So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[tonyb]

I don't dispute your account of the Bush incident, but I am taken aback by it. It doesn't take any great brain power to determine the meaning of "a couple of sandwiches shy of a picnic." Surely GWB had himself heard, and likely used, some variation on that, numerous examples of which have already been cited.

 

[Hercule]

I don't dispute your account of the Bush incident, but I am taken aback by it. It doesn't take any great brain power to determine the meaning of "a couple of sandwiches shy of a picnic." Surely GWB had himself heard, and likely used, some variation on that, numerous examples of which have already been cited.

I agree, it sounds like something GWB would say, probably in relating a story though. However I frankly find the story hard to swallow. Seriously, a reporter saying that to a foreign head of state? Unless there's a video of the encounter documenting it, I'd say it's pure fantasy, or perhaps wishful thinking given that GWB has been a favorite butt of many people's jokes.

 

[ChiTownScion]

"That's just his way."

Or in a social skills context, "(S)he means well."

Translation: the social grace, intuition, and awareness of a doorknob... but his/ her "heart is in the right place," and thus, deserving of a pass.

 

[GHT]

I don't dispute your account of the Bush incident, but I am taken aback by it. It doesn't take any great brain power to determine the meaning of "a couple of sandwiches shy of a picnic."

I agree, it sounds like something GWB would say, probably in relating a story though. However I frankly find the story hard to swallow. Seriously, a reporter saying that to a foreign head of state?

My apologies, I should have researched first and not relied on old age grey cells.
Ann Leslie interviews GWB. What I saw on television was Ann Leslie's reminisce of her interview with The President. It was not at a press conference.

 

[BobHufford]

I remember the 10-year-old son of a friend referring to a couple of class mates as "dumb as each other".

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

One of my father's favorite utterances when another driver did something of which he took a dim view,
"If you had one more brain, you'd be a half-wit!"

 

[Zombie_61]

Or in a social skills context, "(S)he means well."

Translation: the social grace, intuition, and awareness of a doorknob... but his/ her "heart is in the right place," and thus, deserving of a pass.

Also known as "Good heart, bad brain" syndrome.

 

[GHT]

Also known as "Good heart, bad brain" syndrome.

Along those lines: "The wheel is spinning, but the hamster's dead."

 

[ChiTownScion]

"She's the kind of a woman to whom you say, 'Hello,'... and she's stuck for an answer."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Not only don't he not KNOW nothin', he don't even SUSPECT nothin'.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

If brains was dynamite, he couldn't blow his nose.

 

[GHT]

From the 1981 movie: Time Bandits.
Evil Genius: Oh, Benson... Dear Benson, you are so mercifully free of the ravages of intelligence.
Benson:Oh, you say such nice things, Master.
Evil Genius: Yes I know, I'm sorry!

 

[Stearmen]

Engineers! I had to trade in my truck after the crash, so I got the custom shift knob out of the old truck, no problem, same threads. The new truck, same make, has a weird oblong base that clips to the shifter boot. Why couldn't they make it round? Now I am going to have to make a pattern and then cut a faceplate out of brass or aluminum, figure out some clips to keep it from rotating, instead of just getting a round washer!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Engineers! Why couldn't they make it round?

So that people have to buy new parts.

 

[Fading Fast]

So that people have to buy new parts.

Apple does something similar with the power cord plugs for its iPhones. After several years and models that used a cord that connected with a small rectangular piece about a half inch long - and in which many things were built to accommodate this plug-in connections, for example, exercise equipment and alarm clocks - Apple changed to a more square like connection.

I have no doubt this was simply to "punish" all the third part manufacturers who make these Apple compatible things. But not only does it punish the manufacturers, but also the customers of the iPhone and these third party items. It's all so stupid and wasteful.

 

[Trenchfriend]

That's market-economy...

 

[tonyb]

Apple does something similar with the power cord plugs for its iPhones. After several years and models that used a cord that connected with a small rectangular piece about a half inch long - and in which many things were built to accommodate this plug-in connections, for example, exercise equipment and alarm clocks - Apple changed to a more square like connection.

I have no doubt this was simply to "punish" all the third part manufacturers who make these Apple compatible things. But not only does it punish the manufacturers, but also the customers of the iPhone and these third party items. It's all so stupid and wasteful.

Might it be that the aftermarket accessories manufacturers and sellers actually benefit from the obsolescence?

It's the end user who buys new accessories, either from Apple or one of the aftermarket suppliers. That's good for Apple and the aftermarket. But for those of us shelling out 10 bucks or more for a charger cord that cost some very small fraction of that amount to produce, it's annoying at best.

 

[swanson_eyes]

Here's one: people who comment on some obvious malady or condition you have and then get angry when you don't further or encourage the conversation. I was at work when this last happened and it was someone I had never met so I didn't want to discuss my medical info with her. She complained and I have a mark on my record now. Who walks up to someone they don't know at all and asks first thing "Do you have X condition??" and then goes on to tell the sufferer how it feels? (Yes, she did. She didn't ask; she pronounced that it must be painful. I said it wasn't and that ticked her off because she was wrong.)
Someone on one of my other message boards keeps a service dog and people ask her all kinds of questions about why she has it. It's none of their business and you're not supposed to ask anyway. She can only be out for a few hours before being completely exhausted, so these people are impeding her from getting home when she needs to.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Someone on one of my other message boards keeps a service dog and people ask her all kinds of questions about why she has it. It's none of their business and you're not supposed to ask anyway. She can only be out for a few hours before being completely exhausted, so these people are impeding her from getting home when she needs to.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like Germany, but I would generally call these nerving people just "provincial". And province is just everywhere, country, little-town and streets in bigger city, everywhere.

Germany's health-system still refuses the general equipment of people with sensory-filtre-weakness/hard Asperger-Syndrome with service-dogs.

 

[tonyb]

A wheelchair user of my close acquaintance always finds time to talk with youngsters who are curious (as kids are and should be) about her power wheelchair and why she uses it.

She wishes for those kids not to be fearful or pitying of wheelchair users. She wants them to know that the disability aside, wheelchair users are pretty much like everybody else.