Overheard at Work

[MoonShadow]

Firearms are by no means perfect and I have no idea how you get from "human beings have a right to defend themselves" to "human beings must have access to any technology that allows them to defend themselves, regardless of external costs to society as a whole". Your argument is an excellent argument in favour of the right to own a nuclear weapon.

Except that guns are capable of being precise, while nukes (like hand grenades) are indiscriminate weapons.  Every concealed carry license holder knows, due to the training requirements of their license, that they are legally responsible for what happens to every bullet that leaves their firearm, regardless of whether or not their use of force was justifiable under law or not.  Said another way, if a CC holder were to ever draw their weapon in self-defense, and then fire said weapon, if it does *not* hit their attacker, they are responsible for any harm it causes.  Period.  Additionally, when I'm carrying concealed, I'm not legally alllowed to mention that fact unprompted, lest it be considered a threat.  There is no condition that a nuke or a grenade can be discriminating.  That said, hand grenades & automatic firearms are legal & licensed in this country as well, and beyond the purview of states.  It's called a Class III license, and they are more common than you might imagine.  The ATF makes a point to check every time this event happens...

http://www.knobcreekrange.com/events/featured-events/machine-gun-shoot

It's held very close to where I live, and it's very loud.  The GE Minigun rental is particularly cool, but the ammunition costs about $20 per second.  And yes, there are explosives traded there, under the watchful eye of the ATF.  When was the last time you heard of a legally owned bomb killing anyone?  Never?

This event is also very popular with men at my workplace; which is all union and nearly all Democrat.  Good luck getting those Southern liberals to tow that gun control line.

Guns are fine for your run of the mill rapist but they won't do shit against a drone strike. They won't help you when criminals on Wall Street decide to repossess your house. They certainly won't protect you from Kremlin Joe. What will protect you is the threat of MAD, those fuckers won't touch you if they know you'll just burn it all down at the first sign of trouble.

The run of the mill rapist is the greater threat, as far as I'm concerned.

Now obviously I'm being absurd and you can't have a nuclear weapon, even if the threats to your existence are far more likely to come from Wall Street or Washington than they are to be a rapist after your family and even if it'd be a much more useful deterrent for either of those. You can't have a nuclear weapon because if I let you have one then I have to let other people have one and some dumb fuck would sell it to a terrorist and another would get confused in the night and accidentally use it on his neighbour, someone's kid would obliterate a state playing with one and those suicidal people, well, they're gonna take a lot of innocents with them. So even though it is indisputably the most effective tool for dealing with the real threats to your liberty and property on a day to day basis I can't let you have one. And I can't let you have a gun either.

It never was up to you.  I think you might have a coronary if I actually told you what I do own.  I'm listed on a federal register.  For similar reasons, cops in my state don't do 'no knock' swat raids. Too dangerous.

Your right to self defence does not come without limitations. And you know that, or else you'd want your tactical nuke. It's not some natural, God-given thing that you're born with, it's a negotiation that you make with the people who you share the world with.

It does come with limitations, but not of your choosing.  And yes, my right to self-defense is, most certainly, a natural right.  A God-given one, even.  It is not negotiatable at all, your disagreement does not alter that in any way.  You are free to choose not to own a gun, but you are not free to impose such decisions upon others.  If you think otherwise, you don't understand what natural rights actually are.

[/quote]
 If we agree that tactical nukes aren't a good idea then we agree that there is no basic right to self that means you can own any weapon you like. From there on we only disagree on where the tradeoff between personal freedom and societal good should be. And that's fine by me honestly.
[/quote]

That's not fine by me, honestly.  And no, just because we can agree that nukes are a bad idea; it does not follow that there is not a basic right to self defense.  Nor did I claim that I can own any weapon I like, but certainly any weapon that I can actually use in a discrimatory (and thus, defensive) manner.  (I actually own some, legally, that don't qualify under the above rule)  As far as I'm concerned, the above argument against nukes applies almost as well to whole governments, but particularly the only one that has actually used some to kill civilians during a state of war.

[MoonShadow]

MOD NOTE: An ongoing  debate over guns is veering way off topic. If you feel the need, start an "off topic" thread and copy over the relevant posts.

Honestly, I'm not that dedicated to this. So I'll drop it if others will.

[4alpacas]

[klystomane]

J'mone page 200...!

[dsmexpat]

MOD NOTE: An ongoing  debate over guns is veering way off topic. If you feel the need, start an "off topic" thread and copy over the relevant posts.

Honestly, I'm not that dedicated to this. So I'll drop it if others will.

Nor I. Mail me if you want to continue in private but the gist of what I was trying to say was that I don't think it's a matter of absolutes and that while we obviously disagree on the one key issue we're both around the same place in a very long slope from nothing being legal to everything being legal.

Nevermind: I read through your post and we disagree pretty fundamentally about how rights work within a society. You do believe it's a matter of absolutes and I very much do not. But it's all good, this isn't the topic for it.

[dragoncar]

MOD NOTE: An ongoing  debate over guns is veering way off topic. If you feel the need, start an "off topic" thread and copy over the relevant posts.

Honestly, I'm not that dedicated to this. So I'll drop it if others will.

Nor I. Mail me if you want to continue in private but the gist of what I was trying to say was that I don't think it's a matter of absolutes and that while we obviously disagree on the one key issue we're both around the same place in a very long slope from nothing being legal to everything being legal.

Nevermind: I read through your post and we disagree pretty fundamentally about how rights work within a society. You do believe it's a matter of absolutes and I very much do not. But it's all good, this isn't the topic for it.

Good thing you snuck that in under the traditional "mod warning, plus two offending posts" limit

[klystomane]

So I just stepped out into the back parking lot at work to make a call and I took a look at the cars that were parked there:

Civic Si
Minivan
SUV
SUV
Truck
Truck
Truck

Earlier today, I saw somebody's (presumably) mother drive up in a newish Honda, approach one of the SUV's, and leave a lunchbox inside.

I guess partial points for "bringing" a lunch?

[PMG]

I'm the project leader, but not the boss. We have a regular Thursday 6pm meeting.  We skipped it last week because a lot of people were out of town.

Frantic text at 5:50 pm:  I don't have gas.  Is it ok if I don't make it to tonights meeting?

Awkward, I'm not the boss, I can't excuse her, but it's irrelevant since there isn't a meeting.

Me: We don't have a meeting this evening.  We sent reminders out on Monday that we not meeting this week, but will next.

Frantic: OH! I haven't checked my email this week.

I did not comment on her facebook addiction, and her dad paying for her smart phone and how you can't hold a conversation with her without her looking at her phone. How does she not check her email?  Work related email, that she's getting paid to check.  A huge part of her job is networking and communicating.  The boss is too generous.   

I'm trying to figure out how to only do my part of the work without letting her sloppiness hurt the project or me.

[arebelspy]

Good thing you snuck that in under the traditional "mod warning, plus two offending posts" limit

Just barely.

[MoonShadow]

'murica!

http://www.epicdelusion.com/collections/libertarian-shirts/products/funny_shirts_murica#

Just seemed appropriate.

[dsmexpat]

Not enough red, white and blue. 1/10 possibly French

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

The funny thing is, I even have an "overheard at work" story...

My employer is pretty happy to let the people in my line of work live anywhere they want. This worked out great for me because I greatly lowered my cost of living, but I work with a guy who moved from the Southeast to the Bay Area. Naturally he didn't get a COL increase from a self-initiated move, so now he tries to hoard work so he can get overtime, which makes him unpopular with the bosses and means he likely won't get very good raises or promotions.

[Manguy888]

Guys, if I want to hear politically charged gun arguments I'll visit literally any news site on the internet.

Please go back on topic and keep this forum a sanctuary for me!

[SMP]

Guys, if I want to hear politically charged gun arguments I'll visit literally any news site on the internet.

Please go back on topic and keep this forum a sanctuary for me!

+1

[Sibley]

I'm not touching the politics of this, but the event is relevant. Illinois doesn't have a budget passed, and there was a court ruling yesterday that basically said a bunch of state employees aren't getting paid until there is.

So, on the train to work this morning, there's 2 people near me talking about this. One guy works for the state. The woman has an adult disabled child and gets respite care, and it's state funded, so she's losing the respite. Both are 40s or 50s.

I chimed in and said hope all works out, and isn't it great to have an emergency fund to get you through stuff like this. The guy laughed and said not with 2 kids and a wife.

All I could think was, seriously? I have an emergency fund, I can get by for 2-3 months and I'm not in great shape yet!

[solon]

I'm not touching the politics of this, but the event is relevant. Illinois doesn't have a budget passed, and there was a court ruling yesterday that basically said a bunch of state employees aren't getting paid until there is.

So, on the train to work this morning, there's 2 people near me talking about this. One guy works for the state. The woman has an adult disabled child and gets respite care, and it's state funded, so she's losing the respite. Both are 40s or 50s.

I chimed in and said hope all works out, and isn't it great to have an emergency fund to get you through stuff like this. The guy laughed and said not with 2 kids and a wife.

All I could think was, seriously? I have an emergency fund, I can get by for 2-3 months and I'm not in great shape yet!

Seems like 2 kids and a wife would make an emergency fund all the more critical.

[benjenn]

This wasn't really overheard at work since it was actually said TO me by the person who is taking my position when I leave the end of this month. She is going to be gone the last two weeks of the month - my last two weeks here - because of jaw surgery - so I will have no time to train her on anything.  I gave her a 43 page document (my continuity plan, DH calls it) last week when it was first announced she got the job.  It has pretty much everything in it that she will need to know - things that no one else in this office knows a thing about.

This past Monday she came to me to ask about a four-day camp for almost 100 eighth graders the first week in August  that she'll now be completely  in charge of.  I told her I think I've got most everything set... speakers, demonstrations, schedules, cabin assignments, etc.  She listened for a bit and then said "oh, well... I'll just wing it... it's not like the kids will know the difference anyway."

Then she asked about something else and I told her that was explained in detail in the document I gave her last week. (I even added a table of contents that is linked so you just click on the table of contents and it takes you directly to the part of the document you want to go to!)   She said "Yeah, I should probably read that."

Wow and wow.  I'm just shaking my head and repeating to myself over and over again "not my circus, not my monkeys...."

[infogoon]

Have you considered that overall (nationwide) lax gun laws more or less invalidate local restrictions on their purchase?
I don't know why NYC, SF, etc. even bother trying when you can just drive out into the county and pick up an arsenal.

For whatever reason, this tends to get ignored. The guns used by criminals in places like Chicago and New York come from nearby areas where they're easy to get, like Indiana and Virginia. It's impossible to outlaw something effectively if it's obtainable nearby and there are no checkpoints for contraband in between.

Witness the virtual caravan of cars from Western New York to the fireworks stores in Western Pennsylvania every July 3rd.

[GuitarStv]

Most of the guns used by criminals in Canada come from the USA as well.  It's part of why the average Canadian isn't a huge fan of the gun laws south of the border.

[Vertical Mode]

The real question is, are these guns orange or black? And are they effective at dispersing dense foam? ;-)

OT, my workplace is generally not egregiously anti-Mustachian, so I don't usually have much fodder to contribute here. We do often have the parade of people running out to buy expensive lunches, though.

[klystomane]

The real question is, are these guns orange or black? And are they effective at dispersing dense foam? ;-)

OT, my workplace is generally not egregiously anti-Mustachian, so I don't usually have much fodder to contribute here. We do often have the parade of people running out to buy expensive lunches, though.

What would you consider to be an expensive lunch?

I occasionally go out for lunch (maybe once every 1-2 weeks) and spend <$10, but since joining MMM, I find myself cringing at even having to do that.

[MrsPotts]

Here, the nut job has a gun.

True, but then so can you.

An eye for an eye, and soon we will all be blind. I just don't understand this American obsession with defending yourself. I have never had to defend myself against violence or home intrusion and I do not know anyone (even a friend of a friend) who has. Yet y'all seem to be convinced there is an axe murderer round every corner. Sure, criminals can get guns in the UK but most gun crime here is stuff like gang warfare, not guns being turned on strangers. I do not want to live in a world where everyone has a killing machine in their pocket. It's a really sad view of humanity. People are, by and large, law abiding and reasonable. If there is a problem, we have the police. And seriously, unless you have your gun with you all the time, odds are you're going to be in the wrong room when the gun-wielding nut crashes through your front window so won't be able to get it and 'defend' yourself anyway. The only gun-based self-defence I can take seriously is against wild animals, which I know exist in America more than the UK.

Q: Y'all go on about this "inalienable right" to defend yourself. We have the human right to freedom from violence, putting the onus on others to not be violent/the state to protect you, rather than assuming that everyone is out to get you and you need to be prepared for the "evil other". Do any other countries have the right to defend yourself violently in their constitution?

Hi She!

I noticed that you are from the UK.  Is "y'all" RP or Yorkshire?

[Vertical Mode]

The real question is, are these guns orange or black? And are they effective at dispersing dense foam? ;-)

OT, my workplace is generally not egregiously anti-Mustachian, so I don't usually have much fodder to contribute here. We do often have the parade of people running out to buy expensive lunches, though.

What would you consider to be an expensive lunch?

I occasionally go out for lunch (maybe once every 1-2 weeks) and spend <$10, but since joining MMM, I find myself cringing at even having to do that.

Yup, me too :-) I'd say I go out for lunch maybe once every month or two on average.

Judging by the assortment of things they return with, they can't be getting out of there for less than $12-15 a pop. Which isn't too unreasonable, but it's EVERY DAY. That's gotta really add up.

[cloudsail]

The real question is, are these guns orange or black? And are they effective at dispersing dense foam? ;-)

OT, my workplace is generally not egregiously anti-Mustachian, so I don't usually have much fodder to contribute here. We do often have the parade of people running out to buy expensive lunches, though.

What would you consider to be an expensive lunch?

I occasionally go out for lunch (maybe once every 1-2 weeks) and spend <$10, but since joining MMM, I find myself cringing at even having to do that.

Yeah, same here, lunches in SF downtown are expensive.  $10 is the bare minimum here.  We get catered lunch once a week, and I work from home a lot so thankfully lunch isn't too big an issue, but I used to eat out about once a week.  Since joining MMM if I'm in the office and there's no catered food, I bring lunch or eat the free snacks.  We have things like bread, peanut butter, cheese, humus, salami, avocados, even hard boiled eggs sometimes, so there's no really no need to buy your lunch.

I don't know if it's just workplace culture differences, but it does seem like most of my co-workers are pretty Mustachian too.  We tell each other about free leftover food.  A lot of people eat the free snacks for lunch like me.  A bunch of the engineers were talking about Trunk Club the other day and all of us were flabbergasted by the high price point and a frequent question was: "Who the heck would pay this price for a t-shirt/pair of jeans/swim trunks/etc.??"

[shelivesthedream]

Hi She!

I noticed that you are from the UK.  Is "y'all" RP or Yorkshire?

Ha! What a wonderful question! I'm very RP in real life, and while I think of myself as having no particular accent am often roundly ribbed for being 'posh'.

"Y'all" is not English at all and I have never heard anyone use it in real life, expect Texans on TV. However, I spend enough time online to be aware of many Americanisms. Most are degenerate and reprehensible (JOKE) but there are one or two which are quite useful. I studied several Romance languages at school and always appreciated being able to distinguish between the singular 'you' and the plural 'you', especially on the internet where tone fails can result in a lot of fallout. I therefore took to using "y'all" when I mean "you people generally" as it lessens the chance of an individual poster thinking that I am talking about (and possibly insulting) them personally. In this case I used it to distinguish between "you, the poster I am replying to" and "all of you Americans generally".

Another thing I have picked up is the expression "All hat and no cattle" which I think is just FABULOUS but haven't had a chance to use in real life yet!

[former player]

Another thing I have picked up is the expression "All hat and no cattle" which I think is just FABULOUS but haven't had a chance to use in real life yet!

I agree on the fabulosity.  The distaff English version is of course the rather vulgar "all fur coat and no knickers" - which I may have thought once or twice but have never yet uttered in company.

[MoonShadow]

Hi She!

I noticed that you are from the UK.  Is "y'all" RP or Yorkshire?

Ha! What a wonderful question! I'm very RP in real life, and while I think of myself as having no particular accent am often roundly ribbed for being 'posh'.

"Y'all" is not English at all and I have never heard anyone use it in real life, expect Texans on TV. However, I spend enough time online to be aware of many Americanisms. Most are degenerate and reprehensible (JOKE) but there are one or two which are quite useful. I studied several Romance languages at school and always appreciated being able to distinguish between the singular 'you' and the plural 'you', especially on the internet where tone fails can result in a lot of fallout. I therefore took to using "y'all" when I mean "you people generally" as it lessens the chance of an individual poster thinking that I am talking about (and possibly insulting) them personally. In this case I used it to distinguish between "you, the poster I am replying to" and "all of you Americans generally".

Another thing I have picked up is the expression "All hat and no cattle" which I think is just FABULOUS but haven't had a chance to use in real life yet!

Born in Texas, went to school in Boston. Without fail, the first time people from New England or the west coast heard me say "y'all" they would immediately ask if I was from Texas. True story. I didn't know it was so region-specific.

It's not.  I'm from Kentucky, and a lot of conversational contractions are in common use here, including Y'all.  In fact, the Florence, Ky water tower that can be seen from I71 Southbound is painted with a huge "Florence Y'all" even though Florence is an exurb of Cincinnati, Ohio.

[Chris22]

"all fur coat and no knickers"

That is not without its appeal, actually.  The visual, not the phrase....

[Phenix]

Been slowly making my way through this thread since discovering this forum back in October.  I almost gave up during the orange/black box discussion, but I fought through it and here I am today completely caught up and ready to make my contribution for my first post on the forum!

I'm a federal employee working in a finance office full of employees at the GS-12 level and above.  GS-12 employees in my location start out at $71k, but the employee in this post is making around $81k with step increases over the years.  Her husband probably makes around $40k-$50k.  So, household income over $100k, kids are out of the house, and no kids in college.  They have very little saved for retirement, go out for lunch every day (Panera would be a cheap lunch to them so probably >$20/day), constantly give their kids money (both kids have jobs making enough to support themselves), and she constantly complains about their finances.
-They recently built a $200k house because they deserved it, giving them a longer commute in their full size V8 Chevy Trailblazer that might get 16 MPG on a good day (they do ride together to "save money").
-They can't sell their old house that they purchased when they moved here 20+ years ago.  They owe more on it now than what it cost when they bought it (refinanced more than once to pay off CC debt).  The old house is in a slum lord neighborhood.  Most of the houses on their street have recently sold for half of their asking price.  Since it has been up on the market, they have spent close to $20k fixing the place up instead of just dropping the price down $20k as I suggested.
-Her husband smokes a pack a day, orders multiple beers when they go out to eat in the evenings, and has to have the $200/month cable plan.
-Just the other day she was whining about how her husband wants her to pick up a second job (since she has a desk job that is less labor intensive than his) to help foot the bill of the two mortgages.
-Their cell phone bill is in excess of $300/month because their grown kids wanted new smartphones and they put them on the monthly installment plan.

The list goes on and on.  You can tell her what she needs to do, but all she wants is pity and to hear that everything she is doing is okay.  She can't fathom how my wife and I will be able to make it on just my income once we have kids and how outrageous she thinks it is that I "allow" my wife to be a SAHM when "things" are so expensive.  She seems so shocked when I say it was always my intention for my wife to be a SAHM and "things" aren't expensive for us because we don't buy "things" we don't need.

[Phenix]

It's not.  I'm from Kentucky, and a lot of conversational contractions are in common use here, including Y'all.  In fact, the Florence, Ky water tower that can be seen from I71 Southbound is painted with a huge "Florence Y'all" even though Florence is an exurb of Cincinnati, Ohio.

It used to say Florence Mall but was changed for legal reasons.  Y'all seems to be a good substitute.  We always stop at that exit on our way down to the lake.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Y'all_Water_Tower

[Jouer]

I love the Florence Y'all water tower. Ever since driving through a couple of summers ago, I can't say "Florence" without adding the "y'all". Even if talking about Florence, Italy.

[shelivesthedream]

"all fur coat and no knickers"

I have heard that one before but to my mind they are a little different. "Fur coat and no knickers" refers to someone's social situation - someone who pretends to be upper class but is actually common as muck. Whereas "all hat and no cattle" refers to someone's economic situation - they have the trappings of success but no resources to back it up.

[Ashyukun]

It's not.  I'm from Kentucky, and a lot of conversational contractions are in common use here, including Y'all.  In fact, the Florence, Ky water tower that can be seen from I71 Southbound is painted with a huge "Florence Y'all" even though Florence is an exurb of Cincinnati, Ohio.

It used to say Florence Mall but was changed for legal reasons.  Y'all seems to be a good substitute.  We always stop at that exit on our way down to the lake.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Y'all_Water_Tower

Interesting, I didn't know that! I always thought it was just a fun, amusing thing they'd come up with- and it does make it very memorable.

Usually my office is reasonably tame as far as anti-mustachian amusement, but I overheard something amusing today as I was getting ready to head out and look at a potential car to buy to flip- apparently this week is 'Burger Week' here in Lexington where (according to one of my co-workers) "Every place in town that serves them has their burgers at $5". So naturally everybody is going out to all the normally-much-pricier places for lunch every day (granted many do eat out fairly regularly, but there are a number of rather cost-effective places nearby and many do usually bag their lunch) to take advantage of the 'great deals'. I'd commend them on 'saving' money, but there's little doubt that they're more than making it up given side dishes and drinks at the places certainly cost more than at the cheaper places most people normally eat...

[zephyr911]

Been slowly making my way through this thread since discovering this forum back in October.  I almost gave up during the orange/black box discussion, but I fought through it and here I am today completely caught up and ready to make my contribution for my first post on the forum!

I'm a federal employee working in a finance office full of employees at the GS-12 level and above.  GS-12 employees in my location start out at $71k, but the employee in this post is making around $81k with step increases over the years.  Her husband probably makes around $40k-$50k.  So, household income over $100k, kids are out of the house, and no kids in college.  They have very little saved for retirement, go out for lunch every day (Panera would be a cheap lunch to them so probably >$20/day), constantly give their kids money (both kids have jobs making enough to support themselves), and she constantly complains about their finances.
-They recently built a $200k house because they deserved it, giving them a longer commute in their full size V8 Chevy Trailblazer that might get 16 MPG on a good day (they do ride together to "save money").
-They can't sell their old house that they purchased when they moved here 20+ years ago.  They owe more on it now than what it cost when they bought it (refinanced more than once to pay off CC debt).  The old house is in a slum lord neighborhood.  Most of the houses on their street have recently sold for half of their asking price.  Since it has been up on the market, they have spent close to $20k fixing the place up instead of just dropping the price down $20k as I suggested.
-Her husband smokes a pack a day, orders multiple beers when they go out to eat in the evenings, and has to have the $200/month cable plan.
-Just the other day she was whining about how her husband wants her to pick up a second job (since she has a desk job that is less labor intensive than his) to help foot the bill of the two mortgages.
-Their cell phone bill is in excess of $300/month because their grown kids wanted new smartphones and they put them on the monthly installment plan.

The list goes on and on.  You can tell her what she needs to do, but all she wants is pity and to hear that everything she is doing is okay.  She can't fathom how my wife and I will be able to make it on just my income once we have kids and how outrageous she thinks it is that I "allow" my wife to be a SAHM when "things" are so expensive.  She seems so shocked when I say it was always my intention for my wife to be a SAHM and "things" aren't expensive for us because we don't buy "things" we don't need.

I tend to be extra unsympathetic about other people's dumb shit when it's people with similar means. I'm a GS-12/4, DW makes about 40k, and I seriously just imagined myself in your CW's face with a bullhorn, endlessly repeating the phrase "WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO YOURSELF?"
Not long ago, we lived in a nearly 200K house, had cable and two car payments, and DW was JOBLESS. And life was STILL easy.
Post-MMM, still swimming in near-embarrasing levels of luxury, SR is ~50% and climbing. For anyone to struggle on this kind of income is pathetic and hilarious.

[forummm]

"all fur coat and no knickers"

I have heard that one before but to my mind they are a little different. "Fur coat and no knickers" refers to someone's social situation - someone who pretends to be upper class but is actually common as muck. Whereas "all hat and no cattle" refers to someone's economic situation - they have the trappings of success but no resources to back it up.

I thought "all hat and no cattle" meant all talk and no substance--similar, but more broad.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_hat_and_no_cattle

[MrsPotts]

Hi She!

I noticed that you are from the UK.  Is "y'all" RP or Yorkshire?

Ha! What a wonderful question! I'm very RP in real life, and while I think of myself as having no particular accent am often roundly ribbed for being 'posh'.

"Y'all" is not English at all and I have never heard anyone use it in real life, expect Texans on TV. However, I spend enough time online to be aware of many Americanisms. Most are degenerate and reprehensible (JOKE) but there are one or two which are quite useful. I studied several Romance languages at school and always appreciated being able to distinguish between the singular 'you' and the plural 'you', especially on the internet where tone fails can result in a lot of fallout. I therefore took to using "y'all" when I mean "you people generally" as it lessens the chance of an individual poster thinking that I am talking about (and possibly insulting) them personally. In this case I used it to distinguish between "you, the poster I am replying to" and "all of you Americans generally".

Another thing I have picked up is the expression "All hat and no cattle" which I think is just FABULOUS but haven't had a chance to use in real life yet!

Aaaaaah....

"Y'all" tends to be restricted to our rural friends from lower latitudes.   Here in the PNW we say "you guys."

I am, at this moment, sitting at SeaTac waiting my flight to Heathrow.  Perhaps I will bump into you there? 

[Apples]

"all fur coat and no knickers"

I have heard that one before but to my mind they are a little different. "Fur coat and no knickers" refers to someone's social situation - someone who pretends to be upper class but is actually common as muck. Whereas "all hat and no cattle" refers to someone's economic situation - they have the trappings of success but no resources to back it up.

I thought "all hat and no cattle" meant all talk and no substance--similar, but more broad.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/all_hat_and_no_cattle

As someone who has actually used this phrase in real life (no I don't live in Texas), it's a bit of both.  It's usually that someone is all talk and no substance, but referring to their business or business idea, or grand plans they have for expansion.  Or bragging about their business.  So it's usually tied to their economic status.  I wouldn't say it about someone who is saying they have a lot of friends but don't, for example.

[zephyr911]

My favorite CW of the 5% SR and hair-on-fire-debt-emergency status once again came in with a restaurant lunch today... *sigh*
He keeps talking about paying off debt and saving more, and thinks this is part of that... "only $6".
I didn't feel like thawing leftovers so I heated up 79 cents worth of Spaghettios... xD

[Lynne]

As someone who has actually used this phrase in real life (no I don't live in Texas), it's a bit of both.  It's usually that someone is all talk and no substance, but referring to their business or business idea, or grand plans they have for expansion.  Or bragging about their business.  So it's usually tied to their economic status.  I wouldn't say it about someone who is saying they have a lot of friends but don't, for example.

Interesting.  I came across it for the first time online about a year ago (reaction: instant glee and a resolve to use it sometime myself, which I still haven't managed to do other than muttering it to myself and giggling a little).  I hadn't quite gotten the nuances though.  :)

[gimp]

Man, if I could get a house here for "nearly 200k", I would have signed yesterday.

[Chaplin]

... I studied several Romance languages at school and always appreciated being able to distinguish between the singular 'you' and the plural 'you', especially on the internet where tone fails can result in a lot of fallout. I therefore took to using "y'all" when I mean "you people generally" as it lessens the chance of an individual poster thinking that I am talking about (and possibly insulting) them personally. In this case I used it to distinguish between "you, the poster I am replying to" and "all of you Americans generally".

Careful! Y'all is often singular. Use "all y'all" to be sure.

[LeRainDrop]

"Y'all" tends to be restricted to our rural friends from lower latitudes.   Here in the PNW we say "you guys."

LOL, do you think the entire South/Southeast is "rural"?  Atlanta here, and "y'all" is pretty widely used by everyone, include Northern transplants like myself (I grew up outside Boston).  I have friends from Alabama and Tennessee who also use "y'all."  I found this neat map in wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y'all#/media/File:Y%27allMap.jpg

[Rural]

... I studied several Romance languages at school and always appreciated being able to distinguish between the singular 'you' and the plural 'you', especially on the internet where tone fails can result in a lot of fallout. I therefore took to using "y'all" when I mean "you people generally" as it lessens the chance of an individual poster thinking that I am talking about (and possibly insulting) them personally. In this case I used it to distinguish between "you, the poster I am replying to" and "all of you Americans generally".

Careful! Y'all is often singular. Use "all y'all" to be sure.

Y'all is always plural; "all y'all" is reflexive or emphatic. :-)


Another option, used about as often as y'all in this area, is y'uns. Short for you 'uns, of course.

ETA a husband tells me "y'all" was pretty well universally adopted aboard ship (US Navy) because it fills a practical need.

[bludreamin]

"Y'all" tends to be restricted to our rural friends from lower latitudes.   Here in the PNW we say "you guys."

LOL, do you think the entire South/Southeast is "rural"?  Atlanta here, and "y'all" is pretty widely used by everyone, include Northern transplants like myself (I grew up outside Boston).  I have friends from Alabama and Tennessee who also use "y'all."  I found this neat map in wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y'all#/media/File:Y%27allMap.jpg

Or these maps:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2336660/Yall-you-guys-Dialect-maps-showcase-Americas-linguistic-divides.html

[hernandz]

I miss the days of "youse," not to be confused with "yutes" 

Today, I have to nominate myself for antimustachian wall of shame:  I'm on vacation this week, so I don't have access to the fax machine at work.  Went to the library today and spent $7.50 to send a fax to NYS Tax Dept.  What the hell was I thinking?  I couldn't wait until Monday? 


 

[mtn]

I miss the days of "youse," not to be confused with "yutes" 

Today, I have to nominate myself for antimustachian wall of shame:  I'm on vacation this week, so I don't have access to the fax machine at work.  Went to the library today and spent $7.50 to send a fax to NYS Tax Dept.  What the hell was I thinking?  I couldn't wait until Monday? 


 

You were thinking that if you didn't get it done it would have bothered you for the whole vacation. Worth it.

Now, what the hell are you doing on the internet? GO AWAY

[cloudsail]

Man, if I could get a house here for "nearly 200k", I would have signed yesterday.

No kidding, if I sold my current home and bought one for 200k I would have over 250k cash left over.  What a boost that would be to my nest egg.

[mustachepungoeshere]

Husband went out with his colleagues for birthday lunch yesterday (my husband usually packs lunch but the boss shouted him).

One colleague is planning to buy a TV with his tax refund.

Me: What's wrong with this TV?
Husband: He said it's not big enough.
Me: How big is it?
Husband: 40".
(Ours is 32" and was a wedding present six years ago.)

My husband always tell me when his colleagues talk finances because he knows I'm interested (he says nosey).

A couple of them are fairly recently separated, and are learning to navigate shared kids and separate finances for the first time.

Occasionally they mention money being too tight to do this or that, from little things like going to the movies to big things like being a teenage son a car.

I have to try not to be too judgmental when I know this one smokes and that one drew down on his mortgage to buy a third car, because they are really lovely guys, and I feel for them.

It's conversations like that which help get/keep my husband on board, because I know he enjoys the total lack of stress around our finances.

[dragoncar]

... I studied several Romance languages at school and always appreciated being able to distinguish between the singular 'you' and the plural 'you', especially on the internet where tone fails can result in a lot of fallout. I therefore took to using "y'all" when I mean "you people generally" as it lessens the chance of an individual poster thinking that I am talking about (and possibly insulting) them personally. In this case I used it to distinguish between "you, the poster I am replying to" and "all of you Americans generally".

Careful! Y'all is often singular. Use "all y'all" to be sure.

Y'all is always plural; "all y'all" is reflexive or emphatic. :-)


Another option, used about as often as y'all in this area, is y'uns. Short for you 'uns, of course.

ETA a husband tells me "y'all" was pretty well universally adopted aboard ship (US Navy) because it fills a practical need.

What the heck are yinz talking about?

[vern]

... I studied several Romance languages at school and always appreciated being able to distinguish between the singular 'you' and the plural 'you', especially on the internet where tone fails can result in a lot of fallout. I therefore took to using "y'all" when I mean "you people generally" as it lessens the chance of an individual poster thinking that I am talking about (and possibly insulting) them personally. In this case I used it to distinguish between "you, the poster I am replying to" and "all of you Americans generally".

Careful! Y'all is often singular. Use "all y'all" to be sure.

Y'all is always plural; "all y'all" is reflexive or emphatic. :-)


Another option, used about as often as y'all in this area, is y'uns. Short for you 'uns, of course.

ETA a husband tells me "y'all" was pretty well universally adopted aboard ship (US Navy) because it fills a practical need.

What the heck are yinz talking about?

There's a Pittsburgher in the house!

The Chinese also have a word for y'all...ni men.