The King's Stamp

[Peter T. Daniels]

The design for CIIIR's first group of postage stamps has been
released. The format is the same that was used for EIIR's
for more than 50 years (the "Machin" design), and the first four
values will be in the same colors (colours) as the ones they
are superseding. (However, stocks of the old ones will not be
destroyed; they will continue to be sold until the supplies are
exhausted., and the new ones will be supplied as needed.)

Mr. Machin is no longer with us, and someone has imitated
the style -- again, it was prepared first for coins and then
adapted for stamps.

Two things: again, HRH faces left; whereas I understood
that traditionally, on coins at least, the direction of the
portrait changes from reign to reign;

and, while His Majesty is said to have approved the
design, it seems rather jowly, and could do with a bit
of airbrushing. (A US stamp depicting George Washington
was redrawn for just that reason -- it was considered
unflattering.)

Has there been public reaction to the unveiling?

(My thread header recalls the name of a short film
that Benjamin Britten scored when for his first job
he worked for a government agency that produced
educational films. This one showed the preparation
of a new design for, probably, GVR (possibly GVIR)
-- he turned 23 near the end of the Year of Three Kings.)

[Lionel Edwards]

Benjamin Britten, HRH and "jowly" all in the same posting?

Properly highbrow Peter and much appreciated. I tracked
the BB down on YouTube and found it had accumulated
zero likes. I gave it one but couldn't listen to it :(

[Peter T. Daniels]

Oh, wow. Many years ago the Book of the Month Club(!) sold
me a VHS with "four" of "those" BB movies -- "Night Train,"
"Coal Face" (those two are legit), plus Malcolm Sargent
conducting and narrating the Young People's Guide (probably
made in conjunction with the first performance) -- and a short
ballet by ... Arthur Benjamin!

I shall hunt it down directly.

BB's biographers unanimously credit those "apprentice" years
of scoring those movies on zero budget with stimulating his
ingenuity and imagination. They draw a direct line to the "slung
mugs" of "Noyes Fludde."

But what do you think of the new King's stamp?

[Hibou]

Le 14/03/2023 à 20:23, Peter T. Daniels a écrit :
>
> [...] while His Majesty is said to have approved the

> design, it seems rather jowly, and could do with a bit
> of airbrushing. (A US stamp depicting George Washington
> was redrawn for just that reason -- it was considered

> unflattering.) [...]

If I suggested that that was an instance of the difference between
Americans and Britons, would that be unfair (and if so, to whom)?

> Has there been public reaction to the unveiling? [...]

None at all that I know of. The further rise in the price of stamps (to
£1.10 for first class) is much more likely to provoke a reaction. It
can't be that this monarch is worth more than the previous one.

And then there's the barcoding.... Apparently this means people who
receive letters will be able to watch little Shaun the Sheep videos.

What times we live in!

[Ross Clark]

It was for GVR's Silver Jubilee (1935).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Stamp
The whole film (19:27) is online at "dailymotion".

[J. J. Lodder]

It is getting worse. No more stamps at all here.
You buy a code on-line, and write it on the envelope.
(in a 3x3 square pattern) A machine reads it.

For packets ordering on-line gets you a Q-reader code.
The human who takes in the package scans it,
and prints the label for you. No printer needed.

Jan
(hasn't seen a real stamp in years)

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 2:29:01 AM UTC-4, Hibou wrote:
> Le 14/03/2023 à 20:23, Peter T. Daniels a écrit :

> > [...] while His Majesty is said to have approved the
> > design, it seems rather jowly, and could do with a bit
> > of airbrushing. (A US stamp depicting George Washington
> > was redrawn for just that reason -- it was considered
> > unflattering.) [...]
>
> If I suggested that that was an instance of the difference between
> Americans and Britons, would that be unfair (and if so, to whom)?

? Brits like looking at unflattering portraits? (Is Basquiat even
more popular Over There? (I suppose you did give the world
Bacon, whereas Hockney came Over Here.)

> > Has there been public reaction to the unveiling? [...]
>
> None at all that I know of. The further rise in the price of stamps (to
> £1.10 for first class) is much more likely to provoke a reaction. It
> can't be that this monarch is worth more than the previous one.

We don't do subclasses. First class (ordinary letter rate) just went to 63c.

> And then there's the barcoding.... Apparently this means people who
> receive letters will be able to watch little Shaun the Sheep videos.

They squeezed that in while I was out of philately, and I haven't seen
an explanation. Our stamps have been "phosphor-tagged" for decades,
with machine-readable patterns, not human-visible, to check that the
correct amount was prepaid.

[Peter T. Daniels]

I couldn't find it at YouTube. What and where is "dailymotion"?

[Peter T. Daniels]

> (hasn't seen a real stamp in years)

If that were strictly true, your government would have been
giving up a significant source of revenue. Every stamp that
is purchased and not used represents net profit.

[J. J. Lodder]

Peter T. Daniels <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

We don't live in a communist dictatorship, like you.
It was all privatised long ago,
and the state is merely a shareholder,

Jan

[Janet]

In article <6084ad7c-6769-41af-bb97-
f486d1...@googlegroups.com>, gram...@verizon.net
says...

>
> On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 2:29:01 AM UTC-4, Hibou wrote:
> > Le 14/03/2023 à 20:23, Peter T. Daniels a écrit :
>
> > > [...] while His Majesty is said to have approved the
> > > design, it seems rather jowly, and could do with a bit
> > > of airbrushing. (A US stamp depicting George Washington
> > > was redrawn for just that reason -- it was considered
> > > unflattering.) [...]
> >
> > If I suggested that that was an instance of the difference between
> > Americans and Britons, would that be unfair (and if so, to whom)?
>
> ? Brits like looking at unflattering portraits?

IRL, he is a wrinkly jowly old man with his own teeth
and going bald. We know what Charles looks like, so it
would be very odd if the stamps didn't.

If he was American he'd have dyed hair implants, an
enormous grill of brilliant white porcelain teeth,
facelifts, botox, and a really terrible tailor.

If you want pretty, here's the new KC floral stamps

https://tinyurl.com/3ns5tz6h

Janet

[bruce bowser]

On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 9:17:24 AM UTC-4, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 2:29:01 AM UTC-4, Hibou wrote:
> > Le 14/03/2023 à 20:23, Peter T. Daniels a écrit :
>
> > > [...] while His Majesty is said to have approved the
> > > design, it seems rather jowly, and could do with a bit
> > > of airbrushing. (A US stamp depicting George Washington
> > > was redrawn for just that reason -- it was considered
> > > unflattering.) [...]
> >
> > If I suggested that that was an instance of the difference between
> > Americans and Britons, would that be unfair (and if so, to whom)?
> ? Brits like looking at unflattering portraits?

Like having a painting of a tree in the office? That's really something to look at.

[bruce bowser]

No, JJ. That is not the definition of a 'western democracy'. [Nee, JJ. Dat is niet de definitie van een 'westerse democratie'].

[Peter T. Daniels]

The Post Office Department -- one of the few in Washington's
Cabinet -- was turned into the independent (but closely regulated)
United States Postal Service way back in 1971.

What's your next anti-American slur?

[Peter T. Daniels]

Is there something wrong with looking decent?

> If you want pretty, here's the new KC floral stamps
>
> https://tinyurl.com/3ns5tz6h

Not exactly artistic masterpieces ... but he's facing right!

A while back we had a pane of 50 different stamps, each
depicting a State Flower. Another one showed the State
Birds. Those were both very well done. There was also
one for the State Flags. (I know that you-lot would find
that offensive, but you're quick to display your armorial
bearings.)

[Peter T. Daniels]

Which leads to a link that will show it to members of the BFI.

> > The whole film (19:27) is online at "dailymotion".
>
> I couldn't find it at YouTube. What and where is "dailymotion"?

By which I mean, I googled < "The King's Stamp" > and chose
Videos, and got lots of stuff about the new one. So I tried
< "The King's Stamp" Britten > and the closest I got was some
paragraphs about his film scoring in general, plus someone has
put on YouTube the album (of course I have the CD) that presents
suites of music from some of the films. (Also a review of a 2013
centennial box of 65 CDs comprising "the complete Britten," a
limited edition, which the review points out isn't, even though
they licensed from other companies dozens of tracks of things
that Decca hadn't gotten around to yet.)

[Ross Clark]

On 16/03/2023 9:15 a.m., Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 9:17:44 AM UTC-4, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>> On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 6:38:50 AM UTC-4, Ross Clark wrote:
>>> On 15/03/2023 9:23 a.m., Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>
>>>> (My thread header recalls the name of a short film
>>>> that Benjamin Britten scored when for his first job
>>>> he worked for a government agency that produced
>>>> educational films. This one showed the preparation
>>>> of a new design for, probably, GVR (possibly GVIR)
>>>> -- he turned 23 near the end of the Year of Three Kings.)
>>> It was for GVR's Silver Jubilee (1935).
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Stamp
>
> Which leads to a link that will show it to members of the BFI.
>
>>> The whole film (19:27) is online at "dailymotion".
>>
>> I couldn't find it at YouTube. What and where is "dailymotion"?

Read all about it at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dailymotion

"The King's Stamp" at

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21r04k

[Peter Moylan]

Google knows.

--
Peter Moylan Newcastle, NSW http://www.pmoylan.org

[Sam Plusnet]

On 15-Mar-23 23:53, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 16/03/23 00:17, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>> On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 6:38:50 AM UTC-4, Ross Clark wrote:
>
>>> It was for GVR's Silver Jubilee (1935).
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Stamp
>>> The whole film (19:27) is online at "dailymotion".
>>
>> I couldn't find it at YouTube. What and where is "dailymotion"?
>
> Google knows.

Yes, but D@mn it!
How on earth can you get Google to divulge these secrets?

--
Sam Plusnet

[Peter T. Daniels]

Not, it turns out, by asking it.

If Ross had divulged how he found the "dailymotion" occurrence,
that would have been useful

[Peter T. Daniels]

It proves, thanks to Ross's url, to be by far his most conventional
film score -- piano (presumably played by himself), flute, oboe,
clarinet, and (briefly) percussion. I don't thin k he reused any of it
in a concert work, but maybe in the rarely performed piano suite.

The movie itself has points of interest -- a comic scene, and
even some color footage! Interesting that it reveals nothing of
how the King's head was inserted into the design.

[occam]

...that buying a $1 booklet of stamps from a vending machine in
California in 1982 gave me 87 cents worth of stamps? That is tantamount
to institutionalised highway robbery, if you come from a European country.

[Peter T. Daniels]

That's very strange. There happens to be an article in _this month's_
*Scott's Monthly Magazine* (just renamed from *Linn's*) about the
gimmicks that were used in making up booklets, whenever a stamp
wasn't a multiple of 5c, so they could be sold in vending machines,
which in those days couldn't take pennies. They would give you a
certain number of (say) 13c stamps plus something like an (utterly
useless) 9c stamp to make it come out right. Or, of course, a multiple
of five stamps, with a "label" in the space where another stamp would
have gone but made the total value inconvenient for the machine.

I don't think vendors were allowed to charge a premium over the
face value of the stamps, but the few times I used a stamp vending
machine, they were inside the post office, so I can't say.

[TonyCooper]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 16:31:00 +0100, occam <oc...@nowhere.nix> wrote:

>On 15/03/2023 20:26, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

You evidently purchased stamps from a private enterprise; basically, a
re-seller of stamps. The operator of the vending machine is a
for-profit enterprise, and a private enterprise in this country or any
other country is entitled to a profit for providing the convenience of
availability.

The enterprise furnished the dispensing machine at their cost, the
enterprise paid employees to re-stock the contents of the vending
machine, and the enterprise most probably paid a fee to the location
in which the vending machine was placed.

If you purchase a booklet of stamps at a US post office, or online
from the USPO, there is no fee or cost other than the cost of the
stamps.

You didn't say where the vending machine was located. There are
private enterprise locations that offer postal services. Many are
franchised businesses that pack and ship items by postal, UPS, Fedex,
and other means. They are businesses, not government facilities.

--

Tony Cooper - Orlando,Florida

[Peter T. Daniels]

But the USPS didn't make 87c booklets.

[Silvano]

TonyCooper hat am 16.03.2023 um 17:25 geschrieben:

>> ...that buying a $1 booklet of stamps from a vending machine in
>> California in 1982 gave me 87 cents worth of stamps? That is tantamount
>> to institutionalised highway robbery, if you come from a European country.
>
> You evidently purchased stamps from a private enterprise; basically, a
> re-seller of stamps. The operator of the vending machine is a
> for-profit enterprise, and a private enterprise in this country or any
> other country is entitled to a profit for providing the convenience of
> availability.

...

> If you purchase a booklet of stamps at a US post office, or online
> from the USPO, there is no fee or cost other than the cost of the
> stamps.

It may be normal in your country, but not in occam's or mine.

In Italy, in particular, tobacconists sell stamps at face value because
they lose their right to sell cigarettes if they don't. Some souvenir
shops also sell stamps at face value as a customer service to people
buying postcards there. Post offices are not really an option in Italy
for buying stamps, because there are always many people there waiting
for other business (Post bank, registered letters, parcels etc.).

In Germany, the next post office is literally round the corner from my
flat, so I always buy stamps there at face value and know nothing about
their availability elsewhere.

I fully understand occam's rage. BTW, I'm absolutely sure that an online
purchase from the USPO was not an option for occam in 1982. :-)

[TonyCooper]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 09:46:21 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

That you should address to occam, not me.

I'm not going to challenge his veracity or memory. A US stamp in 1982
was 20 cents. To buy a booklet that provided 87 cents in stamps would
result in four 20 cent stamps and some combination that resulted in 7
cents in stamps. Seven "Columbus in Sight of Land" 1 cent stamps?
Three "Igor Stravinsky" 2 cent stamps and a "Columbus"?

That doesn't seem probable, but that's his story and I'll accept it.

>> The enterprise furnished the dispensing machine at their cost, the
>> enterprise paid employees to re-stock the contents of the vending
>> machine, and the enterprise most probably paid a fee to the location
>> in which the vending machine was placed.
>>
>> If you purchase a booklet of stamps at a US post office, or online
>> from the USPO, there is no fee or cost other than the cost of the
>> stamps.
>>
>> You didn't say where the vending machine was located. There are
>> private enterprise locations that offer postal services. Many are
>> franchised businesses that pack and ship items by postal, UPS, Fedex,
>> and other means. They are businesses, not government facilities.

[TonyCooper]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 18:42:19 +0100, Silvano
<Sil...@noncisonopernessuno.it> wrote:

>TonyCooper hat am 16.03.2023 um 17:25 geschrieben:
>>> ...that buying a $1 booklet of stamps from a vending machine in
>>> California in 1982 gave me 87 cents worth of stamps? That is tantamount
>>> to institutionalised highway robbery, if you come from a European country.
>>
>> You evidently purchased stamps from a private enterprise; basically, a
>> re-seller of stamps. The operator of the vending machine is a
>> for-profit enterprise, and a private enterprise in this country or any
>> other country is entitled to a profit for providing the convenience of
>> availability.
>...
>> If you purchase a booklet of stamps at a US post office, or online
>> from the USPO, there is no fee or cost other than the cost of the
>> stamps.
>
>
>It may be normal in your country, but not in occam's or mine.
>

>I fully understand occam's rage. BTW,

Rage? I didn't leave the US in 1982, but I was in England, Scotland,
Wales, and Ireland in 1984. There were several things we encountered
on that trip that would not be "normal" in the US...none of which I'm
still brooding about.

>I'm absolutely sure that an online
>purchase from the USPO was not an option for occam in 1982. :-)

I just wanted to assure him that should he decide to re-visit the US
that better options are now available.

BTW...I did not say that what he experienced is/was normal in the US.
I've never encountered that, or heard of it. I'm just taking his word
for it that it did happen to him.

[TonyCooper]

Before someone corrects me...Stamps in 1982 were issued in several
different denominations. The 20 cent stamp was required for a letter
up to one ounce in weight to be delivered to a US destination.

[Ross Clark]

No secret methods. Googled "The King's Stamp", clicked on "videos". The
first two items that came up were about the present K.S. The third was
Dailymotion.

[Silvano]

TonyCooper hat am 16.03.2023 um 19:40 geschrieben:

> On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 18:42:19 +0100, Silvano
> <Sil...@noncisonopernessuno.it> wrote:
>
>> TonyCooper hat am 16.03.2023 um 17:25 geschrieben:
>>>> ...that buying a $1 booklet of stamps from a vending machine in
>>>> California in 1982 gave me 87 cents worth of stamps? That is tantamount
>>>> to institutionalised highway robbery, if you come from a European country.
>>>
>>> You evidently purchased stamps from a private enterprise; basically, a
>>> re-seller of stamps. The operator of the vending machine is a
>>> for-profit enterprise, and a private enterprise in this country or any
>>> other country is entitled to a profit for providing the convenience of
>>> availability.
>> ...
>>> If you purchase a booklet of stamps at a US post office, or online
>>> from the USPO, there is no fee or cost other than the cost of the
>>> stamps.
>>
>>
>> It may be normal in your country, but not in occam's or mine.
>>
>> I fully understand occam's rage. BTW,
>
> Rage? I didn't leave the US in 1982, but I was in England, Scotland,
> Wales, and Ireland in 1984. There were several things we encountered
> on that trip that would not be "normal" in the US...none of which I'm
> still brooding about.

You aren't, but occam obviously is. If he weren't still brooding about
it, he wouldn't write as he did over 40 years later, and I still fully
understand him.

>> I'm absolutely sure that an online
>> purchase from the USPO was not an option for occam in 1982. :-)
>
> I just wanted to assure him that should he decide to re-visit the US
> that better options are now available.
>
> BTW...I did not say that what he experienced is/was normal in the US.
> I've never encountered that, or heard of it. I'm just taking his word
> for it that it did happen to him.

Good to know. If you ever go to Italy and want to send postcards, please
avoid carefully the yellow postboxes of private companies and insist
that you get normal Italian stamps. Also, please find out online what's
the current rate for postcards from Italy to the US.

A friend of mine ignored my warnings. Her postcards from last September
through a private company had not yet arrived by Christmas and when they
did arrive in January (slower than bringing them on foot), the postmark
(date stamp, cancellation, or how do you call it in the US?) showed
clearly that they had gone through the independent state of San Marino,
definitely not the fastest way from Rome to Berlin.

[Silvano]

TonyCooper hat am 16.03.2023 um 20:11 geschrieben:

> Before someone corrects me...Stamps in 1982 were issued in several
> different denominations.

Of course. Even now, probably everywhere. Or do you know a country where
the stamp for an internal letter is the same as for an international
letter, e.g. from New Zealand to the US or from Japan to the UK? And
also, within the same country, where is the stamp for a 20g envelope the
same as for a 500g envelope?

The 20 cent stamp was required for a letter
> up to one ounce in weight to be delivered to a US destination.

Unlikely that occam needed stamps for delivery to a US destination in 1982.

[Mack A. Damia]

On Tue, 14 Mar 2023 13:23:01 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

>The design for CIIIR's first group of postage stamps has been
>released. The format is the same that was used for EIIR's
>for more than 50 years (the "Machin" design), and the first four
>values will be in the same colors (colours) as the ones they
>are superseding. (However, stocks of the old ones will not be
>destroyed; they will continue to be sold until the supplies are
>exhausted., and the new ones will be supplied as needed.)
>
>Mr. Machin is no longer with us, and someone has imitated
>the style -- again, it was prepared first for coins and then
>adapted for stamps.
>
>Two things: again, HRH faces left; whereas I understood
>that traditionally, on coins at least, the direction of the
>portrait changes from reign to reign;
>

>and, while His Majesty is said to have approved the

>design, it seems rather jowly, and could do with a bit
>of airbrushing. (A US stamp depicting George Washington
>was redrawn for just that reason -- it was considered
>unflattering.)
>

>Has there been public reaction to the unveiling?
>

>(My thread header recalls the name of a short film
>that Benjamin Britten scored when for his first job
>he worked for a government agency that produced
>educational films. This one showed the preparation
>of a new design for, probably, GVR (possibly GVIR)
>-- he turned 23 near the end of the Year of Three Kings.)

King George V's Silver Jubillee celebrated in 1935 was marked by
issuing a new stamp, but a few were printed with the wrong color -
"Prussian Blue" (supposed to be "Ultramarine").

It was caught after a few sheets were printed and corrected, but the
incorect ones were never destroyed and are worth a considerable amount
now.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0550/7969/8628/articles/unnamed_-_2022-06-27T162049.975_1359x630.png?v=1656343999

[TonyCooper]

Not necessarily. He purchased the stamps in California. He didn't
say why he needed the stamps, how long he was in the US, or where he
was going next. It could have been another US location.

If it was for a letter to Europe, it required 60 cents in postage to
mail a (one ounce or less) letter from the US in 1982. Three 20 cent
stamps could have been used.

[Peter T. Daniels]

It can't have. There was no such thing as an 87c booklet.

Some one may have inexplicably gathered 87c worth of stamps
into a little folder, or something, and charged 13c for their trouble,
but the USPS had nothing to do with it.

[Peter T. Daniels]

Nu, things are different in NZ.

[TonyCooper]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 21:43:20 +0100, Silvano

I have just remembered a postal-related incident that could still irk
me. It happened longer ago than occam's incident...1969.

When we were waiting in the airport at Shannon to board our Aer Lingus
flight back home we wrote some postcards. I had purchased stamps with
the cards.

I didn't see a post box, and asked one of the gate attendants where I
could mail them. She said I could give them to her and she'd mail
them.

She evidently didn't. They were never received in the US.

I hold no grudge against Aer Lingus, the Irish, the management of the
Shannon airport, or An Phoist, but I would discourage future Aer
Lingus travelers from being overly trusting of gate attendants.

[TonyCooper]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 14:36:56 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

>On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 4:12:54?PM UTC-4, Ross Clark wrote:
>> On 17/03/2023 3:47 a.m., Peter T. Daniels wrote:

>> > On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 10:14:52?PM UTC-4, Sam Plusnet wrote:
>> >> On 15-Mar-23 23:53, Peter Moylan wrote:
>> >>> On 16/03/23 00:17, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

>> >>>> On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 6:38:50?AM UTC-4, Ross Clark wrote:
>
>> >>>>> It was for GVR's Silver Jubilee (1935).
>> >>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Stamp
>> >>>>> The whole film (19:27) is online at "dailymotion".
>> >>>> I couldn't find it at YouTube. What and where is "dailymotion"?
>> >>> Google knows.
>> >> Yes, but D@mn it!
>> >> How on earth can you get Google to divulge these secrets?
>> > Not, it turns out, by asking it.
>> > If Ross had divulged how he found the "dailymotion" occurrence,
>> > that would have been useful
>>
>> No secret methods. Googled "The King's Stamp", clicked on "videos". The
>> first two items that came up were about the present K.S. The third was
>> Dailymotion.
>
>Nu, things are different in NZ.

Yes, they are, Petey. When I Google "The King's Stamp" and click on
"videos" it is the *second* hit, not the third. Terribly difficult to
find.

[Sam Plusnet]

D@mnit chaps!
You can't go around blabbing about these highly secret ways of
interrogating Google.
People might learn how to do this for themselves...
Maybe?

--
Sam Plusnet

[lar3ryca]

You are a (possibly incurable) optimist.

--
From listening comes wisdom and from speaking, repentance.

[Peter Moylan]

That also shocked me, the first time I was in the US. Not only was I
overcharged, I ended up with useless stamps along with what I really needed.

I don't think I've seen stamps in a vending machine in any other country.

[Peter Moylan]

On 17/03/23 07:51, Silvano wrote:
> TonyCooper hat am 16.03.2023 um 20:11 geschrieben:
>
>> Before someone corrects me...Stamps in 1982 were issued in several
>> different denominations.
>
> Of course. Even now, probably everywhere. Or do you know a country
> where the stamp for an internal letter is the same as for an
> international letter, e.g. from New Zealand to the US or from Japan
> to the UK? And also, within the same country, where is the stamp for
> a 20g envelope the same as for a 500g envelope?

I sometimes find myself going to the post office to buy things like
one-cent or five-cent stamps, simply because the price has gone up since
the last time I bought a book of stamps.

Still, that's mostly the fault of the fact that we don't write as many
letters as we used to. It's no longer worth buying stamps by the book.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 6:37:45 PM UTC-4, TonyCooper wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 14:36:56 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
> <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
> >On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 4:12:54?PM UTC-4, Ross Clark wrote:
> >> On 17/03/2023 3:47 a.m., Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> >> > On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 10:14:52?PM UTC-4, Sam Plusnet wrote:
> >> >> On 15-Mar-23 23:53, Peter Moylan wrote:
> >> >>> On 16/03/23 00:17, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> >> >>>> On Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 6:38:50?AM UTC-4, Ross Clark wrote:

> >> >>>>> It was for GVR's Silver Jubilee (1935).
> >> >>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Stamp
> >> >>>>> The whole film (19:27) is online at "dailymotion".
> >> >>>> I couldn't find it at YouTube. What and where is "dailymotion"?
> >> >>> Google knows.
> >> >> Yes, but D@mn it!
> >> >> How on earth can you get Google to divulge these secrets?
> >> > Not, it turns out, by asking it.
> >> > If Ross had divulged how he found the "dailymotion" occurrence,
> >> > that would have been useful
> >> No secret methods. Googled "The King's Stamp", clicked on "videos". The
> >> first two items that came up were about the present K.S. The third was
> >> Dailymotion.
> >Nu, things are different in NZ.

> Yes, they are, Petey.

Screw you.

> When I Google "The King's Stamp" and click on
> "videos" it is the *second* hit, not the third. Terribly difficult to
> find.

Well, when I did, it wasn't, Anton..

There were at least two pages of videos about the George III stamp.

GOOGLE KNOWS WHAT I RECENTLY GOOGLED.

[Peter T. Daniels]

Screw you, too, for good measure.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 9:36:42 PM UTC-4, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 17/03/23 02:31, occam wrote:
> > On 15/03/2023 20:26, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

> >> What's your next anti-American slur?
> > ...that buying a $1 booklet of stamps from a vending machine in
> > California in 1982 gave me 87 cents worth of stamps? That is
> > tantamount to institutionalised highway robbery, if you come from a
> > European country.
>
> That also shocked me, the first time I was in the US. Not only was I
> overcharged, I ended up with useless stamps along with what I really needed.

As I said, they put a useless stamp in in order to make the booklet
sell for $1 or some other convenient amount.

> I don't think I've seen stamps in a vending machine in any other country.

Booklets are widely used in both France and Britain.

[Peter T. Daniels]

You don't have undenominated stamps yet? Our "Forever" stamps
are good for letter postage, no matter what they originally sold for
and what the letter rate has become.

Many countries use lettered stamps because they have two
qualities of letter service.

[Sam Plusnet]

One of my father's favourite sayings:
"There's none so blind as those who will not see."
His version was sometimes a little more... expressive.

--
Sam Plusnet

[Peter Moylan]

And other places. Vending machines are another matter.

[TonyCooper]

Maybe I haven't noticed, but I've not seen stamps sold from vending
machines anywhere except the post office*. Our post offices (at least
the ones built in recent years) have a central lobby and a room with a
long counter.

The central lobby has the vending machine that dispenses booklets of
stamps, a scale/register that allows you weigh a package and purchase
the postage amount on a strip of tape, the PO boxes that customers
rent, and slots to insert mail and packages.

You can complete most post office tasks in the central lobby without
the assistance of an employee. If you need the employee to do
something, you go to the room with the counter where there are one to
four employees behind the counter.

If you want to buy one stamp, and not a booklet of stamps, you'd buy
that at the counter. You might have to wait in line, though.

You say you were "overcharged". I can't see how that happens. Items
bought at the post office are sold at the price-per-stamp as set by
the USPO.

The above describes what I would expect to find in any post office
branch in Florida. The situation in other areas may be different.
There are three post office branches within a 5/10 minute drive from
my house.

When I mail packages, I print my own label with the postage fee
included (charged to my credit card) using the USPO's online
"Click-N-Ship" app and drop the package in the drive-by box without
ever entering the post office. I have a small electronic scale.

*Admittedly, I never go down to the "tourist area" of Orlando where
there are many shops that sell tourist tat and postcards. Maybe they
have vending machines to sell stamps to tourists who are mailing
postcards.

[TonyCooper]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 19:03:18 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

>On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 9:36:42?PM UTC-4, Peter Moylan wrote:
>> On 17/03/23 02:31, occam wrote:
>> > On 15/03/2023 20:26, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>
>> >> What's your next anti-American slur?
>> > ...that buying a $1 booklet of stamps from a vending machine in
>> > California in 1982 gave me 87 cents worth of stamps? That is
>> > tantamount to institutionalised highway robbery, if you come from a
>> > European country.
>>
>> That also shocked me, the first time I was in the US. Not only was I
>> overcharged, I ended up with useless stamps along with what I really needed.
>
>As I said, they put a useless stamp in in order to make the booklet
>sell for $1 or some other convenient amount.

A "convenient amount" may have been a factor when vending machines
took only cash, but most vending machines now take credit cards. It's
no different when paying $1.00 or $1.03 when using a credit card.

>
>> I don't think I've seen stamps in a vending machine in any other country.
>
>Booklets are widely used in both France and Britain.

[Peter Moylan]

On 17/03/23 15:44, TonyCooper wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 19:03:18 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
> <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 9:36:42?PM UTC-4, Peter Moylan
>> wrote:
>>> On 17/03/23 02:31, occam wrote:
>>>> On 15/03/2023 20:26, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>>
>>>>> What's your next anti-American slur?
>>>> ...that buying a $1 booklet of stamps from a vending machine
>>>> in California in 1982 gave me 87 cents worth of stamps? That
>>>> is tantamount to institutionalised highway robbery, if you come
>>>> from a European country.
>>>
>>> That also shocked me, the first time I was in the US. Not only
>>> was I overcharged, I ended up with useless stamps along with what
>>> I really needed.
>>
>> As I said, they put a useless stamp in in order to make the
>> booklet sell for $1 or some other convenient amount.
>
> A "convenient amount" may have been a factor when vending machines
> took only cash, but most vending machines now take credit cards.
> It's no different when paying $1.00 or $1.03 when using a credit
> card.

Back then, though, I had to pay precisely $1.00, and what shocked me was
that the values of the stamps added up to much less than a dollar. I
don't recall the total, but 87 cents would have been in the ballpark.

[Peter Moylan]

On 17/03/23 15:40, TonyCooper wrote:

> *Admittedly, I never go down to the "tourist area" of Orlando where
> there are many shops that sell tourist tat and postcards. Maybe
> they have vending machines to sell stamps to tourists who are
> mailing postcards.

My experience of the vending machine was at a place where you find
tourists. Probably Honolulu airport, as I recall it. There was no Post
Office.

[TonyCooper]

On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 18:58:10 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

You have stated that you searched YouTube. Ross and I used
Google>Videos. That brings up videos not on YouTube as well as videos
on YouTube.

Look at the toolbar that is right under the the search field. Enter
"The King's Stamp" in the search field, and then click the Videos icon
right under that field. (third from the left)

The first hit is from www.postalmuseum.org and the second is
www.dailymotion.com.

When you add "YouTube" to the search that keyword changes the
algorithm and gives precedence to YouTube hits.

I trust my point has been made without having to use all-caps but
wondering why a "scholar" has to be taught how to use Google.

[Peter Moylan]

I took a more literal approach. In response to the question "What and
where is 'dailymotion"?', I googled for "dailymotion", and discovered
what and where it was. From there "The King's Stamp" was easy to find.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Friday, March 17, 2023 at 12:44:21 AM UTC-4, TonyCooper wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Mar 2023 19:03:18 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
> <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
> >On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 9:36:42?PM UTC-4, Peter Moylan wrote:
> >> On 17/03/23 02:31, occam wrote:
> >> > On 15/03/2023 20:26, Peter T. Daniels wrote:

> >> >> What's your next anti-American slur?
> >> > ...that buying a $1 booklet of stamps from a vending machine in
> >> > California in 1982 gave me 87 cents worth of stamps? That is
> >> > tantamount to institutionalised highway robbery, if you come from a
> >> > European country.
> >> That also shocked me, the first time I was in the US. Not only was I
> >> overcharged, I ended up with useless stamps along with what I really needed.
> >As I said, they put a useless stamp in in order to make the booklet
> >sell for $1 or some other convenient amount.
>
> A "convenient amount" may have been a factor when vending machines
> took only cash, but most vending machines now take credit cards. It's
> no different when paying $1.00 or $1.03 when using a credit card.

What they're bitching about was 1982 and (IIRC for PM) the 1960s.

Coil stamps were invented for vending machines early in the 20th c,
and I remember them in post offices. Nowadays coils are sold to
mass-mailers, who rightly think that stamps are more attractive on
ads than meter indicia.

[Peter T. Daniels]

That was some sort of private ripoff. It was not a POD (in those days?)
or USPS product.

[Peter T. Daniels]

That is your interpretation. I searched Google and it provided at
least 20 videos having to do with the 2023 stamp -- because I
had looked for info on the new stamps -- and none in the first
pages about the 1937 movie.

> Google>Videos. That brings up videos not on YouTube as well as videos
> on YouTube.

But not what I was looking for, even in the 5 pages or so for
< "The King's Stamp" Britten > . Note the quotation marks.

So just stop passing on your fantasies to your stooges, whom
you have convinced that I don't know how to use Google because
of your lies.

> Look at the toolbar that is right under the the search field. Enter
> "The King's Stamp" in the search field, and then click the Videos icon
> right under that field. (third from the left)
>
> The first hit is from www.postalmuseum.org and the second is
> www.dailymotion.com.
>
> When you add "YouTube" to the search that keyword changes the
> algorithm and gives precedence to YouTube hits.

Fuck you, moron. Only a moron would imagine doing that.

> I trust my point has been made without having to use all-caps but
> wondering why a "scholar" has to be taught how to use Google.

Yes. Again and again you prove that you are a moron.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Friday, March 17, 2023 at 1:23:28 AM UTC-4, Peter Moylan wrote:

> I took a more literal approach. In response to the question "What and
> where is 'dailymotion"?',

Without considering that the question might have been rhetorical?
Should I insert "the hell" into rhetorical questions?

> I googled for "dailymotion", and discovered
> what and where it was. From there "The King's Stamp" was easy to find.

Actually it sounds like something you do in the bathroom [supply
local euphemism] each morning.

As already noted, the polite thing to do would have been to give
the url in the first place. Then there would have been no occasion
of frustration.

[Jerry Friedman]

On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 2:43:22 PM UTC-6, Silvano wrote:
...

> A friend of mine ignored my warnings. Her postcards from last September
> through a private company had not yet arrived by Christmas and when they
> did arrive in January (slower than bringing them on foot), the postmark
> (date stamp, cancellation, or how do you call it in the US?)

Postmark. And "How do you call" should be "What do you call". That's
one of the most common mistakes made by non-native speakers of
English, but it puzzles some of us, since "What" is the word that asks for
a noun.

> showed
> clearly that they had gone through the independent state of San Marino,
> definitely not the fastest way from Rome to Berlin.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Silvano]

Jerry Friedman hat am 17.03.2023 um 13:59 geschrieben:

> On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 2:43:22 PM UTC-6, Silvano wrote:
> ...
>
>> A friend of mine ignored my warnings. Her postcards from last September
>> through a private company had not yet arrived by Christmas and when they
>> did arrive in January (slower than bringing them on foot), the postmark
>> (date stamp, cancellation, or how do you call it in the US?)
>
> Postmark. And "How do you call" should be "What do you call". That's
> one of the most common mistakes made by non-native speakers of
> English, but it puzzles some of us, since "What" is the word that asks for
> a noun.

Thanks. Most of us non-native speakers never realise it's a mistake,
unless someone politely tells us so. My explanation: at least in Italian
and German we use in such sentences a word usually translated as "how"
with the underlying idea "which way?". I think it's the same in French
and Spanish and the AUE readers who know these languages better than I
do can tell us if I'm right.

[TonyCooper]

On Fri, 17 Mar 2023 05:44:35 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

Yes, when you write "I couldn't find it at YouTube." I do interpret it
to mean that you searched YouTube. Is there another way to interpret
that?

>I searched Google and it provided at
>least 20 videos having to do with the 2023 stamp -- because I
>had looked for info on the new stamps -- and none in the first
>pages about the 1937 movie.
>
>> Google>Videos. That brings up videos not on YouTube as well as videos
>> on YouTube.
>
>But not what I was looking for,

Ross and I searched for, and found, the 19:27 movie just as Ross
stated in his post. When you said (above) you "couldn't find it", you
imply that the "it" is what was findable using the right Google search
method. Britten is credited for the "Music" in the title frame.

>even in the 5 pages or so for
>< "The King's Stamp" Britten > . Note the quotation marks.
>
>So just stop passing on your fantasies to your stooges, whom
>you have convinced that I don't know how to use Google because
>of your lies.

And yet you failed in finding the right video and said you couldn't
find out what "dailymotion" is.

>> Look at the toolbar that is right under the the search field. Enter
>> "The King's Stamp" in the search field, and then click the Videos icon
>> right under that field. (third from the left)
>>
>> The first hit is from www.postalmuseum.org and the second is
>> www.dailymotion.com.
>>
>> When you add "YouTube" to the search that keyword changes the
>> algorithm and gives precedence to YouTube hits.
>
>Fuck you, moron. Only a moron would imagine doing that.
>
>> I trust my point has been made without having to use all-caps but
>> wondering why a "scholar" has to be taught how to use Google.
>
>Yes. Again and again you prove that you are a moron.

[Jerry Friedman]

On Friday, March 17, 2023 at 8:10:47 AM UTC-6, Silvano wrote:
> Jerry Friedman hat am 17.03.2023 um 13:59 geschrieben:
> > On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 2:43:22 PM UTC-6, Silvano wrote:
> > ...
> >
> >> A friend of mine ignored my warnings. Her postcards from last September
> >> through a private company had not yet arrived by Christmas and when they
> >> did arrive in January (slower than bringing them on foot), the postmark
> >> (date stamp, cancellation, or how do you call it in the US?)
> >
> > Postmark. And "How do you call" should be "What do you call". That's
> > one of the most common mistakes made by non-native speakers of
> > English, but it puzzles some of us, since "What" is the word that asks for
> > a noun.

> Thanks. Most of us non-native speakers never realise it's a mistake,
> unless someone politely tells us so. My explanation: at least in Italian
> and German we use in such sentences a word usually translated as "how"
> with the underlying idea "which way?".

That's the puzzling part. You might say, according to Google Translate,
"Si chiama timbro postale" and "Es heißt Poststempel." There doesn't seem
to be any sense of "this way" in those sentences, from what I as a non-
speaker can tell.

I realize that's just how those languages work, and in English some
noun phrases can be adverbial--"I'm leaving the day after tomorrow."

> I think it's the same in French
> and Spanish and the AUE readers who know these languages better than I
> do can tell us if I'm right.

You are--those are the two foreign languages I know best. (Comment
t'appelles tu? ¿Cómo te llamas?)

--
Jerry Friedman

[Peter T. Daniels]

Yes, moron. Google only offered me YT hits.

I guess you're too mentally deficient to recall that I had posted
the exact search strings I had given to Google.

> >I searched Google and it provided at
> >least 20 videos having to do with the 2023 stamp -- because I
> >had looked for info on the new stamps -- and none in the first
> >pages about the 1937 movie.
> >> Google>Videos. That brings up videos not on YouTube as well as videos
> >> on YouTube.
> >But not what I was looking for,
>
> Ross and I searched for, and found, the 19:27 movie just as Ross

Why can you not understand that Google tries to be helpful and
show things the user had been interested in earlier? Ross had
not been previously looking for pictures of the new stamps.

> stated in his post. When you said (above) you "couldn't find it", you
> imply that the "it" is what was findable using the right Google search
> method. Britten is credited for the "Music" in the title frame.

Yes, moron, that proves that you do not read what I write but only
scan it to see what you can invent to start a fight about.

> >even in the 5 pages or so for
> >< "The King's Stamp" Britten > . Note the quotation marks.
> >So just stop passing on your fantasies to your stooges, whom
> >you have convinced that I don't know how to use Google because
> >of your lies.
>
> And yet you failed in finding the right video and said you couldn't
> find out what "dailymotion" is.

I never said any such thing, liar.

[Silvano]

Jerry Friedman hat am 17.03.2023 um 16:11 geschrieben:

> On Friday, March 17, 2023 at 8:10:47 AM UTC-6, Silvano wrote:
>> Jerry Friedman hat am 17.03.2023 um 13:59 geschrieben:
>>> On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 2:43:22 PM UTC-6, Silvano wrote:
>>> ...
>>>
>>>> A friend of mine ignored my warnings. Her postcards from last September
>>>> through a private company had not yet arrived by Christmas and when they
>>>> did arrive in January (slower than bringing them on foot), the postmark
>>>> (date stamp, cancellation, or how do you call it in the US?)
>>>
>>> Postmark. And "How do you call" should be "What do you call". That's
>>> one of the most common mistakes made by non-native speakers of
>>> English, but it puzzles some of us, since "What" is the word that asks for
>>> a noun.
>
>> Thanks. Most of us non-native speakers never realise it's a mistake,
>> unless someone politely tells us so. My explanation: at least in Italian
>> and German we use in such sentences a word usually translated as "how"
>> with the underlying idea "which way?".
>
> That's the puzzling part. You might say, according to Google Translate,
> "Si chiama timbro postale" and "Es heißt Poststempel." There doesn't seem
> to be any sense of "this way" in those sentences, from what I as a non-
> speaker can tell.

The point is how to ask.
Italian: Come si chiama ...?
German: Wie heißt ...?

> I realize that's just how those languages work, and in English some
> noun phrases can be adverbial--"I'm leaving the day after tomorrow."
>
>> I think it's the same in French
>> and Spanish and the AUE readers who know these languages better than I
>> do can tell us if I'm right.
>
> You are--those are the two foreign languages I know best. (Comment
> t'appelles tu? ¿Cómo te llamas?)

Come ti chiami?
Wie heißt du?
Among the big West European languages, apparently English is the odd one
here.

[TonyCooper]

On Fri, 17 Mar 2023 09:20:39 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

That statement solidifies my contention that you don't know how to use
Google. Previous searches have no bearing on correctly constructed
new searches.

Google will attempt to fill in your search with the characters you
used for the last search if they start with the same characters, but
will stop "helping" you if you ignore the prompts or delete any added
characters/words.

>
>> stated in his post. When you said (above) you "couldn't find it", you
>> imply that the "it" is what was findable using the right Google search
>> method. Britten is credited for the "Music" in the title frame.
>
>Yes, moron, that proves that you do not read what I write but only
>scan it to see what you can invent to start a fight about.
>
>> >even in the 5 pages or so for
>> >< "The King's Stamp" Britten > . Note the quotation marks.
>> >So just stop passing on your fantasies to your stooges, whom
>> >you have convinced that I don't know how to use Google because
>> >of your lies.
>>
>> And yet you failed in finding the right video and said you couldn't
>> find out what "dailymotion" is.
>
>I never said any such thing, liar.

Ross: "It was for GVR's Silver Jubilee (1935).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Stamp
The whole film (19:27) is online at "dailymotion".

PTD: I couldn't find it at YouTube. What and where is "dailymotion"?

And, in a subsequent post:

PTD: "If Ross had divulged how he found the "dailymotion" occurrence,

that would have been useful"

Ross did divulge how he found it. He Googled. Anyone reasonably
proficient with Google could.

>
>> >> Look at the toolbar that is right under the the search field. Enter
>> >> "The King's Stamp" in the search field, and then click the Videos icon
>> >> right under that field. (third from the left)
>> >> The first hit is from www.postalmuseum.org and the second is
>> >> www.dailymotion.com.
>> >> When you add "YouTube" to the search that keyword changes the
>> >> algorithm and gives precedence to YouTube hits.
>> >Fuck you, moron. Only a moron would imagine doing that.
>> >> I trust my point has been made without having to use all-caps but
>> >> wondering why a "scholar" has to be taught how to use Google.
>> >Yes. Again and again you prove that you are a moron.

[Peter T. Daniels]

No, moron. It has nothing to do with what I was typing. It makes
suggestions in case of typos, and it may try to fill in previous search
terms, but that is not what happened here.

Just look at what I typed. (Yes, I realize there seems to be something
wrong with your mousewheel and it can't take you earlier in the thread.
Just try it.)

> >> stated in his post. When you said (above) you "couldn't find it", you
> >> imply that the "it" is what was findable using the right Google search
> >> method. Britten is credited for the "Music" in the title frame.
> >Yes, moron, that proves that you do not read what I write but only
> >scan it to see what you can invent to start a fight about.
> >> >even in the 5 pages or so for
> >> >< "The King's Stamp" Britten > . Note the quotation marks.
> >> >So just stop passing on your fantasies to your stooges, whom
> >> >you have convinced that I don't know how to use Google because
> >> >of your lies.
> >> And yet you failed in finding the right video and said you couldn't
> >> find out what "dailymotion" is.
> >I never said any such thing, liar.
>
> Ross: "It was for GVR's Silver Jubilee (1935).
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Stamp
> The whole film (19:27) is online at "dailymotion".
> PTD: I couldn't find it at YouTube. What and where is "dailymotion"?

Where is there anything about trying to look for "dailymotion"?

Even you can't be so stupid as to think someone would try to
look in YouTube for some random string of words.

> And, in a subsequent post:
>
> PTD: "If Ross had divulged how he found the "dailymotion" occurrence,
> that would have been useful"
> Ross did divulge how he found it. He Googled. Anyone reasonably
> proficient with Google could.

For the umpteen gazillionth time, GOOGLE DID NOT GIVE ME
THAT RESULT. You don't like capital letters? Tough shit.

[Rich Ulrich]

On Fri, 17 Mar 2023 00:40:21 -0400, TonyCooper
<tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>Maybe I haven't noticed, but I've not seen stamps sold from vending
>machines anywhere except the post office*. Our post offices (at least
>the ones built in recent years) have a central lobby and a room with a
>long counter.

I remember that there was a spell of a few years when my bank's
ATM allowed the user to buy stamps -- probably by the book,
not individual stamps. A failed experiment, I think.

I also remember a stamp machine in the local post office, which
I did use a few times. I remember it because it is the only vending
machine I ever used that gave out change in silver dollars.

(Non-US readers: The government hoped to encourage the use
of newly minted, newly-designed $1 coins, in place of paper bills.
Another failed experiment. Decades later, the US uses paper $1s
and those coins never circulate. Well - maybe in casinos? )


--
Rich Ulrich

[Jerry Friedman]

Yes. The strange thing for some of us English speakers is that you ask with
a word similar in meaning to "How" when the answer is a noun phrase.

> > I realize that's just how those languages work, and in English some
> > noun phrases can be adverbial--"I'm leaving the day after tomorrow."
> >
> >> I think it's the same in French
> >> and Spanish and the AUE readers who know these languages better than I
> >> do can tell us if I'm right.
> >
> > You are--those are the two foreign languages I know best. (Comment
> > t'appelles tu? ¿Cómo te llamas?)

> Come ti chiami?
> Wie heißt du?
> Among the big West European languages, apparently English is the odd one
> here.

Yes. Just to expand the field, I used Google Translate to check Russian, where
it's "Kak", and Hebrew, where it's "'eykh", both usually meaning "How", as far as
I know.

English does have "How do you say 'postmark' in Azerbaijani?" The answer
will be just the Azerbaijani word.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Peter Moylan]

On 17/03/23 23:59, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 2:43:22 PM UTC-6, Silvano wrote: ...
>
>> A friend of mine ignored my warnings. Her postcards from last
>> September through a private company had not yet arrived by
>> Christmas and when they did arrive in January (slower than bringing
>> them on foot), the postmark (date stamp, cancellation, or how do
>> you call it in the US?)
>
> Postmark. And "How do you call" should be "What do you call".
> That's one of the most common mistakes made by non-native speakers
> of English, but it puzzles some of us, since "What" is the word that
> asks for a noun.

In English, yes. But "how?" is correct in some other languages, which
explains why the mistake is common.

[Peter Moylan]

On 17/03/23 23:48, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> On Friday, March 17, 2023 at 1:23:28 AM UTC-4, Peter Moylan wrote:

>> I googled for "dailymotion", and discovered what and where it was.
>> From there "The King's Stamp" was easy to find.
>
> Actually it sounds like something you do in the bathroom [supply
> local euphemism] each morning.

These days I eat plenty of fruit, so I no longer have to supply a local
euphemism in the bathroom each morning.

[Silvano]

Jerry Friedman hat am 17.03.2023 um 23:31 geschrieben:

Perhaps I'm too dumb, but I can't see the difference between your "How
do you say X in Azerbaijani?" and my original "how do you call X in the
US?", apart from the verb, OC.

I think I've found now a safe way to ask such questions: ... the
postmark (date stamp, cancellation, or which name do you use in the US?)
But I'll try to remember and use the correct "What do you call X in Y?"

[Silvano]

Rich Ulrich hat am 17.03.2023 um 22:33 geschrieben:

> (Non-US readers: The government hoped to encourage the use
> of newly minted, newly-designed $1 coins, in place of paper bills.
> Another failed experiment. Decades later, the US uses paper $1s
> and those coins never circulate. Well - maybe in casinos? )

This reminds me of a discussion in the Eurozone. Many Italians would
prefer €1 and €2 notes instead of the existing coins, while many Germans
would prefer €5 coins instead of the existing notes.
Explanation attempt: Italians had 1,000, 2,000 and 5,000 lire notes,
worth about €0.5, €1 and €2.5. As a consequence they still tend to see
coins as almost worthless.
Germans had DM 5 both as coins and notes, but coins were much more
widespread. I suspect a deep-seating mistrust of banknotes since the
infamous Mark notes in 1923. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papiermark>

As an aside, the Czechs moved from Kr 50 notes to Kr 50 coins (approx.
€2). I was told there that the notes needed to be replaced much faster
than the coins.

[Peter Moylan]

On 18/03/23 18:23, Silvano wrote:

> Perhaps I'm too dumb, but I can't see the difference between your
> "How do you say X in Azerbaijani?" and my original "how do you call X
> in the US?", apart from the verb, OC.

Verbs have patterns associated with them. (Not only in English.) So just
memorise the patterns "How do you say" and "What do you call".

[Jerry Friedman]

Sorry, the "does" indicates a contrast with what I'd been saying. Maybe I should
have emphasized the contrast with something like "on the other hand".

Maybe I should mention "How do you call your cat?" "'Heeeere kitty
kitty kitty.'"

"What do you call your cat?" "Dr. Boots." (But "What's your cat's name?"
is much more likely, in my experience.)

> I think I've found now a safe way to ask such questions: ... the
> postmark (date stamp, cancellation, or which name do you use in the US?)

That only works if you know a choice of names.

> But I'll try to remember and use the correct "What do you call X in Y?"

Yes. As Peter Moylan implied, the "in Y" is optional.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Tue, 14 Mar 2023 13:23:01 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

>The design for CIIIR's first group of postage stamps has been
>released. The format is the same that was used for EIIR's
>for more than 50 years (the "Machin" design), and the first four
>values will be in the same colors (colours) as the ones they
>are superseding. (However, stocks of the old ones will not be
>destroyed; they will continue to be sold until the supplies are
>exhausted., and the new ones will be supplied as needed.)
>
>Mr. Machin is no longer with us, and someone has imitated
>the style -- again, it was prepared first for coins and then
>adapted for stamps.
>
>Two things: again, HRH faces left; whereas I understood

Who do you mean by HRH?
"HRH" is "His/Her Royal Highness" and is used for some Princes or
Princesses.

A king or queen is "HM" - His/Her Majesty.

>that traditionally, on coins at least, the direction of the
>portrait changes from reign to reign;
>
>and, while His Majesty is said to have approved the
>design, it seems rather jowly, and could do with a bit
>of airbrushing. (A US stamp depicting George Washington
>was redrawn for just that reason -- it was considered
>unflattering.)
>
>Has there been public reaction to the unveiling?
>
>(My thread header recalls the name of a short film
>that Benjamin Britten scored when for his first job
>he worked for a government agency that produced
>educational films. This one showed the preparation
>of a new design for, probably, GVR (possibly GVIR)
>-- he turned 23 near the end of the Year of Three Kings.)

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[bruce bowser]

On Friday, March 17, 2023 at 1:27:17 PM UTC-4, Silvano wrote:
> Jerry Friedman hat am 17.03.2023 um 16:11 geschrieben:
> > On Friday, March 17, 2023 at 8:10:47 AM UTC-6, Silvano wrote:
> >> Jerry Friedman hat am 17.03.2023 um 13:59 geschrieben:
> >>> On Thursday, March 16, 2023 at 2:43:22 PM UTC-6, Silvano wrote:
> >>> ...
> >>>
> >>>> A friend of mine ignored my warnings. Her postcards from last September
> >>>> through a private company had not yet arrived by Christmas and when they
> >>>> did arrive in January (slower than bringing them on foot), the postmark
> >>>> (date stamp, cancellation, or how do you call it in the US?)
> >>>
> >>> Postmark. And "How do you call" should be "What do you call". That's
> >>> one of the most common mistakes made by non-native speakers of
> >>> English, but it puzzles some of us, since "What" is the word that asks for
> >>> a noun.
> >
> >> Thanks. Most of us non-native speakers never realise it's a mistake,
> >> unless someone politely tells us so. My explanation: at least in Italian
> >> and German we use in such sentences a word usually translated as "how"
> >> with the underlying idea "which way?".
> >
> > That's the puzzling part. You might say, according to Google Translate,
> > "Si chiama timbro postale" and "Es heißt Poststempel." There doesn't seem
> > to be any sense of "this way" in those sentences, from what I as a non-
> > speaker can tell.
>
> The point is how to ask.
> Italian: Come si chiama ...?

That has almost the same pronunciation as in Spanish. [Das hat fast die gleiche Aussprache wie im Spanischen.]

[Laura Spira]

On Tuesday, 14 March 2023 at 20:23:06 UTC, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> The design for CIIIR's first group of postage stamps has been
> released. The format is the same that was used for EIIR's
> for more than 50 years (the "Machin" design), and the first four
> values will be in the same colors (colours) as the ones they
> are superseding. (However, stocks of the old ones will not be
> destroyed; they will continue to be sold until the supplies are
> exhausted., and the new ones will be supplied as needed.)
>

I don't know where your information came from but the last sentence is incorrect. The introduction of bar coded stamps coincides neatly with the change of sovereign. We were originally told that old stamps (with the Queen and no bar code) could not be used after the end of January 2023. A public outcry led to a new date being announced - we can use them until the end of July 2023. We can also choose to go through a very tedious process of surrendering old stamps for a refund. As far as I'm aware, only new stamps (with the King and bar code) are now being sold.

--
LFS

[Peter T. Daniels]

Linn's Weekly Stamp News (email teaser gives access to a few of the
stories each week; I receive the monthly print magazine). I don't know
whether it's accessible to non-subscribers.

[Snidely]

On Thursday or thereabouts, Peter Moylan asked ...
> On 17/03/23 15:40, TonyCooper wrote:
>
>> *Admittedly, I never go down to the "tourist area" of Orlando where
>> there are many shops that sell tourist tat and postcards. Maybe
>> they have vending machines to sell stamps to tourists who are
>> mailing postcards.
>
> My experience of the vending machine was at a place where you find
> tourists. Probably Honolulu airport, as I recall it. There was no Post
> Office.

Non-USPS locations that have a contract ("license" is almost more
accurate) with the USPS to provide postal services are allowed to
charge a service fee on some transactions. That may be involved in
what you encountered.

I do not recall what transactions I've ad at such locations that
included a service fee. I don't often do business with such, but most
recently had some transactions at a "postal outlet" in a stationery
store.

This is a different arrangement than the places with private mailboxes
and which allow you to drop off pre-stamped envelopes and packages.
USPS makes deliveries and does pickups there, but they consider it one
location and there are limitations to what services can be provided
when sending items to be carried by USPS. [These places often also
provide pickup points for UPS and FedEx and/or DHL, etc.]

/dps


--
https://xkcd.com/2704

[Snidely]

On Friday, Peter T. Daniels yelped out that:

> Fuck you, moron. Only a moron would imagine doing that.

[...]

> Yes. Again and again you prove that you are a moron.

At one time, I had hopes that PTD would realize that showing maturity
tended to get better results than reverting to the school yard.

I was naive, I guess.

/dps

--
"Maintaining a really good conspiracy requires far more intelligent
application, by a large number of people, than the world can readily
supply."

Sam Plusnet

[Snidely]

Laura Spira suggested that ...

I don't see the bar code on the floral stamps at the link Janet
provided.

/dps "although I always welcome suggestiongs by Laura Spira"

--
Ieri, oggi, domani

[Peter T. Daniels]

Be that as it may, PoD or USPS has NEVER issued an 87c booklet.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 5:44:43 AM UTC-4, Snidely wrote:
> On Friday, Peter T. Daniels yelped out that:

> > Fuck you, moron. Only a moron would imagine doing that.
> [...]
> > Yes. Again and again you prove that you are a moron.
>
> At one time, I had hopes that PTD would realize that showing maturity
> tended to get better results than reverting to the school yard.
>
> I was naive, I guess.

Why don't you rebuke the C**p*r entity for continuing to post
moronic lies?

[Snidely]

Peter T. Daniels noted that:

Because I don't see that Tony is guilty of "posting moronic lies", and
because he doesn't use playground vocabulary.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 1:39:04 PM UTC-4, Snidely wrote:
> Peter T. Daniels noted that:
> > On Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 5:44:43 AM UTC-4, Snidely wrote:
> >> On Friday, Peter T. Daniels yelped out that:

> >>> Fuck you, moron. Only a moron would imagine doing that. [...]
> >>> Yes. Again and again you prove that you are a moron.
> >> At one time, I had hopes that PTD would realize that showing maturity
> >> tended to get better results than reverting to the school yard.
> >> I was naive, I guess.
> > Why don't you rebuke the C**p*r entity for continuing to post
> > moronic lies?
>
> Because I don't see that Tony is guilty of "posting moronic lies", and
> because he doesn't use playground vocabulary.

You mean, his lies are intelligent?

Bullies are not driven to use that sort of vocabulary by their own actions.