Fans in America. They don't come with the regulators on the wall near the switches, so that you can regulate the speed by turning the knob to the speed you want the fan to go at. No. Instead they have a dangly chain (like the old style toilet flushes) which you need to pull. If the fan is off, you pull once and it goes at top speed. Pull once more, it slows down, Pull once more, it slows down even further. Pull once more and its off. Simple, right ? Wrong. If the fan is ON, there is no way for you to know which speed it is at, so if you want to switch it off, you need to go and stand under the fan and patiently pull at the chain, till it stops.
What do you do if you are too short (like my kids) to pull the chain yourself to turn the fan on (or off) ? Yep - you bother someone who is taller to come and do it for you. Or invest in a step ladder for every room of your house.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
On or Off?
Why do the switches in America turn ON when are pushed upwards, whereas in other countries they are on when pushed downwards ?
When we moved into our new house 3 years back I would switch off the porch light every morning, only to find it on again when I went out to get the newspaper later in the morning. Then I realized - the hubby and I were both confused about which way the switch needed to point to be OFF - so if I had woken up first and put the switch 'off', the hubby would come down later and think it was on and put it 'off'.
One day I noticed the switch had ON and OFF written in tiny letters on it, so there was no confusion anymore for me - I would peer at the switch closely to see whether it was on or off before touching it ....
When we moved into our new house 3 years back I would switch off the porch light every morning, only to find it on again when I went out to get the newspaper later in the morning. Then I realized - the hubby and I were both confused about which way the switch needed to point to be OFF - so if I had woken up first and put the switch 'off', the hubby would come down later and think it was on and put it 'off'.
One day I noticed the switch had ON and OFF written in tiny letters on it, so there was no confusion anymore for me - I would peer at the switch closely to see whether it was on or off before touching it ....
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Coins
Penny, Nickel, Dime, Quarter
Why don't they go by 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents ?
No wonder the kids in school here have lessons on each of these coins in Math starting from Grade 1 - learning what value each of these coins is, so that they can speak in terms of penny, nickel, dime too.
I've always been confused about the nickel and dime, and remember the times when we were going on long distance drives and we would be approaching the toll booth. The hubby would say - give me 45 cents. I would get all panicky and say - tell me in terms of how many big coins you want, how many medium and how many small.... since I had no clue which one was a dime and which one was a nickel. Plus the 5 cent coin is bigger than the 10 cent coins, just adding to the confusion....
Nowadays I try to remember the order in which the coins are, from a movie I saw years back - I think it was a movie with Danny De Vito, and he was lining up coins saying "Penny, Nickel, Dime, Penny, Nickel, Dime,....). That's the only way for me to remember which coin comes after Penny and hence has a value of 5 cents.
It must be so easy in other countries - where a 20 cent coin (for eg.) has 20c written on one side of the coin - nice big and bold - and is also called 20 cents....
And then there's 50 cent - which is not even a coin :-) .... but then again - if it was it would have a confusing name to go by, wouldn't it.....
Why don't they go by 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents ?
No wonder the kids in school here have lessons on each of these coins in Math starting from Grade 1 - learning what value each of these coins is, so that they can speak in terms of penny, nickel, dime too.
I've always been confused about the nickel and dime, and remember the times when we were going on long distance drives and we would be approaching the toll booth. The hubby would say - give me 45 cents. I would get all panicky and say - tell me in terms of how many big coins you want, how many medium and how many small.... since I had no clue which one was a dime and which one was a nickel. Plus the 5 cent coin is bigger than the 10 cent coins, just adding to the confusion....
Nowadays I try to remember the order in which the coins are, from a movie I saw years back - I think it was a movie with Danny De Vito, and he was lining up coins saying "Penny, Nickel, Dime, Penny, Nickel, Dime,....). That's the only way for me to remember which coin comes after Penny and hence has a value of 5 cents.
It must be so easy in other countries - where a 20 cent coin (for eg.) has 20c written on one side of the coin - nice big and bold - and is also called 20 cents....
And then there's 50 cent - which is not even a coin :-) .... but then again - if it was it would have a confusing name to go by, wouldn't it.....
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Musings on the differences in the little things in America... sometimes confusing, sometimes not.....
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