Things I wish I didn't know from experience

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
121

Instuctiones writen by non-natiave enrich spekin poeples will never make sense. (typos intentional)

(Case in point (and I’m pretty certain these typos were not intentional):

“De-sert long spade (A) into depecticle pwoer woll (B) before terning units on.”

Note: Drawing (A) depicts something that looks very much like a 10mm bolt.
Drawing (B) looks very similar to a support strut which holds the motor in place with 2 10mm bolts.
Drawing (2) looks very much like a power cord.
There is not a drawing (B) or any other letter representing a “depecticle pwoer woll”. And, damnit, that was one I really wanted to see!)

Moving right along: When passing an 80,000 pound semi-tractor trailer carrying an unknown cargo, it is always better to leave more than one vehicle length before pulling back in front of the rig. It is also not a good idea to then slam on the brakes for not apparent reason. (Contrary to popular belief, the semi will not be able to stop before you become just another speed bump in that drivers life …)

Similarly, do not tailgate semis.

Very Recently: Do not post seemingly innocent comments about red heads on message boards. :smiley:

Lucy

122

At 2:30am, you shouldn’t think, “Aw, Hell, who’s gonna see at this time of night!” Third shift police are overcaffeinated and bored. You could be just the excitement they’re looking for.

I learned some things about one particular redheaded woman, but they’re none of your business. :stuck_out_tongue:

If you test drive a used car, and you find a can of Bar’s Stop-Leak in the console, don’t buy it.

The band you saw late at night when you were smiling a lot :wink: might not sound so good on the CD you buy the next day.

If you put off mowing the lawn to watch the NASCAR race, it will rain continuously for the next three days.

123

[QUOTE=AskNott]
If you test drive a used car, and you find a can of Bar’s Stop-Leak in the console, don’t buy it.
[/QUOTE]

I must ask - did you buy that vehicle, in spite of the Stop-Leak? And if so, would you please share the highlights of your experiences with it.

124

If you don’t think all redheads are like that, why would it be a bad idea for you to date redheads? Your original reasoning was that you dated a redhead who turned out to be a lowlife, and therefore it’s significantly more likely for redheads to secretly be lowlifes than anyone else. Now you’re saying you “don’t think all redheads are like that”, but mysteriously, it’s still a bad idea for you to date them. Which is it? Or do you propose that your pheromones combine with red hair and low melanin counts to turn otherwise mild-mannered men into smack-addicted skirt-chasers? I know some chemistry and biology teachers who would be very interested in studying you, if that’s the case.

That’s not my argument. My argument is, if you didn’t date redheaded men because you didn’t find red hair (or freckles, or light skin, or whatever) attractive, that’d seem pretty reasonable to me. That just comes down to what turns you on and off. nashiitashii doesn’t like men with bad teeth or rampant stupidity because those characteristics turn her off. She’s not arguing that it’s “a really bad idea” for her to date men with bad teeth or rampant stupidity–she’s saying she probably wouldn’t date them at all because those things inherently make her lose interest.

Your “experience with a redheaded man” doesn’t have anything at all to do with his hair color–that’s what boggles me. Your conclusion is appallingly racist and the way you came up with it is confusing.

No, and no. She’s not generalizing at all. She’s just not sexually pleased by the idea of a man with bad hygiene and/or bad reasoning skills. You, on the other hand, have somehow convinced yourself that redheaded men are more likely to reveal themselves as libertines later.

But you seem to think that redheads are more likely to have the personality traits you mentioned. And if you mean to tell me that wouldn’t enter into your mind at all when you’re interviewing a redheaded job candidate, I’d have to guess either you’re kidding yourself or you’re a robot.

Unintentional, sure, but I’ve known American-born engineers who write pretty much like that. I don’t think I would expect “de-sert” or “depecticle”, sure, but otherwise I would not be shocked to find an American had written that.

Seconded!

125

Never use the front brakes on a four wheeler when going down a steep hill. The big ones hurt like hell when they bounce off your hip.

Never drop a .22 bullet on concrete, it can go off.

126

[QUOTE=fetus]
If you don’t think all redheads are like that, why would it be a bad idea for you to date redheads? Your original reasoning was that you dated a redhead who turned out to be a lowlife, and therefore it’s significantly more likely for redheads to secretly be lowlifes than anyone else. Now you’re saying you “don’t think all redheads are like that”, but mysteriously, it’s still a bad idea for you to date them. Which is it? Or do you propose that your pheromones combine with red hair and low melanin counts to turn otherwise mild-mannered men into smack-addicted skirt-chasers? I know some chemistry and biology teachers who would be very interested in studying you, if that’s the case.

That’s not my argument. My argument is, if you didn’t date redheaded men because you didn’t find red hair (or freckles, or light skin, or whatever) attractive, that’d seem pretty reasonable to me. That just comes down to what turns you on and off. nashiitashii doesn’t like men with bad teeth or rampant stupidity because those characteristics turn her off. She’s not arguing that it’s “a really bad idea” for her to date men with bad teeth or rampant stupidity–she’s saying she probably wouldn’t date them at all because those things inherently make her lose interest.

Your “experience with a redheaded man” doesn’t have anything at all to do with his hair color–that’s what boggles me. Your conclusion is appallingly racist and the way you came up with it is confusing.

[/QUOTE]

Again, red headedness is not a race. Really, I promise.
I actually wrote in the last post that red headed men and myself specifically are a bad match, but I edited it out. I have a profound effect on some men. It seems to be amplified when added to redheadedness. He is the only one I dated, but not the only one who has had romantic interest with.

Hey, one of my husbands best friends is a red head. I’ll let him into my house. I’ve even shared a table with him. Heh.

You’re taking this way too personal. It was an anecdotal statement. It’s a personal credo of mine, just like **nashiitashii ** won’t date snaggle toothed morons.

But if you want me to make the statement that I think highly functioning, incredibly sane redheaded men are the exception and not the rule, I can do that, too.

127

The idea of “race” is mostly illusory in the first place. If we make a distinction between Germans, Russians, Nigerians, Chinese, and Brazilians it’s just as logical to make a distinction between a man with fair skin, red hair and freckles and a man with slightly darker skin and dark hair. And the attitude of generalizing personality based on appearance is the same in this case, regardless of which word you think explains the physical difference.

I got the idea.

I’m sorry, this just doesn’t make any sense to me except as a misperception. If you said “blackness” or “Jewishness” instead of “redheadedness”, this thread would have burst into flames a long time ago.

I’m sure. If someone said something like you did about black people and then followed it with “But I know a really nice black guy; I even had breakfast with him once and he didn’t bring a hooker or a heroin stash”, I wouldn’t feel any better about the original statement. This is no exception.

What makes you think this is personal for me?

“I dated a redheaded lowlife who shot up smack and ran around with hookers; it was a really bad experience” is an anecdotal statement. “I dated a redheaded lowlife etc. and now I’ll never date a redhead again” is an ignorant and cruel write-off of a large group of people, based on the actions of one person who had almost nothing in common with the rest of them. Your insistence on equating this with a distaste for bad hygiene and low intelligence seems misguided, at best. It’s a false analogy: bad oral hygiene and low intelligence are readily apparent, like redheadedness, but they’re instant turnoffs inherently; you’re not sexually turned off to redheads, you just avoid them because you equate a readily apparent physical trait to a completely unrelated set of non-physical traits. It’s not the redheadedness that drives you away, it’s the implication that they’ll reveal themselves to be worthless lowlifes later. That’s like the difference between “I don’t date black women because dark skin doesn’t turn me on” and “I don’t date black women because they’re dirtbags”.

.

OK. Then you are a racist in my book. Again, I sincerely hope you never interview me for a job opening.

128

[QUOTE=fetus]

I’m sorry, this just doesn’t make any sense to me except as a misperception. If you said “blackness” or “Jewishness” instead of “redheadedness”, this thread would have burst into flames a long time ago.

I’m sure. If someone said something like you did about black people and then followed it with “But I know a really nice black guy; I even had breakfast with him once and he didn’t bring a hooker or a heroin stash”, I wouldn’t feel any better about the original statement. This is no exception.

“I dated a redheaded lowlife who shot up smack and ran around with hookers; it was a really bad experience” is an anecdotal statement. “I dated a redheaded lowlife etc. and now I’ll never date a redhead again” is an ignorant and cruel write-off of a large group of people, based on the actions of one person who had almost nothing in common with the rest of them. Your insistence on equating this with a distaste for bad hygiene and low intelligence seems misguided, at best. It’s a false analogy: bad oral hygiene and low intelligence are readily apparent, like redheadedness, but they’re instant turnoffs inherently; you’re not sexually turned off to redheads, you just avoid them because you equate a readily apparent physical trait to a completely unrelated set of non-physical traits. It’s not the redheadedness that drives you away, it’s the implication that they’ll reveal themselves to be worthless lowlifes later. That’s like the difference between “I don’t date black women because dark skin doesn’t turn me on” and “I don’t date black women because they’re dirtbags”.

.

OK. Then you are a racist in my book. Again, I sincerely hope you never interview me for a job opening.
[/QUOTE]

Ok, perhaps if I used idiotic smilies, you’d get the jokes. You’re a pretty smart guy fetus, and they’re pretty obvious jokes, even if they’re poor. So now you are being obtuse for a reason.

The reason why this isn’t bursting into flames is really, no one cares. My personal criteria for dating-which I’ve mentioned before is moot, because I am happily married for 14 years- really is rather boring, even to me.

I don’t think anyone, even redheads, think it is cruel that I have written them off from my non existent dating pool.

Noone is going to believe you when you try to classify dating preferences to be equal with employment or social relationships. The criteria for dating are different, and hopefully more stringent. We’ve got some doozies working for us. None of them are dating material. For me. Again, who cares?

129

I learned from experience that major thread hijacks where two people go off on a tangent about one comment one of them made and basically have a private conversation in the middle of the thread can really be annoying to other posters and it is often better to take the discussion to a separate thread or private messages.
[sub]Is this too subtle?[/sub]

130

Menudo doesn’t really help. In fact it makes it worse.

131

My apologies, Wile, 'Dopers.

132

I know you can walk on a broken foot.

Just because your team is in first place at the end of the regular season doesn’t mean you’ll win the championship.

Sometimes, otherwise level-headed people act like idiots when they are in love/lust.

133

Mine too, Wile E etc.

134

Just because you’re SURE you’ve done something REALLY bad to your 11 year old wrist, doesn’t mean your mother will realise the same, at least not for the next eight to twelve hours.

Having a cast on your dominant wrist isn’t as much fun as you think; can’t sleep, it smells and everyone always has to ask what the hell you did to do that when you’re tired and cranky.

Cats ARE curious enough to jump BACK onto the kitchen counter, after you’ve turned on the gas, pushed them off, turned your head to answer to your name and pushed the pilot light in time to see the cat reel back with singed whiskers and temporarily blind. That said, she never jumped up on the counter again.

135

[QUOTE=Freudian Push Up Bra]
<snip> … Having a cast on your dominant wrist isn’t as much fun as you think; can’t sleep, it smells and everyone always has to ask what the hell you did to do that when you’re tired and cranky. <snip>
[/QUOTE]

Having casts on both wrists (simultaneously, from first finger joint to 4" above the elbows) isn’t much fun either. Everything becomes damn near impossible - give you a whole new perspective regarding those with serious disabilities. Butt, most of all, it makes wiping your a … errr … it makes personal hygene a serious challenge.

[QUOTE=fetus]
Unintentional, sure, but I’ve known American-born engineers who write pretty much like that. I don’t think I would expect “de-sert” or “depecticle”, sure, but otherwise I would not be shocked to find an American had written that.
[/QUOTE]

Unlikely in most cases such as this. Device in question is a “Product of Mexico” Instructions “Printed in China” and the Corporation that markets this POS is based in Delhi, India. However, my original point was that non-native-English speaking people have a extraordinarily difficult time translating from their native tongue into technical English in a manner which is easily understood by an individual who’s first language is English. (Wow, is that a run-on sentence to be proud of, or what?)

Lucy

dahfisheroo, fetus, if I may, on behalf of the others in this thread, I’d like to say “apology accepted”. (It was, after all is said and done, a rather mudane and pointless comment that started that exchange.)

136

If the cat rolls off the bed, don’t try to catch it before it hits the ground. Cats have these things called CLAWS, and will use them to latch onto whatever is handy (in this case, my arm) before they hit the ground.

After recovering from a stomach virus, it’s not a terribly great idea to try to drink something acidic like orange juice right away. The stomach will let you know that it isn’t happy with your decision.

Just because you’re sitting in the back seat of a car with the window down, does not mean that you’re safe from the effects of the smoke from marijuana cigarettes your friends in the front seat are smoking.

137

[QUOTE=LucyInDisguise]
However, my original point was that non-native-English speaking people have a extraordinarily difficult time translating from their native tongue into technical English in a manner which is easily understood by an individual who’s first language is English. (Wow, is that a run-on sentence to be proud of, or what?)

It would be, if you’d used ‘whose’ rather than ‘who’s’ since the latter means ‘who is’.

138

Guys, relocating your brain to your trousers is never a good idea. Get a prenup, do whatever. Just don’t make a habit of being a serial house-buyer for women while you live in a rented bedsit.

139

When a pencil is rolling off your desk, don’t try to catch it with a quick movement which may, in some cases, leave you with a permanent Pencil Tattoo Dot.

The art college you are trying to get into doesn’t care too much how you did on the SATs.

The companies that you are hoping will hire you for your artistic abilities don’t care too much about your transcripts, just your portfolio.

It’s cute when Kitty climbs up your pant leg using her claws until summer comes around and you start wearing shorts.

I overanalyze things WAY too much. Is that redundant? See?? I’m doing it again!

You really can’t please all the people all of the time.

Not making a move when you like someone because of self-doubt will only lead to increased self-doubt. It’s always better to try and deal with a little bit of rejection for a short time than to shy away and suffer in silence for a longer time.

Some people take shit WAY too seriously (looking DIRECTLY at fetus) and need to relax, but they will almost always become MORE angry at you if you tell them as much.