# 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:** 415
**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:** [September 3, 2025, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8282 "2025-09-03T19:33:02Z")
We moved my mom up here in 2003, she’s less than a mile away. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8283 "2025-09-03T19:47:51Z")
Mom has been dead for 57 of my 58 years. My father and I lived about 40 miles apart when he passed, but we worked together in the family business so saw each other daily. However, that doesn’t really tell me about my mom because the business was started by my [Dad and stepmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-family-business-market-distribution-specialists-inc-1984-2012/923289) and, had my mother lived, Dad would have certainly had a different professional life. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2025, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8284 "2025-09-03T20:03:16Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Given the age of this crowd, “my mother is dead” seems to be at risk of completely diluting the results of the “distance from mother” poll. It’s probably too late now, but I’m wonder if it might have been better to as either “how far do you live from the last place she lived, if she’s dead?” or “How far do you live from her final resting place?” Since that’s a separate answer, it doesn’t dilute the results at all, you can just look at the other answers. But because if the age of the board, you do lose any information about all the people with dead mothers. It might have made sense to ask, " if your mother is dead, how far away from you did she live in her last home", it sometime like that. You’d need some text to distinguish between assisted living, which should probably count, and the final 3 days in the hospital, or hospice, which probably shouldn’t. So this poll is cleaner. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8285 "2025-09-03T20:07:44Z")
I answered as I would have while she was alive. Just saying that she’s dead does not provide the data the OP is looking for. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8286 "2025-09-03T20:45:38Z")
Yeah, I get that. But I would have zero idea what my answer would be if she were alive, so I couldn’t answer based on a hypothetical. I never knew her (she has been dead for 98.27% of my 58 years), have zero idea what our relationship would be, don’t know if she would still be married to Dad, etc etc etc. All I know is that a lot of things would be different. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8287 "2025-09-03T20:58:56Z")
What if your mom lives with you but is also dead? (Asking for my friend Norman) ---
**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:** [September 3, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8288 "2025-09-03T21:14:07Z")
My mother is dead, but when she and my Dad were still alive I never lived closer than an 8 hr drive away after leaving home for good. After I started college I was only home for vacations and one brief postgrad period (less than a year), and then I was always several states away. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8289 "2025-09-03T22:28:37Z")
My mom and dad are both dead but I inherited their home and have lived in it for over 30 years now. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2025, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8290 "2025-09-03T22:30:30Z")
I live less than 8 miles from where my mom spent her last several years. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2025, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8291 "2025-09-03T22:40:02Z")
For most of my adult life I lived on the West Coast and my mother on the East Coast. About 10 years before she died she moved about 8 miles from me. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8292 "2025-09-03T23:45:26Z")
I find it disturbing how many people are voting for long bacon. (_which is probably my fault for being obscure_) ---
**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 3, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8293 "2025-09-03T23:50:26Z")
I like to think we understand it. ---
**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 4, 2025, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8294 "2025-09-04T04:31:52Z")
Mother: @ 750 miles away (living) Step-Mother: varies, normally @ 640-800 miles away (living) Mother-in-Law: @ 5-8 miles west of me (living) I answered 500-2000 which qualifies for my mother and step mother. My MiL is a fine person, but she sees me every other week, she can sit out this poll. And @eschereal’s poll made me think of the old Simpson’s crack - [![](https://frinkiac.com/meme/S06E05/1058357.jpg?b64lines=IE9ILCBNWSBHT0QtLSBUSEUgREVBRAogSEFWRSBSSVNFTiBBTkQgVEhFWSdSRQogVk9USU5HIFJFUFVCTElDQU4uIA==) ](https://frinkiac.com/meme/S06E05/1058357.jpg?b64lines=IE9ILCBNWSBHT0QtLSBUSEUgREVBRAogSEFWRSBSSVNFTiBBTkQgVEhFWSdSRQogVk9USU5HIFJFUFVCTElDQU4uIA==) Of course, swap out “Republican” for “in SDMB polls!” ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8295 "2025-09-04T12:13:28Z")
(Fewer) ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8296 "2025-09-04T12:52:26Z")
You guys really like your clothes!. I have, about 6 t-shirts, 6 pairs of pants, 4 jackets, 10 or so pairs of socks, 4 pairs of shoes, 5 sweaters… and that’s it, why would I need more? ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8297 "2025-09-04T13:08:06Z")
I still have all my work socks and some other random work stuff. I guess I should clear all that out…. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8298 "2025-09-04T13:11:19Z")
There is stuff in my closet that I haven’t touched in a couple of decades. At least half of it probably doesn’t fit anymore, but darn it, it’s too good to throw away. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8299 "2025-09-04T13:15:52Z")
Right, i still have stuff that i liked before i got pregnant and gained weight. (My children are over 30.) Also, i despise shopping for clothing, so i don’t want to have to replace something unnecessarily. And deciding to discard something takes time and energy. The lazy move is to leave it in the closet. As for pedantry… I’m married to a pedant. I likey pedants. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8300 "2025-09-04T13:39:40Z")
And now I want Black Forest cake. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2025, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636/8301 "2025-09-04T14:15:00Z")
I work a lot of events; the amount of clothes I get from them is insane; mostly t-shirts but a couple of sweatshirts every year, along with a jacket & sometimes some polo shirts. I also live in a 4-season climate & run &/or ride year-round; I have a small closet full of just athletic wear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=414) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-2/997636.md?page=416)