All Park Rangers have been asked “At what age (or altitude) do deer become elk.?”
I know north south east west. Living in the same place for the past 15 years, I know when I’m going north or south (or east or west) on the major roads.
But if I’m in a strange place, I can’t orient myself. I’m also directionally dyslexic and strongly right-handed. I have lost my car in parking lots more than once. It’s like my brain doesn’t click on someone telling me to go right means TURN RIGHT.
It seems so natural to me. Twenty of, quarter of, 10 of, 5 of. I think it might have started as “quarter short of” and just got shortened to “quarter of”
That there’s a relevant XKCD for every situation.
Yes, yes and yes. I wear a watch so I remember which is my left. And thank god I live in a flat valley so I can do directions with N, S, E & W or I’d be completely lost all the time instead of half the time.
Coincidentally, or perhaps not, I almost failed high school geometry partially because of this. I am serious. The teacher took pity on me and said honey, your brain has issues with this–meaning rotating things around in space.
If I’m in the Seattle area, I know directions. Mountains to the East (and some to the West, but they look different), water to the West. But that’s only because I’ve lived here awhile (I don’t know how newcomers deal with signs on the side streets that say "no parking North of here).
If I’m in Casper WY or Las Vegas, NV, I have no idea which way is North.
One of my favorite places on earth. I never would have imagined that.
Green?? They have reddish brown shells while alive.
But… if people don’t know that they’re not a bright red while they’re alive, does that mean away from the coasts it’s unusual to see live lobsters for sale in grocery stores?
You know, I haven’t seen a lobster tank at a grocery store in years. Seems like maybe they’ve fallen out of fashion?
Other sources describe it as a greenish blue or brown. To me, personally, the dominant color has always been a very dark green.
Eric Bloom isn’t dead either.
MORE COWBELL!
Around here, they only have them in the more affluent neighborhoods.
No, they won’t.
If they are close to the same weight (or more properly, mass), they will fall at nearly the same rate - perhaps close enough that it will be hard to tell the difference.
But they only fall at exactly the same rate if dropped in a vacuum.
Hitler was Austrian and Einstein was German, you’d think most adults would know this but many think the opposite - which isn’t too bad - but many have no idea where Einstein was from or what, specifically, he did.
As for “eavestrough” – interesting! Without looking it up, I am now sure that this is where the expression “eavesdrop” comes from, which IS very commonly used in the US. Not dropping down from the eaves, just (metaphorically) hanging out at them, listening to conversation through an open window.
As for Bob Seger – perhaps the poster had heard that PETE Seeger died (about two years ago), and things got confused. Now I’ve got a sing-along banjo version of “Night Moves” playing in my head…
According to wikipedia, “eavesdropper” came first, as in “someone who hangs out where the drops falling from the eaves go – outside a window looking in”. Connected to “eavestrough” only through the very-uncommonly-used word “eaves”.
They were/are pretty universal in St. Louis MO, about as far from a coast as you can get in the US. And it’s not an area noted for its seafood-oriented cuisine.
Or at least this was true in the more upscale parts of town. The same is certainly true here and now in Miami.
Whoa.
No. It was originally called Duck tape (a brand) and people heard duct tape and thought it was for taping ducts. It isn’t. Someone I know redid all his heating ducts and used it to seal the joints. A couple years later, it was falling off. I believe they now make a variety that can be so used, but the original Duck tape is not suitable for ducts.
However that is not what I know that astonishes me that others don’t. One thing that always astonishes me is that some people don’t know that the southern hemisphere has the opposite seasons of ours. I was going to an airport on my way to Australia in late June one year and had a light coat with me. The taxi driver asked why and I had to explain to him that it was winter in Sydney. “Why would they do that?”
some further comments on the postings.
To continue Brother Cadfael’s post, when I was growing up we used Log Cabin syrup that then was 15% maple syrup (now it is down to some infinitesimal amount that cannot contribute significantly to the flavor) and my father claimed, not that pure maple syrup is too sweet, but that it is too strongly flavored. Now that I live in Quebec (where, BTW, it is illegal to dilute it with any other syrup, even you label it correctly) I know better. In fact, I used to look for the even more strongly flavored but darker grade B since it has even more flavor. Sadly, for the past ten years diabetes has prevented me from indulging.
When I moved to Canada, I had to adjust to the fact that people didn’t understand “quarter of”. And I had to get used to the fact that “hydro” means electricity (99% of Quebec’s electricity is hydro-electric). While I always knew that peanuts grew underground and that in Hawai’i pineapples are grown in soil, I really did believe that in nature they were epiphytes (grew on tree branches). Once in Puerto Rico, I saw a very pineapple looking plant growing high up on a tree and many pineapple relatives are epiphytes, so that wasn’t unreasonable, but wiki assures me that pineapples grow in soil. And I have repeatedly explained to my wife that her right hand is the one she writes with but even the fortuitous homonymy does no good.