SLoW nIGht? Dumb Questions?

[Dan & Corinne]

Things seem a bit slow tonight... I got bored... Started to wonder about some of you... Thought of some trivial questions...

People in Hawaii calls the portion of the USA that has 48 states "The Mainland" what do people in Alaska call it?

Are emus a toy version of an osterich?

If I own Yorkies and my last name is York, does it make me a dog? Or is the dog English?

People in Japan are Japanese, Mexico is Mexican, so why are people in Netherlands called Dutch?

Americans say a dog goes "Arf! Arf!" in Japan they say "Wan! Wan!" what do they say in other languages?

Why is there a lock on the doors at 7-11?

Feel free to answer any of the above or post more dumb questions... Heck! Maybe we'll learn something!

[brosie1823]

Lol I actually know the answer to one! There are locks on the doors at 7-11 because they have to lock it if they go to the bathroom. I got bored one night and asked the person there! And if they are ever robbed, they have to lock the doors until the police get there.

[Dan & Corinne]

LOL!!! No kidding...! I never thought of that!

[BabyFidgette]

Originally Posted by Dan & Corinne

LOL!!! No kidding...! I never thought of that!

I got one for you that I actually kinda figured out the answer to:

Why is there Braille on the drive through ATM?

[BabyFidgette]

Got some answers for you: Barking in Foreign Tongues

http://www.wtamu.edu/~jcraven/essay3.htm

[bugaboosmom]

Dumb Night? Slow Questions?

[YorkieShadow]

Yes it is very slow. It was slow last night too. Hum wonder whats up?

[Dan & Corinne]

Originally Posted by BabyFidgette

I got one for you that I actually kinda figured out the answer to:

Why is there Braille on the drive through ATM?

This one made me spit out my pot pie!!!

No! Jewel! Don't eat it!

[Dan & Corinne]

Originally Posted by BabyFidgette

Got some answers for you: Barking in Foreign Tongues

http://www.wtamu.edu/~jcraven/essay3.htm

Ok, seriously.... you went and found how a dog barks in different languages????
You win! You are now Crowned as the "Royal Queen of Boredom"!

[BabyFidgette]

Originally Posted by Dan & Corinne

Ok, seriously.... you went and found how a dog barks in different languages????
You win! You are now Crowned as the "Royal Queen of Boredom"!

You guys are soooo funny!!! No...talk about boredom...I just made a moving avatar for someone who didn't even ask for one! Am I going nucking futs or what??? And...I have to get up for work tomorrow!!

PS. I've always wanted to be a queen. Wait, I forgot, I'm already one. The Queen Bee, as in Beeotch!!!

[Dan & Corinne]

Originally Posted by BabyFidgette

I got one for you that I actually kinda figured out the answer to:

Why is there Braille on the drive through ATM?

I forgot.

Why?

[fasteddie]

Why the Dutch are called the Dutch...
---
Subject: Why are people from Holland called Dutch?

Question
Really simple question and which is (I know) shouldn't bother me. Why are people from Holland called Dutch?

I know it's used as a corny joke but I wonder if anyone ever stops to wonder what the answer really is?

nswer
Hello Simon,

Well, people from Holland are called Dutch by English speaking people only. In German and French and even in Russian they are called

- German: Holländer, Niederländer
- French: les Hollandais
- Russisn: gollantskij

As you can see all these words are derived from the Dutch word Holland.
Strictly spoken even Holland is wrong. Holland was the name of the county Holland until 1795. But as the economic and cultural centre of The Netherlands was situated in the old county of Holland, this last name stood for the whole of The Netherlands. Moreover the name "The Netherlands" also applies for Belgium historically. Originally there were 17 counties united as the Low Countries, in French Les Pays Bas. History divided them into two groups which became Belgium and Netherlands.
Now about Dutch. This word is the English counterpart of the Dutch words "Diets" and "Duits". In Dutch "Duits" means "German", where the Germans call themselves "Deutsche". Around 1290 in the northern and eastern part of the Netherlands the word was: "duutsc" and as the Frisian people (living in the North) spoke a language much more alike English, the English adapted "dutch" from Frisian "duutsc". Later "duutsc" became the Dutch word for our eastern neighbors: Duits (German).
I know that one can find a lot of expressions in an English dictionary related to habits which are supposed to be typically Dutch. But here as in so many cases the pot calls the kettle black.

Have a nice day,

Carel Janssen

http://experts.about.com/q/Dutch-235...lled-Dutch.htm

[fasteddie]

Why is there braille on drive-up teller machines?

20-May-1994

Dear Cecil:

A question gnaws at me. We've all used those drive-up teller machines at banks. Why are the buttons identified with braille? --Vox Populi, Baltimore

Cecil replies:

Congratulations, Vox, you are the one millionth person to ask this question! Please send us your address so we can burn down your house.

Hey, just kidding! Although if you ask ever why we park on the driveway and drive on the parkway, you won't get lucky twice.

Anyway, you asked a question, and by God you are going to get an answer. Drive-up ATM buttons are marked with braille because federal regulations require it. To be specific, section 4.34.4 of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities (Appendix to Part 1191, 36 CFR Chapter XI, issued pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) says, "Instructions and all information for use [of an automated teller machine] shall be made accessible to and independently usable by persons with vision impairments." Drive-up ATMs, unlike the walk-up variety, don't need to be wheelchair accessible, but the rules make no exception regarding accessibility by the blind.

You're now thinking: boy, those federal bureaucrats sure are stupid. Don't they realize a blind person isn't going to be able to drive to a drive-up ATM? Cecil reserves judgment on the stupidity question, but even if the feds weren't smart enough to notice this little problem on their own, there were plenty of poeple who pointed it out for them before the rule was finalized. The American Bankers Association, for one, asked that drive-up machines be exempt from the visually-impaired requirement, arguing that a blind person using a drive-up ATM would have to be a passenger and that the driver of the vehicle could help with the transaction.

No dice, said the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, reasoning that driver assistance "would not allow the [blind] individual to use the ATM independently." This may sound like one of those absurd points of principle, but ATM manufacturers say a fair number of blind people do take cabs to drive-up ATMs, and nobody wants to ask a total stranger to help with a financial transaction.

Your question does point to a more serious problem, which other readers have also raised: how the hell is a blind person supposed to use any kind of ATM? Whether the keypad numbers are identified with braille or not, there isn't any braille translation of the on-screen instructions, without which the machine is useless. Maybe, you're thinking, the problem isn't the brainless bureaucrats, it's the brainless (or cynical) bankers and ATM builders, who figure a pretense of accessibility will get them off the hook.

But that isn't it either. At the time the accessibility rules were written, and to a great extent still today, there was no agreement on the best way to make ATMs accessible to the blind. More than 50 ideas have been proposed, including a "talking machine," detailed braille instructions, an automated "bank-by-phone" setup with a telephone handset and a keypad, and so on. (Sample problem: if you use a "voice guided" ATM, how do you keep others from overhearing?) Another difficulty was retrofitting the thousands of machines already installed.

The bankers and ATM builders argued that the best thing to do was leave the federal rules vague until the industry figured out a practical approach. The not-entirely-satisfactory solution in the interim has been to (1) mark ATM keypads, input and output slots, etc., with braille, and (2) send braille ATM instruction brochures or audio cassettes to blind bank patrons requesting them. The theory is that while ATM operation varies from machine to machine, people conduct most of their transactions at just a few locations, the operating sequences for which they can memorize. The drawback of this approach is that you have to know that the special instructions are available and you can only use the machines you have instructions for.

Happily, the banks and ATM builders have been reasonably diligent in trying to come up with more accessible equipment, some of which is starting to show up in the marketplace now. About time, say some advocacy groups. "We don't want to see information technology [e.g., ATMs] become the new curb," says Elga Joffee of the American Foundation for the Blind. "There's certainly no reason to squelch evolving technology. I just wish they'd hurry up and evolve it."

AND NOW FOR THE FUNNY VERSION

Dear Cecil:

The question of why they have braille on drive-up ATMs once showed up in the Internet Oracle a couple years back (you could probably search the Oracle archives for it), and the answer was something like: "Because the dog can't be expected to drive and use the ATM machine!" --Rishi Fish, via AOL

Dear Cecil:

That's right up there with: "Why don't blind people bungee jump? Because it scares the heck out of the dogs." --Seal TX, via AOL

Cecil replies:

You gotta love the Internet Oracle (www.pcnet.com/~stenor/oracle/). It proves that if the Teeming Millions combine their resources and answer each other's questions, they can be just as funny as me.

--CECIL ADAMS

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_010.html

[Dan & Corinne]

Originally Posted by fasteddie

Why the Dutch are called the Dutch...
---
Subject: Why are people from Holland called Dutch?

Question
Really simple question and which is (I know) shouldn't bother me. Why are people from Holland called Dutch?

Well, people from Holland are called Dutch by English speaking people only. In German and French and even in Russian they are called

- German: Holländer, Niederländer
- French: les Hollandais
- Russisn: gollantskij

As you can see all these words are derived from the Dutch word Holland.
Strictly spoken even Holland is wrong. Holland was the name of the county Holland until 1795. But as the economic and cultural centre of The Netherlands was situated in the old county of Holland, this last name stood for the whole of The Netherlands. Moreover the name "The Netherlands" also applies for Belgium historically. Originally there were 17 counties united as the Low Countries, in French Les Pays Bas. History divided them into two groups which became Belgium and Netherlands.
Now about Dutch. This word is the English counterpart of the Dutch words "Diets" and "Duits". In Dutch "Duits" means "German", where the Germans call themselves "Deutsche". Around 1290 in the northern and eastern part of the Netherlands the word was: "duutsc" and as the Frisian people (living in the North) spoke a language much more alike English, the English adapted "dutch" from Frisian "duutsc". Later "duutsc" became the Dutch word for our eastern neighbors: Duits (German).
I know that one can find a lot of expressions in an English dictionary related to habits which are supposed to be typically Dutch. But here as in so many cases the pot calls the kettle black.

Have a nice day,

Carel Janssen

http://experts.about.com/q/Dutch-235...lled-Dutch.htm

I am Honored by a response by the Jedi Master Yoda. I am humbled by your wisdom...

Seriously... I didn't know and I did learn something today... Now if you ask me again tomorrow..... ????

Thank you!

Do you know the answer to the whole York / Yorkie question?

PS: If you ever go on Who Wants to Be a Millionare... Don't use me as yur life line!

[Sherry Lynn]

Originally Posted by fasteddie

Dear Cecil:

That's right up there with: "Why don't blind people bungee jump? Because it scares the heck out of the dogs." --Seal TX, via AOL

Cecil replies:

You gotta love the Internet Oracle (www.pcnet.com/~stenor/oracle/). It proves that if the Teeming Millions combine their resources and answer each other's questions, they can be just as funny as me.

--CECIL ADAMS

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_010.html

I woke up a couple of dogs with that laugh!!