favorite was _The Big Chill._ He killed in that role! ---
**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:** [September 10, 2024, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3366 "2024-09-10T23:11:34Z")
I was a kid in the early '70s, when toy product safety standards aren’t as strong as they are today (hell, we had a Jarts set). One day, when my sister and I were with our mother at the store, we begged and pleaded for Wham-O’s “Super Elastic Bubble Plastic,” which was a toothpaste-like tube of some sort of liquid plastic, with a straw; the idea was that you would put a blob of the plastic on one end of the straw, blow into the other end, and cause the plastic to inflate into a vaguely balloon-like object. [![](https://i.redd.it/i9x1uketqhsb1.jpg) ](https://i.redd.it/i9x1uketqhsb1.jpg) Our mom bought it, but when we got home, she took a look at the tube (and, I assume, the ingredients). She then blew exactly one bubble for each of us (not letting us do the blowing ourselves, which disappointed us tremendously), and then threw the tube away; I am sure that she didn’t want either of us inhaling the exceptionally toxic fumes ourselves. In the decades since, our mother has had a lot of health issues; in the back of my guilt-ridden mind, I always wonder if any of it was caused by her exposure to Super Elastic Bubble Plastic. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3367 "2024-09-10T23:12:24Z")
I still remember how that stuff smelled! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3368 "2024-09-10T23:26:38Z")
And I totally misplaced this post. It should have been to the Costner thread in Cafe Society. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3369 "2024-09-11T18:34:23Z")
The thing about the Slip N’ Slide was only one family on the block needed to own one. It wasn’t us. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3370 "2024-09-11T18:39:50Z")
I voted that I “watched some” of the debate, but technically I didn’t _watch_ it; I listened to it on NPR as I drove home from work. It was mostly just out of habit – I always listen to NPR during my commute, and that’s what NPR was broadcasting at the time, and I just didn’t feel like changing the station. Although by the end I really wished I had changed the station. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3371 "2024-09-11T18:46:30Z")
I hadn’t planned on watching it. But mrs. dirtball wanted to, and we ended up tuning in about five or ten minutes after it started. So I can’t rightly say we saw the whole thing, but almost. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3372 "2024-09-11T19:36:00Z")
I “watched” it in the sense that it was on the TV. Muted. All the while I was here reading the “Watch Along” thread and unmuting/rewinding the good stuff I was alerted to. Never had to hear a word come out of that…former president’s yap. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3373 "2024-09-11T19:38:56Z")
I would definitely be on board with having a negative-vote option. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3374 "2024-09-11T20:20:33Z")
Anybody know _why_ a big fat hen? 30 seconds on google was nonproductive. I grant that longer might be. [ETA: I know that’s how the rhyme goes; at least, the way I learned it. But I don’t think I ever learned what, if anything, it means.] ---
**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:** [September 11, 2024, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3375 "2024-09-11T20:34:38Z")
Maybe the artist who illustrated an early version wanted something to draw? ---
**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:** [September 11, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3376 "2024-09-11T20:39:33Z")
I found an 1883 version with “a big fat hen” > **['One two, buckle my shoe' \[an illustr. nursery rhyme\].](https://books.google.com/books?id=NpUNAAAAQAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Buckle%20my%20shoe&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false)** It goes up to twenty ---
**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:** [September 11, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3377 "2024-09-11T20:56:03Z")
I’ve used the free version of chatGPT just to play around. The number of times it has give me the wrong answer means I don’t trust it. At least it apologizes when you tell it the answer is wrong. I did use it to make my wedding speach. I asked for a generic thank you for coming wedding speech and then I used that format to rewrite it myself. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3378 "2024-09-11T23:14:16Z")
“Other” is I don’t remember whether it’s open the door or shut the door. (Despite having read @Zyada’s link.) ---
**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:** [September 12, 2024, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3379 "2024-09-12T00:14:58Z")
At first, I couldn’t remember that either, but “open” doesn’t scan, and “shut” does. ---
**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:** [September 12, 2024, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3380 "2024-09-12T00:22:56Z")
I was tempted to say that “scootch” (or however you want to spell it) doesn’t properly _have_ a spelling, since I’d only ever say it, not write it. I chose “scootch” since I assume it’s a variant of “scoot,” but I wouldn’t insist on it. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/3381 "2024-09-12T01:23:35Z")
I also chose “scootch”; but I think my real answer is “I don’t know how to spell that, though I can certainly say it.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=168) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=170)