[kenberg]

On tv shows, whenever someone is shot, or hit by a car or whatever, some take charge type always shouts "Call 911". Is his cell phone broken?
I realize I could just turn the silly thing off, of course.

[Trinidad]

Well, at least this leader got the right number. Imagine him shouting: "Call 1800-467-1623!".



Rik

[barmar]

 kenberg, on 2013-September-04, 20:24, said:

On tv shows, whenever someone is shot, or hit by a car or whatever, some take charge type always shouts "Call 911". Is his cell phone broken?
I realize I could just turn the silly thing off, of course.

I think the one who shouts this is usually busy trying to help the victim. It's hard to call 911 when you're giving CPR or putting pressure on the wound.

[Vampyr]

 barmar, on 2013-September-05, 09:26, said:

I think the one who shouts this is usually busy trying to help the victim. It's hard to call 911 when you're giving CPR or putting pressure on the wound.

Also if it's an older show, someone would have had to go into the drugstore to gain access to a telephone.

[dwar0123]

 RSClyde, on 2013-August-25, 09:05, said:

People who argue in favor of a position by stating an argument, receiving a refutation, then not addressing it and moving on to their next point. Leaving this weird uncertainty like, "So what about you're first point? Are you withdrawing it? Was there something wrong with the refutation? (if so what?)"
Ex:
A: Evolution is just a theory!
B: (Explanation of how the word "theory" is used differently in scientific circles than in general public discourse)
A: But if evolution were true then why are there still monkeys?

This is a peeve that has long been a pet of mine but I am trying to let him go. Even on the rare occasions the 'loser' acknowledged their mistake, I was never better off for it.

An explanation of why that includes a couple of great Ted talks!

http://blog.ted.com/...or-being-wrong/

[FrancesHinden]

 barmar, on 2013-August-23, 18:05, said:

I had no idea that "alp" was an ordinary word meaning a high mountain, although I'm not surprised. But does any actually use it any more as a generic term?

Both alpine and Alpine are certainly used, with different meanings.

[LaShelle]

My biggest pet peeve with BRIDGE is slow play and rude people at the table. Combine them and I want to go bezerk!

[kenberg]

 barmar, on 2013-September-05, 09:26, said:

I think the one who shouts this is usually busy trying to help the victim. It's hard to call 911 when you're giving CPR or putting pressure on the wound.

You might be watching higher quality shows than I am. Usually, when I see it, it's just some random guy who decides that calling 911 is a good idea and that if he doesn't shout this out, it would never occur to anyone.

[barmar]

 kenberg, on 2013-September-07, 17:21, said:

You might be watching higher quality shows than I am. Usually, when I see it, it's just some random guy who decides that calling 911 is a good idea and that if he doesn't shout this out, it would never occur to anyone.

I was thinking of shows like "Royal Pains", where it's usually the doctor shouting it while he's MacGyvering a chest tube out of a garden hose.

[Trinidad]

 barmar, on 2013-September-08, 02:16, said:

I was thinking of shows like "Royal Pains", where it's usually the doctor shouting it while he's MacGyvering a chest tube out of a garden hose.

Nice choice of verb! Is "to MacGyver" a common term (in some part of the English speaking world) or did you just invent it?

Rik

[kenberg]

 barmar, on 2013-September-08, 02:16, said:

I was thinking of shows like "Royal Pains", where it's usually the doctor shouting it while he's MacGyvering a chest tube out of a garden hose.

Agreed, docs and other trained folks get to shout "Call 911". They are busy. But I have yet to see a show where some guy says "Gee, I have no idea what to do, I think I (yes, I myself) had better call 911."

I'll post the next example I see. Or maybe not.

[GreenMan]

 Trinidad, on 2013-September-08, 02:41, said:

Nice choice of verb! Is "to MacGyver" a common term (in some part of the English speaking world) or did you just invent it?

It's seen occasionally in parts of the world where the TV show MacGyver was broadcast. (For those just joining us, the title character, played by Richard Dean Anderson, was a secret agent who improvised tools to solve problems.)

[blackshoe]

From wikipedia: "MacGyverisms

MacGyver employs his resourcefulness and his knowledge of chemistry, physics, technology, and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life-or-death crises. He creates inventions from simple items to solve these problems. These inventions became synonymous with the character and were called MacGyverisms by fans. MacGyver was unlike secret agents in other television series and films because, instead of relying on high-tech weapons and tools, he carried only a Swiss Army knife and duct tape but never a gun.
This also led to the verb, "to MacGyver". "MacGyverism" was first used by Joanne Remmings (played by Pamela Bowen) in the third episode of season two. When MacGyver introduces himself to her, she uses the term in a manner that suggests other people had used it before: "Oh I've heard about you! You're the guy who does the whatchamacallits, you know, MacGyverisms; turns one thing into another?"

In an 1989 interview with Richard Dean Anderson, Arsenio Hall said that he had heard the word MacGyver used as a verb meaning "to do the impossible." Anderson then used it as an adjective meaning "impossible." Anderson stated that his show's producers had just missed out on getting the word "MacGyverism" entered into the Webster's Dictionary and that "we" intended to try to get it in the next update."

[jjbrr]

The term "gadgets" in bridge.

[Zelandakh]

 onoway, on 2013-March-17, 22:37, said:

I am waiting, without a lot of hope, for some search engine which will not try to filter results on whatever they have decided my interests to be.

For a fair while after Google cleaned up in the search engine market, I continued to use AltaVista for searches regularly, since the results were just thrown out there and included everything. Sadly, they got bought out and the engine was changed (to Yahoo iirc).

 barmar, on 2013-July-07, 16:15, said:

What bugs me is that they always have to say "James (Whitey) Bulger". Either say "James" or "Whitey". I'm not sure why, but hearing them both bugs me.

Does it also bother you to see Justin (JLOGIC) Lall, Mike (mikeh) Hargreaves and Andy (gnasher) Bowles?

 Cyberyeti, on 2013-August-07, 06:58, said:

I presume dive is like a boxer taking a dive, putting yourself in the ring intending not to succeed.

I think it is simpler than this. When you dive off a cliff, it is irreversible. You cannot get back on the cliff without first hitting the water (or whatever) below. When you "take the dive", then you are also committing yourself. This is quite different to "take a dive".

 y66, on 2013-August-15, 16:49, said:

David Foster Wallace would have loved this.

Was he another serial killer or assassin? (along with MLK and JFK )


Oh yes, and my pet peeve of the day is people who try to queue-jump. This is particular bad since arriving in Germany. It seems they have less idea of queue etiquete here than in England (surprise!). Anyway, some guy tried slipping in when Mcdonalds opened second till and the (single) queue was quite long. Of course, I had predicted this might happen when I saw him not join the queue on arrival and made a note of his position. He got told in no uncertain terms to get behind the (older) lady standing behind my group. He tried to argue it but eventually he complied.

I think the other customers (plus my work colleagues) were somewhat bemused about the whole thing. Actually, I suspect only fellow Brits will even understand why this is a peeve at all; and perhaps not even all of them.


And one last thing. I would use to bodge rather than to MacGyver I think. But perhaps that is just from watching too many episodes of Scrapheap Challenge (aka Junkyard Wars in the US).

[barmar]

 Zelandakh, on 2013-September-12, 05:47, said:

Does it also bother you to see Justin (JLOGIC) Lall, Mike (mikeh) Hargreaves and Andy (gnasher) Bowles?

I haven't heard any news reporters mention them lately, so it's not an issue. But I think if they always added the nickname like they do for Whitey, it would bug me.

[broze]

Megapeeve: When in a debate or argument, whether online or face to face, people insist on labouring the point that the views they are expressing are 'their opinion': "Well, that is my opinion and I'm entitled to it" ... "You have your opinions and I have mine" - as if that matters in the slightest.

Your argument being 'your own opinion' does not make it cogent in any way and certainly does not mean it warrants any respect for that fact alone. Nine times out of ten the 'opinion holder' turns out to be completely uninterested in reasoned debate but merely wants to put forward a weak ill-informed viewpoint without having it challenged.

[Vampyr]

Upvoting when I meant to reply.

German men with huge bellies and tiny bikini swimsuits.

[Cyberyeti]

 Vampyr, on 2013-September-19, 10:07, said:

Upvoting when I meant to reply.

German men with huge bellies and tiny bikini swimsuits.

Why only German men (and no I don't wear Speedos but on a related front):

French swimming pools which force you to wear Speedos as the shorts type of swimsuit I normally wear is "unhygienic".

[GreenMan]

 broze, on 2013-September-19, 09:22, said:

Megapeeve: When in a debate or argument, whether online or face to face, people insist on labouring the point that the views they are expressing are 'their opinion': "Well, that is my opinion and I'm entitled to it" ... "You have your opinions and I have mine" - as if that matters in the slightest.

Your argument being 'your own opinion' does not make it cogent in any way and certainly does not mean it warrants any respect for that fact alone. Nine times out of ten the 'opinion holder' turns out to be completely uninterested in reasoned debate but merely wants to put forward a weak ill-informed viewpoint without having it challenged.

Can't remember where I saw it, but there was a good article on this point that expressed it this way: Your opinion is not entitled to uncritical acceptance as a truth claim.

EDIT: Found it.

Quote

If “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion” just means no-one has the right to stop people thinking and saying whatever they want, then the statement is true, but fairly trivial. No one can stop you saying that vaccines cause autism, no matter how many times that claim has been disproven.

But if ‘entitled to an opinion’ means ‘entitled to have your views treated as serious candidates for the truth’ then it’s pretty clearly false. And this too is a distinction that tends to get blurred.