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Old 15th Dec 2020, 9:09 pm   #21
audiomm
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

There are a couple of things that really needle me ......... Number one "the customer". i.e. the one who turns up with some gadget/widget that needs fixing and proceeeds to tell you what is wrong with it AND then tells you how to fix it, so it won't cost very much will it?? My response is usually along the lines of - "well why haven't you fixed it yourself then if you know what's wrong and all it needs is a fuse/resistor/capacitor/transistor/ thingy whatsit?". Works a treat!
Of course retirement is godsend (no financial pressure) as it allows me to be selective on what I undertake to repair.
And Number two frustration is likely something we've all come across. You know the one, you start a job, bits all over the bench, you leave it for an hour, overnight or longer and when you come back to it ..... and your mind goes blank

Mike
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Old 15th Dec 2020, 9:23 pm   #22
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

Julian's comment has reminded me: When a certain flat screen TV was unveiled it was advertised as 4 times thinner than it's predecessor. 'What a load of cobblers', I thought.

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Old 15th Dec 2020, 9:24 pm   #23
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

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Originally Posted by rontech View Post
[

MY pet irritation is the use of "train station" instead of "railway station"

I recall a Miss Marple episode ( Not one of the Joan Hickson ones ) where the term train station was used in a setting of supposedly 1953 or so.
Totally with you on that one. The term "train station" seems to have suddenly appeared from nowhere relatively recently. Railway station is a perfectly adequate and very well established term, so why change it - unless you just enjoy change for change's sake?
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Old 15th Dec 2020, 9:49 pm   #24
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

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I've never had problems with "train station" - it's where I would go to catch a train,
But the staion is built upon the railway, not the train. Therefore it is a Railway station and the place you go to get on a coach is an omnibus terminal rather than a bus station, for the same reason.
If I asked my kids to meet me at the omnibus terminal they'd phone the doctor.

What's a "staion".....?

Lawrence.
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Old 15th Dec 2020, 9:49 pm   #25
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

One of the most scream-inducing things (maybe swear-inducing really) is, while fault finding, you carefully unsolder a rare, expensive, delicate SMD IC, in order to fit a new one (in case the old one is perfectly ok) and you reach for the new IC, accidentally picking up the one you just took out, and then proceeding to solder it back where it came from.

Or, as in the case of this post, touch the caps lock half way through and not notice until you avert your eyes from the keyboard for the proof-read.

Or, like yesterday, I was using my graphics program to draw a prototype pcb and just as I was about to hit 'save as' the PC crashed.
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Old 15th Dec 2020, 11:06 pm   #26
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

Two of my pet hates at the moment. Why is it that every action is "carried out"; what is wrong with "done" and why shops have to be called stores; I go shopping to shops, not stores. (I don't go storing; that would be putting stuff into storage). I agree with previous comments about "train station", such a place is the railway station.
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Old 15th Dec 2020, 11:17 pm   #27
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

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Mine is creeping Americanisms. When did we stop using aerials and change over to parts of an insect's anatomy to receive RF with?
I don't mind this as it isn't really a change, more like an addition. The term "aerial" strictly refers to a thing in the air whereas the insect's antenna is about sensing. This leads me to my definitions of the terms:

Antenna: the structure that actually receives/transmits RF energy
Aerial: the structure that the owner thinks is receiving/transmitting RF energy.

Example: a dipole stuck on coax is the "aerial" but the coax outer is the "antenna" due to lack of a balun. This confuses many hams.
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Old 15th Dec 2020, 11:24 pm   #28
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

I have fixed the accidental caps lock problem by removing the caps lock key cap from the Dell usb keyboard I use with my laptop, it just snaps on. I can still use it by poking the switch with the end of a pencil .

I hate being a "customer" of the likes of the Inland Revenue: as if I have a choice!

Last edited by emeritus; 15th Dec 2020 at 11:38 pm. Reason: Typos
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Old 15th Dec 2020, 11:28 pm   #29
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

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Julian's comment has reminded me: When a certain flat screen TV was unveiled it was advertised as 4 times thinner than it's predecessor. 'What a load of cobblers', I thought.

Dave
Which reminds me that it's means "it is". Possessive case of "it" is "its". English can be wonderful
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Old 15th Dec 2020, 11:53 pm   #30
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

'Reaching out' instead of calling, phoning, contacting...
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Old 16th Dec 2020, 12:09 am   #31
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

What's distressing, Chris, is that i wouldn't have made that mistake 20 years ago!
Also many times i can't spell ceiling correctly until i've actually written it down and seen it.. Half the time it comes out as cieling. This isn't helped by too much typing and not enough writing.

Dave
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Old 16th Dec 2020, 1:23 am   #32
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

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Example: a dipole stuck on coax is the "aerial" but the coax outer is the "antenna" due to lack of a balun. This confuses many hams.
HAMS!
When I got my amateur radio licence there was only one UK ham, his callsign was "GLK London" and his name was Tony Hancock!
I'd rather be mistaken for a CBer than a ham.


CB radio changed some established radio conventions. Sometimes the meaning was the opposite of what it had been before

"Skip" became used interchangeably with DX, whereas its correct meaning is the zone on the earths surface between where the groundwave is no longer receivable and the point where the skywave takes over, in other words, where there is no signal to receive.
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Old 16th Dec 2020, 3:44 am   #33
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

Fixed up a you-beaut-all-sing-all-dancing battery tester - cleaned up the corrosion from a previously defunct battery, replaced the hidden back-up button cell that was dead (no mention of in the manual) and tested all OK.

Drive 200km's to return it, customer does the first test on a battery - all good - tries a second test and it just won't co-operate. Nothing we did would make it 'test' again.

Drive 200kms back and deciding whether to open it again or just take a hammer to it.
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Old 16th Dec 2020, 4:43 am   #34
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

I've driven that distance, and more, to equipment that just wanted switching off and back on again.
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Old 16th Dec 2020, 10:21 am   #35
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

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The other one is "quite unique".
Yes that is a favourite of mine too.
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Old 16th Dec 2020, 10:47 am   #36
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scimitar View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
I've never had problems with "train station" - it's where I would go to catch a train,
But the staion is built upon the railway, not the train. Therefore it is a Railway station and the place you go to get on a coach is an omnibus terminal rather than a bus station, for the same reason.
Absolutley - particularly as you can encounter road trains, where a tractor is attached to several other vehicles. My other hate is the popularity of 'eether & neether and agen' - but we stray from the forum...
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Old 16th Dec 2020, 10:50 am   #37
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

Will someone please explain what's wrong with the phrase 'quite unique'?

Alan
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Old 16th Dec 2020, 10:58 am   #38
Mike Phelan
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

  • Grocer's apostrophes
  • Starting every sentence with 'So' or 'Basically'
  • Sticking 'like' into every sentence or 'know what I mean' at the end.

I agree with Scimitar regarding Railway Station - that's always what they were.
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Old 16th Dec 2020, 11:01 am   #39
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

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Mine is creeping Americanisms. When did we stop using aerials and change over to parts of an insect's anatomy to receive RF with? It really irritates me and I have developed a reading technique that automatically converts what I am reading!

The other one is "quite unique".
One of my pet hates is the increasing use of the word ,absolutely ,and the word bunch the other day I heard a politician say a bunch of countries Mick.
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Old 16th Dec 2020, 11:02 am   #40
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Default Re: Things that make you upset/scream!.

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Will someone please explain what's wrong with the phrase 'quite unique'?

Alan
There are no degrees of uniqueness. Either it is or it isn't!
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