Comedic "things you would ban": minor things that irritate you

[Cowley]

But then, neither are we.

Touché

 

[yorksrob]

Touché

Alas, it had to be said

 

[gg1]

There is considerable disagreement in America, as to whether cats should be kept indoors, or allowed to roam freely. Majority opinion there seems to tend towards keeping them indoors -- life outdoors over there, is seen as a lot more dangerous for the cats themselves, than here: a lot more creatures ready and eager to kill them.

The disagreement over whether cats should be kept indoors or outdoors are just as strong in Britain as in the US using much the same arguments, only difference is a reversal of the majority opinion.

 

[Calthrop]

The disagreement over whether cats should be kept indoors or outdoors are just as strong in Britain as in the US using much the same arguments, only difference is a reversal of the majority opinion.

I din't realise, re Britain -- thought very big majority opinion here was "let 'em roam". Trump card in America for the indoors option: is of course the plenteous supply there of coyotes / bobcats / feral dogs / large raptors / who-knows-what-else, eager to make a meal of any puddytat they encounter...

 

[Bevan Price]

yorksrob said:


Cats really don't suit being kept indoors. They are natural rovers.

They aren’t natural to our environment though, and certainly not at the ridiculous current density

Cats are a bit dimwitted when it comes to road traffic and railways. I have had more than one near miss due to cats running across the road in front of the car. And more than one cat has make the mistake of sitting on the rails. Some years ago, another cat survived only long enough to reach my garden after being hit by a car in our road. That is something cat owners ought to remember before letting their cat roam loose.

 

[alex397]

Stealing glasses from pubs being seen as a ‘bit of a laugh’.
I know people who do this, and it really annoys me. Usually the impressive Belgian or German glasses.

The arguements are that the glasses arn’t really worth much, the pub usually gets them free from the brewery, and that some breweries want them taken so it advertises the beer elsewhere.

But on that logic, I could also shoplift some low value branded products from a supermarket, as they are unlikely to lose much money from it.

I have been in a pub and asked if they have any glasses for sale, and they told me to just take it! But I know some pubs who really don’t like their glasses being taken.

It’s especially irritating seeing as many pubs are struggling and need all the help they can get.

 

[yorksrob]

Cats are a bit dimwitted when it comes to road traffic and railways. I have had more than one near miss due to cats running across the road in front of the car. And more than one cat has make the mistake of sitting on the rails. Some years ago, another cat survived only long enough to reach my garden after being hit by a car in our road. That is something cat owners ought to remember before letting their cat roam loose.

My own cat (or should I say the cat for whom I was staff) was laid up.for a few weeks after being hit by a car outside the house.

The interesting thing was that they had to shave some of his fur off, and he had the same tabby colour scheme under the fur !

 

[gg1]

I din't realise, re Britain -- thought very big majority opinion here was "let 'em roam". Trump card in America for the indoors option: is of course the plenteous supply there of coyotes / bobcats / feral dogs / large raptors / who-knows-what-else, eager to make a meal of any puddytat they encounter...

Letting them roam is definitely the majority opinion here but I wouldn't necessarily say it's a 'very big majority'.

In smaller towns or rural areas of the US then yes, the risk of being killed by other animals is far higher than in equivalent areas here but in major cities the main danger is the same as in Britain, namely traffic. The other big danger is the greatly increase risk of picking up diseases, parasites or infections, either from hunting/eating the local wildlife or from fighting other cats. Far rarer, but still a concern nonetheless, is the chance they may encounter the sort of person who gets their kicks from killing or torturing cats.

 

[Meerkat]

But then, neither are we.

Well we are natural to our environment, and at a density we can self sustain.
Domestic Cats are totally unnatural here and only sustained at such a damaging density by humans

 

[XAM2175]

I have been in a pub and asked if they have any glasses for sale, and they told me to just take it! But I know some pubs who really don’t like their glasses being taken.

I've known a few to hold deposits on the more desirable glasses.

 

[yorksrob]

Well we are natural to our environment, and at a density we can self sustain.
Domestic Cats are totally unnatural here and only sustained at such a damaging density by humans

In that case, cats are part of our own self sustainability or non self sustainability, so you takes your choice.

 

[py_megapixel]

Wireless access points provided for free by the internet service provider. Every telecommunications company sends you one when you commence a contract with them, and they're almost all rubbish, slow and dropping connections all the time

Why don't they just provide a device which acts as just the modem, then advise people to buy their own WAP and/or Ethernet switch depending on the functionality they need (and if don't already have one)?

If you're going to keep sending the free ones, at least force people to choose the SSID as part of the setup process. There's something annoying about just seeing a list of "BT-HUB-xxx" and so on.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

A few more for Mr. Hibbert's Sussex tithebarn:

• American "Wrestling".
• British people who follow American Football when we have our own superior version of egg-chasing... two, in fact.
• Andrew Lloyd-Webber
• Property listings with photos that aren't focused properly.
• People who use "random" as a descriptor for objects or events which are just unusual or unexpected.
• Beer that is marketed as vegan or vegetarian: surely that's a given, unless you class yeast as meat!

 

[duncanp]

I would ban people from using the expression T's and C's when they mean Terms and Conditions.

I would also stop people from complaining about the erection of new mobile phone masts in their area if they own a mobile phone. With the increasing use of smartphones for just about everything in daily life these day, how do you think that the companies are going to provide enough bandwith for everyone?

And lastly I would ban the ridiculous spiel that comes at the end of radio adverts where someone talks at 100 miles per hour running through a verbal version of the small print containing all the terms and conditions and get out clauses that they would rather people were not aware of.

 

[alex397]

.

• Beer that is marketed as vegan or vegetarian: surely that's a given, unless you class yeast as meat!

I believe fish bladders are traditionally used in the filtration process, as well as other animal products used in production.

 

[Techniquest]

I believe fish bladders are traditionally used in the filtration process, as well as other animal products used in production.

Well I have to say that is a new fact for me! I stopped drinking beer a long time ago, but just the thought of the above makes me glad I stopped! Where's the queasy emoticon...

One does wonder what advantages a fish bladder brings to the process, and indeed what other animal products get used.

 

[nlogax]

I would ban people from using the expression T's and C's when they mean Terms and Conditions.

Why?

 

[duncanp]

Why?

It just annoys me, I can't really explain why.

Rather like the person who keeps saying "LISTEN LIVE, ON THE BBC SOUNDS APP" whenever you are listening to BBC Radio 2. That is so irritating ( ) but no doubt some trendy hipster BBC executive thinks there is some point to it, and it will make people switch off FM and digital radio and change to listening on line.

 

[nlogax]

One does wonder what advantages a fish bladder brings to the process, and indeed what other animal products get used.

Isinglass (ie the gelatine-like substance derived from dried fish bladders) dehaze beers, making them clearer and brighter. Once you get rid of that from the brewing process you've basically got yourself a vegan beer.

 

[Ediswan]

Wireless access points provided for free by the internet service provider. Every telecommunications company sends you one when you commence a contract with them, and they're almost all rubbish, slow and dropping connections all the time

Why don't they just provide a device which acts as just the modem, then advise people to buy their own WAP and/or Ethernet switch depending on the functionality they need (and if don't already have one)?

Technical support. The ISPs advertise a wifi service, not just the wired internet connection. Providing remote technical support for their own equipment is hard enough. Doing the same for all the third party equipment available would be nigh on impossible.

My option is to use my own hardware, including the VDSL modem. But I keep the ISP supplied hardware to hand and switch to that if I need support (which is fortunately extremely rare).

 

[Techniquest]

Isinglass (ie the gelatine-like substance derived from dried fish bladders) dehaze beers, making them clearer and brighter. Once you get rid of that from the brewing process you've basically got yourself a vegan beer.

Fair enough, thanks for the explanation

 

[Westcountryman]

In Germany, only 4 ingredients are allowed in beer, these being water, barley, hops and yeast according to the Reinheitsgebot laws. Germans manage to brew clear beers without the use of any animal products, so are presumably vegan.

 

[Meerkat]

The misuse of ‘decimated’
The growing use of ‘across’, as in ‘we will be across all the sports across the BBC’

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Isinglass (ie the gelatine-like substance derived from dried fish bladders) dehaze beers, making them clearer and brighter. Once you get rid of that from the brewing process you've basically got yourself a vegan beer.

Pretty much all the best beers are cloudy anyway... but in any case, I assume these fish bladders are largely a by-product of commercial fishing rather than breweries sending out their own trawlers... so it's in a sense ethically neutral, the rights and wrongs of commercial fishing aside.

I obviously had no idea that such things were part of the brewing process, but clearly (pun intended!) not all breweries use this method and haven't for a long time. Advertising your beer as vegan or vegetarian all of a sudden in the last few years just seems like bandwagon-jumping... especially if a premium is charged for the veggie ( ) option.

 

[duncanp]

In Germany, only 4 ingredients are allowed in beer, these being water, barley, hops and yeast according to the Reinheitsgebot laws. Germans manage to brew clear beers without the use of any animal products, so are presumably vegan.

And in France, the terms "vegetarian sausage" or "vegan steak" are banned.

France to ban use of meat terms to describe vegetable-based products

Makers of meat-free foods to be banned from using terms like sausages or steaks to describe products.

www.bbc.co.uk

France to ban use of meat terms to describe vegetable-based products​

Vegetable-based products such as soya steaks or vegetarian sausages marketed as meat substitutes are to be banned in France for "misleading" consumers.
Food producers will no longer be able to use "steak", "sausage" or any other meat term to describe products that are not partly or wholly made up of meat.
The measure will also apply to vegetarian or vegan products marketed as dairy alternatives.
Failure to comply will lead to fines of up to €300,000 (£260,000).
The regulation, which was tabled in the form of an amendment to an agriculture bill, was proposed by a farmer MP, who argues that products such as vegan sausages and other vegetarian alternatives are confusing for consumers.

"It is important to combat false claims. Our products must be designated correctly: the terms of #cheese or #steak will be reserved for products of animal origin," tweeted Jean-Baptiste Moreau, a member of President Emmanuel Macron's political movement La République En Marche.
The measure was approved by French MPs on Thursday.

Last year, the European Court of Justice ruled that plant-based foods could not be sold in the EU using terms such as milk, butter and cheese

 

[61653 HTAFC]

And in France, the terms "vegetarian sausage" or "vegan steak" are banned.

France to ban use of meat terms to describe vegetable-based products

Makers of meat-free foods to be banned from using terms like sausages or steaks to describe products.

www.bbc.co.uk

One wonders what else you could call a sausage-shaped vegetarian foodstuff... especially in France where as I understand it they're very conservative when it comes to adding new words to the lexicon.

 

[Westcountryman]

One wonders what else you could call a sausage-shaped vegetarian foodstuff... especially in France where as I understand it they're very conservative when it comes to adding new words to the lexicon.

I'm not sure they are against new words, it's just that they don't like foreign words like 'le parking', 'le weekend' and 'le sandwich' (plural sandwichs) compromising the purity of the language, and patently failing.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I'm not sure they are against new words, it's just that they don't like foreign words like 'le parking', 'le weekend' and 'le sandwich' (plural sandwichs) compromising the purity of the language, and patently failing.

I didn't say they (the group that decides such things, whose name escapes me) were against new words per se, just that they're conservative about what new words they consider to be proper French... for example they considered "le computeur" to be too foreign, so contrived "l'ordinateur" instead.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It's the 'Académie Française', I believe.

 

[xotGD]

Eateries with tables that are too small to properly accommodate two plates of food, two drinks, condiments, etc.

Also eateries that have menus tucked into a holder in the middle of the table that are so huge that you can't see the person sat opposite.

Also staff in such places who say "perfect" when you tell them what you would like to eat and drink.

Even worse, hotel receptionists who say "perfect" when you tell them your name.