# 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:** 249
**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:** [December 21, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4962 "2024-12-21T01:18:53Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > I actually like that song - it’s about a couple where _both_ of them are trying to cheat because “I was tired of my lady” When he answers her personal ad & they get together she says, “Ohh, it’s you” all lovey-dovey like. No embarrassment. No screaming & yelling, “You cheating bastard!”. No, “We gotta talk” I always imagine the woman’s internal monologue. “I never knew you liked pina coladas?!” _I love pina coladas… but not that crap you make_ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4963 "2024-12-21T02:02:06Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Rats are **defitinely NOT** cute! I present as counter-evidence, Frodo and Bilbo. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/k42YhBDbQzY/maxresdefault.jpg "Scratching Frodo & Bilbo's heads together") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k42YhBDbQzY&t=28) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4964 "2024-12-21T21:34:17Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I present as counter-evidence, Frodo and Bilbo. Yes, I have had pet rats, and they are cute and friendly. Affectionate even. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4965 "2024-12-22T13:49:46Z")
Feral rats, however, are much less cute. Whereas feral mice are still freaking adorable. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2024, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4966 "2024-12-22T14:15:22Z")
I dunno, when i lived in NYC, i sometimes saw rats on the subway tracks, and i enjoyed watching them. Feral rats in your home, competing for the food and space you want to use, are not at all cute. They are kind of scary. But feral rats minding their own business, in ways that don’t affect you, can be cute. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4967 "2024-12-22T17:14:21Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Depends. All absolutely verbatim, no dialogue or action at all guessed at, no minor event skipped over? I don’t think that’s necessary, even if it’s possible. Modified so as to significantly misrepresent known persons and/or events, because the director thinks it makes a better story? No, I don’t think they should do that. To me it’s a big “It depends.” I tend to care more about the accuracy of recent events than centuries ago. I didn’t care about the accuracy of _Braveheart_ or _Gladiator._ The portrayal of the NTSB as bad guys in _Sully_ bothered me. It really helped the narrative to have an antagonist so it probably made for a better movie but the inaccuracy bothered me. There are many other examples. I am glad they were very accurate about the true events in _Fargo._ That’s a joke ---
**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:** [December 22, 2024, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4968 "2024-12-22T18:33:52Z")
Can’t vote on the noise pollution poll - no option for “None of the Above.” Even when I lived off a major thoroughfare the traffic noise was negligible. Just never been a problem. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2024, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4969 "2024-12-22T18:38:37Z")
I checked all the ones I’ve lived near, or vacationed near. I’ve also visited friends who live next to train tracks and in urban areas with nightlife. But i didn’t check off those. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2024, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4970 "2024-12-22T18:39:28Z")
I grew up near a glass factory with trains running regularly. The trains rumbled by softly with a soothing melody. I loved the sound of their whistles in the distance. And the sound of the caboose departing into the distance. But the enchanting sound of the PPG (Pittsburgh Plate Glass) glass fragments tinkling into the hoppers was so magical like stars falling down outside my window. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4971 "2024-12-22T18:40:43Z")
If my standard workday is 8.5 hours it’s already far too long, (unless it’s a 4 day week or something) so having to do extra would result in an unqualified yes that I stayed late ---
**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:** [December 22, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4972 "2024-12-22T18:41:00Z")
We live on a semi-major street: speed limit is only 30mph, but it’s a fairly busy route. So, there’s always some road noise, except for late at night. Directly across that street from us is a small retail building. When we moved in, the tenants were an Italian restaurant, a dog groomer, a cigar shop, and a florist. The cigar shop turned into a martini bar (which eventually took over the space that held the groomer and the florist), and it’s intermittently obnoxious, mostly due to loud, over-served people walking out of the bar, and deciding to continue their conversations in front of the bar – as our bedroom window is directly across the street from the bar’s front door, that sort of noise winds up coming directly into our window, especially in the summer time, when we have the windows open. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4973 "2024-12-22T18:42:13Z")
It would depend on the particular factory, airport, etc. Some of them are a lot noisier than others. I live adjacent to a live railroad track, probably about 1500 feet from my house. There are only a few trains a day on it, and they don’t bother me at all. I used to live in the city of Rochester NY, close enough to the hospital that sirens went by a lot on the area roads. I wasn’t as bothered by noise at that time in my life as I became later on, or as I was as a young child; but I got an answer wrong on my driving test because they expected you to say that if you heard a siren you’d immediately pull over. If you pulled over every time you heard a siren where I’d been living, you’d never get anywhere, and you’d confound the traffic around you; you needed to judge where the siren was coming from and heading to, and only pull over if you were actually likely to be in the way. In addition to hospitals and ambulance/fire stations, the poll left out car racetracks. I live about five miles direct line from one of those, and judging by how loud it is out here I hate to think how loud it must be in the surrounding few blocks (it’s right on the edge of a village). ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4974 "2024-12-22T18:43:54Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Can’t vote on the noise pollution poll - no option for “None of the Above.” Even when I lived off a major thoroughfare the traffic noise was negligible. You could vote in the second question, couldn’t you? Not every domicile near a major thoroughfare would be as well-insulated as yours. The last time we visited Palermo, we stayed in an apartment just off the city’s main street. There was no air conditioning so we had to keep the windows open at all times. Particularly given Italian drivers’ propensity to use their horns, the traffic noise was deafening except in the wee hours of the night. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4975 "2024-12-22T18:44:20Z")
I once stayed in a hotel next to a busy pub in London. I liked that there was a lot of foot traffic all evening, it felt like a safe place to walk. But the hotel rooms were well insulated, and i didn’t hear anything at all inside. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4976 "2024-12-22T18:48:44Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > In addition to hospitals and ambulance/fire stations, the poll left out car racetracks. I had thought of that but forgot to include in when typing up the poll. When I lived in Toronto there would be a few days every year when I’d be annoyed by the constant sound of car racing. As far as I know I didn’t leave anywhere near a racetrack; I assume that that sort of noise travels very, very far. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4977 "2024-12-22T18:52:13Z")
I grew up in a house on a fairly busy city street. It was noisy but it was like water to a fish for me; I didn’t really notice it. Sometimes visitors would mention how noisy it was. I didn’t understand what they were talking about. We were also near, but not too near, a railroad track. I loved the sound of train horns off in the distance. It seemed such a romantic and evocative sound. I currently live near the ocean, and there’s a foghorn I’ve heard every 10 seconds for the last ~30 years. I don’t notice it unless I pay attention. I’m also near a small general aviation airport. I do notice the planes taking off and landing, but they’re pretty infrequent and don’t bother me except on the rare days on which they have air shows; then there’s plane noise constantly all day long. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4978 "2024-12-22T18:53:41Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I once stayed in a hotel next to a busy pub in London. In London I lived in a building between two nightclubs, and on a street with lots of other bars, restaurants, and clubs. The crowd noise from the street never bothered me, nor did the music from the adjacent buildings, since they were fairly well insulated. What did always wake me up was the periodic crash of glass bottles being emptied from the indoor bins into the large recycling dumpsters (or “skips”, as they’re known there) in the back. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2024, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4979 "2024-12-22T18:54:12Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I grew up in a house on a fairly busy city street. It was noisy but it was like water to a fish for me; I didn’t really notice it. Sometimes visitors would mention how noisy it was. I didn’t understand what they were talking about. We were also near, but not too near, a railroad track. I loved the sound of train horns off in the distance. It seemed such a romantic and evocative sound. > > I currently live near the ocean, and there’s a foghorn I’ve heard every 10 seconds for the last ~30 years. I don’t notice it unless I pay attention. I’m also near a small general aviation airport. I do notice the planes taking off and landing, but they’re pretty infrequent and don’t bother me except on the rare days on which they have air shows; then there’s plane noise constantly all day long. Some sounds become soothing as they are just an accepted part of our lives. The sounds you describe are lovely much like my twinkling glass fragments falling into hoppers. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4980 "2024-12-22T19:12:24Z")
I’ve stayed in noisy places on vacation but the home I grew up in was just far enough from the railroad tracks that the freight train horns blowing at crossings was rather nice. Not sure I would have been so relaxed if I’d lived nearby. And in August the high school marching band (which was HUGE) would practice in the field down the street. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/4981 "2024-12-22T19:18:47Z")
I live near a busy railroad line, a busy urban light rail, and an Amazon warehouse. I quite like the trains. The 24-7 backup beeping of the trucks at Amazon is a nightmare. If I can hear your truck backing up from my bedroom four long blocks away, it’s TOO LOUD (but provincially regulated, so there’s nothing the drivers can do about it, and apparently this trumps my right to quiet enjoyment of my property). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=248) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=250)