# 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:** 222
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4422 "2024-11-18T12:32:44Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > My response would probably be “Define ‘woke’”. I certainly wouldn’t go with either the options provided as that’s already ceding the stupid point. Came to say. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4423 "2024-11-18T12:45:09Z")
I researched some of the Hank Williams songs and it turns out I do know a couple but not enough to identify them off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4424 "2024-11-18T14:21:25Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > There are currently zero people in my life that smoke cigarettes. The only people ‘in my life’ that smoke are a couple of guys at the firehouse. It always amazes me when you see firefighters smoking; yanno the guys who run into the burning building that was caused by a cigarette; the people who see up close the devastation it can cause. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4425 "2024-11-18T14:23:48Z")
Sure, but what safer place to smoke than a fire station! (unless it’s [in Germany](https://apnews.com/article/germany-fire-station-fire-alarm-system-blaze-f5abcb52a75886705a77fca5bc6bfd9b)) ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4426 "2024-11-18T15:20:30Z")
This is the right answer. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4427 "2024-11-18T15:59:19Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Once again **Velocity** has posted a poll in desperate need of an “Other option”. > > My response would probably be “Define ‘woke’”. I certainly wouldn’t go with either the options provided as that’s already ceding the stupid point Ditto. (Is it still “ditto” when a lot of other people said the same thing first?) ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4428 "2024-11-18T15:59:44Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > I think you are greatly overestimating the influence of Hank Williams with Yankees. > > **Loach** , now do you recognize those songs? Maybe you never knew that were Hank Williams songs? I had to cop to only one or two until i checked, and realized I knew more. The only Hank Williams song I can name off the top of my head is “Only a Tramp.” That’s becuase Ronco (?) had a Hank WIlliams greatest hits album that advertised on after school TV. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4429 "2024-11-18T18:38:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Spiderman](#): > > > > Except to themselves > > And all those who die from Secondhand Smoke. 40,000 Americans a year. > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > There are currently zero people in my life that smoke cigarettes. > > Same here, I know two guys that will smoke one or two cigars a year, for new years or something. > > > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > > > I am astounded that, as of now, virtually half of the respondents cannot name a single Hank Williams song. > > I just checked- of the top Ten Hank W songs, I recognize 3 by their titles and can even do a few verses. > _Jambalaya (On the Bayou) " Son of a gun, we’ll have big fun on the Bayou_ > > _Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo"_ > > _Your Cheatin’ Heart_- -on Rolling\_Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and covered by Patsy Cline (and others) > > and of course-" _Hey, hey, good lookin’_ > Whatcha got cookin’? > How’s about cookin’ > Somethin’ up with me?"- covered by Jimmy Buffett and many others. > > So > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > I think you are greatly overestimating the influence of Hank Williams with Yankees. > > **Loach** , now do you recognize those songs? Maybe you never knew that were Hank Williams songs? I had to cop to only one or two until i checked, and realized I knew more. I said that I recognized at least one by briefly looking at the list and I said I’m sure if you played some others I would recognize having heard them before. That doesn’t invalidate my response of zero to the poll. It didn’t ask if you recognized songs after researching their catalog. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4430 "2024-11-18T19:51:41Z")
Re: Hank Williams. I could only think of 2 of his songs off the top of my head – “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Hey Good Lookin’…” (Not sure if that’s the actual title). There are probably a lot more songs that I’ve heard before and simply wasn’t aware were Hank Williams songs. For example, some of the songs mentioned earlier – _Jambalaya (On the Bayou)_ and _Your Cheatin’ Heart_. I’ve heard plenty of covers of both of those, to the point where it became fuzzy just who the original was. I guess I never realized, or forgot, that Hank Williams was the original artist, but I certainly know those songs. For the Beatles songs, I picked 5 because the poll said “off the top of your head”. I’m sure I could name more than 10 Beatles songs if I sat and thought about it for longer, but to me that doesn’t count as “off the top of my head”. 5 was the number of songs I could think of quickly at the time I responded to the poll. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4431 "2024-11-18T21:41:52Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I said that I recognized at least one by briefly looking at the list and I said I’m sure if you played some others I would recognize having heard them before. That doesn’t invalidate my response of zero to the poll. It didn’t ask if you recognized songs after researching their catalog. Oh certainly. In fact _Your Cheatin’ Heart_ I thought was a Patsy Cline original. And for the longest time I though _Jambalaya (On the Bayou)_ was a Zydeco tune, I think I choose that i could only say the name of one HW tune off hand, but I think many of us if they played his Top Ten would say- “Yeah I recognize that”. Which is not the same as “Name a HW tune off the top of your head”. > [@WildaBeast](#): > > Hey Good Lookin’…” (Not sure if that’s the actual title). There are probably a lot more songs that I’ve heard before and simply wasn’t aware were Hank Williams songs. > > For example, some of the songs mentioned earlier – _Jambalaya (On the Bayou)_ and _Your Cheatin’ Heart_. I’ve heard plenty of covers of both of those, to the point where it became fuzzy just who the original was. I guess I never realized, or forgot, that Hank Williams was the original artist, but I certainly know those songs. See post 4416 for the title of that and you got it right. Same with mme on those tow. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4432 "2024-11-18T22:08:59Z")
Always be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Then be Batman. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4433 "2024-11-18T22:19:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Unless you can be Batman. Then be Batman. Full of Angst, brooding and deeply unhappy? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4434 "2024-11-18T22:30:53Z")
In some editions of _Lord of the Rings_, the title pages are decorated with stuff written in English, but in Tolkien’s scripts. I once got to the point where I could read Cirth runes pretty well. (I couldn’t do it today.) But whenever I try to read Tengwar, my brain gets a bad case of “they all look alike to me.” It doesn’t help that my English-trained brain wants to interpret the vowels as punctuation marks or diacritics. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4435 "2024-11-18T22:56:16Z")
I took a semester of Russian in college, and I can still mostly sound out words, but there are a few odd letters I’ve forgotten. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4436 "2024-11-18T23:40:13Z")
That’s how i feel about Greek. I could reliably read words like “farmakia” (not going to try to type Greek on my phone) last time i was there. I can sometimes make educated guesses of Cyrillic from knowing Latin and Greek letters, but i make a lot of bad guesses, too. And i can mostly sound out Hebrew, even know a handful of words. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2024, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4437 "2024-11-18T23:59:48Z")
I never actually “went off to camp” – being a very indoors-y kind of kid, who got picked on by my peers for being a non-athletic nerd, I think my parents realized that sending me off for a week or longer to do the things that I hated doing, with kids who would tease me for being bad at it, was just a bad idea. I did go out on weekend camp-outs several times when I was in Boy Scouts, and on weekend “retreats” with the church group, a few times, so I did select those in the poll. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2024, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4438 "2024-11-19T01:23:49Z")
The best advice I heard about “being yourself” is, “You need to be yourself, but it needs to be the right **version** of yourself.” We all have different versions of us that are suited for some situations but ill-suited for others. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2024, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4439 "2024-11-19T02:49:18Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > In some editions of _Lord of the Rings_, the title pages are decorated with stuff written in English, but in Tolkien’s scripts. I once got to the point where I could read Cirth runes pretty well. In one class in HS, my friend and I wrote notes to each other in runes. By about the second week, I was reading them as easily as I read English ---
**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:** [November 19, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4440 "2024-11-19T03:00:20Z")
I have whole journals written in runic (and just a little Tengwar) transliteration that I have to refresh myself on if I want to read what I wrote. ---
**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:** [November 19, 2024, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4441 "2024-11-19T05:51:31Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The best advice I heard about “being yourself” is, “You need to be yourself, but it needs to be the right **version** of yourself.” We all have different versions of us that are suited for some situations but ill-suited for others. Reminds me of the Bill Cosby joke: I said to a guy, “Tell me, what is it about cocaine that makes it so wonderful?” And the guy said, “Well, it intensifies your personality.” And I said, “Yes, but what if you’re an asshole?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=221) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=223)