Yantelope V2 Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Yes, I just pasted in the é from the character map. Handy when singing a song. ♫we're men, we're men in tights! ♫ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Interesting thing about "ye olde ___" - it's not meant to be read "yee" but "the", as it was originally written with the letter thorn, as "þe". As I understand, "Ye" and "Þe" looked similar in blackletter calligraphy and started to be used interchangeably in common words before "th" was adopted. We have QI on our telly box too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 alt+130 (on the numpad only) also makes é Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope V2 Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 Cool! I never knew you could do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 I learned it when I was a kid because of the word "Pokémon". True story. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuchikoma Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 We have QI on our telly box too. Oh? Haha... I am woefully behind on QI so I didn't know they'd covered that. I actually saw it 2 or 3 times on Reddit, which probably came from that episode of QI. I need to catch up - Stephen Fry is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted March 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 Hmm, so a question arises (due to this joke on r/doctorwho): Here in the UK our emergency phone number is 999. However 911(US) and 112(EU) can also work. Does the same work in reverse in the US? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 AFAIK the only thing that works in the US is 911. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope V2 Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 Yeah, we invented 911 dangit! Never tried dialing 999 though, might work. I don't really want to try it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 Yeah, we invented 911 dangit! You may have invented 911, but not its superior precedent of 999. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 2, 2012 Report Share Posted April 2, 2012 Yeah, we invented 911 dangit! Never tried dialing 999 though, might work. I don't really want to try it though. I'm sure the emergency services will be quite understanding. Any Aussies on the forum? I'm assuming they use 666. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted April 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 Apparently a gear stick in the US is enough to make your car mostly theft proof. So what's with the whole lack of these things in your car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope V2 Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 Is this based on a study or something? That is interesting. I've never learned to drive a stick because almost every car is an automatic these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 I love my manual transmission, but my next car is going to have to be an automatic because my wife hates driving a manual (though she can do it if she has to). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yantelope V2 Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 manuals suck if you commute and get stuck in rush hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 Apparently a gear stick in the US is enough to make your car mostly theft proof. So what's with the whole lack of these things in your car? Ease of use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 manuals suck if you commute and get stuck in rush hour. Eh, once you get used to it it's not so bad, though an automatic would obviously be less work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madbassman39 Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 In the US we don't require you to take your drivers test in a manual in order to be permitted to drive manual. So most people learn to drive automatic and just eventually learn to drive stick. I always wanted to learn to drive stick, so I did, and my dad being from the UK wanted all of us kids to learn stick, so my brother, sister and I learned. It worked out great because now that I work at an auto shop (for 1 more day after today) I get more things to do when the occasional stick shift comes in to the shop. I enjoy driving stick, when not in traffic, but America in the mid to early 50's marketed automatics for women so they could have an easier time driving. Well as it turns out, people weren't really ready to have two cars per household just yet (it took about 10 more years), so when someone was buying a car, they would typically purchase automatic because that's what they were told women like to drive. Fast forward 10 years when America had its muscle car and pony car boom, it was rather common to get a fast sporty car with an automatic. People just wanted it. Not to mention that in cars like my 65 mustang have a "Performance drive" option, which allowed the car to stay in first gear longer (and in some cases actually get the car to drive first gear at all, as in regular drive, my mustang only shifted once, 2nd to 3rd, never went to first). Over all Americans just found that automatics had advanced so much that the disadvantage to driving one over a stick was less, and it was so much easier to use, that it became the norm. As far as the stick being an anti-theft device, there is absolutely no surprise to me. I know more people that cannot drive stick than those that can. Especially in Southern California where our biggest tourist feature is our incredibly packed and non moving traffic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battra92 Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 (edited) I was going to post something but mbm layed it out much better than I ever could. Manuals do provide better gas mileage (slightly) but I never got the snobbery around them. I'll gladly drive a "woman's car" if it's easier to drive. By the way, don't European cars have much lower displacement than their American cousins and on an engine like that, automatic transmissions would make them much too slow? Edited April 3, 2012 by Battra92 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 Yeah, the snobbery is silly. I drive a manual cause I find it to be more fun, but that's all it is to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted April 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 I'm not being a snob just curious :/ I don't even drive anyway. (Well.. I don't have a license to at least) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuchikoma Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 It's true - in Canada too. Maybe manual came to be seen as old fashioned, like crank starters? Funny too, since auto is only now starting to be more efficient, with things like locking torque converters and CVT transmissions coming into popular use. Most people would know someone who can drive stick - I know a couple, not counting parents. None of my coworkers were into it though - seemingly only car fans and people who drove in the 60s or 70s. I've read about cases in the 'states where car thieves would steal a car, get in, fool around a bit, then flee on foot - or worse, carjackers would steal the car AND the driver because they can't drive it themselves. Personally, I like stick shift - it's the exact same pattern Dean posted. I got a motorcycle a couple years before my car and when I drove the car for a while, I found that I missed having a clutch in other cars. It's nice being able to accelerate OR slow my car my modulating the gas pedal. It drives me nuts trying to find the sweet spot in an automatic, accelerating, then slowing with brakes, then accelerating, etc. The anti-theft effect is just a bonus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luftwaffles Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 I've been noticing the hybrid-stick types of cars appearing a lot around here, where it's setup like an automatic in almost everything, but then you can pop the stick to the left or right to manually shift, like this. I'm lazy and am pretty shit at driving a stick, but I drive a car with one of those and sort of love it. It's still only got 4 speeds like most automatics, but the ability to use your gears to slow down when going down a steep hill rather than your brakes is something that I really miss about manual transmissions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madbassman39 Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 (edited) My brother's kia has one of those, its an interesting way to drive. Considering that to change gears up you literally push the throw up instead of alternating up down up, it really throws me off. My brother's kia acts like the driver is dumb, which is a problem, so if I want to keep the car in the lower gears, the damn thing will eventually change for me. Its a problem that the car thinks that the driver doesn't know what they are doing, so the car will correct you in order to save you from destroying it. This is fine for people who are unaware of what they are doing, but for anyone who understands how rev's work and the damage they can create and is trying to do something specific (such as going down hill) its incredibly frustrating. @dean, in America, since we mostly drive automatic, those who do drive stick sometimes have this mentality that they are more understanding of a car and over all a better driver. This is untrue, my sister drives stick, and my brother did for a while, both of them don't know anything about cars and have had way more accidents than I. Its just a mentality that some people get because there are less people who know how than those that do. And, some vehicles in America, are getting rid of the stick all together. Mostly the bigger American only Trucks and SUVs, but some times you can't even get the option anymore. EDIT: Also, while we are on driving/cars, in America the traffic lights go Red to Green to Yellow to Red. We don't have a Yellow between Red and Green. Edited April 3, 2012 by madbassman39 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hot Heart Posted April 3, 2012 Report Share Posted April 3, 2012 I can't stand that layout of manual in Dean's pic. Just put R opposite to 1, for fuck's sake. I just don't get the benefit. It doesn't save you hassle because you have some sort of safety 'latch' requiring extra effort to get into reverse anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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