So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Stearmen]

When you spend two weeks getting ready for the New Years ride. Replace the rear tire, replace the rear brake rotor, rebuild the rear caliper, check the front brake, air up tires, check fluids, full tank of gas. Then you get your gear all laid out for the morning ride, go to bed early like a good little boy, with visions of nice twisty roads dancing through your mind! Then at around 2:30 in the morning you wake up with coughing and sneezing, that won't let up for the rest of the morning. You watch your designated departure time come and go, no ride this year! Insult to injury, it hit 48F nice riding weather!

 

[Trenchfriend]

Absolute trivial.
The family-bakery, just around the corner, increased the price of their classic greybread from 3,60 EUR to 3,90 EUR, now.

But, it's really no problem to me. Their yummy old-fashioned quality-greybread is really worth every cent! The most areas of Germany would be happy, if they could get such non-industrial stuff.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

When you spend two weeks getting ready for the New Years ride. Replace the rear tire, replace the rear brake rotor, rebuild the rear caliper, check the front brake, air up tires, check fluids, full tank of gas. Then you get your gear all laid out for the morning ride, go to bed early like a good little boy, with visions of nice twisty roads dancing through your mind! Then at around 2:30 in the morning you wake up with coughing and sneezing, that won't let up for the rest of the morning. You watch your designated departure time come and go, no ride this year! Insult to injury, it hit 48F nice riding weather!

As Robbie Burns put it in 1786,

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane [you aren't alone]
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men
Gang aft a-gley, [often go awry]
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promised joy.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Uriah Heep was very much what I had in mind re. 'Regards', 'Kind Regards', etc. It's very much the sort of signature he would have used, as would another Dickensian character, Mr Guppy in 'Bleak House'. It would also appeal to Mr Pooter in 'Diary of a Nobody' by George and Weedon Grossmith.

 

[HudsonHawk]

A few years ago I started a thread about how much I disliked the 'Regards' signature, a relic of the 1950s which had at that time suddenly returned to work-related letters and especially emails here in the UK. Unfortunately I upset a Midwesterner who was certain that Regards was the only valid signature in his region of the US (and by extension the planet!). My view of this signature is that it is clipped, robotic and emotionally cold.

It now seems that Regards-ism (as a mentality as well as a signature) has seeped into the personal arena. I received a Christmas card from a business client whom I also know personally, signed 'Warmest Regards'. Somehow that's even worse - however warm, hot, sizzling, re-heated or even slow-cooked they are, they are still mere Regards. The superlative 'Warmest' does not soften the austerity of the 'Regards', but only reinforces it. Why not just say 'Best Wishes'.

I have to confess that, this being England, it has a class connotation. I was always taught that 'Regards' is a bit common. But in Brexitland, commonness is perhaps now de rigeur.

Most Brits I know use "regards" when signing off on an email. The others use "cheers", which is far more annoying. Don't say "cheers" to me unless you've just bought me a drink.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Most Brits I know use "regards" when signing off on an email. The others use "cheers", which is far more annoying. Don't say "cheers" to me unless you've just bought me a drink.

I think 'Cheers' is a bit naff. ... 'Regards' is a depressing, dreary trend, accompanying the rise of Estuary English and the general cult of ordinariness and 'ordinary people' in Britain. It's an ugly word: I always think it sounds a bit like 'Gargoyles'. 'Unkind Gargoyles': that would be a fitting response to 'Kind Regards'.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I think 'Cheers' is a bit naff. ... 'Regards' is a depressing, dreary trend, accompanying the rise of Estuary English and the general cult of ordinariness and 'ordinary people' in Britain. It's an ugly word: I always think it sounds a bit like 'Gargoyles'. 'Unkind Gargoyles': that would be a fitting response to 'Kind Regards'.

Here in the US, being an "ordinary person" is a badge of honor. Or at least an "ordinary American". We only view exceptionalism in the context of the rest of the world, not amongst ourselves. It's one of our charming quirks.

 

[Ticklishchap]

Here in the US, being an "ordinary person" is a badge of honor. Or at least an "ordinary American". We only view exceptionalism in the context of the rest of the world, not amongst ourselves. It's one of our charming quirks.

I know and I 'get that' when I'm in the US and respect it of course.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Of course, "ordinariness" can be taken to ridiculous, phony extremes -- there are far too many members of the American Aristocracy who think they're "regular Joes" because they once drank beer out of a can, or were photographed loading brush in the back of a pickup truck. That sort of thing is as cringeworthy as the bourgeois posturing of the parvenus.

 

[Fading Fast]

One of the ways "ordinariness" has become circular is via clothing.

Up until the late '60s, most people (with some exceptions for groups and regions) tried to dress as "well" or "nice" as they could with the very wealthy dressing in suits and ties for men and well-tailored clothes and furs, etc. for women. (To be sure, "Old-Money" might let their clothes get a bit shabby, but they were the "right" clothes to start.) But up and down the line of money, based on of-the-period movies and books and more-recent documentaries, many / most people tried to dress as nicely as they could afford.

Then, the late-'60s cultural revolution hit and the younger generation started dressing in jeans and more casual even if they could afford to dress "nicer" as a way of not being part of the old establishment. Also, some say, it was a way of showing your power and wealth in the sense of "I'm influential enough that I can dress however I want and still be 'at the table'."

Over time, society shifted with all this and "business casual" replace traditional business attire, uniform for things like movie attendants went away and even super-wealthy business leaders like Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg have made dressing very casual part of their identity. So we are left today with no dress standards or signals. From t-shirts to suits, you have no idea of someone's financial condition based on their attire anymore.

We are all ordinary / no one is ordinary / there is no ordinary when it comes to clothes.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I can't help but shake my head and snicker at the people who spend way too much money for the kind of now au-courant "workwear" that my grandfather wore every day of his life to actually work in. I wish we'd saved it -- the authentic vintage stains would have added to the collectibility. "Whoa, check it out, this spot here? Genuine Marfak No. 2!"

We actually had to go out and buy a coat and tie for my grandfather to wear in his coffin -- over my objections. I pointed out that he would have preferred to leave this world ready to get to work in the next, but my theology was questioned.

 

[tonyb]

I got my own harmless (more or less) quirks, so I resist scoffing at others'.

Still, I am amused by the degree to which some will obsess over the particulars of their high-priced blue jeans. It's fine by me that they do, really. All those little details add up to a better pair of pants. But jeans priced at something north of a hundred bucks (well north of it, in some cases) aren't jeans I would wear under conditions for which jeans were first created.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Still, I am amused by the degree to which some will obsess over the particulars of their high-priced blue jeans. It's fine by me that they do, really. All those little details add up to a better pair of pants. But jeans priced at something north of a hundred bucks (well north of it, in some cases) aren't jeans I would wear under conditions for which jeans were first created.

Years ago a well-known morning talk show host (Regis Philbin, I think) got sued by some pretentious model because she chose to wear "designer" jeans with the phony baloney "wear and tear" (i.e., holes and tears) for her appearance, and at one point the host jokingly reached over and yanked on the material, making one of the holes larger. She got visibly upset, scolded him for doing so, and informed him of the cost of her precious designer jeans, then got angrier when he tried to play it off by jokingly saying something to the effect of, "Well, they're torn even more now, so I just increased their value." She didn't see the humor and remained angry for the rest of the show and, if I remember correctly, they settled out of court when he bought her two pairs of jeans to replace the pair he had "ruined".

 

[swanson_eyes]

I hate jeans. I think they're only appropriate for mucking out stalls. But that's just me.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

and the general cult of ordinariness and 'ordinary people' in Britain. .

Thanks to forums & other social media, the ordinary, whom, ordinarily try to mask their ordinariness behind a facade of unordinariness by claiming how ordinary they are, always hope that the ordinary can see the unordinariness through the veil of false modesty.......which is of course, perfectly ordinary.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I can't help but shake my head and snicker at the people who spend way too much money for the kind of now au-courant "workwear" that my grandfather wore every day of his life to actually work in. I wish we'd saved it -- the authentic vintage stains would have added to the collectibility. "Whoa, check it out, this spot here? Genuine Marfak No. 2!"

We actually had to go out and buy a coat and tie for my grandfather to wear in his coffin -- over my objections. I pointed out that he would have preferred to leave this world ready to get to work in the next, but my theology was questioned.

The problem is that so little work wear that was used then can be bought now. For example: Osh Kosh hickory striped overalls and chore coat? Fahgetabout it.... unless you're buying for the kiddies. They stopped making menswear.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Years ago a well-known morning talk show host (Regis Philbin, I think) got sued by some pretentious model because she chose to wear "designer" jeans with the phony baloney "wear and tear" (i.e., holes and tears) for her appearance, and at one point the host jokingly reached over and yanked on the material, making one of the holes larger. She got visibly upset, scolded him for doing so, and informed him of the cost of her precious designer jeans, then got angrier when he tried to play it off by jokingly saying something to the effect of, "Well, they're torn even more now, so I just increased their value." She didn't see the humor and remained angry for the rest of the show and, if I remember correctly, they settled out of court when he bought her two pairs of jeans to replace the pair he had "ruined".

Somewhere in Bangladesh some poor soul is earning two cents a day slashing pantlegs with a box cutter, and dreaming desperately of a better world.

 

[Fading Fast]

I'm a sub $50 (and usually meaningfully sub $50) jeans guy, but I do like them to be "broken in," which today, even at Old Navy, J.Crew or Levi's (the normal one, not their hoity toity "vintage" site) means some sort of fancy description of all they do to "age" the jeans.

That said, I grew up with the original hard-as-brick blue jeans that I'd run through the washing machine several times just so that you could sit down in them, so I'm okay if people make fun of me for buying jeans that already look worn when new.

People can spend their money how they like - freedoms a good thing, IMHO - but the appeal of all the things Tony B mentioned - the little nuances that get many so excited - pass me buy. When a pair of "selvedge" jeans popped up on J.Crew for super sales (no kidding, about $200 full price, I paid, $39, or about that) I bought them in part to see what all the fuss was about.

I had to Google "selvedge" and read a description to compare it to the jeans I received and - sure - the inner seam looked like the Google image, but from a wear, feel and appearance perspective, I could not tell the difference from my not-selvedge jeans.

The genuine shame about the poor soul in Bangladesh is that if the jean company doesn't hire him, his or her prospects are even worse.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Somewhere in Bangladesh some poor soul is earning two cents a day slashing pantlegs with a box cutter, and dreaming desperately of a better world.

If it wasn't for the rich in the western world wanting ripped up clothes, he wouldn't be earning a cent.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

The genuine shame about the poor soul in Bangladesh is that if the jean company doesn't hire him, his or her prospects are even worse.

You mean if we didn't maintain & exploit poverty, our prospects would be worse.