There are probably more that I can’t think of right now, but the one that really puzzles me is “Let’s make it (the game/the sport/the race/whatever) more interesting”, which means, “Let’s bet on it.” If you enjoy the activity, why do you need to have money at stake to make it more fun? If you have to have money on it to make it more interesting, why do it in the first place? I see this often enough I have to assume there’s some legitimate added thrill or something that goes with it, but it sure has passed me by. I guess the gambling gene is missing in my makeup or something.
I don’t get this, either. What’s more, I don’t understand people who seek out risk (of losing money, of injury, of trouble with the law, or what have you) and seem to find it fun. I’m not talking about people who do something fun that happens to be risky, I’m talking about the ones who would find whatever activity less fun or interesting if the element of risk were removed.
So do most Americans who buy new cars. I bought a smaller, cheaper new car and wrote a check for it instead of financing a more expensive car or buying a fancier used car. I’m the only person I know of who has done that, though.
I really don’t get the ones who go into debt to pay for a fancier car or a big TV when they’ve got a serviceable car or TV or have the option of buying a cheaper one. And I really don’t understand people who go into debt to have a big wedding or go on an expensive vacation- those experiences are over so soon, but you’re stuck with the debt for a long, long time.
I’ve been told they last longer and at least some of the posher brands have lifetime warranties. But if that’s not the case in any particular instance, I don’t get the appeal of buying one just so that people see an “LV” or whatever on your stuff.
Me too. I hate every song on the Top 40 most of the time, but if most of them come on somewhere I can’t help but move to it. It’s irritating, really.
I don’t know about Tybee Island, but it seems like Beach Drugs is always open here. 
:eek:
It’s a male bonding thing from my perspective, really, which is why going through a bookie or a casino and gambling by myself isn’t that enticing. I’ve only bet on sports a small handful of times, usually for male bonding or to shut a sports braggart up–this last NBA season one of my classmates in Spanish wouldn’t stop talking about how great the Lakers were and how they were going to go all the way, so I bet him $20 that the Suns would take them out in the playoffs and won, finally getting him to shut up about it (and getting an often-hard-to-come-by $20 out of it).
My parents have never taken out a loan for a car in their lives. That meant driving (rebuilding, in my dad’s case) super-shitty old beaters in/after college, of course, but they still owned every car they had.
I don’t get…
– People who derive pleasure from going to casinos. Hmmm, sitting on a stool all afternoon and throwing your money away just so you might make some bells and whistles go off, if you’re lucky or patient enough. I don’t get the thrill in that at all. I rather get a Pap smear.
– People who get offended when other people compare their pets to children. Really, what’s it you that I think of my cats are “my girls”? Since I don’t have any kids, taking care of animals is all I know. Once I have kids, I’m sure I’ll realize that there really is no comparison, but until then, chill out. At least I’m not comparing kids to parasites or diseases or something negative like that.
–Quantum mechanics and all that jazz. It’s seems really interesting, but no matter how many times I try to get a handle on the concepts and theories, I just can not get it. Even seemingly basic physic theories like Relativity refuses to assimilate into my head. I don’t get how Einstein deduced the stuff that he did, either.
Do you just mean that you don’t get people who derive pleasure from playing slot machines? Because that’s what you seem to be describing, and there’s a lot more to most casinos than slot machines… 
Nobody actually “gets” quantum mechanics. It’s just so far removed from any experience any of us has had with how the world works, you can’t really get an intuitive handle on it.
I was a physics major in college. At best, you just accept it and go about learning how to do the math without an intuitive understanding of it. Maybe you discuss the philosophical implications of it over a few beers at 3am, but you generally don’t think about that sort of thing when you’re doing your physics homework (or else you never get it done). Maybe you get a “lifting the veil” moment where it maybe makes a little bit of sense for a while but would still be damn hard to explain to anyone (especially anyone with no background in physics or math), kind of like some religious people get such moments of insight when thinking about God.
I look fat when I don’t tuck. So there.
Huh? What is there not to get about this? Do you wake up clean and fresh after a night in bed?
Don’t feel bad. I was there when it happened, and I still didn’t make the connection.
Things I don’t get:
Reality TV.
Monosexuality.
Starting to smoke. I get smoking - I have a few vices myself and can certainly relate - but knowingly starting to smoke? It’s expensive, smelly, unhealthy, inconvenient. Why would you willingly walk into something like that?
Obsession with things that don’t matter. No, strike that, I obsess a fair amount myself about things that don’t matter, but such obsession coupled with the misconception that the obsessed-over thing is something that actually matters, and that everyone else should care too, that’s what I don’t get.
Advertising, especially celebrity-based advertising. Why does it work? Does it even work? Who are these mythical people who see a celebrity in an ad wearing a certain brand of clothes and go buy that brand?
Much of the expensive stuff *does * look better, if you know the difference. There’s a huge difference in quality between a $25 handbag and a $100 handbag, and a significant difference between a $100 handbag and a $300 handbag. However, it doesn’t necessarily follow that there’s a significant difference in quality between a $300 and a $500 handbag, let alone a $500 handbag and a $5000 handbag. At a certain point, you really are paying strictly for the name. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, if the name is worth it to you.
Of course, people who carry a Hermes bag, carry it for the benefit of people who *recognize * a Hermes bag, and can spot a fake at 100 yards.
There’s always a cost/benefit analysis to be done, of course. And it’s easy to say “How can you spend $10K on a bag?!?!? You could feed a village for that money!!!” But if you can do both, why not treat yourself?
You’re wrong about jewelry. Genuine stones and metals do look better and wear better – (i.e., it’s more durable), than costume jewelry. In this sense I agree that synthetic stones, and certain better imitations, like Cubic Zirconia, share these qualities. But there’s no way a piece of red glass or paste looks as good as a ruby, or a rhinestone a diamond.
Just thought of a few more, even though I pretty much expect a pile-on here:
Terry Pratchett novels. Yeah, I read one, and I hated it. I don’t see the appeal at all.
Renaissance Fairs. If you’re into it, that’s fine. I just don’t see the point.
Civil War Battle Reenactments. See Renaissance Fairs.
The new style of houses, I guess you can call them “McMansions”, that have huge cathedral ceilings on the main floor, with bedrooms up on the upper level. Yes, they’re large and (I guess) impressive, but in any home like that that I’ve been in, the sound from the TV in the great room- which is always where the big TV is- travels up into the loft area at the bedroom level, so the TV, and any conversation that takes place on the main level, can basically be heard throughout the house. This is a good thing?
I don’t get:
- Hobbyists who take their hobby beyond a normal hobby, and into the realm of crazy obsession. You know, the home brewers who rather than contenting themselves with a usual 5 gallon all-grain setup, create some kind of 1 BBL RIMS system with refrigerated cylindroconical fermenters.
Or the guy who built the remote controlled B-29 bomber that had a rocket-powered X-1 model underneath.
-
extreme Sci-Fi and Fantasy fandom. I watch Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, etc… just like any nerd, but I don’t get the ones (like my roommate) who know every Stargate and Star Trek episode by the title. I don’t get the dorks who dress in costume and camp out to see a Star Wars movie.
-
Parents who are convinced that their child is somehow special, when in fact, their kid is as average as all the others. In my neck of the woods, it almost seems like the dickhead suburbanites use their kids as one more way to compete with each other, and I can’t figure it does the children any good.
I don’t get how anyone wouldn’t want one of those!
I have to agree with you on the jewellery - high-quality, expensive stuff really does look fantastic. On the other hand, however, is there a bigger waste of money than any jewellery? 
Ditto CARLOS MENCIA. How this third rate comic got to be big says a lot about the current state of society. An unfunny Dice Clay, who at least had some good bits. This guy is a tool with the same schitck every monologue- jokes riffed off of made up premises, doing the retard voice and the spazz dance, acting like he’s shocking and feared by ‘The Man’ because he “tells the TRUTH”, mocking the people in the audience not laughing, and explaining the jokes to them- ass-clown, they aren’t too dumb to laugh, but too SMART to laugh- and on and on.
He’s so fucking stupid, he doesn’t know that in a standard joke telling monologue type set-up, where you make a joke about the news, you always (from Leno, to Jon Stewart, to SNL weekend update) start with a TRUE but odd news bit, then joke on it. This is too much for him and his writers, so he usually starts with a completely made up premise (Did you hear? In the Philippines, it’s legal for gays to have anal sex in the middle of a grammar school playground during recess!!) followed by his stupid punchline.
I guess we have Dave Chapelle’s departure from Comedy Central to blame for this loser.
What’s wrong with this? As long as the car is kept in good repair and not spewing blue smoke or losing parts as you go down the road, why not drive it as long as you can?
Piercings.
Nose, lip, tongue, navel, even (Og help us) penis or clitoris … why do people do that to themselves?
I’ll go even further and add ear piercings. I’ve never seen the attraction in ear-rings, for guys or gals. Why would people want holes in themselves? I just … really … don’t get it.
Oops. Sorry, I missed Post #37, where you answered this when someone else asked. (I did preview, I really did!)
I’m not sure I understand your problem with people who buy a car new and hold on to it.
I bought a new car 7 years ago because I wanted something reliable, with a good warranty. I love the car and intend to drive it as long as I can.
I don’t like shopping for cars and I don’t like car salesmen. I don’t like worrying about that first ding. And I don’t like paying more for insurance and tags.
So I’m keepin’ it! 
Love is love. One kind isn’t better or more important than another. Does that mean that a dog’s life is more important than a human child’s? Of course not. But you should never disparage someone else’s emotions just because your feelings are different.
Not just about kids-- there seem to be a lot of people who think that their wants/needs/desires trumps everyone elses’ because of their “special circumstances.” You see it with people who cut in line: “But I’m going to be late to an appointment! I can’t wait!” Well, lady, maybe all of the rest of us are in the same boat.
You see a lot of this in the criminal justice system. My husband works in a prison of over 2,900 inmates and not a single one thinks he deserves to be there. “Well, yeah, I killed that guy, but this is what he did to me . . .”
It’s worth pointing out that a substantial amount of scientific discovery and improvement in engineering has come about because people took their hobby well beyond the normal limits society dictates. An example off the top of my head is the cheap personal computer. They figured out how to do it better and cheaper because they were hobbyists, and couldn’t afford the commercial products at the time.