# What in hell does this \*MEAN\*??! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 29, 2002, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359 "2002-07-29T11:53:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/21 "2002-07-30T00:40:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*But suppose that the person being offed is an enemy of **majinborg**? > OK so then the bottle with fingerprints is left at the scene. The person setting up **majinborg** has cleaned the bottle and then got the prints on it. Then all you do is leave it at the scene of the crime. **majimborg** would come up in the lists of suspects and of course I wouldn’t do this when **majinborg** has an alibi. So bingo! **majinborg** gets the chair! > \*\* Ah, but if the bottle is cleaned of all prints BUT majinborg’s, that would appear to be more of a frame up than if his were AMONG the sets of prints that would be found left by the bottler, shop keeper, stocker, grocer, etc… If forensics finds only one set of prints, a red flag goes up, and OJ searched for the real killers. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/22 "2002-07-30T00:41:53Z")
I meant “searches,” and “grocer”=“checkout person”, but you get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/23 "2002-07-30T00:50:26Z")
Why is it that a man who is very overweight and a chain smoker is the main employee at my local General Nutrition Center? I’ve been pondering this one for months. I don’t necessarily expect ever to find an answer. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/24 "2002-07-30T00:56:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AskNott \* > \*\*When an opera is in English, the operatic style often renders the words unintelligible. Do opera companies do supratitles for those? \*\* Some companies use supertitles for every opera, regardless of the language in which it’s sung. For instance, the [New Orleans Opera](http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/music/opera.html) recently performed _Porgy and Bess_ in English with English supertitles. ---
**Author:** ![PlanMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@PlanMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlanMan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/25 "2002-07-30T01:00:04Z")
And of course, the real ‘perp’ would burn/melt the real murder weapon, leaving the framing soda bottle at the scene, or perhaps only somewhat well concealed. My question: Why do Burger King and the other fast food places have this message written on their menu boards: “Picture Menus Available on Request”? If you can read _that_ you can likely read the friggin’ menu. And do they have pictures of the money, to tell the price (two Dollar Bills, a quarter, a dime, a nickel, and four pennies, for something costing $2.44)? Anyways, at least for the special combos, the menu board **is** a picture menu. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/26 "2002-07-30T03:00:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*I’m not sure what the literal translation of i.e. is (it’s Latin, tho!), but it means “that is.” \*\* Id est. And e.g. stands for exampli gratia, which means “for example” So use i.e. when you want to clarify your meaning, and e.g. when you are giving examples. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/27 "2002-07-30T04:10:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PlanMan \* > \*\*My question: > Why do Burger King and the other fast food places have this message written on their menu boards: “Picture Menus Available on Request”? If you can read _that_ you can likely read the friggin’ menu. And do they have pictures of the money, to tell the price (two Dollar Bills, a quarter, a dime, a nickel, and four pennies, for something costing $2.44)? Anyways, at least for the special combos, the menu board **is** a picture menu. \*\* “Braille menus” are advertised the same way. I think it’s so that a person with the indidvidual can read it. They might be alone, but I guess it’s better than nothing. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/28 "2002-07-30T05:20:23Z")
So today I was walking out of the grocery store when the other door opened a good while before the person entered. I noticed that she had a cane, and wondered if the automatic sensor in the mat(or whatever you call it) in front of the door felt the pressure from it, causing it to open. Then I wondered if I threw one of my can goods on the mat if that’d be heavy enough to cause the door to open…should I have tested the theory at the risk of being asked not to come back? ---
**Author:** ![alex\_arg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@alex\_arg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alex_arg)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/29 "2002-07-30T05:38:08Z")
When wishing inanimate objects go to hell, we use informal. e.g. (thanks Zyada) “Chinga tu madre pinche piedra” (F\*\*k your mother you toe stubbing rock). ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/30 "2002-07-30T06:16:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PlanMan \* > **And of course, the real ‘perp’ would burn/melt the real murder weapon, leaving the framing soda bottle at the scene, or perhaps only somewhat well concealed.** Yes, but then the bottle wouldn’t have traces of the murder. That is, someone would have to kill the victim with the bottle so that it would be battered in all the right places and caked with blood and perhaps some hair. Otherwise **majinborg** walks free and we can’t have that happening, can we? 🙂 Actually I always think about that. The fingerprint thing. Every time I touch something (well not EVERY time, but quite a lot since I’ve started reading mystery novels), I think “What if this becomes the scene of a murder and I’m…connected.” Of course I’d have to take into account the other people in the area. Still… Also. How come there’s a job for everything, and why is there always someone who wants to do that job? And will it run out? Like when I go to the dermatologist, I think “What if he hadn’t decided to specialize in skin care- what if suddenly every medical student just said no and did something else?” Then what? Why are so many niches filled? What if no one wanted to operate a toll-booth? What if no one wanted to become a gym teacher? (Well…that one might not be too bad.) Why is there SOMETHING for everything? Oh god…I feel like Tweeks from South Park. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/31 "2002-07-30T10:02:00Z")
I’ve got my answer: a Star Trek novel I’m reading in Spanish (“El Gambito de los Klingon”) has Spock addressing the computer using the “usted” form. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/32 "2002-07-30T11:07:56Z")
**alex\_arg** Thanks, that nice to know. **Zoggie** Well, there aren’t always enough. But if there are few gym teachers then people who want a gym teacher have to pay more to get one, because they’re competing with a lot of people who also do, so more people want to be gym teachers to get paid. Alternatively, no-one cares and gym teaching dies out. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/33 "2002-07-30T12:31:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elfkin477 \* > \*\*Then I wondered if I threw one of my can goods on the mat if that’d be heavy enough to cause the door to open…should I have tested the theory at the risk of being asked not to come back? \*\* I think both Saturday Night Live and Beavis and Butt-head have addressed this issue. My guess would be that a can wouldn’t be enough to set the sensor off. (The person with the cane didn’t set the sensor off with the cane but with a foot.) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/34 "2002-07-30T12:52:25Z")
What if I was **majinborg’s** ‘friend’ and went to his place and went to the bathroom and took some hair from around the toilett and then planted that evidence on the body. Go I get **majinborg** locked up then? What if I sucked up some of **majinborgs** skin cells from his computer keyboard at work and then got them under the fingernails of the victim? ---
**Author:** ![NeutronJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neutronjack/32/4134_2.png) [@NeutronJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeutronJack)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/35 "2002-07-30T15:51:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*a Star Trek novel I’m reading in Spanish (“El Gambito de los Klingon”) has Spock addressing the computer using the “usted” form. \*\* Well, Spock is a formal kind of guy. Does he address _anybody_ using the familiar form? ---
**Author:** ![Winnowill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4491bb/32.png) [@Winnowill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnowill)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/36 "2002-07-30T22:19:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zyada \* > \*\*Id est. And e.g. stands for exampli gratia, which means “for example” > > So use i.e. when you want to clarify your meaning, and e.g. when you are giving examples. \*\* Thank you, **Zyada** - as a former student of High School Latin, this is one of my big pet peeves, and one that nobody in my office has been able to figure out. They use i.e. for EVERYTHING! ---
**Author:** ![QueenAl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/d26b3c/32.png) [@QueenAl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenAl)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/37 "2002-07-30T22:55:38Z")
The plactis bottle thing could be a good defense. Kill someone with a plastic bottle, then, after lengthy questioning, remember picking up a soda bottle for someone in the street. Just don’t post about it on a message board first … ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/38 "2002-07-31T01:58:35Z")
And why does that Russian guy on Star Trek pronounce the V sound with a W, like “wessels, wiolations, etc” Shouldn’t it be the other way around-pronounce the W sounds with a V, like “Ve have vays of making you talk!” Or something. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/39 "2002-07-31T02:50:55Z")
What is the proper response to the question “Oh, you are, are you?”? Yes I am, am I? Also, after seeing Anna Nicole Smith on Regis and Kelly today I wonder how I ever found that vacant bubblehead, whose IQ is dwarfed by her bra size, to be sexy. ::Wandering off pondering these and other very important questions:: Slee ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359/40 "2002-07-31T03:52:59Z")
Thanks, **Shade**. **matt\_mcl** - you’re in the habit of reading Star Trek books en espagnol? Color me muy impressed. Okay, let it be known from here after- the infamous “Plastic Bottle Defense” originated on the SDMB. In other finger print related news, I’ve sometimes wondered what would happen if you were in a murder related situation and the police were taking your fingerprints (to be on the safe side at any rate), and you didn’t have any. That is…for a reason. Like you cut off the skin (a la **Se7en** ) or they got burned off due to acid (as I read about that happening to a member of Aum Shinrikyo). I sometimes pull the skin off my fingers and the result is that on one or two of them, the prints are kind of…distorted. Sometimes makes me wonder if the police would get angry and then prosecute me for obstruction of police investigation. At any rate, it would make for a funny story over the dinner table. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-in-hell-does-this-mean/121359.md?page=3)