# Getting Shafted in the Name Department **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 24, 2005, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400 "2005-01-24T12:37:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/101 "2005-01-25T16:33:28Z")
> [@gardentraveler](#): > > 1. **Homebrew** : I work with a James Williams, but he’s a Jim, so he’s probably not you. My FiL certainly gets around… ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/102 "2005-01-25T16:37:09Z")
I have had my 15 minutes of fame. More like 15 seconds - and if I’d have known that was it, I wouldn’t have wasted it. I was on the evening news last night, that interview I told you about earlier in the thread. I would link to it, but I don’t want to give too much information about myself - basically, you would know where I lived, which would probably not be a good thing. The brownies I made Saturday are evil - evil! Their siren call can penetrate the freezer door. It’s alright, though - one a night until they are gone. Only 3 left! Susan ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/103 "2005-01-25T16:43:06Z")
> [@welby](#): > > It all went well, I’m seeing 20/20 now. It was remarkably fast and simple. The procedure took all of 10 minutes. I spent more time being nervous in the waiting room than I did getting zapped. Life is unfair. Not only do you get to tell your grandchildren that you got lasered way back in '05, but you went from being a blindo to seeing better than I do in 10 minutes. Somebody needs to invent a cool laser-based cure for colorblindness. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/104 "2005-01-25T17:09:27Z")
I hate mornings Good on ya’ **Welby**. I hope you don’t get the dreaded parallax fever that sometimes developes after that surgery. I don’t like cats either. Goth music and opera _sound_ a lot alike too, if it’s Klingon opera you’re talking about. I’m grumpy today, can you tell? BTW, when my Mother sent me my birth certificate a few years ago, (I think she wanted a refund), I discovered that the nurse, (if she was a nurse) who filled out the form made a few mistakes. One of which was leaving out the second ‘R’ in my name. I know that my parents specifically ordered a second ‘R’ 'cause they told me so. But not to worry, I had it installed later myself when I got the torsioin bars and tail fins. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/105 "2005-01-25T17:12:26Z")
So not only did I get up early today, but I’m home early, and the nice appliance repair guy is downstairs trying to figure out why my dryer won’t get hot. I know why - it’s 30 years old and its avocado! The laws of physics specifically say that avocado appliances cease to function when better taste prevails. And since we remodeled our mushroom-covered kitchen, ugly chandelier notwithstanding, the dryer must die!! At least that’s my hope, because we’ve got that homeowner’s warranty that says the most it’ll cost us is $100. I wouldn’t mind a new dryer for $100. What are the chances? We shall see when ApplianceMan is done. And, thanks all for the belated b-day wishes. I haven’t finished all of my ice cream cake, so you’re not all that late yet! ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/106 "2005-01-25T17:27:36Z")
> [@taxi78cab](#): > > Does he have a [college](http://www.paulsmiths.edu/) in norothern NY? > > Did anyone else notice that there was an op-ed column in the NY Times today by a woman who "is the author of “Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex.” " I don’t think I’d ever seen the name Tatiana before today and it came up twice! (I can provide the link, but it requires getting a login and password and stuff.) LOL! Nope. He’s smart, but not smart enough to have his own institute of higher learning. Although if he could lecture on Magical Theory and Faerie Lore, it would be pretty cool. Tatiana is the name of the Faery Queen in Shakespere’s “Midsummer’s Night’s Dream”. I think it is a beautiful name, but very overused in the Pagan Community among chicks who want to identify with faery beings. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/107 "2005-01-25T17:28:37Z")
Floydean Earlene. Meanest bobcat I ever seen. She’ll hunt down a critter and rip out its spleen. She drinks Jack Daniels straight that’s why she’s so mean. Floydean Earlene Has the ugliest hound dawg I ever seen. That dawg wouldn’t be uglier if you dyed him green. You couldn’t kill his dawg breath with Listerine. That’s three country songs I done got wrote. Purty soon I’ll have me enough for a CD. **merrily** how’d you guess? Word gets around fast about us fresh new country singer/songwriter types I tell ya. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/108 "2005-01-25T17:35:17Z")
> [@Kallessa](#): > > … but I think she’s gonna like being Kali Cat. Or Kallie Cat, if I think the Hindu connection will be troublesome. Friends of mine had a cat named Kali. She was a prima-donna princess cat who liked to wear perfume and a skull-head collar. Kali ran away after they moved, so now my friends like to tell folks that they unleashed Kali onto the Earth and the end of the world is nigh. My maternal grandfather had an interesting name, Pleasant Revis. My grandma was Mattie Lou. Mom’s parents had normal names, Joanne and Ralph. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/109 "2005-01-25T17:43:09Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > Well, you just had to go and do it didn’t ya **yellowval**? You just _ **had** _ to mention Swiss Cake Rolls. Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls are a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge addiction of mine. I usually don’t buy them nor do I even think of them because if I buy them I cannot rest until the whole box is eaten. They sit there and taunt me. “But, swampy”, you say, “you can buy the individual two packs ya know.” Well, yeah, I know, but I have to go to the grocery store today for other stuff and they **don’t sell the little two packs**. They sell the boxes of six two packs. I will probably be compelled to buy a box. It’s all your fault **yellowval**. You hear me? All your fault! It is on your head. Well, then I won’t tell you that in my neck of the US we have Double Chocolate Swiss Cake rolls. Chocolate cake, chocolate filling, chocolate dipped, with chocolate swirls for decoration. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/110 "2005-01-25T18:02:21Z")
DryerMan has departed. It was the cord - I had 240V at the plug, and 120V at the dryer. So I have a new cord and a working dryer. For $100. DryerMan told me it’ll probably last forever - they built 'em good back then. So the laws of physics have been mocked in my basement. If you don’t hear from me, you’ll know I’ve been transported into a wormhole or something. But until then, I can do my laundry, so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/111 "2005-01-25T18:05:30Z")
> [@TheFaerie](#): > > Well, then I won’t tell you that in my neck of the US we have Double Chocolate Swiss Cake rolls. Chocolate cake, chocolate filling, chocolate dipped, with chocolate swirls for decoration. Yum! I’ve had the chocolatey Chocolate Swiss Cake Rolls. They tasted like the regular ones to me. The chocolate filling didn’t taste real chocolatey any more than the vanilla filling tastes vanillay. It’s all just pure sugar and empty calories. That’s the real appeal of Little Debbie’s Swiss Cake Rolls. **Taters** I like those Little Debbie’s Nutty Buddys too. They are my second favorite Little Debbie’s snack. My third is those Star Crunches. **Bumba** you’d look good with a spoiler and dual exhausts. Just a thought for the next time you want to upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![Rue\_DeDay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/41988e/32.png) [@Rue\_DeDay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rue_DeDay)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/112 "2005-01-25T18:17:16Z")
> [@TheFaerie](#): > > Tatiana is the name of the Faery Queen in Shakespere’s “Midsummer’s Night’s Dream”. Oh, sorry! But thanks for playing. _Titania_ is the Fairy Queen. (Now I’m going to go check that claim. Usually when I pull out the Snark Gun I wind up being way wrong and shooting myself in the foot.) (This time, I’m right though.) Oberon is Titania’s boyfriend. That’s about all the Shakespeare I know. Other than what Shakespeare I picked up from Bugs Bunny cartoons: But soft… What light from yonder window breaks? T’is the east, And Juliet, the Sun. Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Then there’s something about a “spear and magic helmet”. That was Shakespeare too, right? Yeah, I thought so. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/113 "2005-01-25T18:25:00Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > DryerMan has departed. It was the cord - I had 240V at the plug, and 120V at the dryer. So I have a new cord and a working dryer. For $100. DryerMan told me it’ll probably last forever - they built 'em good back then. So the laws of physics have been mocked in my basement. If you don’t hear from me, you’ll know I’ve been transported into a wormhole or something. But until then, I can do my laundry, so there’s that. Jeez, **FCMom** , but dryers are easy to work on. Five minutes with a VOM could have told you that the cord was bad, and a $20 trip to Dome Heapot would have gotten you a new one. Oh, that’s right. Mechanical engineers have trouble spelling VOM… 😉 This, coming from a EE whose washer motor is out, and who is also afraid to look for the cause since the fix last time was spiffy new motor that cost $200 DIY. The washer cost $350 new 3 years before that… ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/114 "2005-01-25T18:25:24Z")
> [@swampbear](#): > > Floydean Earlene. > Meanest bobcat I ever seen. > She’ll hunt down a critter and rip out its spleen. > She drinks Jack Daniels straight that’s why she’s so mean. I’ll be singing that one all day. And no one here at Technical Thingies, Inc. will know what it is. They’re all a bunch of good ole boys who love country music and NASCAR and country music. (They love country music a lot here.) ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/115 "2005-01-25T18:40:15Z")
> [@Rue DeDay](#): > > Oh, sorry! But thanks for playing. > > _Titania_ is the Fairy Queen. (Now I’m going to go check that claim. Usually when I pull out the Snark Gun I wind up being way wrong and shooting myself in the foot.) (This time, I’m right though.) Oberon is Titania’s boyfriend. That’s about all the Shakespeare I know. Other than what Shakespeare I picked up from Bugs Bunny cartoons: Doh! My lack of spelling skills strikes again! I knew that! Silly Faerie. **Swampbear** , I think the double chocolate ones do taste different, but admittedly not by much. And they definately don’t taste like chocolate. But a girl has got to get her trans-fats somehow and at $1.25 for a box of six packages, it’s the cheapest way to go. I let The Elf eat most of them anyway. He’d eat the whole box (he!) if I let him. **FCM** , you could always take the dryer to the local bodyshop and have it painted. You could have any color you wanted that way. Pinstripes would be way awesome. Or flames, that would be cool too. So last night we went to dinner at a place I had never been before. I was checking out the menu on-line and noticed that the head chef shared a name with a kid who gave me a black eye in 6th grade. Clicked on the picture, and sure enough, there he was. He was not at the restaraunt when we went, which was disappointing because I wanted to introduce myself to him to see if he remembered me, but his stuffed salmon recipe was pretty good. The Elf offered to avenge my 12 year old honor, which was sweet, but unnecessary. It’s not like I am holding a grudge for something that happened 25 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/116 "2005-01-25T18:45:05Z")
GAAAAAAAAAAH! It’s not working!!! I tossed in a load of half-damp clothes that were hanging in the basement. I felt the dryer get warm. I came upstairs. A little bit later, I went back down. The dryer was running, and cold. **COLD!!!** So I immediately called back the service folks. And got put on hold. Then got cut off. So I called again. Talked to the service guy. He wanted to know if someone would be home tomorrow. TOMORROW?!?!?!? Like taking off this afternoon isn’t enough. I’m waiting for a call back. I’m --\>\<-- this close to a Pit rant… :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/117 "2005-01-25T18:48:22Z")
**VunderBob** - we did continuity checks on everything else. After all, how can a cord go bad - it just sits there? GAH! So apparently it isn’t just the cord. Something else is wrong. I am not happy. Even chocolate won’t help me now… ---
**Author:** ![welby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@welby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/welby)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/118 "2005-01-25T19:30:18Z")
> [@Exgineer](#): > > Life is unfair. Not only do you get to tell your grandchildren that you got lasered way back in '05, but you went from being a blindo to seeing better than I do in 10 minutes. > > Somebody needs to invent a cool laser-based cure for colorblindness. I might be of some help. By “cure” do you mean a way to see all colors or just a solution to the not being able to see colors thing? I’ve got a really cool laser pointer. . . As fro the grandkids, I can see it now: “Back in MY day we had to WALK to the vision correction place, UPHILL, BOTH WAYS. None of this fancy shmancy “Fix your own eyesight for an extra credit project” back then. Heck no! It cost money, and was DANGEROUS!” ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/119 "2005-01-25T19:38:23Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > **VunderBob** - we did continuity checks on everything else. After all, how can a cord go bad - it just sits there? GAH! > > So apparently it isn’t just the cord. Something else is wrong. I am not happy. Even chocolate won’t help me now… [serious mode] How old is your dryer? If it was made within the last 10 years or so, it will have a beastie called a thermal fuse (federally mandated, BTW) in the heating element circuit. It can only pop once, and has to be replaced. If you pop one, it could be the reason why you only see one phase, and also, it’s never in the same circuit as the motor, so the dryer will spin and not heat. They’re also mounted someplace that you have to do major dryer surgery to access. When I got my dryer, I popped 2 of these before I figured out the game. Luckily, it was still under warranty. [/serious mode] Thermal fuses were created to give the Maytag repairman job security. ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400/120 "2005-01-25T19:47:10Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > GAAAAAAAAAAH! It’s not working!!! > > I tossed in a load of half-damp clothes that were hanging in the basement. I felt the dryer get warm. I came upstairs. A little bit later, I went back down. The dryer was running, and cold. **COLD!!!** > > So I immediately called back the service folks. And got put on hold. Then got cut off. So I called again. Talked to the service guy. He wanted to know if someone would be home tomorrow. TOMORROW?!?!?!? Like taking off this afternoon isn’t enough. > > I’m waiting for a call back. I’m --\>\<-- this close to a Pit rant… > > :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: Now is the time to pitch a hissy fit. I would **demand** they replace the dryer. After all dryer repairman just “fixed” it and it quit working again. Also he did say it’d last forever and last time I looked at the clock it was far from forever. Do you need pointers on how to throw a hissy fit? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/getting-shafted-in-the-name-department/286400.md?page=7)