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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: The Pond Gap
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by comet:
how the heck do you heat a place is you keep closing all the damn doors?!
You put the heat source in the room with you, and you close the door to prevent the heat from leaving the room and going wastefully into hallways other rooms you're not using at the moment.
These days, the heat source is usually radiators, and the central heating system circulates hot water to them.
quote:
Originally posted by georgiaboy:
It has a floor, almost always a roof, which is likely supported by posts or columns, and may have railings between the posts. It may be raised several steps above ground, and is attached to one or more exterior walls of a house.
In the UK, a "porch" is a completely enclosed, but probably unheated, relatively small room built between an external door and, well, the outside. It's a good place to store wellies, potatoes and things.
The thing you describe could be a verandah, or possibly a portico, but in general is not an architectural feature commonly found in the UK.
Decks, on the other hand, which mean the same in the UK as in the US, were popularized by TV gardening programmes a couple of decades ago. Patios are the more traditional occupant of that particular niche, and tend to be rather more sympathetic towards typical British architecture.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
Stoop is a New York term, there's apparently a stoop law. I believe the term that comes from the Dutch heritage.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by comet:
there are just so many ROOMS. with walls. and doors between EVERYTHING. and people actually close the doors.
Don't you have draughts in North America? Last winter I took to taping up doors in this room - not the one you go in and out by obviously - to try and cut down the knifing blasts of cold air.
Plus, if you haven't got lots of walls, what do you hang the bookshelves on?
And bedrooms need to be cool and dark, or I can't sleep (spent the other week in our hotel room in Sweden futtering every night with a partially torn plasters box in order to cut down the intolerable glare from the aircon control light.)
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Anglo Catholic Relict
Shipmate
# 17213
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
quote:
Originally posted by comet:
there are just so many ROOMS. with walls. and doors between EVERYTHING. and people actually close the doors.
Don't you have draughts in North America? Last winter I took to taping up doors in this room - not the one you go in and out by obviously - to try and cut down the knifing blasts of cold air.
Plus, if you haven't got lots of walls, what do you hang the bookshelves on?
And bedrooms need to be cool and dark, or I can't sleep (spent the other week in our hotel room in Sweden futtering every night with a partially torn plasters box in order to cut down the intolerable glare from the aircon control light.)
Draught excluders are better than tape for doors. And in extremis when single glazed, seal the outside of opening windows with putty, as the Russians do (did?) in winter. Unseal in spring.
I am too idle to do any of this, of course. I just wear thermals, jumpers, extra socks etc plus dressing gown from October to about mid June. Sometimes a blanket as well.
V low income; I heat my house just enough to prevent the pipes from freezing, and dress for winter. My neighbours heat theirs enough to wear tshirts indoors in January.
Posts: 585 | Registered: Jul 2012
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Anglo Catholic Relict:
Draught excluders are better than tape for doors.
Have that as well. But the doors were made of green timber and are not a good fit to the frames. And you're right - it's down to how much you are prepared to spend on heating. I too spend winters looking like an ambulant branch of Oxfam.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I disagree on the porches always being enclosed. In many houses of Victorian or early 20th century age it is a covered space outside the front door which is useful for allowing door unlocking without getting sodden from rain, but not for keeping wellies and walking sticks. It may be a projection in front of the building, or a recess into the hall space behind the building line. Many people have enclosed these spaces more recently. The sort of terrace houses in which the front door opened into the front room (no chance of a parlour there) have often had a small porch built onto them, either enclosed or not. Its function is as a protection of the entrance to the house, not as a leisure space.
I had a book as a child set in South Africa, and learned the word stoep of a space outside the house for sitting on, so I assume the US stoop is of the same Dutch origin. We had some farming friends whose home, I came gradually to realise, was built on colonial lines, and had a feature to which that description could apply. It was a paved, but covered, area on ground level, with a view across the countryside, and bounded at the ends by projections of the side walls, which I would think would mark it out as distinct from a patio. I would expect a verandah to be raised above ground level.
The same farmhouse had a large open porch, almost like a room, with an inner lobby beyond the door, and a further door into the kitchen. Outdoor stuff which did not need to be secure was in the outer part. The inner space would have boots and outer clothes, but also access to a loo (there was alaso an indoor one), so that there was no need to remove boots to use it.
A 1930s semidetached house we had in Folkestone had a recessed porch with no outer door at the front door. The back door had a small covered passage outside it with access to a coal store and an outside loo (for use when gardening, not the only one). This feature has been removed by later occupants extending the kitchen - they have also removed the walk-in larder.
A detached house in Dover had an enclosed porch at the front door, in an angle between the front room and a part of the house further back, with enough room for a few people to stand in, and an inner door to the hall. At the back door was a passage between the back of the garage with access to that, and on the other side a coal store and an outside loo. This has been roofed over. Not what I would call a porch.
Are houses in the parts of the US which have very cold winters open plan? Seems very energy spendthrift.
Odd thing. I am alone in the house. I close the bedroom door at night. But I can have a snooze on the bed in the daytime and leave the door open - possibly because I'm more likely to hear the doorbell that way, but I've never thought it out consciously.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Signaller
Shipmate
# 17495
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Posted
Originally posted by GeeDee: quote:
Over the last decade or so, "yard" has become less common, at least in real estate agent's talk, and is being replaced by garden.
[tangent]
Interesting usage. In the UK we would say 'estate agent', in the USA they use 'realtor'; has Australia gone for a compromise?
[/tangent]
Posts: 113 | From: Metroland | Registered: Jan 2013
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Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
And bedrooms need to be cool and dark, or I can't sleep (spent the other week in our hotel room in Sweden futtering every night with a partially torn plasters box in order to cut down the intolerable glare from the aircon control light.)
I travel with a roll of electrical insulating tape - a small piece blocks the light from most electronic gizmos that can't be otherwise hidden.
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The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Eirenist
Shipmate
# 13343
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Posted
In England, 'I'll take a rain check on that' probably means 'I'll have a look outside and see if it's (still) raining'.
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'I think I think, therefore I think I am'
Posts: 486 | From: Darkest Metroland | Registered: Jan 2008
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by comet:
you seem to actually close bedroom doors when you sleep (I never HAD a bedroom door growing up. or even... now) this is bizarre. aside from risking it getting chilly, and making the room dark as death, you're risking the factor of the boogeyman being just outside the door. I'd never be able to sleep.
Hallelujah for doors! I shut my bedroom door and have all the little lights covered up and the window A/C on high. I like dark and cold for sleeping. Dark is pretty easy with the black out drapes. Cold not so much, especially in August.
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Sober Preacher's Kid
Presbymethegationalist
# 12699
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Posted
quote:
Are houses in the parts of the US which have very cold winters open plan? Seems very energy spendthrift.
Homes in Canada and the northern US states are insulated to a much higher degree than is typical in the UK. An uninsulated internal partition (as contractors here call inside walls, walls for them face the outside) won't do much against a 10 or 20 degree temperature drop, nor will a space heater which are in general inefficient. Hence the whole interior is heated and maintained at that temperature through insulation.
Home heating is by and large central forced air gas or forced air electric, sometimes electric baseboards.
Hot water systems as found in the UK can't efficiently handle the 20 to thirty degree temperature gradient over a typical heating season. Continental climates are much more variable and North America is typically colder than Europe is for the same latitude.
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NDP Federal Convention Ottawa 2018: A random assortment of Prots and Trots.
Posts: 7646 | From: Peterborough, Upper Canada | Registered: Jun 2007
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
Roofed porches in the northern United States were very popular before the invention of air conditioning. Many areas were most comfortable in the summer only outside in the shade on the porch.
I've never understood the modern Seattle passion for decks given that it's reliably rainy here 8 months of the year. It's much nicer to sit on the porch in the rain reading.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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comet
Snowball in Hell
# 10353
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
quote:
Originally posted by comet:
there are just so many ROOMS. with walls. and doors between EVERYTHING. and people actually close the doors.
Don't you have draughts in North America? Last winter I took to taping up doors in this room - not the one you go in and out by obviously - to try and cut down the knifing blasts of cold air.
Like SPK said, we insulate the hell out of places. a draft would be a nightmare when you're at -40. and no matter how tight that SOB is, at 40 below you find you always have drafts. the outer walls are insulated for nuclear attack, as is the floor and ceiling. we have outer doors sealed so tight sometimes they make sucking noises when opened. the windows are always double or triple paned and seal tight, and often people have insulated curtains.
I don't have central heating... I dont think I ever have. up here we tend to have big old iron wood burning stoves in the main room. If you were to close bedroom doors, by morning you'd be able to see your breath. We often have oil heaters as back-up (so you can leave the house without your pipes freezing) but those are rarely on "central" systems, either.
so it makes sense to have one big room, with small satellite rooms, and open doors. lots of air flow.
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Plus, if you haven't got lots of walls, what do you hang the bookshelves on?
That can be a real problem.
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Evil Dragon Lady, Breaker of Men's Constitutions
"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” -Calvin
Posts: 17024 | From: halfway between Seduction and Peril | Registered: Sep 2005
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Psmith
Shipmate
# 15311
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Posted
Hot water definitely can handle southern Ontario winter; while I now have forced air (never again, I hope) my last apartment had radiators. Four of them- I never opened the valve on any but the one in the kitchen. There are more modern and efficient hot water systems available now. The older systems are common in old houses, so a modern one in a house with modern insulation it should be no problem in most of Canada- though if it breaks down while you're away, and the pipes burst...
As for sofa/coach etc... I'd use sofa and recognize chesterfield, coach and (like Nickel) davenport, but find settee odd. Unless it's the built in bench seat/bunk of a small sailboat.
Dinner is the main meal of the day, regardless of when you eat it. Lunch is a secondary meal at midday, and supper in the evening.
The living room. Not the drawing Room or parlour or any of those other options. My Australian relatives called it the lounge. A Family room is the more casual supplement, but cannot exist in a house without a living room.
Posts: 81 | From: Toronto, Canada | Registered: Nov 2009
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Gee D
Shipmate
# 13815
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Signaller:
Originally posted by GeeDee: quote:
Over the last decade or so, "yard" has become less common, at least in real estate agent's talk, and is being replaced by garden.
[tangent]
Interesting usage. In the UK we would say 'estate agent', in the USA they use 'realtor'; has Australia gone for a compromise?
[/tangent]
"Real estate agent/agency" has been used here for 150 years or so going by old advertisements I've seen. Properties in the country are normally sold by "property, stock and station agents".
I'm far from clear how a republic can have realtors.....
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Not every Anglican in Sydney is Sydney Anglican
Posts: 7028 | From: Warrawee NSW Australia | Registered: Jun 2008
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comet
Snowball in Hell
# 10353
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Posted
full confession on the "dark" score - I can sleep in broad daylight. often do. I have rarely lived in a place where I needed curtains to keep prying eyes out, so I sleep with the summer sun flooding in. I guess I'm just adapted to it.
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Evil Dragon Lady, Breaker of Men's Constitutions
"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” -Calvin
Posts: 17024 | From: halfway between Seduction and Peril | Registered: Sep 2005
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by comet:
I guess I'm just adapted to it.
Weirdo ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Unless I've been awake for too many hours to count, I have to have both darkness and horizontality to sleep. I have a couple of old eyemasks from airlines that I carry around in case I have to achieve better darkness, but given the offer of some kind of reclining chair to sleep in (ferries, aeroplanes,...) I do better on the floor.
[ 04. August 2013, 04:20: Message edited by: Leorning Cniht ]
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
I disagree on the porches always being enclosed. In many houses of Victorian or early 20th century age it is a covered space outside the front door which is useful for allowing door unlocking without getting sodden from rain, but not for keeping wellies and walking sticks. It may be a projection in front of the building, or a recess into the hall space behind the building line. Many people have enclosed these spaces more recently.
In southern California you still see a lot of porches that haven't been enclosed -- lots of nice weather means lots of sitting on the porch if you have one. Here in Long Beach there are scads of California bungalows, and along with the gabled roof, the porch and front stoop are defining features of the style when viewed from the street. They have relatively open plans, given that they were built before World War II -- folks were more concerned about keeping them cool than with heating them, and a porch, deep eaves and an open floorplan help a lot with that when you don't have air conditioning.
When I was a kid, we had a front room that was not at the front of the house. I think in my family we've all gradually switched to referring mostly to the living room.
My parents have dinner at mid-day on Sunday and then supper that evening, which is what their Mennonite parents did, but Mom seems quite conscious that this isn't the breakfast-lunch-dinner nomenclature that everyone she knows always uses (and that she uses the other six days), so on Sundays when she says "dinner" at mid-day and "supper" later, it's always with those quotation marks.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
I think that Canada and Alaska have much tougher standards for insulation in new construction then states further south.
Of course I live in balmy Seattle in a WWII era house that lacks insulation except where I've added it in the attic. New construction is insulated and there have to be checks that there's adequate air circulation from the outside because everything can be sealed so tightly. There are special circulators in colder climes that suck the heat from the air being exhausted and put it in the fresh cold air coming in.
The other nice thing about porches is they provide shade for the front of the house which cools things down while letting indirect light in. There is a tendency in colder climes for them to be remodeled with windows to create more living space without increasing the ground area of the house.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
That's a lovely porch, Ruth - about half the size of my garden! Where I could do with it as it faces west and gets very hot in the afternoon. People refer to it as "a lovely suntrap". Not these last weeks it hasn't been. And I would think of it as a porch rather than a verandah.
My house has gas fired warm air circulation for winter, which circulates what passes for cool air in summer. I'm considering getting a portable A/C since I can get the power from the sun now. Insulation, on the other hand, is a problem.
The dinner/lunch/tea/supper thing isn't just pond, it's class and north/south over here. And what is really odd is that some people consider their way of describing meals as correct, and others as wrong, and will look down on those with alternative nomenclature as being beneath the salt.
[ 04. August 2013, 06:48: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
And what is really odd is that some people consider their way of describing meals as correct, and others as wrong, and will look down on those with alternative nomenclature as being beneath the salt.
Or alternatively as toffee-nosed posh gits. It cuts both ways.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Barnabas Aus
Shipmate
# 15869
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Posted
My family lived in a Sydney suburb which was developed just after WWI, so was dominated by Californian bungalows, but built with double-brick external walls and terracotta-tiled roofs.
My grandmother's house was on a flat block so had the large front verandah with the front door opening into the entrance hall. Our house was built on a sloping block, so the entry was through a small side porch, while the front verandah was elevated some feet from the front yard, with a brick parapet rather than a timber railing. As my sisters came along, this verandah was enclosed and became my bedroom.
Front entrances were only used by strangers. Friends and family always came to the back door, along the driveway which ran up the side of the house to the garage which was behind and to one side.
Posts: 375 | From: Hunter Valley NSW | Registered: Sep 2010
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
I like dark and cold for sleeping. Dark is pretty easy with the black out drapes. Cold not so much, especially in August.
My budget doesn't run to real blackout drapes: in the summertime I tie up rather a large piece of duvateen* to the top bar of my Venetian blinds in the master bedroom. It is not noticeable from outside. I acquired rather a lot of it from a touring Broadway show I worked on....
*duvateen is heavy-duty theatrical black cloth used for masking on stage. It can be torn in a straight line either horzontally or vertically and attached to any surface with either stage ties (heavy string) or gaff tape (which is superior in holding power and durability as well as being light-years more expensive than something I never use - duct tape).
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
And what is really odd is that some people consider their way of describing meals as correct, and others as wrong, and will look down on those with alternative nomenclature as being beneath the salt.
Or alternatively as toffee-nosed posh gits. It cuts both ways.
I think the TNPG attitude is more likely to be a response to the looking down one than a first reaction to the different names. The key is in the very words you have used.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
I like dark and cold for sleeping. Dark is pretty easy with the black out drapes. Cold not so much, especially in August.
My budget doesn't run to real blackout drapes: in the summertime I tie up rather a large piece of duvateen* to the top bar of my Venetian blinds in the master bedroom. It is not noticeable from outside. I acquired rather a lot of it from a touring Broadway show I worked on....
*duvateen is heavy-duty theatrical black cloth used for masking on stage. It can be torn in a straight line either horzontally or vertically and attached to any surface with either stage ties (heavy string) or gaff tape (which is superior in holding power and durability as well as being light-years more expensive than something I never use - duct tape).
Have you ever come across an alternative to sticky tape for fixing to the top of venetian blinds - my bedroom faces west, high up, and really heats up in the afternoon - I tried hanging an old sheet sprayed with water over the top but need a temporary fix that can be redone each day. I really need to replace the blinds with curtains. (My mind has just got to work on this. The windows are the full width of the room, so there's nowhere to pull them right back to allow the full effect of the view - I have just realised I can get a curved end to the rail. But meanwhile, I need to fix the sheet to the blinds.)
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Penny S, I will copy your question to the Inquire Within thread (since I don't think any solutions are going to be culturally distinctive).
Firenze
Heaven Host
[ 04. August 2013, 11:34: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Sparrow
Shipmate
# 2458
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
Whereas a lawn is almost a compulsory component of a garden in the UK. (Not ours, because it's too small and we're too lazy to mow: but most gardens, even a tiny pocket-handkerchief at the front of a terrace house, will have a lawn.)
Not nowadays ... most people have paved over their front gardens to form a parking space.
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For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Posts: 3149 | From: Bottom right hand corner of the UK | Registered: Mar 2002
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Which is a Bad Thing, encouraging run-off and increasing the risk of flooding. Plus looking dismal.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Penny S, I will copy your question to the Inquire Within thread (since I don't think any solutions are going to be culturally distinctive).
Firenze
Heaven Host
Thank you - and if they were, answers wouldn't be helpful, since I wouldn't be able to get whatever the solution was.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
Whereas a lawn is almost a compulsory component of a garden in the UK. (Not ours, because it's too small and we're too lazy to mow: but most gardens, even a tiny pocket-handkerchief at the front of a terrace house, will have a lawn.)
Not nowadays ... most people have paved over their front gardens to form a parking space.
You're quite right, in general, However I was thinking of the sort of tiny pocket handkerchiefs, common around here, which are almost too small for a bike let alone a car. Lets just say that rear lawns are common, almost universal, while front ones are far from unknown.
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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comet
Snowball in Hell
# 10353
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Palimpsest:
I think that Canada and Alaska have much tougher standards for insulation in new construction then states further south.
just a point of information: Alaska has no state standards for building. (we abhor rules. and laws. and lawmakers. and generally, government.) some boroughs and municipalities might have standards for building, but generally people build bomber insulated buildings just because it's practical and economic.
as far as the state is concerned, you can slap up four sheets of OSB and cover it with tarp and call it home.
[ 04. August 2013, 19:57: Message edited by: comet ]
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Evil Dragon Lady, Breaker of Men's Constitutions
"It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.” -Calvin
Posts: 17024 | From: halfway between Seduction and Peril | Registered: Sep 2005
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M.
Ship's Spare Part
# 3291
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Posted
Originally posted by Psmith, as part of a longer discussion:
quote:
As for sofa/coach etc... I'd use sofa and recognize chesterfield, coach and (like Nickel) davenport,
A davenport to me is a small writing desk with drawers down the side at right angles to where your knees go. I'm assuming you mean something different?
M.
Posts: 2303 | From: Lurking in Surrey | Registered: Sep 2002
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Anglo Catholic Relict
Shipmate
# 17213
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
Whereas a lawn is almost a compulsory component of a garden in the UK. (Not ours, because it's too small and we're too lazy to mow: but most gardens, even a tiny pocket-handkerchief at the front of a terrace house, will have a lawn.)
Not nowadays ... most people have paved over their front gardens to form a parking space.
I am not sure whether 'most' people have done this. A lot of people have, certainly. Very often block paving; tidy when put down; weedy after two or three years.
I cannot see the appeal of having an extended car park directly in front of a house, but clearly many others can.
Posts: 585 | Registered: Jul 2012
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Anglo Catholic Relict
Shipmate
# 17213
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
I like dark and cold for sleeping. Dark is pretty easy with the black out drapes. Cold not so much, especially in August.
My budget doesn't run to real blackout drapes: in the summertime I tie up rather a large piece of duvateen* to the top bar of my Venetian blinds in the master bedroom. It is not noticeable from outside.
Who cares about outside?
Tape it to the window, behind the blind. Then your room with blinds closed will remain pretty, and with any luck the neighbours will assume you are cultivating illicit drugs of some kind.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
[ 05. August 2013, 10:02: Message edited by: Anglo Catholic Relict ]
Posts: 585 | Registered: Jul 2012
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Anglo Catholic Relict
Shipmate
# 17213
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
quote:
Originally posted by Anglo Catholic Relict:
Draught excluders are better than tape for doors.
Have that as well. But the doors were made of green timber and are not a good fit to the frames.
True enough. Not much that can be done about all of that, except new doors. I have the same problem.
quote:
And you're right - it's down to how much you are prepared to spend on heating. I too spend winters looking like an ambulant branch of Oxfam.
Thank God for that. I thought I was the only one.
Winter starts here; 5th August and have adopted dressing gown already.
[ 05. August 2013, 10:04: Message edited by: Anglo Catholic Relict ]
Posts: 585 | Registered: Jul 2012
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Anglo Catholic Relict:
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
quote:
Originally posted by Angloid:
Whereas a lawn is almost a compulsory component of a garden in the UK. (Not ours, because it's too small and we're too lazy to mow: but most gardens, even a tiny pocket-handkerchief at the front of a terrace house, will have a lawn.)
Not nowadays ... most people have paved over their front gardens to form a parking space.
I am not sure whether 'most' people have done this. A lot of people have, certainly. Very often block paving; tidy when put down; weedy after two or three years.
I cannot see the appeal of having an extended car park directly in front of a house, but clearly many others can.
I prefer they do that than what the buggers do around here - park on verges, turning them into mud, or on the pavements, wrecking them.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Angloid
Shipmate
# 159
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Anglo Catholic Relict:
with any luck the neighbours will assume you are cultivating illicit drugs of some kind.
So will the police.
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Brian: You're all individuals!
Crowd: We're all individuals!
Lone voice: I'm not!
Posts: 12927 | From: The Pool of Life | Registered: May 2001
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by comet:
full confession on the "dark" score - I can sleep in broad daylight. often do. I have rarely lived in a place where I needed curtains to keep prying eyes out, so I sleep with the summer sun flooding in. I guess I'm just adapted to it.
Which is a useful trait when "summer sun" can extend for 20+ hours a day.
When I worked in Southeast Alaska it was common to find the insides of bedroom windows covered with cooking foil for those who expected it to be dark at night.
But to tie back to the original topic, the question would be whether you would use "tin foil", "alumini(u)m foil" or something else?
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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Sir Kevin
Ship's Gaffer
# 3492
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Posted
I do try to keep my house pleasant and innocent-looking from the outside, even as seen from the alley!
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If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Writing is currently my hobby, not yet my profession.
Posts: 30517 | From: White Hart Lane | Registered: Oct 2002
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ArachnidinElmet
Shipmate
# 17346
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Posted
Not a comment, but a question: 'mentalism'.
The only time I've heard anyone refer to a mentalist in the UK is as an insult/personal description, ie "X, he's a mentalist". Defined as someone a little unhinged, or lacking in social skills.
Then the US tv programme 'The Mentalist' came out; I didn't watch it so didn't think about the title. Then I went to see the film Now You See Me which talks about mentalism as a pronounced skill at reading people from their unconscious verbal and physical tics.
My question is, is this a pond difference?
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'If a pleasant, straight-forward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle manoeuvres' - Kafka
Posts: 1887 | From: the rhubarb triangle | Registered: Sep 2012
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
No, I don't think so.
Mentalist has been the name given to those conjurers that play tricks with your mind, like Derren Brown.
I've heard 'mentalist' as an insult from both sides of the pond. Wasn't there a Ship thread about George W Bush being a mentalist a year or two ago?
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Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
As far as I was concerned a "mentalist" is a stage performer.
I only noticed it being used as an insilt very recently. Maybe in a thread on this website.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Pegasus
Shipmate
# 1966
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Posted
I first heard mentalist in the UK about 15 years ago as a semi-admiring insult for someone who does stupid and/ or dangerous things. I've only very recently become aware of it as referring to mind games.
Posts: 1207 | From: Ruritania | Registered: Apr 2004
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ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
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Posted
That would be "he's a bit mental" in my idiolect.
Driving when drunk, stayiing up thrtee nights in a row partying, wearing a Millwall shirt in a pub near the West Ham ground, snorting lots of speed, generally turing things up to 11 - that could dbe called "mental". Or at least it could in the 70s and 80s. Might be disapproving or approvong depending on the tone of voice, but mroe likely disapproving. Has conniotations of both violence and exuberence. Someone who is "mental" (in this sense) is probably rather dangerous, but not neccessarily boring.
But I have no memory of such people being called "mentalists" - for me that's an old-fashioned name for a kind of variety act.
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Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
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Angel Wrestler
Ship's Hipster
# 13673
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by que sais-je:
There are Americanisms I like. This will upset some but I'm happy with "I'm conflicted" and others which give a shorter, pithier form to sentences.
We've got enough problems in the UK or our own making...
And where did the now common use of 'so' at the start of sentences come from?
Grumble, grumble.
And where did the now common use of 'so' at the start of sentences come from?
YES! That seems to be a fairly recent development, IME. I've gotten ![[Biased]](wink.gif) used to it, but even so, it still sounds funny to start a sentence with the word "so." The word "so" is a conjunction. It describes something that happened as a result of something else: My neighbor's dog bit me, so I decided to avoid that dog."
It's not supposed to introduce a new topic of conversation, though that's how "so" is often used lately.
Edited to admit that I suck at editing and bolding quotes. Not going to try to fix it because I'd probably make it worse. ![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
[ 17. August 2013, 04:51: Message edited by: Angel Wrestler ]
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The fact that no one understands you does not make you an artist.
(unknown)
Posts: 2767 | From: half-way up the ladder | Registered: May 2008
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Palimpsest
Shipmate
# 16772
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Have you ever come across an alternative to sticky tape for fixing to the top of venetian blinds - my bedroom faces west, high up, and really heats up in the afternoon - I tried hanging an old sheet sprayed with water over the top but need a temporary fix that can be redone each day. I really need to replace the blinds with curtains. (My mind has just got to work on this. The windows are the full width of the room, so there's nowhere to pull them right back to allow the full effect of the view - I have just realised I can get a curved end to the rail. But meanwhile, I need to fix the sheet to the blinds.) [/QB]
If I understand your problem the two fixes I would try are the little Neodymium Magnets you can buy on ebay cheaply if the blinds are steel cased. Otherwise, Velcro patches on adhesive backing is my solution for reusable stickiness in my bedroom shades.
Posts: 2990 | From: Seattle WA. US | Registered: Nov 2011
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Latchkey Kid
Shipmate
# 12444
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Posted
visiting the Pacific North West (BC, WA,OR) this year I discovered that 'a la mode' means with ice cream. I have never come across that usage in the UK (or OZ), or even the East Coast. Do people know about the distribution of this usage?
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'You must never give way for an answer. An answer is always the stretch of road that's behind you. Only a question can point the way forward.'
Mika; in Hello? Is Anybody There?, Jostein Gaardner
Posts: 2592 | From: The wizardest little town in Oz | Registered: Mar 2007
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jedijudy
Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
Latchkey Kid, when I was growing up in PA, 'a la mode' was in common usage. I was the weird kid who always declined. (Pie and ice cream must be separated!)
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Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Wot, no hot apple pie or hot chocolate fudge brownies with a dollop of lovely cold vanilla ice-cream melting into them?
(I wouldn't want it served that way every single time but do think it's nice for a treat.)
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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argona
Shipmate
# 14037
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ad Orientem:
Americanisms. Definately a cause of much irritation. One I dislike in particular: "How are you?" "I'm good." Apart from being an Americanism it's just poor English.
I found the Australian equivalent, "I'm sweet", hilarious when I first heard it. But what the hell, let words run free. They die in captivity.
Posts: 327 | From: Oriental dill patch? (4,7) | Registered: Aug 2008
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