Stuff That Really 'Grinds My Gears...'

Franko · December 15, 2018, 7:32pm

and muumuus!

kxkvi · December 15, 2018, 7:33pm

Hip waders?

LearnedCoward · December 15, 2018, 7:46pm

I’ve never understood why a garment marketed to overweight women was called a Moo Moo.

My feet are actually too large for many kinds of shoes, especially ones that are sized as small/ medium/ large.

This also includes those revolting finger toe shoes.

kxkvi · December 15, 2018, 7:57pm

A muu muu is a Hawaiian dress. My mom (who was average weight) had a few when we were there in the 60s. They’re not just for larger sizes.

I have the opposite problem with shoes - I can’t get them small and narrow enough. I do have some women’s walking shoes that fit pretty well.

Franko · December 15, 2018, 8:53pm

if i recall, it’s a hawaiian word for something, but it’s definitely not “cow,” haha

LearnedCoward · December 15, 2018, 8:54pm

Still an unfortunate name for a dress.

That weird Hawaiian craze makes me sad I missed the sixties. I would have loved to be there, if only to witness the weirdness.

DaakSyde · December 21, 2018, 7:09am

Trying to get in the Christmas spirit, playing a game which has in-game internet radio stations. So I find the one station that’s playing Christmas music and that’s nice. I’m enjoying the game and starting to feel Christmasy. Then they play that one stupid song. Ok, whatever. But it keeps coming up on the rotation. It seems pretty much guaranteed that if I play that game and put it on that station, I’m going to have to hear that song. Maybe you know the one, the lyrics are something like “People in Africa are too dumb to know it’s Christmas because it doesn’t snow there. Let’s all feel sorry for the stupid people in Africa.” or something like that.

Nothing has ever made me want to rage-quit a game before, but that song could do it. In the meantime, I’ve switched back to the hair band rock channel. Which isn’t as Christmasy, but at least they won’t play that song.

Lucy_Gothro · December 21, 2018, 7:42am

Not being able to access my pay stubs on ADP because for some reason, I don’t exist to them. Yet, I get paid; then, having to renew my MIBridges (food money) and Healthy MI Plan benefits and forgetting to upload my pay stubs as, since I haven’t been able to access them they’re not in the forefront of my mind. SO NOW, I have to food-stamp benefits. Grr.

And I apologized to my worker, who has taken a lot of guff from me for things she was - and wasn’t - responsible for in dealing with my case. I don’t feel so bad about that as I do about the pay stubs, though.

nimelennar · December 21, 2018, 1:27pm

Agreed. As someone who enjoys Christmas music (and who even agrees with the song’s supposed theme of “feed the world”), “Do They Know It’s Christmas” is a blight on the season.

kxkvi · December 21, 2018, 4:02pm

I appear to be lucky in that I’ve never heard that song.

CleverEmi · December 21, 2018, 4:22pm

I’m dreeeeeaming of a whiiiiiiiite (savior) Christmas…

Blech.

nimelennar · December 21, 2018, 4:59pm

Here are the lyrics:

It’s Christmastime, there’s no need to be afraid
At Christmastime, we let in light and we banish shade

And in our world of plenty we can spread a smile of joy
Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime

But say a prayer, pray for the other ones
At Christmastime it’s hard, but when you’re having fun

There’s a world outside your window
And it’s a world of dread and fear

Where the only water flowing
Is the bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you

And there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmastime
The greatest gift they’ll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain nor rivers flow
Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?
Here’s to you
Raise a glass for everyone

Here’s to them
Underneath that burning sun
Do they know it’s Christmastime at all?

Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again
Feed the world
Let them know it’s Christmastime again

There’s way too much awful there to break down (“Thank God that other people are in pain and hungry” always gives me a twinge), but the sheer geographical ignorance always astounds me. The Nile and the Congo (both river and rainforest) don’t seem to exist (where nothing ever grows/no rain nor rivers flow). And for some reason, it’s horrible that there’s no snow at the Southern hemisphere’s summer solstice on a largely tropical and subtropical continent.

The song is just the worst.

knoxblox · December 21, 2018, 5:48pm

LearnedCoward · December 21, 2018, 7:23pm

I am shocked that you have never heard it, but yes, you are lucky. You are very lucky.

And Victoria Falls, both the Blue Nile and the White Nile, and (depending how geographically restrictive you are) the Congo, which contains more water than any other river in the world.

Because it’s the middle of summer and 45 degrees Celsius there, you lugnuts.

I’m sorry, this is hilarious. This is the most melodramatic hyperbolic bullshit ever.

Well, not ever ever, but saying it’s the most melodramatic hyperbolic bullshit ever is far less melodramatic and hyperbolic than that line.

This is one for the Awkward Relationship with Christianity thread. I understand offering up your own suffering or whatever, but this is just perverse. Never thank God that someone else is suffering when you get to live in relative comfort. I don’t even care if that person is Donald Trump, you’re a dirty shitty human being if you believe this. You’re especially shitty if you believe that God put poor suffering people on the planet so you can help them and look like a hero in the eyes of God. It’s not all about you, you dipshit, and if there is a just God, They wouldn’t care about your self aggrandizing wankfest about that time you once gave $5 to feed the starving children in Africa Sally Struthers.

AndyHilmer · December 21, 2018, 7:29pm

It’s so strange that Struthers ended up being the face of that crap. Her career has been so interesting otherwise.

chenille · December 21, 2018, 7:46pm

That much, at least, I took to be sardonic. Lucky you’re not the one has to put up with the Ethiopian famine, right? Maybe you could give some money to help? That event is where the song comes from. They raised over a hundred million dollars, though I’ve heard questions about how it was spent, given that the famine was actually part of a civil war rather than some strange pan-African drought.

Apropos of nothing, have you ever heard The Christmas Shoes?

nimelennar · December 21, 2018, 8:09pm

This post came up on my Facebook timeline a few days ago:

As I read it, I was like, “This is the Christmas Shoes song.”

gadgetgirl · December 21, 2018, 8:11pm

Do the Nile or the Congo flow through Ethiopia? I don’t think they do.

Doesn’t excuse the other awfulness in the song, but it was strictly about helping Ethiopia.

Melizmatic · December 21, 2018, 8:14pm

Even as a kid, that line made me do a double-take; like WTF is wrong with y’all?

nimelennar · December 21, 2018, 8:21pm

Looking it up, Ethiopia is basically where the Nile flows from, to the point where if Ethiopia doesn’t get much rain in a given year, the whole Nile runs low.