# I'm sure this means something to someone **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 18, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120 "2008-02-18T17:13:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/1 "2008-02-18T17:13:56Z")
Today’s mystery prose (from a catalog description of a seed dispenser, for planting vegetable seeds)" > [@](#): > > Knurled wheel vibrates the poly scoop. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/2 "2008-02-18T17:17:45Z")
Are you sure you were reading a seed catalog, and not a copy of “Jabberwocky”? ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/3 "2008-02-18T17:27:15Z")
knurling! I love knurling! It’s always good to know the word for something you didn’t even know they had a word for. Knurling is those little crosshatchies they put on metal handles for a better grip. My favorite mystery graffito lately is the one nearby that says, “EMO MILITIA”. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/4 "2008-02-18T17:40:39Z")
I saw an ad on a bus the other day with a picture of a bottle of pills on it: "Kids thinking for themselves? Fix it with Obay[sup]TM[/sup]. From the makers of BecauseISaidSo[size=0][sup]TM[/sup][/size]" There was no website URL or anything else on the ad. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/5 "2008-02-18T17:43:13Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Knurled wheel vibrates the poly scoop. [/QUOTE] Not to be all fun-busting, but yeah, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Knurled = gnarled, or with vertical scratch lines, like the side of a quarter. Wheel = a piece of the seed dispensing machinery Vibrates = moves in a shaking manner Poly = polyethylene? polyester? Poly-something, probably stiff and plastic Scoop = another part of the seed dispensing machine. So a bumpy wheel turns, and the vibrations of [something] hitting the bumps makes the plastic scoop shake and dispense the seeds. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/6 "2008-02-18T17:44:44Z")
Spoilsport. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/7 "2008-02-18T17:44:53Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Not to be all fun-busting, but yeah, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Knurled = gnarled, or with vertical scratch lines, like the side of a quarter. Wheel = a piece of the seed dispensing machinery Vibrates = moves in a shaking manner Poly = polyethylene? polyester? Poly-something, probably stiff and plastic Scoop = another part of the seed dispensing machine. So a bumpy wheel turns, and the vibrations of [something] hitting the bumps makes the plastic scoop shake and dispense the seeds. [/QUOTE] Killjoy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/8 "2008-02-18T17:50:38Z")
I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Let me try to repair the thread I so carelessly broke: My daughter informed me this morning that’s she’s a “car beep”. Not a beeping car, or a car alarm, but a “car beep”. She then declared that, as a car beep, she is orange, and my suggestion that she be a pink car beep is silly. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/9 "2008-02-18T17:54:21Z")
I guess it’s a occupational hazard, being an engineer and all, but I didn’t see that phrase as being particularly bizarre. However, I have to agree that a pink car beep is most definitely silly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/10 "2008-02-18T17:56:59Z")
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion] Are you sure you were reading a seed catalog, and not a copy of “Jabberwocky”? [/QUOTE] Or an ad for a “personal pleasure device?” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/11 "2008-02-18T17:57:49Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Let me try to repair the thread I so carelessly broke: My daughter informed me this morning that’s she’s a “car beep”. Not a beeping car, or a car alarm, but a “car beep”. She then declared that, as a car beep, she is orange, and my suggestion that she be a pink car beep is silly. :dubious: [/QUOTE] Too little, too late. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/12 "2008-02-18T18:00:48Z")
[QUOTE=Rysto] I saw an ad on a bus the other day with a picture of a bottle of pills on it: "Kids thinking for themselves? Fix it with Obay[sup]TM[/sup]. From the makers of BecauseISaidSo[size=0][sup]TM[/sup][/size]" There was no website URL or anything else on the ad. 😕 [/QUOTE] No answers, mate, but this very subject is being discussed [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=455665) ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/13 "2008-02-18T18:09:30Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Today’s mystery prose (from a catalog description of a seed dispenser, for planting vegetable seeds)" [/QUOTE] Google is fun. I found the Seedmaster Seed Dispenser. [“Eliminates thinking!”](http://books.google.com/catalogs?id=NklZXIhLPKIC&pg=PT47&lpg=PT47&dq=%22Knurled+wheel+vibrates+the+poly+scoop%22.&source=web&ots=UabssOaXg8&sig=eOu1kuBP8jbYE8AwWYqgQblWrCw&hl=en) Oh wait. It says “eliminates thinning!” But damn, the print is so small I can barely read it and the picture looks like a red trout. ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/14 "2008-02-18T18:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] Google is fun. I found the Seedmaster Seed Dispenser. [“Eliminates thinking!”](http://books.google.com/catalogs?id=NklZXIhLPKIC&pg=PT47&lpg=PT47&dq=%22Knurled+wheel+vibrates+the+poly+scoop%22.&source=web&ots=UabssOaXg8&sig=eOu1kuBP8jbYE8AwWYqgQblWrCw&hl=en) Oh wait. It says “eliminates thinning!” But damn, the print is so small I can barely read it and the picture looks like a red trout. [/QUOTE] Wow!!! I mean… just… Wow!!! It’s amazing how far we have evolved past the “Poke a hole in dirt - Insert seed - Shuffle dirt back into hole - Apply water” stage of tiny seed planting. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/15 "2008-02-18T18:24:28Z")
[QUOTE=nd\_n8] Wow!!! I mean… just… Wow!!! It’s amazing how far we have evolved past the “Poke a hole in dirt - Insert seed - Shuffle dirt back into hole - Apply water” stage of tiny seed planting. [/QUOTE] _supercilious sniff_ YOU use DIRT? Mmmm…bless your heart. 😃 WhyNot, Aerogarden aficionado ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/16 "2008-02-18T18:29:08Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Let me try to repair the thread I so carelessly broke: My daughter informed me this morning that’s she’s a “car beep”. Not a beeping car, or a car alarm, but a “car beep”. She then declared that, as a car beep, she is orange, and my suggestion that she be a pink car beep is silly. :dubious: [/QUOTE] Yours too? My daughter once matter-of-factly let me know that she was now a purple moo. I wasn’t aware that people could become a moo, let alone a purple one. When I asked her why she decided that she was becoming a purple moo she looked me in the eye and said, “Because it’s moo season, Daddy. Everyone knows that!” :rolleyes: For a whole week we couldn’t call her by name, we had to call, “Purple Moo, it’s time for dinner!” When the week was up, she was back to “normal”. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/17 "2008-02-18T18:47:58Z")
[QUOTE=nd\_n8] Wow!!! I mean… just… Wow!!! It’s amazing how far we have evolved past the “Poke a hole in dirt - Insert seed - Shuffle dirt back into hole - Apply water” stage of tiny seed planting. [/QUOTE] Ooh, I hate planting tiny seeds. Things like lobelia or moss rose? I just scatter the seed, let them all sprout and battle to the death. No way am I thinning 1,000 seedlings in a 3" pot. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/18 "2008-02-18T19:37:14Z")
Yeah, but if you had a knurled wheel shaking your poly scoop, you wouldn’t _need_ to thin them! The ad says so! [singing]Shake your knurled thing, shake your knurled thing, yeah yeah! Show 'em how we do it now…[/singing] ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/19 "2008-02-18T19:43:24Z")
[QUOTE=Slypork] Yours too? My daughter once matter-of-factly let me know that she was now a purple moo. I wasn’t aware that people could become a moo, let alone a purple one. When I asked her why she decided that she was becoming a purple moo she looked me in the eye and said, “Because it’s moo season, Daddy. Everyone knows that!” :rolleyes: For a whole week we couldn’t call her by name, we had to call, “Purple Moo, it’s time for dinner!” When the week was up, she was back to “normal”. [/QUOTE] It appears that I had a very boring childhood. Shame, really. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120/20 "2008-02-18T19:47:07Z")
If poly scooping you is wrong, I don’t want to be right. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-sure-this-means-something-to-someone/438120.md?page=2)