No Bathroom Wall out-lets or A/C!!??

[guohua]

@"BIAD" 
Is this True??
You don't have A/C in your homes or wall out-lets in your bathrooms?
Why would you have carpet in your bathroom, because your floors get cold in the winter?


And then,,, Maybe I'm "Not The Full Ticket" at time. 

[Ninurta]

My English may be showing...

I have no A/C. This is the first house I've lived in for years without it, and I don't miss it. I'm a warm weather creature, anyhow.

ALL of my lights in this house have pull cords. All of them.

The wall sockets here are all around 60 years old, so they are all the old bakelight jobs that set directly ON the wall, not IN it.

I do not have carpet n the bathroom, but have lived in a few places that did have it there, wall to wall.

The washing machine and dryer are not technically in my kitchen, bur ARE directly on the other side of the wall from the cooking stove, so, pretty close. The house used to have a wrap-around porch along two sides of it, but one side was walled in to form an enclosed porch, and a utility room was separated off of one end of that, the kitchen end.

The English "idiot idioms" are all used here almost exactly as they were mentioned. Additionally, we have "not the sharpest knife in the drawer",  "a few bricks shy of a full load", "ain't playin' with a full deck of cards", and the ubiquitous Southern "Well bless your heart!" Which really means "you ain't very bright, so here's some pity for you!"

.

[F2d5thCav]

I thought what the British call the "mains" outlets somewhat big.  I still have a converter plug for my electric razor.

No A/C is standard for Europe north of the Alps, but the hotter summers have seen people build some window units for their bedrooms.  Most of year, one doesn't need A/C.  I hear SOUTH of the Alps, it is common for there to be no heating in the houses, and the last winter had some of the Spaniards rather cold.

Cheers

[BIAD]

@"BIAD" 
Is this True??
You don't have A/C in your homes or wall out-lets in your bathrooms?
Why would you have carpet in your bathroom, because your floors get cold in the winter?

...And then,,, Maybe I'm "Not The Full Ticket" at time. 

The posh blonde bimbo is correct, the majority of UK homes don't have air-conditioning because of the UK climate.
But she's missing the point, air-conditioning units can also provide heat as well as cool air, she just equates A/C with
hot climates in the US.

The original standards regarding electricity-safety in areas involving water are still a major discipline in the UK.
(I had to smile when this wine-bar trollop spoke about the size of homes in the US and the difference in sizes to
the UK... Isn't one these countries bigger than the other?!)

The comments of the narcissistic dickhead with the fake accent in the video in regards the 'tradition' of having carpet
in the toilet is only partially correct. Some older houses don't have carpets areas in their toilets and some do.
Newer homes are the same, it's a choice-thing!
(I see Ninurta's reply indicates this)

It's the same with the tap/faucet situation. Mixer-faucets are a fairly new appliance and the giggling champagne-sipper
is being deliberately obtuse to imply that separate taps evolving into mixer-taps was somehow negative. It's merely
a choice from accessibility and cost, something this Guardian-reader cannot appreciate.
.........................................

No, you are incorrect, my dear Guohua... you are 'a full ticket', it's just that like most countries, the British assume their
standards are the same everywhere else. The silly chick in the video is actually describing nationalism and believing
by ridiculing it, she's somehow being intelligent.

In the proper circles that 'Miss-Result-Of-Yuppie-Sex' -here, pretends to belong to, wit is applied to an insult to suggest
a level of superior intellect from the person throwing the insult. It stems from the time of Imperialism (snobby people that
Mel Gibson kicked the shit out of in the movie 'The Patriot'!)

The idioms of the British are no different from other countries of the world. The US's vocabulary is littered with idioms,
just like many other nations. 'A dime a dozen' -You don't use the pound?!!!

[BIAD]

I thought what the British call the "mains" outlets somewhat big.  I still have a converter plug for my electric razor.

No A/C is standard for Europe north of the Alps, but the hotter summers have seen people build some window units for their bedrooms.  Most of year, one doesn't need A/C.  I hear SOUTH of the Alps, it is common for there to be no heating in the houses, and the last winter had some of the Spaniards rather cold.

Cheers

The silly bint is on YouTube talking nonsense... and getting paid for it!

[BIAD]

The English "idiot idioms" are all used here almost exactly as they were mentioned. Additionally, we have "not the sharpest knife in the drawer",  "a few bricks shy of a full load", "ain't playin' with a full deck of cards", and the ubiquitous Southern "Well bless your heart!" Which really means "you ain't very bright, so here's some pity for you!"

One slightly-hidden insult I've heard recently aligns with your Southern suggestion. The saying is "My sweet Summer-Child" when
indicating naivety! I love it!

[Ninurta]

The idioms of the British are no different from other countries of the world. The US's vocabulary is littered with idioms,
just like many other nations. 'A dime a dozen' -You don't use the pound?!!!

You don't use dimes? What kinda barbaric place IS that! 

Yessir, we do use pounds - or at least we used to, and it has carried over in some idioms such as "in for a penny, in for a pound" meaning pretty much "whatever you do, do it all the way, do it like you mean it". That may be just around here, rather than nationwide, however. We tend to hold on to things longer here in the hinterlands. 

Pennies, dimes, quarters, and dollars didn't really take off as a medium of exchange here until around 1790, and they were patterned after the Spanish dollar - that's why a quarter (quarter dollar) used to be referred to as "two bits". Spanish dollars were often subdivided into eighths -A.K.A. "pieces of eight" or "bits" - and two of those "bits" equaled out to a quarter of a Spanish dollar.

We did have "Continental dollars" here earlier, but they were practically worthless, hence the phrase "not worth a Continental". Most road houses and the like still listed all their prices in pounds, shillings, and pence, and Continental dollars were rarely ever used in reality because of their debased value. Sort of like Confederate dollars a hundred years later. Wright's Tavern in Wentworth, NC (Rockingham County), was still listing their prices in pounds, shillings, and pence into the early 1800's.

As I recall, and I may be recalling wrong - so feel free to correct me here - there were 12 pence to the shilling, and 20 shillings to the pound. My so many greats back granddad was paid "2s 6d" (also noted as "2 1/2 shillings" elsewhere) per day for being a "scout" or "Indian spy" for Dunmore's army during Lord Dunmore's War here in 1774 (As I recall, he drew 16 1/2 pounds total for 132 days of slogging along through the wilderness keeping Indians off the army's flanks. Foot slogger, trigger-twitching grunt soldiers got 1s 6d per day at the same time - "Scouts" were drawing sergeant's pay because their duty was more hazardous) , and that confused me because I still don't understand why "d" was the abbreviation for "pence" - I don't see a "d" in that word anywhere. But that's how he's listed in the handwritten pay ledgers for Dunmore's army of militiamen. 

Maybe "d" really stood for "dime"? 

.

[Ninurta]

The English "idiot idioms" are all used here almost exactly as they were mentioned. Additionally, we have "not the sharpest knife in the drawer",  "a few bricks shy of a full load", "ain't playin' with a full deck of cards", and the ubiquitous Southern "Well bless your heart!" Which really means "you ain't very bright, so here's some pity for you!"

One slightly-hidden insult I've heard recently aligns with your Southern suggestion. The saying is "My sweet Summer-Child" when
indicating naivety! I love it!

That phrase "my sweet summer child"" was not, by chance, a reference to your shed-guest when you heard it, was it?

.

[F2d5thCav]

@"Ninurta" 

Its symbol was d, from the Roman denarius.

... sez Wikipedia.

But that is odd, because Wiki goes on to say the denarius equaled 10 asses 

The word dēnārius is derived from the Latin dēnī "containing ten", as its value was originally of 10 assēs

so that still leaves the question as to why a coin associated with 10 of something came to be the source of an abbreviation for a coin associated with 12.

Cheers

[BIAD]

Yessir, we do use pounds - or at least we used to, and it has carried over in some idioms such as "in for a penny, in for a pound" meaning pretty much "whatever you do, do it all the way, do it like you mean it". That may be just around here, rather than nationwide, however. We tend to hold on to things longer here in the hinterlands. 

Yep, we use 'In for a penny...' over here too.

Pennies, dimes, quarters, and dollars didn't really take off as a medium of exchange here until around 1790, and they were patterned after the Spanish dollar - that's why a quarter (quarter dollar) used to be referred to as "two bits". Spanish dollars were often subdivided into eighths -A.K.A. "pieces of eight" or "bits" - and two of those "bits" equaled out to a quarter of a Spanish dollar.

We did have "Continental dollars" here earlier, but they were practically worthless, hence the phrase "not worth a Continental". Most road houses and the like still listed all their prices in pounds, shillings, and pence, and Continental dollars were rarely ever used in reality because of their debased value. Sort of like Confederate dollars a hundred years later. Wright's Tavern in Wentworth, NC (Rockingham County), was still listing their prices in pounds, shillings, and pence into the early 1800's.

Now that is interesting, the phrase "not worth a Continental" always threw me, in my head a 'Continental' is an American car... why would
it be worthless? Now I know, thanks. The Spanish reference may go to explain the old pirate mention of 'pieces of eight' too.

As I recall, and I may be recalling wrong - so feel free to correct me here - there were 12 pence to the shilling, and 20 shillings to the pound.

 
I checked with my equivalent to the Bank of England A.K.A -my wife, and you're bang-on the money as they say! Correct.

@"F2d5thCav" 
The word dēnārius is derived from the Latin dēnī "containing ten", as its value was originally of 10 assēs
so that still leaves the question as to why a coin associated with 10 of something came to be the source of an abbreviation
for a coin associated with 12.

I'm still looking-up stuff, but I think the 'denarius' became the name purely due to the Romans effecting the British Isles' culture.
The actual became a meme -if you will, denarius meant penny in the same way Champagne means a drink of bubbly-wine, not the
district of France the grapes are grown in. (A bit lame, I agree!)

Remember, those in power in Britain spoke Latin, French and German. Names based on a 'foreign' source may not always hold the
same quality as from where the word originated.

[Ninurta]

Pennies, dimes, quarters, and dollars didn't really take off as a medium of exchange here until around 1790, and they were patterned after the Spanish dollar - that's why a quarter (quarter dollar) used to be referred to as "two bits". Spanish dollars were often subdivided into eighths -A.K.A. "pieces of eight" or "bits" - and two of those "bits" equaled out to a quarter of a Spanish dollar.

We did have "Continental dollars" here earlier, but they were practically worthless, hence the phrase "not worth a Continental". Most road houses and the like still listed all their prices in pounds, shillings, and pence, and Continental dollars were rarely ever used in reality because of their debased value. Sort of like Confederate dollars a hundred years later. Wright's Tavern in Wentworth, NC (Rockingham County), was still listing their prices in pounds, shillings, and pence into the early 1800's.

Now that is interesting, the phrase "not worth a Continental" always threw me, in my head a 'Continental' is an American car... why would
it be worthless? Now I know, thanks. The Spanish reference may go to explain the old pirate mention of 'pieces of eight' too.

That is a connection I never made, despite having owned a 1972 Lincoln Continental Mark III, an edition of which there were supposedly only 600 ever made. It had a 460 engine in it, the biggest car engine I've ever owned, and would flat out fly once I got it up to speed. It took a little time to get there, but once there it was Hell on Wheels. I lucked into it - my brother in law at the time bought it to put the engine in his truck, and then didn't have the heart to destroy the car to get to the engine, so he sold it to me for what he had in it. I only gave the equivalent of 224 pounds sterling for it, but if you say instead "53,760 pence", it sounds more expensive...

And yes, the phrase "pieces of eight" was used by pirates, who originally traded mostly in stolen Spanish loot, including Spanish dollars, seized on the high seas off the Spanish Main as it was being transported to Spain from the new World... And breaking a dollar into eight bits was more agreeable for purchase of a pint of ale or a bottle of rum than giving a whole dollar for it! They were often used in the American colonies, emanating out from St. Augustine into the English parts of America. The Spanish Dollars were made out of real gold, giving them an intrinsic value not possessed by paper scrip currency, so the broken pieces of eight retained their subdivided value in gold.

That is also the source of biting a coin to determine whether it was real or not - counterfeits were struck out of lead and merely gold plated, but biting them would show whether the base material was the softer lead or not by leaving deeper tooth marks in the counterfeits.

.

[Ninurta]

@"Ninurta" 

Its symbol was d, from the Roman denarius.

... sez Wikipedia.

But that is odd, because Wiki goes on to say the denarius equaled 10 asses 

The word dēnārius is derived from the Latin dēnī "containing ten", as its value was originally of 10 assēs

so that still leaves the question as to why a coin associated with 10 of something came to be the source of an abbreviation for a coin associated with 12.

Cheers

Thanks for that! Now I know, and it has bothered me ever since I went over the ledgers of the Dunmore's War expedition (5 ledgers in all, now stored in the Library of Virginia) and tried to puzzle out the pay rates and prices of commodities out of them!

At that time, Daniel Boone is listed as having sold buffalo hides to the militia at Fort Russell in Castle's Woods, VA (now "Castlewood" in Russell County, VA), and some of the militiamen bought their muskets after their service for personal use on the frontier at 10 to 18 shillings a musket, roughly 10 days wages for the average militiaman back then.

.

[ABNARTY]

Back in the stone age, I spent a semester in London going to school. 

Lucky me, it was the coldest winter they had experienced since... a really long time. Big Ben froze. It was on the news. 

The place I stayed was FREEZING. All they had was this little radiator thing in one room of the flat. I slept with sweaters on. People there said I was from a cold climate so I should be used to it. I said I was but we have heat in the buildings. We don't need to live in our coats 24/7. It just seemed weird to me. But when in Rome I guess... 

Sure, the building I lived in was old. It was from WW1 time supposedly. But didn't it get cold back then too? The pipes in the place froze because there was no insulation in the walls. It just seemed like asking for problems. To be fair, no place was warm. All the buildings at the school were just at cold. The shops and stuff were the same thing. I was to the point of almost building a fire outside by the tube tracks and hang out there. 

I guess I am a spoiled American. I like a heat source in the winter. Forgive me.