PolarVortex

LOL

Funny how this pattern appears in so many unexpected places. I knew a woman who had to take a cab to get to the airport to make an important flight. She was afraid that the cab would be late, so she called two cab companies and requested one for 10:00am and another for 10:15am (or whatever). Her thinking was that if the first cab was late she'd have the second cab to fall back on. The first cab was a few minutes late, and the second cab was a few minutes early, and they both showed up at the same time to the woman's house. It turns out that cab companies in that city had a nasty practice of eavesdropping on radio calls and poaching each other's customers, and the two cab drivers assumed that's what happened. They got into a fistfight in the woman's front lawn and the police had to be called to calm things down... and the woman came close to missing her flight. Lesson: be honest in your dealings with your fellow men.

One hopes that this fact is comforting to the OP. You're right, I notice other men a lot, too. But deep down I'm thinking, "Why can't I look that good?" instead of "I wonder if this person is married."

OIC. Still not good, but when you said "bite the dust," I assumed the worst. Well, perhaps they will return after they are alone with their thoughts for a while. I hope they'll remain friends with you.

Well, okay... just as long as they don't make a 99¢ app for it.

I'm sorry. Your best friend... has decided to proceed with name removal? And it was directly connected to the Dehlin opera this week?

You're more optimistic than I am, Eowyn. I predict he'll end up either as VP of Media Strategy at Yahoo or as host of his own show on MSNBC.

I think you have a good point, classylady. I listened to all of Mr. Dehlin's podcasts up until a year or so ago, with an occasional exception if the guests were nice (like the Givens couple.) Mr. Dehlin is sort of like... well, sort of like Mr. Spock trying to understand the meaning of art by walking endlessly in circles outside an art museum. The doors are wide open, but he chooses not to enter, only to contemplate it logically in one dimension from afar. In fairness, I just went to Mr. Dehlin's web site to get his side of the story, and the web site is down. Unclear what that means.

That's pretty outrageous. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Reminds me of the supposed quote about Leon Trotsky: "Proof of Trotsky's farsightedness is that none of his predictions have come true yet."

Shark Drain. And we have a winner! Next quotation?

Judge Bork is a great guess, but it's wrong. Doctor Psychrowave surely ought to win an award for something (but I don't know what). Clue #2 (final): The person's first name rhymes with a large sea animal.

Well, I didn't hear "water closet" that often. Also, if you ask, "Where are the restrooms?" it does not mean that you are interested in visiting both. And it's okay to say "men's room" or "women's room" in place of "restroom" if you wish. Just be happy that German and English share the same alphabet. I heard about some elderly Japanese tourists who were visiting the U.S. None of them spoke a word of English, and none of them could even recognize letters from the Roman alphabet. Their tour guide taught them that the shorter word ("men") was the men's room, and the longer word ("ladies") was for the women's room. It worked fine, until they visited an upscale restaurant with doors labeled "gentlemen" and "ladies."

Time's up. Clue #1: The person who said this has a monosyllabic last name that rhymes with something found in every kitchen.

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." No Googling, please... the beauty of this contest is in the guessing.

Barry Goldwater?

Maureen, you are brilliant. What a great quote to use!

I've had similar suspicions about the people here. For a while I was convinced that everyone here except me was really the same person, just furiously logging in and out with different accounts to create the illusion of crowd chatter.

"Restroom" in any public building, "bathroom" in a house where people live, and "lavatory" in an airplane. Other words are not so polite, as in the following Chevy Chase joke: Airline flight attendant: Would you like something to drink, sir? Passenger: Yes, a Diet Coke, please. Airline flight attendant: And would you like that in the can? Passenger: No, I'll drink it here in my seat. Back to OT: Is "Ich muss verschwinden" commonly used in German? One of my friends uses this expression all the time, but I've only heard her use it.

Very well, not all. But enough to keep my point valid, I think.

No, restaurants here have restrooms. But when you're groping for a word in a foreign language, you'll take anything that comes into your head. I've also heard Germans here ask where the "toilet" is, which is very jarring to Americans. It's a crude word that you avoid unless you are specifically referring to the porcelain throne.

Perhaps they are translating literally and thinking it's correct. On my first visit to Germany many years ago I was in a restaurant and asked, "Können Sie mir bitte sagen, wo das Badezimmer ist?" I learned very quickly that not all cultures call it a "bathroom" outside of a home.

Did they leave because those "new articles" went too far or didn't go far enough (in their opinion)?

Mr. Dehlin has been very public about this, almost to the point of being exhibitionist. In the latest news he quotes his stake president's letter at length, which says very reasonable things, such as: "I acknowledge your right to criticize the Church and its doctrines and to try to persuade others to your cause. But you do not have the right to remain a member of the Church in good standing while openly and publicly trying to convince others that Church teachings are in error." I agree completely. I'm astonished this excommunication didn't happen years ago.

Yes, I've noticed that. I've also noticed that German Apotheken are quite different from American drug stores. In the U.S., pretty much everything is on the open shelves and customers simply take what they want. In Germany, much of the merchandise tends to be behind the counter. You have to open a short conversation with the clerk to explain what you want, and he or she fetches it for you. In the U.S., the only merchandise behind the counter tends to be cigarettes and batteries. And yes, they're often called "checkers" in U.S. grocery stores. "Cashiers" are found in casinos or old-fashioned banks. But "cashier" would be understood if you said it. This is not the case with "water closet," though. Many Germans pass through my part of California as tourists, and once in a while I'll overhear them asking where the "water closet" is. This term is utterly baffling to Americans who have not traveled in Europe.

Quatsch. This thread is in General Discussion, which is described as: "Topics of any nature are allowed, as long as they do not break LDS Talk Rules." Threads go where they go, like fractals. Nothing is out of scope. That's part of their charm. The British gentleman and I shared a train compartment on a trip from London to York. We had a wonderful conversation about differences between the United States and Britain. I was puzzled why the British refer to my country so much as "America," which sound elevated and literary to me. I am an "American," but I would normally refer to my country as "the U.S.," rarely as "America" or "the States." He was puzzled why Gary Hart had to drop out of the U.S. presidential race just for his sexcapades with Donna Rice. (It was 1988.) I was puzzled why checkers in British supermarkets refuse to bag groceries for you. He was puzzled why I would even consider going to Cardiff for a day trip from London. "Do not tell anyone what you're doing," he whispered. "They will think you very strange indeed." I was puzzled why anything like a "shadow government" could be even remotely useful. And, of course, he was puzzled when I broke the news that you can't drive around the Great Lakes on a single Sunday afternoon. (I just checked on Google Maps, and actually you can drive around all the Great Lakes in six hours. You just have to maintain an average speed of 320 miles per hour and you can't stop.) Vive la différence!