It's the things they don't warn you about...

[knitnerd90]

Guns, religion, politics, the cost of health insurance...

... but not the BIBLICAL PLAGUE of cicadas!

I'm sure we've all got some of these!

I lived in central Virginia back in 2011- 2018 and experienced cicadas the first time in my life-they were ENORMOUS!!! They were loud and stayed longer than the scientists said but the worst was taking a stroll and having three of them land on me-I must've looked like I was playing a demented game of twister!

It’s trying to find stuff that is called something different. Wanted my car valeted, hoovered, washed, etc. Took me ages to figure out I was looking for ‘car detailers’.

That there are "rules" regarding what order to take food at a buffet ....

There are rules around buffets? Oh lord, what are they? I dread to think what social faux pas I’ve committed!

At least cicadas are only once in 17 years events.

@FeckTheMagicDragon

It’s trying to find stuff that is called something different. Wanted my car valeted, hoovered, washed, etc. Took me ages to figure out I was looking for ‘car detailers’.

That reminds me when I was trying to buy draught excluders to go round our front door from a hardware. I'd never have guessed in a million years that what I needed was 'weather stripping'.

My hometown is in the desert southwest. There's things there that make cicadas seem tame. I am less bothered by cicadas where I live now in SE Texas where the bayous have alligators and enormous snake skins left behind in your backyard. I live in a metropolitan city too!

When I lived in England, my FIL nearly fell over from laughing when I told him I was going to buy "caulk" from B&Q for the laminate floor in the hallway.

He just said, "Please don't say you want to buy 'caulk' because you'll get arrested."

I had no idea it is called, "sealant".

Speaking of FIL, he would go on and on about the "immersion". We don't have those in the US and he has always thought I was a bit dim.

MIL laughed and laughed when I told her that my friend is the manager at an establishment called, "Slick Willies".

There's plenty more, especially as my parents were from Mexico and there was always weird and wonderful stuff to learn.

I suddenly remembered my father.

In the first day in the US in 1960, he went to a small restaurant and saw people eating cornflakes. So he ordered some too.

Back in his small village in Mexico, they pretty much ate the same thing, all day, every day. It's usually some variation of beans, rice, tortillas and chile sauces.

He went out to the small grocery shop and bought a huge box of corn flakes and milk and ate it three times a day for nearly a month when he was told by someone that cornflakes were mainly for breakfast! He had no idea that there was different food for different times of the day.

He always referred to that as his "dumb immigrant moment". I've had plenty of them, myself. 😜

@elp30 I've never known anyone to call caulk 'sealant' ! Think that one may be FIL-specific.

[quote SoMuchForSummerLove]@elp30 I've never known anyone to call caulk 'sealant' ! Think that one may be FIL-specific.[/quote]

My husband calls it sealant and my neighbor, who was helping with the laminate, chuckled about it too.

I'll blame people from Wigan.lol I'm only kidding.

Caulk and sealant are different things though. The silicone sealant used in bathrooms is different to decorators caulking used to join the top of skirting boards to walls.
(Misses point of thread entirely)

I'm wondering exactly what your FiL thinks caulk is? He's a bit old for Urban Dictionary...

@merryhouse

I'm wondering exactly what your FiL thinks caulk is? He's a bit old for Urban Dictionary...

He thinks that it's exactly what JohnLapsleyParlabanesays it is. He can probably also use tinterweb to find out the Urban Dictionary definition.

Sounds stupid but what's a cicada?too scared to Google it now

That there are "rules" regarding what order to take food at a buffet

There are folks that load up their plates with a bit of everything - far more than I could possibly eat. I used to sidle along the buffet, decide which two or three dishes I was going to sample, then get my plate. Having got a sample I would dodge around the back of the slow movers and go to the next station. Then go quickly to the end. There was this enormously fat man who accused me of "cutting the line" whatever that is. I told him "No I am in the line, and moving quickly and efficiently out of the way for all the greedy people who want to shuffle along to try everything."

My nephew worked in hospitality and told me that buffets are organised this way so that people with different eating styles can use them as they wish. I always dodge around the slow movers as I hate cold food.

I am reminded of Bill Bryson going to the hardware store in the States “I need some of that goopy stuff to fill in holes in walls - my wife’s people call it polyfilla”

@Stillfunny

At least cicadas are only once in 17 years events.

But they're not all on the same 17-year cycle, so we get some every year. This year is particularly bag, though. I drive past a guy mowing a lawn on Friday, and his shirt was covered in them! There had to be 10-15

Cicadas are bugs. They're like 3" long and they're blind and they hibernate for 17 years then come out to mate. They fly in your face and in your car and all over the place. And they shed their exoskeleton and leave it all over. And they make this buzzing chainsaw noise when they do it. They said on the news last night the sound they make is 100 decibels.

Oh and even though they're blind they have these big red eyes which I find particularly off-putting.

We have so many around here right now, I went to have an iron infusion on Friday and when I went into the infusion center they were all over the floor inside because they were just flying in the door.

@Stillfunny

At least cicadas are only once in 17 years events.

There's two kinds. There's the annual ones we get every year; they're a mild annoyance.

Then there are the 17 year ones, which if you're in the right spot, are a plague. One spot measured the noise at 80 dB. They crunch underfoot. Now there are people frying them up...

Urgh, that's terrifying. I'd feel like not leaving the house on those days they're out !

Ugh, and when you're driving down the highway they smash into your window and they're so loud. They are impervious to windshield washer fluid and the carwash. I'm going to have to get special bug remover to get the smears off. 😒

Gaps between toilet doors and walls of cubicles. Why? Just why? Husband (American) says it’s cheaper. By how much? Surely not thousands. I heard someone else say it’s because they are easier to clean like that - but I’ve yet to go in any public toilets here where the cleaners are so fastidious that the gap between door and wall is bleached multiple times a day. You’re lucky if there’s enough toilet paper, let alone clean doors and walls.

I end up taking a selection of scarves with me when I go out to drape over the gaps in case I need to go. I’ve made eye contact accidentally way too many times.

And the way toilets in the US just flush when they decide you must be done! Er no, I'm still sitting here on MN but thanks

Plasters in America are called Band Aids.

@Lunde

That there are "rules" regarding what order to take food at a buffet ....

There are? I never knew that. How many people have I offended?