Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 2)

Of my eight great grand parents one was an immigrant. We have to go back two more generations to get a different line with an immigrant.

Both of my maternal grandmother’s parents emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in the late 19th century. As far as I know, none of the other branches of my family tree arrived here any later than that.

Interesting point about the horse question. Until sbout a century ago, while there were more horses than today very few were ridden, at least in the UK. In 1917 there were over 2.6 million horses in the UK but only just over 50,000 were fit for riding (this was half what would be expected due to deaths in WW1 but even 100,000 is a very low number). Horses were used to pull ploughs and cabs and as pit ponies etc. Only the very rich would ride. I did read somewhere that there are more horses being ridden today in the UK that any time in the past (there are 170,000 horses so it could be true)
While the poll didn’t ask about interactions with horses other than riding they do exist. The late Prince Philip was a keen carriage driver (for sport) some horses are kept simply as pets, etc.

All four of my grandparents immigrated as babies/small children. They arrived during the window when Russia was making life difficult for the Jews, and the US didn’t yet have immigration quotas. We thought my grandfather had been born in the US until he died, and they found two birth certificates for him, the US one and a birth certificate issued in Russia.

All of my great-grandparents came from “the pale” of eastern Europe during the same time and for the same reason as @puzzlegal 's. My grandparents were all born in the USA, except my maternal grandfather, who was born in what was at the time part of the Austrian empire (today the city of Lviv, Ukraine). His immigration record indicates he was Austrian, but that city later belonged to Germany (AKA Lemberg) and Poland (AKA Lwow). He considered himself Polish.

My brother did a family history and found all this, including the immigration records from Ellis Island and the names and pictures of the ships on which they all came over. It was a good time for Jews to leave that part of the world, as the Jewish population in Lviv was wiped-out a few years later in the Holocaust.

Both my parents were immigrants, one from Eastern Europe, one from Western Europe. Dad and his mom lived in a Displaced Persons camp for three years in Germany after fleeing the Soviets, before being sponsored over here by a church.

That’s interesting thanks. I didn’t want to clutter the poll too much, so I just put questions about riding

Thanks, I was curious about the “one and never again” responses. I am glad it’s not because something terrible happened to you (or the horse).

In my case, it was that I went on a trail ride as a group outing with some friends in my 20s. Someone else’s idea. I didn’t hate it, and no, nothing terrible happened. But I didn’t enjoy it enough to specifically seek out doing it again, and the situation of being invited by someone else never came up again.

I’ve been on horses multiple times. I hate the smelly beasts and it would take an Act of Congress to get me on one again. Like the above, nothing terrible happened. I just don’t like horses.

More than not liking horses, I don’t like horse owners. You see, horse owners, contrary to your opinion, pooper-scooper laws do apply to you & your beast leaves a helluva bigger pile than a dog does. Whether it’s one big pile, or even worse, 20’ of single track trail fouled, & no, I don’t care that you think it’ll break down quicker than a dogs because there’s no meat in it, I still don’t want it on my shoe. :angry:

I envision a whole coconut with the top removed, filled with a rum-based concoction, accented with wedges of fresh lime and tiny cocktail umbrellas, served with a long straw on a beach somewhere.

I’m not sure I’ve ever stopped to envision it but it wouldn’t be that because you can’t shake it all up. Somehow it would be capped, like a glass inserted into a metal drink mixing cup/cocktail strainer.

This is my vision, too. Only without the umbrellas, and with the lime wedges squeezed into the rum beverage, and then tossed in. You can shake it all up by taking the other piece of the coconut to cover the opening while you shake.

But there’s definitely rum involved, and the coconut is the vessel.

Other - I’ve literally never thought about the meaning of putting the lime in the coco-nut, but I know the song.

The word “shake” is not in the lyrics.

That’s more or less how I picture it – take a coconut, either chop the top off or drill into it, squeeze the lime juice and add it to the coconut water inside, recap the coconut and shake them both up, then add a straw.

I never really thought about adding rum; I took it literally and just pictured lime and coconut. But I could picture a rum based cocktail served in a coconut now that you mention it. Actually I think I have seen cocktails served that way in tropical resort type places.

ETA:

I could have sworn it was, but it’s quite possible that was just the power of suggestion based on @Spiderman’s post.

I’m thinking something like this:

I could have sworn it was, at least in the Muppets version; I blame it on Elmo’s accent!

I always thought the “lime in the coconut” was a cure for nausea, so I just pictured a whole coconut with an opening cut in it, and the lime squeezed in. And only lime.

I had a hard time deciding which BB character was scariest. My first instinct was the cousins, but then I thought, yeah, they’re scary, but they’re almost more like automatons than people. I voted for Lalo because he was smart, crafty, and could be charming when he needed to be. In the long run, someone to be really frightened of.