# "Here's your sign" moments **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2008, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907 "2008-10-14T17:47:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/61 "2008-10-17T07:39:45Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > No, he was wondering whether he’d be able to hear the doorbell in his room with the music on, so he went to ring the doorbell…which would mean he was no longer in his room to be able to tell if he could hear the doorbell over his music. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > If he is outside ringing the doorbell, how can he tell if he can hear it inside? Yep, that’s it. Having it spelled out like that nicely illuminates the full extend of my, errm, _absent-mindedness_, too. :o ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/62 "2008-10-17T14:46:47Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > One in ten “bug bites” is more often than one in 15 “bug bites.” The original statement said that only one in 15 of what people thought were bug bites, were, in fact, bug bites. The other 14 were from other causes. Here’s your sign: I know that. 😃 I was asking why 14 out of 15 people come in complaining about something _other_ than “bug bites”. What are these obviously very common “other causes”? Answered by **Alice** , above. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/63 "2008-10-17T15:00:59Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > Usually when a patient comes in complaining of a bug bite, it’s a skin cancer or staph infection or some other not-a-bug-bite thing. Infected bug bites are way less common than people seem to think. Woah, that’s unfortunate. I’m not sure it’s as true up here in Ontario though - I’ve never had an infected mosquito bite, but I’ve had Blackfly bites get infected many times. Unlike mosquitos, Blackflies feed by chewing a hole through your skin, which then they leave open - it is very vulnerable to subsequent infection. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/64 "2008-10-17T19:52:41Z")
> [@Electrical\_Storm](#): > > She’s a little dingy but we love her anyway. > > My sweet, slightly dingy cousin pipes up from the back seat of the car as we pass a retail strip mall with one of those banner signs advertising the following: > “SMALL LOCAL STORE’S UNFINISHED FURNITURE - CLEARANCE SALE!” > > Cousin: “Why the hell would anyone buy unfinished furniture?” So before you give me my sign, too, please explain this specific expression, because I don’t understand it, either. What’s the secondary meaning of the phrase besides the obvious wrong one - that unfinished furniture is being sold? (BTW: over here, we do have special rooms in IKEA for example where heavily-used show-room pieces, returned broken furniture and parts of furniture are sold cheaper - for people who like wood-working or who can’t spend too much money, but a broken cabinet is better than no cabinet). ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/65 "2008-10-17T20:02:43Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > So before you give me my sign, too, please explain this specific expression, because I don’t understand it, either. What’s the secondary meaning of the phrase besides the obvious wrong one - that unfinished furniture is being sold? > > (BTW: over here, we do have special rooms in IKEA for example where heavily-used show-room pieces, returned broken furniture and parts of furniture are sold cheaper - for people who like wood-working or who can’t spend too much money, but a broken cabinet is better than no cabinet). Unfinished in that context usually means unvarnished, unstained, etc. Basically that it’s the raw, untreated wood. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/66 "2008-10-17T20:03:24Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > So before you give me my sign, too, please explain this specific expression, because I don’t understand it, either. What’s the secondary meaning of the phrase besides the obvious wrong one - that unfinished furniture is being sold? Finish when referring to wood or furniture means the stain and/or paint. They are just “raw” wood for lack of a better term. Furniture sold at IKEA is not finished. You need to buy the paint/stain/sealant/wax separately and paint/stain/seal/wax it yourself. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/67 "2008-10-17T20:05:08Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > So before you give me my sign, too, please explain this specific expression, because I don’t understand it, either. What’s the secondary meaning of the phrase besides the obvious wrong one - that unfinished furniture is being sold? > > (BTW: over here, we do have special rooms in IKEA for example where heavily-used show-room pieces, returned broken furniture and parts of furniture are sold cheaper - for people who like wood-working or who can’t spend too much money, but a broken cabinet is better than no cabinet). “Unfinished furniture” refers to furniture that is completely put together, but doesn’t have any paint, stain, varnish, etc. on it. It is just plain wood and you are supposed to apply the paint or other finish yourself. The person in the post was taking the phrase to mean incompletely built furniture. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/68 "2008-10-17T20:11:14Z")
The unfinished furniture thing reminds me of one. A friend was in the car with another friend, when they passed by a store called “Job Lots.” The other friend said “Hey, I wonder if they can find me better employment.” Here’s your sign. Of course, when the first friend related the story to me, inwardly I was saying “Yeah? So did they?” Here’s my sign. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/69 "2008-10-17T20:57:15Z")
> [@Rack-a-Bones](#): > > Finish when referring to wood or furniture means the stain and/or paint. They are just “raw” wood for lack of a better term. Furniture sold at IKEA is not finished. You need to buy the paint/stain/sealant/wax separately and paint/stain/seal/wax it yourself. Thanks for the triple-post with the explanation. But as an avid IKEA-visitor, I’ll have to add that a lot of IKEA furniture is indeed finished, that is, painted. A lot of IKEA products are not solid raw wood, but particle boards, which are naturally finished. Other lines of products are stained/painted/dyed a certain colour (e.g. the Lesvik series is the colour of teak, though the wood is cheaper pine.) But IKEA is really famous (of course) for furniture that’s “un-finished” because it’s not assembled! You take it home in a cardboard box, read the instruction and try to make things work while you curse. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/70 "2008-10-17T21:53:50Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > The other day I asked one of the dermatologists I work for, “What do you think- maybe one in fifteen “bug bites” is actually a bug bite?” He said “Less.” I said, “So, what, one in ten?” He just looked at me for a second and said, “No, that would be more.” Doh! Oh I know, dudes always think their little mark is a “spider bite”. :dubious::rolleyes: "Bug bites’ could be a mosquito, a fly, a flea, or a few others, but almost never a spider. If you have been bitten by the Black Widow, _you know it._ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907/71 "2008-10-17T21:56:20Z")
> [@Pigs\_in\_Space](#): > > Dad: Are you watching the TV? > Me: Yes. > Dad: Do you have power? I have a battery powered TV. It’s craptastic, true, but it has been useful when the power went out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heres-your-sign-moments/467907.md?page=3)