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ulmont
Sep 15, 2010

IF I EVER MISS VOTING IN AN ELECTION (EVEN AMERICAN IDOL) ,OR HAVE UNPAID PARKING TICKETS, PLEASE TAKE AWAY MY FRANCHISE

Shine posted:

The fitness supplements/powders thread in YLLS refers to supplements as "tapes" because... I forget why; that's just how it is.

George H.W. oval office in YLLS actually tracked this back a couple of weeks. The answer was really not that great.

krustster posted:

Brother, it's yet another award-winning catchphrase from the mind of ya boy right here,
https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3470330&pagenumber=21&perpage=40#post402370207

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PeterCat
Apr 8, 2020

Believe women.

A White Guy posted:

Alea Iacta est "The die is cast", the line that Caesar is said to have uttered prior to crossing the Rubicon, is actually a reference to a line in a comedy that Menander wrote.

As funny as it is to think of this, cheque writing in grocery lines may actually finally become completely outmoded in our lifetimes. My children might not have any idea what that actually means. I used to see it all the time when I was a kid in the early 2000s, but the number of times I've seen someone write a cheque in a grocery line has become fewer and fewer as the years go by. The last time was six months ago. In a decade, I might go two or three years before some positively ancient codger writes a check for groceries.

VFW halls are also beginning to go by the wayside as the Vietnam veterans start really dying off. Their popularity was driven by the huge number of men and women who served in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. All events which are fading from memory. WW2 and Korea sucked in a tremendous number of Americans, but by comparison, Vietnam had far less of an impact on the the number of people who served. Roughly 18 million Americans served in all three wars, which drove a tremendous expansion in the number of people who would go to a VFW hall. While I doubt the VFW will disappear altogether (as we're still fighting many, many smaller wars in other places), the number of people available to go to the VFW bar continues to plummet year by year.

It did not help that Vietnam Vets were excluded for a long time as Vietnam was not a "real" war.

Shine
Feb 26, 2007

No Muscles For The Majority

ulmont posted:

George H.W. oval office in YLLS actually tracked this back a couple of weeks. The answer was really not that great.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3470330&pagenumber=21&perpage=40#post402370207

Oh brother(s) :cripes:

Krispy Wafer
Jul 26, 2002

I shouted out "Free the exposed 67"
But they stood on my hair and told me I was fat

Grimey Drawer

A White Guy posted:

Alea Iacta est "The die is cast", the line that Caesar is said to have uttered prior to crossing the Rubicon, is actually a reference to a line in a comedy that Menander wrote.

As funny as it is to think of this, cheque writing in grocery lines may actually finally become completely outmoded in our lifetimes. My children might not have any idea what that actually means. I used to see it all the time when I was a kid in the early 2000s, but the number of times I've seen someone write a cheque in a grocery line has become fewer and fewer as the years go by. The last time was six months ago. In a decade, I might go two or three years before some positively ancient codger writes a check for groceries.

VFW halls are also beginning to go by the wayside as the Vietnam veterans start really dying off. Their popularity was driven by the huge number of men and women who served in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. All events which are fading from memory. WW2 and Korea sucked in a tremendous number of Americans, but by comparison, Vietnam had far less of an impact on the the number of people who served. Roughly 18 million Americans served in all three wars, which drove a tremendous expansion in the number of people who would go to a VFW hall. While I doubt the VFW will disappear altogether (as we're still fighting many, many smaller wars in other places), the number of people available to go to the VFW bar continues to plummet year by year.

Fraternal organizations in general are disappearing. I’m not exactly sure why, but I know I never had time to go hang out with a bunch of dudes in a clubhouse on a weekly basis because I’m supposed to help raise children. My grandfather did not help raise his children, so he was free to drink and drive like a pro with all his buddies but usually he just drank in the dark.

Speaking of that, would Zoomers understand if their Boomer grandparent told them to be careful on New Years Eve because that’s when the roads are full of amateurs. Because the people who drink and drive everyday are the pros.

Scudworth
Jan 1, 2005

When life gives you lemons, you clone those lemons, and make super lemons.

Dinosaur Gum

A White Guy posted:

As funny as it is to think of this, cheque writing in grocery lines may actually finally become completely outmoded in our lifetimes. My children might not have any idea what that actually means. I used to see it all the time when I was a kid in the early 2000s, but the number of times I've seen someone write a cheque in a grocery line has become fewer and fewer as the years go by. The last time was six months ago. In a decade, I might go two or three years before some positively ancient codger writes a check for groceries.

Much of the world is already there my friend, in Canada using cheques for regular purchases was phased out by our national debit bank card system in the mid 80s.
I was a child then, so I have never seen cheques used in a store, so the scene where the Dude uses one to buy milk in the Big Lebowski seemed like the joke was that he was using a cheque at all, you can't use cheques in stores haha he's so high.

Remulak
Jun 8, 2001
I can't count to four.
Yams Fan

Krispy Wafer posted:

Fraternal organizations in general are disappearing. I’m not exactly sure why...
Their heyday was post WW2 America, many speculate (I say many as I have no references) that it was repeating a male bonding experience forged in WW2.

Krispy Wafer
Jul 26, 2002

I shouted out "Free the exposed 67"
But they stood on my hair and told me I was fat

Grimey Drawer

Remulak posted:

Their heyday was post WW2 America, many speculate (I say many as I have no references) that it was repeating a male bonding experience forged in WW2.

Fraternal orders or clubs though predate WW2 because men really wanted a place to get away from that evil harpy of a wife.

I was reading a book about disease and it went into some detail about syphilis clubs, where people who wanted to stare into each other’s open nose holes, could do so in relative peace. Then there were fat clubs where you had to weigh over 300lbs to join. That sure became an obsolete criteria for exclusivity fast.

PHIZ KALIFA
Dec 21, 2011

#mood
it sounds stupid to say but the silver fork novels really did capture an extremely unique portion of society at a strange moment in time, joining the right social club could do more for your social standing than the college you attended or the skills you possessed. They were powerbrokers in a society who channeled conflict through profoundly opaque, ever-shifting social standards and ettiquite that we haven't yet shaken to this day.

Mister Olympus
Oct 31, 2011

Buzzard, Who Steals From Dead Bodies
People on these very forums regularly use "reign someone in" and "hand over the reigns" as if the reference isn't to the reins of a horse

Anne Whateley
Feb 11, 2007
:unsmith: i like nice words
That switch just happened over the last ~5 years and it drives me nuts. It's everywhere rein appears, "free rein," everything.

tinytort
Jun 10, 2013

Super healthy, super cheap

Scudworth posted:

Much of the world is already there my friend, in Canada using cheques for regular purchases was phased out by our national debit bank card system in the mid 80s.
I was a child then, so I have never seen cheques used in a store, so the scene where the Dude uses one to buy milk in the Big Lebowski seemed like the joke was that he was using a cheque at all, you can't use cheques in stores haha he's so high.

Grocery stores phased out accepting cheques by the late 90s, I think. There's probably somewhere extremely rural that still accepts cheques, but even then, it's probably only because it's easier to just wait for Little Old Lady Jones to die or get put in a retirement home than to try and make her learn how to use a debit card.

Krispy Wafer
Jul 26, 2002

I shouted out "Free the exposed 67"
But they stood on my hair and told me I was fat

Grimey Drawer
The only people who use checks are really old ladies and people trying to float/kite money. Literally no one else. If you pull out a checkbook now and you’re under the age of 90 you are immediately suspicious.

I’d be curious to know how much check usage dropped after Walmart started putting immediate holds on account funds. I’m going to guess a lot.

PeterCat
Apr 8, 2020

Believe women.

The owner of the storage unit we rent won't set up electronic billing, so we still have to send her a check every month. Literally the only bill we pay like this.

Jeza
Feb 13, 2011

The cries of the dead are terrible indeed; you should try not to hear them.
Until a couple of years ago, one of the places I worked at frequently paid me in cheques which was kinda cool. Although what was less cool was having to cash those cheques in at a bank, because at the time I'm fairly sure my garbage bank had no system of photographing the cheques to process them. And my local branch was closed, so I had to detour on the way home from work.

Son of a Vondruke!
Aug 3, 2012

More than Star Citizen will ever be.

Platystemon posted:

“Pen knives” continue to be called that even though quill pens were outmoded two centuries ago.

I had no idea that was where the name came from. I always figured they must be a specific kind of knife. I assumed they were like a pen, but when you remove the cap there'd be a scalpel blade there. I'd just never actually never seen one. Apparently because they don't exist.

Parahexavoctal
Oct 10, 2004

I AM NOT BEING PAID TO CORRECT OTHER PEOPLE'S POSTS! DONKEY!!

PeterCat posted:

The owner of the storage unit we rent won't set up electronic billing, so we still have to send her a check every month. Literally the only bill we pay like this.

same for my landlord

New Yorp New Yorp
Jul 18, 2003

Only in Kenya.
Pillbug

Mister Olympus posted:

People on these very forums regularly use "reign someone in" and "hand over the reigns" as if the reference isn't to the reins of a horse

That's just people not understanding the source of the idiom and using a homophone. You see the same thing with "tow" vs "toe" the line. You even see it with words that are just similar: "loose" and "lose" are frequently used interchangeably these days despite the words being spelled differently, pronounced differently, and having different meanings.

Tiggum
Oct 24, 2007

Your life and your quest end here.


New Yorp New Yorp posted:

despite the words being spelled differently, pronounced differently, and having different meanings.

"make due" :argh:

Lemniscate Blue
Apr 21, 2006

Here we go again.

Son of a Vondruke! posted:

I had no idea that was where the name came from. I always figured they must be a specific kind of knife. I assumed they were like a pen, but when you remove the cap there'd be a scalpel blade there. I'd just never actually never seen one. Apparently because they don't exist.

https://smile.amazon.com/X-ACTO-2-Knife-Safety-Cap/dp/B000V1QV7O?sa-no-redirect=1

Alterian
Jan 28, 2003

Scudworth posted:

Much of the world is already there my friend, in Canada using cheques for regular purchases was phased out by our national debit bank card system in the mid 80s.
I was a child then, so I have never seen cheques used in a store, so the scene where the Dude uses one to buy milk in the Big Lebowski seemed like the joke was that he was using a cheque at all, you can't use cheques in stores haha he's so high.

I keep an emergency check hidden in my wallet. It saved me one time a couple months ago. I had taken my card out of my wallet to buy something online and forgot to put it back before going to the grocery store.

Cascadia Pirate
Jan 18, 2011

tinytort posted:

Grocery stores phased out accepting cheques by the late 90s, I think. There's probably somewhere extremely rural that still accepts cheques, but even then, it's probably only because it's easier to just wait for Little Old Lady Jones to die or get put in a retirement home than to try and make her learn how to use a debit card.

Every grocery store near me accepted checks atleast until the late 2000s, because I had a roomate in his early 20s that used them. It is (semi) interesting to note that by this time they ran checks exactly like a debit card. The machine would scan the check, read the account numbers and amount off of the check, confirm it matches what was owed, and then process it through the same financial system as debit cards. Prior to that there was a whole seperate system for clearing checks which was kind of complicated and amazing that it was routinely used without mistakes being common.

Slimy Hog
Apr 22, 2008

Alterian posted:

I keep an emergency check hidden in my wallet. It saved me one time a couple months ago. I had taken my card out of my wallet to buy something online and forgot to put it back before going to the grocery store.

This sounds like a good way to lose a lot of money.

Son of a Vondruke!
Aug 3, 2012

More than Star Citizen will ever be.


I've seen those. I was imaging something that looked more like a fountain pen. Sort of like this, but with a blade.

RCarr
Dec 24, 2007

tinytort posted:

Grocery stores phased out accepting cheques by the late 90s, I think. There's probably somewhere extremely rural that still accepts cheques, but even then, it's probably only because it's easier to just wait for Little Old Lady Jones to die or get put in a retirement home than to try and make her learn how to use a debit card.

I see old people pay with checks at my grocery store from time to time. They definitely are still accepted most places.

BonHair
Apr 28, 2007

New Yorp New Yorp posted:

That's just people not understanding the source of the idiom and using a homophone. You see the same thing with "tow" vs "toe" the line. You even see it with words that are just similar: "loose" and "lose" are frequently used interchangeably these days despite the words being spelled differently, pronounced differently, and having different meanings.

How are loose and lose pronounced differently? Asking as a foreign linguist and also genuinely curious person.

ultrafilter
Aug 23, 2007

It's okay if you have any questions.


BonHair posted:

How are loose and lose pronounced differently? Asking as a foreign linguist and also genuinely curious person.

loose, lose

PHIZ KALIFA
Dec 21, 2011

#mood

BonHair posted:

How are loose and lose pronounced differently? Asking as a foreign linguist and also genuinely curious person.

loose is "lews", lose is "looze"

Endymion FRS MK1
Oct 29, 2011

I don't know what this thing is, and I don't care. I'm just tired of seeing your stupid newbie av from 2011.
Yeah I work at a big box hardware store and we do checks all the time. Companies probably don't want to deal with the teeth-gnashing of the olds if they ever stopped accepting them

Xiahou Dun
Jul 16, 2009

We shall dive down through black abysses... and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory forever.



BonHair posted:

How are loose and lose pronounced differently? Asking as a foreign linguist and also genuinely curious person.

Voicing distinction and tense vs lax vowel.

:linguistfistbump:

Lemniscate Blue
Apr 21, 2006

Here we go again.

Son of a Vondruke! posted:

I've seen those. I was imaging something that looked more like a fountain pen. Sort of like this, but with a blade.



I was being more than half a smartass, because I actually had one in my hand when I read your post.

This is more what you're actually looking for, in that BudK sort of way.

https://www.tbotech.com/penknives.htm

Pocket Billiards
Aug 29, 2007
.
I do some things with an incorporated not-for-profit organisation. We were using physical cheques until about 10 years ago (I think). Office bearers had to cosign and most were retired volunteers and not too tech savvy, but things really didn't change because the accounts were with a major Australian bank with lovely online banking functionality. Cosignatories had to be on the same computer to do transactions so it wasn't worth the bother. Thankfully other banks didn't have the same restriction and we switched.

Chamale
Jul 11, 2010

I'm helping!



I paid with a check at Home Depot in 2018 when I realized I'd forgotten my debit card and I didn't have cash. They had to find a more experienced employee who knew how to work the check-scanning machine.

Ugly In The Morning
Jul 1, 2010
Pillbug
I was at CVS a few months ago and got stuck behind an incredibly old (like “this is her last trip to CVS” old) lady for half an hour while she paid with a check. Gotta love how CVS is so understaffed all the time they can’t even open a second lane when something like that happens.

Slimy Hog
Apr 22, 2008

When I worked at the liquor store the only way we accepted a check is if we ran it through a system which ensured the funds existed and put a hold on those funds.... it make the process take longer, but was safer.

MightyJoe36
Dec 29, 2013

:minnie: Cat Army :minnie:

Ugly In The Morning posted:

I was at CVS a few months ago and got stuck behind an incredibly old (like “this is her last trip to CVS” old) lady for half an hour while she paid with a check. Gotta love how CVS is so understaffed all the time they can’t even open a second lane when something like that happens.

This seems to happen to me every time I go to Walgreens. There's invariably an old lady in front of me who is doing her grocery shopping there, and has coupons, then writes a check.

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


A White Guy posted:

Roughly 18 million Americans served in all three wars, which drove a tremendous expansion in the number of people who would go to a VFW hall. While I doubt the VFW will disappear altogether (as we're still fighting many, many smaller wars in other places), the number of people available to go to the VFW bar continues to plummet year by year.
There was also the generation gap: a lot of returning Vietnam vets felt unwelcome in VFW halls. Those hippies with their long hair and their etcetera etcetera.

Men's clubs of all sorts (Masons, Elks, Odd Fellows) are having a really hard time recruiting younger blood. tTere was an insurance fraud suit against the Knights of Columbus, claiming they were exaggerating their membership to keep their insurance line alive. In old movies from the '30s, '40s, there are "civic boosters" who are literally traveling to raise the importance of their city (okay, to get drunk and wave signs around.) They show up in comedy train scenes. I don't know the sociological changes that killed them off.

When I was growing up, Mom was a librarian and Dad taught computer science. The note cards by the phone were the backs of discarded catalog cards; our shopping lists were punch cards with not too many holes in them, held up by a binder clip. (Parents were Depression babies. Cleaning out their house was an unfun trip.) Neither of those are in common use.

And I'm sure it comes up every five pages, but "the rabbit died". In the rabbit test, you injected a woman's urine into a rabbit, then killed it and checked how big its ovaries were. If they'd gotten larger, the woman was pregnant. "The rabbit died" was shorthand for "I'm/she's pregnant", even though the rabbit always died. Note that "pregnant" was not a word you could use in polite conversation as late as the 1950s; the "I Love Lucy" episode in which Lucy announces an impending baby was officially titled "Lucy Is Enceinte", sending thousands in bafflement to their dictionaries.

e: My newest two credit cards came without the bumpy surface that let you roll an impressing machine over a multiple-copy form. I actually checked out using one of those machines sometime in the last couple of years, because the power was out. When I was a kid, when you used a credit card, the clerk pulled out three or four little booklets of stolen/fraudulent numbers and looked the number up in each of them.

Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 23:43 on Jul 7, 2020

Ugly In The Morning
Jul 1, 2010
Pillbug
Anyone who’s interested in the decline of communal groups should read Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam, it’s about exactly that and it’s really interesting. 20 years old at this point but still worth checking out.

Arsenic Lupin
Apr 12, 2012

This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.


Ooh! Thanks. I remember hearing about it, but never read it.

"I think this is where I came in", together with "Nobody will be seated during the last ten minutes of the movie!" Used to be you didn't look up showtimes, you just went to the movies. It was normal to buy a ticket, walk in any time, sit through whatever part of the movie was playing, the shorts, the funnies, and then watch the movie up until the time you'd already seen, when you left. This viewing habit features a lot in old movies, when the fleeing protagonist goes into a movie theater to hide from the pursuers.

Vietnamwees
May 8, 2008

by Fluffdaddy
You guys are right about seeing few people write out actual checks now, though I was just at Costco earlier today and noticed that all the registers still have a check writing platforms. I wonder how often those ever get used now.

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Guy Axlerod
Dec 29, 2008

Vietnamwees posted:

You guys are right about seeing few people write out actual checks now, though I was just at Costco earlier today and noticed that all the registers still have a check writing platforms. I wonder how often those ever get used now.

I put my ID there when buying booze.

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