Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 3]

[Drummond Baize]

227bhp said:

Drummond Baize said:

Why do we say "I'm afraid" when we actually mean "I'm sorry"? What are we afraid of?

In what context?

In pretty much every context.

"I'm afraid we can't deliver that today"

"I'm afraid your balance is overdrawn"

"I'm afraid it's cancer"

[RammyMP]

Ayahuasca said:

If you were stuck in a normal sized lift, and there was no ventilation due to a power cut, how long would it take you to die of carbon dioxide poisoning. / asphyxia?

You wouldn't, lift shafts are generally ventilated. Recent building regs have changed so a vent at the top is not required anymore but the doors are not air tight anyway. They all (should) have independent phone lines back to a manned call centre so unless the phone lines are down also you should be able to call for help. Unless there is a zombie apocalypse!

[MartynVRS]

Drummond Baize said:

227bhp said:

Drummond Baize said:

Why do we say "I'm afraid" when we actually mean "I'm sorry"? What are we afraid of?

In what context?

In pretty much every context.

"I'm afraid we can't deliver that today"

"I'm afraid your balance is overdrawn"

"I'm afraid it's cancer"

It's something that's annoyed me and never understood. Are they afraid of a bad reaction to what they are telling me?

[Willy Nilly]

If you are blind or deaf you would probably sign or use braille. So, would a person who would normally speak English, for example, be able to converse with someone who wouldn't normally speak English, for example a German? If that makes any sense.

[Dr Jekyll]

Why do screw on connectors for tyre pumps seem to have replaced the thumb lever connector? They take much longer to attach and detach and you lose more air.

[ATTAK Z]

Willy Nilly said:

If you are blind or deaf you would probably sign or use braille. So, would a person who would normally speak English, for example, be able to converse with someone who wouldn't normally speak English, for example a German? If that makes any sense.

No

[JustinF]

MartynVRS said:

Drummond Baize said:

227bhp said:

Drummond Baize said:

Why do we say "I'm afraid" when we actually mean "I'm sorry"? What are we afraid of?

In what context?

In pretty much every context.

"I'm afraid we can't deliver that today"

"I'm afraid your balance is overdrawn"

"I'm afraid it's cancer"

It's something that's annoyed me and never understood. Are they afraid of a bad reaction to what they are telling me?

It causes me concern that what I'm saying may be upsetting for you, is far too long winded and pompous.

Edited by JustinF on Sunday 15th January 17:11

[David87]

I appreciate this is an unlikely situation, but what if you were a Domino's Pizza delivery driver and wanted to use something such as an E46 M3 CSL to do your deliveries? Where would you attach the magnetic light-up sign? It wouldn't stick to the carbon fibre roof, nor the plastic (?) boot lid. Would you not be able to do the job?

Guess what we've just had delivered.

[horza]

David87 said:

Guess what we've just had delivered.

An M3CSL?

[227bhp]

JustinF said:

MartynVRS said:

Drummond Baize said:

227bhp said:

Drummond Baize said:

Why do we say "I'm afraid" when we actually mean "I'm sorry"? What are we afraid of?

In what context?

In pretty much every context.

"I'm afraid we can't deliver that today"

"I'm afraid your balance is overdrawn"

"I'm afraid it's cancer"

It's something that's annoyed me and never understood. Are they afraid of a bad reaction to what they are telling me?

It causes me concern that what I'm saying may be upsetting for you, is far to long winded and pompous.

It's a shortened version of 'I'm almost afraid to have to tell you this' incase you get upset/beat me with a stick etc. Maybe dates back to some era like the Victorians or something....

[Borroxs]

David87 said:

I appreciate this is an unlikely situation, but what if you were a Domino's Pizza delivery driver and wanted to use something such as an E46 M3 CSL to do your deliveries? Where would you attach the magnetic light-up sign? It wouldn't stick to the carbon fibre roof, nor the plastic (?) boot lid. Would you not be able to do the job?

Guess what we've just had delivered.

You can easily stick a magnetic sign to a carbon fibre roof. All you need is an attracting magnet on the inside if he car against the inside of the roof.

But I suspect it's not something that anyone would do.

[SpeckledJim]

Willy Nilly said:

If you are blind or deaf you would probably sign or use braille. So, would a person who would normally speak English, for example, be able to converse with someone who wouldn't normally speak English, for example a German? If that makes any sense.

Braille is just representations of the alphabet in dots. So you can write English phrases in braille, and likewise German.

[ATTAK Z]

ATTAK Z said:

Willy Nilly said:

If you are blind or deaf you would probably sign or use braille. So, would a person who would normally speak English, for example, be able to converse with someone who wouldn't normally speak English, for example a German? If that makes any sense.

No

Definitive answer to your question is still no

[RosscoPCole]

As we were taught in school Romans didn't have toilet roll and used a sponge on the end of a stick instead. My question is did people carry round individual sponge on sticks with them or was there a selection to choose from in the toilet you went to? Who cleaned the sponges? And was there more disease spread by dirty bum sponges?

[Ayahuasca]

RammyMP said:

Ayahuasca said:

If you were stuck in a normal sized lift, and there was no ventilation due to a power cut, how long would it take you to die of carbon dioxide poisoning. / asphyxia?

You wouldn't, lift shafts are generally ventilated. Recent building regs have changed so a vent at the top is not required anymore but the doors are not air tight anyway. They all (should) have independent phone lines back to a manned call centre so unless the phone lines are down also you should be able to call for help. Unless there is a zombie apocalypse!

In my question, there is no ventilation. Although the doors are not airtight, why should CO2 exit the door crack and O2 come in? You would probably have to suck at the crack (ooh er) to access oxygen, would this keep you alive?

[FlyingMeeces]

SpeckledJim said:

Willy Nilly said:

If you are blind or deaf you would probably sign or use braille. So, would a person who would normally speak English, for example, be able to converse with someone who wouldn't normally speak English, for example a German? If that makes any sense.

Braille is just representations of the alphabet in dots. So you can write English phrases in braille, and likewise German.

That. You might, as with sighted people, find it a little bit easier to understand the written language than the spoken, but that's all.

Sign languages are distinct and complex - the way that d/Deaf people were so isolated and how inaccessible a lot of telecoms was until VERY recently has produced some sign languages that have differences waaaay beyond spoken ones: there's almost no mutual intelligibility between British and American Sign Language, for example.

[steveo3002]

RosscoPCole said:

As we were taught in school Romans didn't have toilet roll and used a sponge on the end of a stick instead. My question is did people carry round individual sponge on sticks with them or was there a selection to choose from in the toilet you went to? Who cleaned the sponges? And was there more disease spread by dirty bum sponges?

im no expert on bum sponges but on my visit to some ruins they had pictures showing how theres a small gutter running past the bogs to rinse the sponges in

[walm]

fomb said:

I have a simpler method for working this out. It's called Googling:

> BCA Used Car Market Report reveals an evolving landscape of the UK car market, as used car sales figures exceed £45 billion.

and

> The overall value of the UK new and used car markets jumped to £88.5 billion in 2014 – up from £79.4 billion in 2013, with used vehicles accounting for 51% of the total market value.

Older numbers but a 5% growth YoY is probably to be expected

RTBQ, which was:

melhookv12 said:

Driving past Aston Martin on the A40. Lots of very nice cars on display, got me thinking.

As a guestimate, how much stock of ( monetary value ) is held in England of new and used cars. It must be massive, all the way down to small traders with 3k cars on their forecourts.

With the bigger dealers who owns the cars. I know many dealers have access to stock of other dealers. So I guess the Motor group own the cars Jardine etc. Must be into the 100 million ? 1 billion ?

You have given sales not inventory.
But a good way to check whether £220bn is an appropriate number or not!

[austinsmirk]

RosscoPCole said:

As we were taught in school Romans didn't have toilet roll and used a sponge on the end of a stick instead. My question is did people carry round individual sponge on sticks with them or was there a selection to choose from in the toilet you went to? Who cleaned the sponges? And was there more disease spread by dirty bum sponges?

I think the use of sponge was more likely if you lived somewhere coastal as such. I understand varying mosses were used too.

[epom]

Those Trionz wrist bracelet things, how do they supposed to work ? And do they actually work ?