0bvious things you’ve only just realised (2019 edition)

[Ferris]

I only recently realised Maryland (the State) isn't pronounced Mary(from the bible)-Land, but like Marilyn(the Monroe)-d,
I still call the cookie brand Mary(from the bible)-Land though because I think it's more appropriate.

That would be the local pronunciation. You can hear Bob Dylan pronounce it like that in The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll when he was still pretending to be a po' southern boy in the early '60s.

[touchingcloth]

De La Soul are from Amityville.

You've segued one obvious thing of mine into another one: De La Soul is not one person.

[olliebean]

Dogs have knees and elbows and wrists. Their front and back legs operate in different ways.

When I was younger it seemed obvious that dogs' and most other animals' rear legs, and birds' legs, have backwards knees. It was quite an epiphany for me when I realised that those are actually their ankles, they just have really long feet and walk on their toes.

[Replies From View]

When I was younger it seemed obvious that dogs' and most other animals' rear legs, and birds' legs, have backwards knees. It was quite an epiphany for me when I realised that those are actually their ankles, they just have really long feet and walk on their toes.

I prefer to think of them as elbows and hands to be honest.

[Dex Sawash]

More like myrrh (from the bible) lun*


*Ending with the sound made when you see the letter D, not the enunciated D

[olliebean]

I prefer to think of them as elbows and hands to be honest.

That's a bit odd. We're talking about their rear legs, which are anatomically equivalent to our legs. Do you also think of your own knees and feet (or ankles and toes) as elbows and hands?

[hedgehog90]

More like myrrh (from the bible) lun*


*Ending with the sound made when you see the letter D, not the enunciated D

I will adjust my new pronunciation to Myrrlun from now on, and if people make a confused face at me like 'what, the wizard?' and I'll be like 'no, it's the correct way to pronounce what you probably know as Mary(ftb)-land, but that is wrong. Also WIZARDS ARENT REAL!'

[JesusAndYourBush]

Well I will continue to pronounce it Mary-Land for the same reason that I don't say Paree or Spageyyy-tiiii.

[touchingcloth]

Digg is still a thing. For some reason I thought it had turned into Reddit.

[Replies From View]

That's a bit odd. We're talking about their rear legs, which are anatomically equivalent to our legs. Do you also think of your own knees and feet (or ankles and toes) as elbows and hands?

Oh I thought we were discussing their front legs

[touchingcloth]

I thought we were discussing front left and rear right.

[the]

That one can't joke about Countdown intros being banal without also insisting that women are basically vaginas

[touchingcloth]

The 0 at the start of UK phone numbers seems to be redundant, seeing as all numbers have it and it's omitted when dialling from outside of the country. Other nations don't seem to have such nonsense - ban this sick zilch now.

[Gregory Torso]

That one can't joke about Countdown intros being banal without also insisting that women are basically vaginas

Aside from a couple of replies, I thought that thread kept to its original premise.

[Pseudopath]

The 0 at the start of UK phone numbers seems to be redundant, seeing as all numbers have it and it's omitted when dialling from outside of the country. Other nations don't seem to have such nonsense - ban this sick zilch now.

If only that were the case...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunk_prefix

You've obviously never sat through countless late night commercials on German telly. You can't move for preceding nulls (and norks).

[EditGlitch Removal Person]

HaRe: 0bvious things you've only just realised (2019 edition)ppy to helRe: 0bvious things you've only just realised (2019 edition)p.

[Twed]

I didn't just realise this, but I did just remember that when I was a child I thought "rabies" was the plural form of "rabbit".

[gilbertharding]

I didn't just realise this, but I did just remember that when I was a child I thought "rabbis" was the plural form of "rabbit".

This doesn't look good for Corbyn.

[St_Eddie]

I didn't just realise this, but I did just remember that when I was a child I thought "rabies" was the plural form of "rabbit".

The rabbi's rabbit has rabies.

[olliebean]

I didn't just realise this, but I did just remember that when I was a child I thought "rabies" was the plural form of "rabbit".

Ridiculous. The plural of "rabbit" is "hare," as any fule kno.

[buzby]

If only that were the case...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunk_prefix

You've obviously never sat through countless late night commercials on German telly. You can't move for preceding nulls (and norks).

Indeed, it was introduced in the UK with Subscriber Trunk Dialling (STD) in 1958, which allowed subscribers to dial long distance numbers without having to go through an operator to allocate a trunk network circuit to the distant exchange. Under STD, the electromechanical exchanges were modified to recognise that if the first dialled digit was a 0, it should go and hunt for a free trunk circuit.. Any other digit would mean it was a local or network service call (i.e. operator, line test, speaking clock, Dial-A-Disc etc., which usually were 3-digit numbers starting with a 1).

[gib]

So before then you had to ask the operator 'can i make a trunk call?' and that's why people were once familiar enough with the phrase 'trunk call' for it to be part of the punchline to a christmas cracker joke? Have i got this right?

[Gregory Torso]

Two people I went to school with have been on Have I Got News For You. One of them even presented it.

[buzby]

So before then you had to ask the operator 'can i make a trunk call?' and that's why people were once familiar enough with the phrase 'trunk call' for it to be part of the punchline to a christmas cracker joke? Have i got this right?

Yes. The trunk network prior to STD could only be accessed via a call to an operator. This was a legacy from how the national telephone network had been developed, starting off as a number of local and regional systems (both privately and council-owned) that were nationalised into the National Telephone Company in 1891 (except Hull, where the local council retained ownership of it's system). that was merged into the GPO in 1912.

[kalowski]

So before then you had to ask the operator 'can i make a trunk call?' and that's why people were once familiar enough with the phrase 'trunk call' for it to be part of the punchline to a christmas cracker joke? Have i got this right?

I know the phrase well enough to get any 'trunk call' jokes and I was born in 1971.

[buzby]

I know the phrase well enough to get any 'trunk call' jokes and I was born in 1971.

Implementation of the STD system wasn't completed until 1979, though most large cities had it by the late 60s.

[kalowski]

Implementation of the STD system wasn't completed until 1979, though most large cities had it by the late 60s.

I've never spoken to an operator, that's for sure.
Or had an STD.

[gib]

Yes. The trunk network prior to STD could only be accessed via a call to an operator. This was a legacy from how the national telephone network had been developed, starting off as a number of local and regional systems (both privately and council-owned) that were nationalised into the National Telephone Company in 1891 (except Hull, where the local council retained ownership of it's system). that was merged into the GPO in 1912.

What percentage of households would have had a telephone in 1891? Those red phone boxes don't look victorian so i assume that kind of thing wasn't available to the late adopters who found themselves in desperate need.

[Sebastian Cobb]

What percentage of households would have had a telephone in 1891? Those red phone boxes don't look victorian so i assume that kind of thing wasn't available to the late adopters who found themselves in desperate need.

You might like this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04lpxx3

The one on TAT-1 and Paul Robeson using it to sing at a concert in London when McCarthyism meant his passport was confiscated is good.

[jobotic]

Thanks to Coronation Street I realise that it's Nights In White Satin, not Knights.