# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 3) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 29, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157 "2026-01-29T18:21:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/301 "2026-02-17T00:29:12Z")
Somebody go find some more chairs. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/302 "2026-02-17T05:45:20Z")
Re: college courses, there is so much churn in the first couple of weeks that one’s enrolment status means almost nothing. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/303 "2026-02-17T19:58:21Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > There was an Ellery Queen TV series back in the 70s, created by the same team who made Columbo. I remember it being pretty terrible, and had no idea they made this many episodes. > > [Ellery Queen (TV series) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellery_Queen_(TV_series)) > > Oops, I see it is mentioned up thread. Anyway, have a link! I remember liking it but I was just a kid. My mother watched it because she read all of the Ellery Queen books. I would never get the gender wrong because I remember Jim Hutton playing Ellery (Timothy Hutton’s father for those who don’t know). ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/304 "2026-02-17T20:20:51Z")
I address her in English because i don’t speak Spanish. In foreign countries, i do a lot of smiling and pointing at the menu when i order. If it turns out that she doesn’t speak English, i can smile apologetically and point at the menu in America, too. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/305 "2026-02-17T20:28:01Z")
I have a cleaning lady who is very thorough. Unfortunately, we can only communicate via Google Translate. I do tell her “Muchas gracias.” I do not think that “Viele Danke” would work as well. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/306 "2026-02-17T20:30:12Z")
Re: college class, my answer is “get over it”. Presumably almost all of these people are young and healthy and perfectly capable of standing or sitting on a floor for one class period. They are also adults and presumably capable of negotiating seating arrangements among themselves. Even if there were some significant injustice here, it certainly wouldn’t be the professor’s job to police these disputes. If an already-registered student feels wronged, the appropriate recourse would be to take it up with the school’s administration, and suggest that they remedy it by moving the class to a larger room, dispatching security to check registration status and hold back the flood of squatters, or other such measures as may be deemed appropriate to prevent such outrages in the future. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/307 "2026-02-17T20:31:58Z")
I’d speak spanish because I would want to practice my spanish. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/308 "2026-02-17T20:37:06Z")
> [@Maus\_Magill](#): > > I do not think that “Viele Danke” would work as well. I’ve never even heard that in German. Is it a regional thing? ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/309 "2026-02-17T20:43:09Z")
Perhaps? I am relying on my knowledge of a language I’d not spoken in thirty years. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/310 "2026-02-17T21:26:46Z")
I do probably know just barely enough Spanish to order tacos – I was able to successfully order empanadas in Spanish when I was in the Galapagos last spring. But in the situation in the poll I probably wouldn’t think about it and just order in English out of habit, and because I would be embarrassed by my bad Spanish. But the poll got my thinking, of the fillings available at a typical California taqueria, my favorites are asada and carnitas, which are Spanish words anyway. So no matter what I would actually be using a little bit of Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/311 "2026-02-17T21:27:55Z")
I speak some Spanish but I wouldn’t want to assume that every Latino person does, therefore I order in English. I’m also very nervous to speak Spanish with people due to social anxiety. I use a Spanish accent for the menu items, though! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2026, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/312 "2026-02-17T22:02:55Z")
> [@Maus\_Magill](#): > > I do tell her “Muchas gracias.” Right. I throw in a Gracias and a Buenos Noches but those most Americans understand anyway. I can order a few things, and ask where the bathroom is, but I have lost what little is used to have. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/313 "2026-02-17T22:27:02Z")
I chose the “English not to offend” option but actually I would speak to her in English first because I don’t know if _she_ speaks Spanish, may be she doesn’t, it seems a bit prejudiced to assume she speaks Spanish because she’s latina and works in a Mexican restaurant. I’d probably ask her in English if she speaks Spanish and if so then continue in Spanish. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/314 "2026-02-17T22:30:01Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > But the poll got my thinking, of the fillings available at a typical California taqueria, my favorites are asada and carnitas, which are Spanish words anyway. So no matter what I would actually be using a little bit of Spanish. I will use the words on the menu 😆 But I’ll say, “may i please have” in English. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/315 "2026-02-17T23:00:55Z")
Well gee! What’s Spanish for taco, enchilada, burrito, carnitas, chili verde…? ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/316 "2026-02-17T23:37:33Z")
I’d speak a mix. Spanish greetings and thanks, which she’ll understand, and then whether I continue in Spanish or in English depends on how she replies. So far, nobody seems to have minded, and my effort to speak Spanish often gets me vocabulary and grammar pointers. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2026, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/317 "2026-02-17T23:38:50Z")
Maybe I know enough menu Spanish to order. But if she assumes I know more Spanish than I do then I’m quickly over my head. I would start in English since this is America and I’ve never been in an ethnic restaurant where the point person doesn’t know enough English to take an order. When I was stationed in Germany my Speisekarte Deutsch was decent and I would try to order in German. Usually their English was better than mine. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/318 "2026-02-18T01:05:50Z")
I liked the episode but that flashback could’ve been an email. It too long to impart too little information. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2026, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/319 "2026-02-18T01:39:30Z")
Oops, wrong thread, this should be in the “A knight of the seven kingdoms” thread 🤦‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/320 "2026-02-18T01:49:47Z")
Well, I say the second New Moon after the northern hemisphere’s Winter Solstice , but yes, that is the Lunar new year and this year a few other holidays. Fat Tuesday, for example. Ramadan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157.md?page=17)