I think that’s a variation of my dad’s “You can drown in an inch of water.” It’s just stretched into hyperbole.
Ahhhhh, I just lived with my 40-something sister for three years and this was one of hers too!! I just lied to her about it by the end of my time there.
FYI, lightning discussers: electrocution is death by electric shock. I’m not sure if anyone didn’t know that already but there are a few people who seemed to think it was a synonym for “shocked”.
My grandmother had separate silverware, cups, glasses, plates, etc. for family and guests. She would constantly fret about a guest eating of “family plates” or drink from a “family glass”.
^Oh, that’s just mean.^
That said, we didn’t have enough of the “good” silverware (read, stainless) to go around, so we kids would have some terrible, make-do pieces at dinners.
Yeah except it wasn’t a quality thing. The guest stuff was virtually indistinguishable from the family stuff. You kinda only learned over time that that plate with the blue edge is for family and the plate with the flowers is for guests.
Mrs. Enginerd’s grandmother is absolutely sure that women are supposed to be tiny little things. Every time we see her, she says to Mrs. Enginerd (who’s 5’-11"), “your mother should have put a book on your head to stop you from growing so much.” She’s deadly serious about this.
(this part is more sad than odd) She’s also suffering from Alzheimer’s. Because she doesn’t remember that we’ve been together for 12 years, she’s terribly worried that Mrs. Enginerd is too tall to ever find a man.
My mom always made us unplug the toaster when we weren’t using it. It might have been because I can remember at least three different times her running out of the house carrying a flaming toaster though…
Two dryers caught fire at an animal rescue in Austin.
Someone was there,so they were able to throw the breaker and call 911.
No one,human or animal was injured.
Would have been a different story if they had left the dryers running.
My grandma (father’s mom) happened to be around when I asked my mom how my father had proposed. I didn’t think anything of it since folks tell those kinds of stories as a rule these days. My mom didn’t seem to remember and kind of said, he asked and I said yes… Grandma pipes up with “You know, these are very personal questions you’re asking”.
I still don’t quite get it. My Mom was devout Catholic so it’s not like he asked her in flagrante or something…?
I just bought a new toaster and the manual does recommend unplugging it when not in use. I don’t bother, I just leave it plugged in. I don’t think anything will happen if I don’t. It’s probably just CYA by the manufacturer.
When I was a child, my mother was a staunch defender of the “no swimming an hour after you eat” rule.
I later found out that it was because she wanted time to clean up the lunch dishes before joining us in the lake.
Lol
Somebody on the SDMB had a dryer fire when they were home (and therefore able to use the fire extinguisher.) They had clean lint traps and everything. It just caught on fire.
I was always a little nervous about running the dryer while gone or asleep, but now I never do.
I never do either, and I’ve finally extracted a promise from the spouse that he won’t either. He never thought it was a big deal, but I showed him a whole slew of internet news articles about dryer fires, and now he’s convinced (or at least he pretends to be convinced, which is fine as long as he doesn’t do it. 
)
I won’t run the dishwasher or clothes washer ever since the apartment I lived in had a defective washer that flooded three times. (the second and third time were after maintenance guys “fixed” the machine twice.) I don’t think it’s likely to happen at my new place, but I just keep imagining how bad it could be if I wasn’t there to stop it.
They may have known my older brother, who burned up a Pontiac Grand Prix (1978-ish) in exactly this fashion. He pulled up to a Country Club late for a golf date and was thrilled to find a spot open right next to the ProShop. The spot was even in the shade!! The shade was provided by a large evergreen, and came fully carpeted with a thick pile of those long whispy pine needles.
He saw the smoke rising from the back 9, and he and his friends joked about it for the next however long it took to finish and have a few drinks.
At least he was nicely relaxed by the time he found out! (And I imagine he didn’t need to be driving anyway.)
Your mom didn’t forget. There’s a good story you’re missing.
My mother insisted we had to sit 6 feet away from the TV because of ‘radiation.’
So, old people follow annoying rules because they’ve seen more stuff go wrong. And some of the rules they follow still make sense (washers still break and leak) and others probably don’t (catalyic converters no longer set grass on fire.) But people don’t always keep up with which dangers have gone away.
Cute story a couple I know told me:
K (the wife) had a flat tire in a rain storm and called J (the husband) to come change it. He wasn’t in a good mood because of the weather conditions, but K wanted to help as much as possible. She asked him, “Do you need me to hold your lug nuts?” Not a euphemism.
He said no, but she kept asking him if was sure he didn’t need her to hold his lug nuts. She thought it was essential to car repair because her father had her do it all the time.
She learned the truth from her father later. He liked to work on cars, and when she was little, she’d constantly ask him what he was doing and why. He finally told her to hold his lug nuts and make sure she didn’t lose them. She complied dutifully. He did that just to get her out of his hair.