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#41
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Nearly three feet
On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:00:56 +0000, Adam Funk
wrote: On 2013-11-04, Tony Cooper wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 14:00:33 +0000, Adam Funk wrote: On 2013-11-04, Tony Cooper wrote: The "air potato" is one of the most invasive plants found in Florida. The vine grows up on and strangles every tree that it is near. The vine grows very rapidly. It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. I don't think I'd heard of that plant until today. I giggled a little because it reminded me of "air biscuit". It's Florida's version of Kudzu. I thought Florida had actual kudzu. We may be so blessed, but I'm not aware of it as a problem in Central Florida. Of course, if it's like the air potato vine, I may wake up tomorrow and find my house engulfed. I wonder about a kudzu plant and an air potato plant fighting over the same tree. Which would win, and would the winner strangle the loser? -- Tony Cooper - Orlando FL |
#42
Posted to alt.usage.english,alt.home.repair
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Nearly three feet
Tony Cooper wrote:
On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:00:56 +0000, Adam Funk wrote: On 2013-11-04, Tony Cooper wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 14:00:33 +0000, Adam Funk wrote: On 2013-11-04, Tony Cooper wrote: The "air potato" is one of the most invasive plants found in Florida. The vine grows up on and strangles every tree that it is near. The vine grows very rapidly. It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. I don't think I'd heard of that plant until today. I giggled a little because it reminded me of "air biscuit". It's Florida's version of Kudzu. I thought Florida had actual kudzu. We may be so blessed, but I'm not aware of it as a problem in Central Florida. Of course, if it's like the air potato vine, I may wake up tomorrow and find my house engulfed. I wonder about a kudzu plant and an air potato plant fighting over the same tree. Which would win, and would the winner strangle the loser? LOL That's funny! -- Jenn |
#43
Posted to alt.usage.english,alt.home.repair
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Nearly three feet
On Tue, 5 Nov 2013 03:10:20 +0000 (UTC), Lewis
wrote: In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:28:38 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:02:32 -0500, "Percival P. Cassidy" wrote: On 11/03/13 06:49 pm, Tony Cooper wrote: I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? The tool is made in a country where the people's feet are much smaller than American feet. But the "Chinese foot" measure is actually 1.094ft. You have obviously not purchased shoes made in certain countries recently. If you take a size 9 in an American shoe, you will need a size 10 or 10.5. Obviously, this is because the maker's feet were smaller. Their lasts are based on their feet. My feet seem to have kept growing. From ages 13-30 I used to take size 8. Now only size 11 will do. Did you change shoe-size scales around the age of 30? Yes, we went metric. But those sizes had three digits, and they soon went back to single digit sizes, but the old ones were too small. -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
#44
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Nearly three feet
On 03/11/2013 22:51, Daniel Prince wrote:
I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? I agree with the "deceptive". I can see their logic; they are using "feet" as an integer quantity. So "one foot" is nowhere near three feet, but "two feet" is nearly three. I use a related deception by saying that my age is nearer to 60 than it is to 50. I could equally say that I'm nearer 50 than 40, but that deception is more obvious upon inspection (of my face). -- Steve Swift http://www.swiftys.org.uk/ |
#45
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Nearly three feet
Daniel Prince filted:
I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? How many feet does the grabber extend your reach?..."more than two" is enough for them to call it "nearly three"....r -- Me? Sarcastic? Yeah, right. |
#46
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Nearly three feet
Tony Cooper filted:
On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:00:56 +0000, Adam Funk wrote: On 2013-11-04, Tony Cooper wrote: It's Florida's version of Kudzu. I thought Florida had actual kudzu. We may be so blessed, but I'm not aware of it as a problem in Central Florida. Of course, if it's like the air potato vine, I may wake up tomorrow and find my house engulfed. I wonder about a kudzu plant and an air potato plant fighting over the same tree. Which would win, and would the winner strangle the loser? I wouldn't advise doing the experiment...they may decide to join forces.... Arizona's version of kudzu is apparently the quagga mussel....r -- Me? Sarcastic? Yeah, right. |
#47
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A year's time
On 05.11.13 13:38, Lewis wrote:
In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:35:37 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. To me, "a year's time" means 4 Nov 2014. But you used the present tense, suggesting that you are picking them up now, rather than in a year's time. "In a year's time" means that over the course of a year (any year) he picks up hundreds of them from the yard. That's obviously what he means, but it's not idiomatic for me. I would say what you did for that meaning, not "in a year's time", which suggests to me a year in the future, as it does for Steve. -- Lifelong resident of Adelaide, South Australia |
#48
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A year's time
On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 20:36:25 +1030, annily wrote:
On 05.11.13 13:38, Lewis wrote: In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:35:37 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. To me, "a year's time" means 4 Nov 2014. But you used the present tense, suggesting that you are picking them up now, rather than in a year's time. "In a year's time" means that over the course of a year (any year) he picks up hundreds of them from the yard. That's obviously what he means, but it's not idiomatic for me. I would say what you did for that meaning, not "in a year's time", which suggests to me a year in the future, as it does for Steve. Is this yet another pondian difference? -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
#49
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A year's time
On 05/11/13 14:08, Lewis wrote:
In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:35:37 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. To me, "a year's time" means 4 Nov 2014. But you used the present tense, suggesting that you are picking them up now, rather than in a year's time. "In a year's time" means that over the course of a year (any year) he picks up hundreds of them from the yard. Translation into my language: "over the course of a year". -- Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org For an e-mail address, see my web page. |
#50
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Nearly three feet
On 05/11/13 07:49, Moe DeLoughan wrote:
On 11/3/2013 4:51 PM, Daniel Prince wrote: I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? I think you're the reason the Foot Long Hot Dog stands at the fair now have "About a" in parentheses before their name. Subway sells foot-long sandwiches that are about ten inches long. -- Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org For an e-mail address, see my web page. |
#51
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Nearly three feet
On Sunday, November 3, 2013 5:51:11 PM UTC-5, Daniel Prince wrote:
I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? -- When I am in the kitchen, I often kick one of my cat's balls. After I kick it, he will sometimes play with it for a few seconds to several minutes. His favorite are the ones that rattle. He'll play with any ball that makes noise. They sell a lot of Chicago bull****. Violently overthrow the US religious government. |
#52
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Nearly three feet
On 2013-11-05, R H Draney wrote:
Tony Cooper filted: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:00:56 +0000, Adam Funk wrote: On 2013-11-04, Tony Cooper wrote: It's Florida's version of Kudzu. I thought Florida had actual kudzu. We may be so blessed, but I'm not aware of it as a problem in Central Florida. Of course, if it's like the air potato vine, I may wake up tomorrow and find my house engulfed. I wonder about a kudzu plant and an air potato plant fighting over the same tree. Which would win, and would the winner strangle the loser? I wouldn't advise doing the experiment...they may decide to join forces.... Arizona's version of kudzu is apparently the quagga mussel....r Do you get many of those in your garden? -- A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing? A: Top-posting. Q: What is the most annoying thing on usenet and in e-mail? |
#53
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Nearly three feet
Adam Funk wrote:
On 2013-11-05, R H Draney wrote: Tony Cooper filted: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:00:56 +0000, Adam Funk wrote: On 2013-11-04, Tony Cooper wrote: It's Florida's version of Kudzu. I thought Florida had actual kudzu. We may be so blessed, but I'm not aware of it as a problem in Central Florida. Of course, if it's like the air potato vine, I may wake up tomorrow and find my house engulfed. I wonder about a kudzu plant and an air potato plant fighting over the same tree. Which would win, and would the winner strangle the loser? I wouldn't advise doing the experiment...they may decide to join forces.... Arizona's version of kudzu is apparently the quagga mussel....r Do you get many of those in your garden? Rising damp can be a real problem. -- Les (BrE) Wenn's Arscherl brummt, is Herzerl g'sund (anon) |
#54
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Nearly three feet
On 2013-11-05, Leslie Danks wrote:
Adam Funk wrote: On 2013-11-05, R H Draney wrote: Arizona's version of kudzu is apparently the quagga mussel....r Do you get many of those in your garden? Rising damp can be a real problem. Nonsense, Miss Jones! -- Master Foo once said to a visiting programmer: "There is more Unix-nature in one line of shell script than there is in ten thousand lines of C." --- Eric Raymond |
#55
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Nearly three feet
On 11/5/2013 2:30 AM, R H Draney wrote:
Daniel Prince filted: I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? How many feet does the grabber extend your reach?..."more than two" is enough for them to call it "nearly three"....r Using the words "nearly three" *sounds* more positive than using another word like say "almost three". -- Jenn |
#56
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A year's time
On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:23:38 +1100, Peter Moylan
wrote: On 05/11/13 14:08, Lewis wrote: In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:35:37 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. To me, "a year's time" means 4 Nov 2014. But you used the present tense, suggesting that you are picking them up now, rather than in a year's time. "In a year's time" means that over the course of a year (any year) he picks up hundreds of them from the yard. Translation into my language: "over the course of a year". Or for me, simply "in a year". -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
#57
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Nearly three feet
On Sun, 03 Nov 2013 14:51:11 -0800, Daniel Prince
wrote: I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? Harbor Freight dont sell tools, they sell garbage. I wouldn't give them one cent of my money. But if I was you, I'd contact them, and tell them you want the missing 10 inches. If they refuse, get a good lawyer and sue the **** out of them. 10 inches is 10 inches and many women would die to get 10 inches! |
#58
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Nearly three feet
* Jenn:
On 11/5/2013 2:30 AM, R H Draney wrote: Daniel Prince filted: I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? How many feet does the grabber extend your reach?..."more than two" is enough for them to call it "nearly three"....r When my son is still up at 10:15, my wife reminds him that it's 11 and he should be in bed. I understand that she uses hyperbole, but I am still wondering how she expected him to learn the clock this way. Using the words "nearly three" *sounds* more positive than using another word like say "almost three". But it is in fact only "almost nearly three feet" (it would be nearly three feet if it was just a little longer). -- The Internet? Is that thing still around? - Homer Simpson |
#59
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Nearly three feet
* Peter Moylan:
On 05/11/13 07:49, Moe DeLoughan wrote: On 11/3/2013 4:51 PM, Daniel Prince wrote: I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? I think you're the reason the Foot Long Hot Dog stands at the fair now have "About a" in parentheses before their name. Subway sells foot-long sandwiches that are about ten inches long. Metric feet? I believe in this country the size is labelled "12 inch". -- *Multitasking* /v./ Screwing up several things at once |
#60
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A year's time
On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:43:45 +0200, Steve Hayes
wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:23:38 +1100, Peter Moylan wrote: On 05/11/13 14:08, Lewis wrote: In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:35:37 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. To me, "a year's time" means 4 Nov 2014. But you used the present tense, suggesting that you are picking them up now, rather than in a year's time. "In a year's time" means that over the course of a year (any year) he picks up hundreds of them from the yard. Translation into my language: "over the course of a year". Or for me, simply "in a year". Which, on this side of the pond, would be on 11/06/2014. "Over the course of a year", means that between now and 11/06/2014... |
#61
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Nearly three feet
Oliver Cromm wrote:
* Jenn: On 11/5/2013 2:30 AM, R H Draney wrote: Daniel Prince filted: I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? How many feet does the grabber extend your reach?..."more than two" is enough for them to call it "nearly three"....r When my son is still up at 10:15, my wife reminds him that it's 11 and he should be in bed. I understand that she uses hyperbole, but I am still wondering how she expected him to learn the clock this way. Using the words "nearly three" *sounds* more positive than using another word like say "almost three". But it is in fact only "almost nearly three feet" (it would be nearly three feet if it was just a little longer). true! So, why do we still talk that way? -- Jenn |
#63
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Nearly three feet
(alt.home.repair dropped)
Peter Moylan: Subway sells foot-long sandwiches that are about ten inches long. Oliver Cromm: Metric feet? I believe in this country the size is labelled "12 inch". I don't think so. In 2012 a Subway was one of the places I was going for lunch semi-regularly, and I remember the name "foot-long" because it contrasted with the simple "large" at Tim Hortons. Of course, it might have changed since then. I never measured them, but the Subway ones did look about a foot long to my eyes; the ones at Tim Hortons (since discontinued) were shorter but thicker. I looked at http://www.subway.ca, but while they are most eager to show you nutritional and other details for the "standard 6-inch" size, I found no reference to the larger size at all. However, a Google search allintext: 12-inch OR foot-long OR footlong site:subway.ca turned up a number of results, the first page of which all had "footlong" or "foot-long" in the given excerpts. -- Mark Brader |"It's bad enough that this... font doesn't distinguish Toronto | between I and l, but I'd never had a problem with V before!" | -- Steve Summit My text in this article is in the public domain. |
#64
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Nearly three feet
Mark Brader:
(alt.home.repair dropped) Well, apparently I mean I *meant* to drop it. Sorry. Followups directed to alt.usage.english this time, at least. -- Mark Brader | "Warning! Drinking beer, wine or spirits during Toronto | pregnancy can harm your baby." (City of Toronto | notice in restaurant washrooms--men's and women's) |
#65
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Nearly three feet
On 2013-11-06, Oliver Cromm wrote:
* Peter Moylan: On 05/11/13 07:49, Moe DeLoughan wrote: On 11/3/2013 4:51 PM, Daniel Prince wrote: I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? I think you're the reason the Foot Long Hot Dog stands at the fair now have "About a" in parentheses before their name. Subway sells foot-long sandwiches that are about ten inches long. Metric feet? I believe in this country the size is labelled "12 inch". A metric foot would be 30 cm, wouldn't it? -- Unix is a user-friendly operating system. It's just very choosy about its friends. |
#66
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Nearly three feet
* Adam Funk:
On 2013-11-06, Oliver Cromm wrote: * Peter Moylan: Subway sells foot-long sandwiches that are about ten inches long. Metric feet? I believe in this country the size is labelled "12 inch". A metric foot would be 30 cm, wouldn't it? I wasn't serious above - normally, "metric" implies multiples of 10. I was not aware that "metric foot" is actually used for a, how do you call it, transition measure? -- It wouldn't be a bad country if only we could kick out the ****ing pig Americans, eh? -- Margaret Atwood, Surfacing, p.1?? |
#67
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Nearly three feet
In article ,
Oliver Cromm wrote: * Adam Funk: On 2013-11-06, Oliver Cromm wrote: * Peter Moylan: Subway sells foot-long sandwiches that are about ten inches long. Metric feet? I believe in this country the size is labelled "12 inch". A metric foot would be 30 cm, wouldn't it? I wasn't serious above - normally, "metric" implies multiples of 10. I was not aware that "metric foot" is actually used for a, how do you call it, transition measure? It is certainly what timber merchants use." transition" - possibly, but it's been with us for rather too long for that. -- From KT24 Using a RISC OS computer running v5.18 |
#68
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Nearly three feet
charles wrote:
In article , Oliver Cromm wrote: * Adam Funk: On 2013-11-06, Oliver Cromm wrote: * Peter Moylan: Subway sells foot-long sandwiches that are about ten inches long. Metric feet? I believe in this country the size is labelled "12 inch". A metric foot would be 30 cm, wouldn't it? I wasn't serious above - normally, "metric" implies multiples of 10. I was not aware that "metric foot" is actually used for a, how do you call it, transition measure? It is certainly what timber merchants use." transition" - possibly, but it's been with us for rather too long for that. A ligneous equivalent of the grocer's thumb. -- Les (BrE) |
#69
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A year's time
On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 07:27:01 +0200, Steve Hayes
wrote: On Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:17:54 -0500, wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:43:45 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:23:38 +1100, Peter Moylan wrote: On 05/11/13 14:08, Lewis wrote: In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:35:37 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. To me, "a year's time" means 4 Nov 2014. But you used the present tense, suggesting that you are picking them up now, rather than in a year's time. "In a year's time" means that over the course of a year (any year) he picks up hundreds of them from the yard. Translation into my language: "over the course of a year". Or for me, simply "in a year". Which, on this side of the pond, would be on 11/06/2014. "Over the course of a year", means that between now and 11/06/2014... Depending on which side of which pond you happen to be on. Um, which is why I prefaced it with "on this side of the pond...". |
#70
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Nearly three feet
* charles:
In article , Oliver Cromm wrote: * Adam Funk: On 2013-11-06, Oliver Cromm wrote: * Peter Moylan: Subway sells foot-long sandwiches that are about ten inches long. Metric feet? I believe in this country the size is labelled "12 inch". A metric foot would be 30 cm, wouldn't it? I wasn't serious above - normally, "metric" implies multiples of 10. I was not aware that "metric foot" is actually used for a, how do you call it, transition measure? It is certainly what timber merchants use." transition" - possibly, but it's been with us for rather too long for that. The pound was first defined to be 500*g in Germany in the 1850s. A good hundred years later, it ceased to be an allowed measure in trade. It is now slowly vanishing from everyday language. So, maybe 100-200 years is realistic for this kind of transition. -- The Eskimoes had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them, there ought to be as many for love. -- Margaret Atwood, Surfacing, p.106 |
#71
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Nearly three feet
On Thu, 7 Nov 2013 13:47:53 -0500, Oliver Cromm
wrote: * charles: In article , Oliver Cromm wrote: * Adam Funk: On 2013-11-06, Oliver Cromm wrote: * Peter Moylan: Subway sells foot-long sandwiches that are about ten inches long. Metric feet? I believe in this country the size is labelled "12 inch". A metric foot would be 30 cm, wouldn't it? I wasn't serious above - normally, "metric" implies multiples of 10. I was not aware that "metric foot" is actually used for a, how do you call it, transition measure? It is certainly what timber merchants use." transition" - possibly, but it's been with us for rather too long for that. The pound was first defined to be 500*g in Germany in the 1850s. A good hundred years later, it ceased to be an allowed measure in trade. It is now slowly vanishing from everyday language. So, maybe 100-200 years is realistic for this kind of transition. Big difference there; you had before unification a good many measures, roughly but not exactly equal, with the same name. Standardizing -them- was the first step. ANMcC |
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Nearly three feet
On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 12:23:36 +0000, Adam Funk wrote:
On 2013-11-06, Oliver Cromm wrote: * Peter Moylan: On 05/11/13 07:49, Moe DeLoughan wrote: On 11/3/2013 4:51 PM, Daniel Prince wrote: I just bought a grabber from Harbor Freight Tools. On the box it says, "Extends your reach by nearly 3 feet." I measured the distance between the end of my thumb and the end of the grabber. The distance was less than 28 inches. I think that something described as "nearly" should be at least 90 percent of the size/length of what it is being compared to. Ninety percent of 36 is 32.4. Twenty-eight is less than 78 percent of 36. I think that Harbor Freight Tools is being deceptive when they describe this grabber. What do you think? I think you're the reason the Foot Long Hot Dog stands at the fair now have "About a" in parentheses before their name. Subway sells foot-long sandwiches that are about ten inches long. Metric feet? I believe in this country the size is labelled "12 inch". A metric foot would be 30 cm, wouldn't it? Or 290mm. When South Africa went metric in 1971 the price of building rose, because metric bricks were smaller and took longer to lay. Then a brickmaker introduced the M290 brick, whose longest dimension was 290mm, which made it bigger than the old Imperial bricks. -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
#73
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A year's time
On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 13:39:06 -0500, wrote:
On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 07:27:01 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote: On Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:17:54 -0500, wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:43:45 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:23:38 +1100, Peter Moylan wrote: On 05/11/13 14:08, Lewis wrote: In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:35:37 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. To me, "a year's time" means 4 Nov 2014. But you used the present tense, suggesting that you are picking them up now, rather than in a year's time. "In a year's time" means that over the course of a year (any year) he picks up hundreds of them from the yard. Translation into my language: "over the course of a year". Or for me, simply "in a year". Which, on this side of the pond, would be on 11/06/2014. "Over the course of a year", means that between now and 11/06/2014... Depending on which side of which pond you happen to be on. Um, which is why I prefaced it with "on this side of the pond...". For which values of "this"? -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk |
#74
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A year's time
On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 13:39:06 -0500, wrote:
On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 07:27:01 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote: On Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:17:54 -0500, wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:43:45 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:23:38 +1100, Peter Moylan wrote: On 05/11/13 14:08, Lewis wrote: In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:35:37 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. To me, "a year's time" means 4 Nov 2014. But you used the present tense, suggesting that you are picking them up now, rather than in a year's time. "In a year's time" means that over the course of a year (any year) he picks up hundreds of them from the yard. Translation into my language: "over the course of a year". Or for me, simply "in a year". Which, on this side of the pond, would be on 11/06/2014. "Over the course of a year", means that between now and 11/06/2014... Depending on which side of which pond you happen to be on. Um, which is why I prefaced it with "on this side of the pond...". Your location is not known to us by your posts. -- Tony Cooper - Orlando FL |
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Nearly three feet
Tony Cooper wrote:
Don't, if it's that blue plastic one. I bought one. There are better ones available. Are the blue ones of poorer quality than the original Gopher(tm) brand red ones? I use one - a better one, now - when I pick up the fallen branches, pine cones, and potato plants from my yard before mowing the grass. Could you please tell me which one you use, where you got it and how it is better? -- When a cat sits in a human's lap both the human and the cat are usually happy. The human is happy because he thinks the cat is sitting on him/her because it loves her/him. The cat is happy because it thinks that by sitting on the human it is dominant over the human. |
#76
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Nearly three feet
On Fri, 08 Nov 2013 03:02:55 -0800, Daniel Prince
wrote: Tony Cooper wrote: Don't, if it's that blue plastic one. I bought one. There are better ones available. Are the blue ones of poorer quality than the original Gopher(tm) brand red ones? Dunno. I've only seen the blue one at Harbor Freight. I use one - a better one, now - when I pick up the fallen branches, pine cones, and potato plants from my yard before mowing the grass. Could you please tell me which one you use, where you got it and how it is better? It has an aluminum shaft, better grip, and much better grasping jaws. I don't remember where I purchased it, though. I think it was about $15. -- Tony Cooper - Orlando FL |
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A year's time
On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 22:26:04 -0500, Tony Cooper
wrote: On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 13:39:06 -0500, wrote: On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 07:27:01 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote: On Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:17:54 -0500, wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:43:45 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:23:38 +1100, Peter Moylan wrote: On 05/11/13 14:08, Lewis wrote: In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:35:37 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. To me, "a year's time" means 4 Nov 2014. But you used the present tense, suggesting that you are picking them up now, rather than in a year's time. "In a year's time" means that over the course of a year (any year) he picks up hundreds of them from the yard. Translation into my language: "over the course of a year". Or for me, simply "in a year". Which, on this side of the pond, would be on 11/06/2014. "Over the course of a year", means that between now and 11/06/2014... Depending on which side of which pond you happen to be on. Um, which is why I prefaced it with "on this side of the pond...". Your location is not known to us by your posts. Steve's is. |
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Nearly three feet
On 2013-11-08, Steve Hayes wrote:
When South Africa went metric in 1971 the price of building rose, because metric bricks were smaller and took longer to lay. Then a brickmaker introduced the M290 brick, whose longest dimension was 290mm, which made it bigger than the old Imperial bricks. The standard British brick now is 215 × 102.5 × 65 mm; if you use the standard 10 mm joints, the length is twice the width or 3× the height. (I think the joints were smaller with the Imperial size.) -- Unix is a user-friendly operating system. It's just very choosy about its friends. |
#79
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A year's time
On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 22:26:04 -0500, Tony Cooper
wrote: On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 13:39:06 -0500, wrote: On Thu, 07 Nov 2013 07:27:01 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote: On Wed, 06 Nov 2013 17:17:54 -0500, wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:43:45 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote: On Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:23:38 +1100, Peter Moylan wrote: On 05/11/13 14:08, Lewis wrote: In message Steve Hayes wrote: On Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:35:37 -0500, Tony Cooper wrote: It produces tubers that resemble potatoes. These fall to the ground and start a new plant. I have pick up literally hundreds from the yard in a year's time because I have a wooded area that's part of the property. To me, "a year's time" means 4 Nov 2014. But you used the present tense, suggesting that you are picking them up now, rather than in a year's time. "In a year's time" means that over the course of a year (any year) he picks up hundreds of them from the yard. Translation into my language: "over the course of a year". Or for me, simply "in a year". Which, on this side of the pond, would be on 11/06/2014. "Over the course of a year", means that between now and 11/06/2014... Depending on which side of which pond you happen to be on. Um, which is why I prefaced it with "on this side of the pond...". Your location is not known to us by your posts. |
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