Sizzler

[Quinn C]

"No buffet. This is a wedding, not a sizzler."

I couldn't find a meaning of "sizzler" in the dictionaries that fits
this context. Is it maybe used for a barbecue (the gathering) as well?

Source: Bob hearts Abishola, a show set in Detroit, but the speaker is
Nigerian.

--
The trouble some people have being German, I thought,
I have being human.
-- Margaret Atwood, Surfacing (novel), p.130

[David Kleinecke]

On Sunday, August 1, 2021 at 6:01:48 PM UTC-7, Quinn C wrote:
> "No buffet. This is a wedding, not a sizzler."
>
> I couldn't find a meaning of "sizzler" in the dictionaries that fits
> this context. Is it maybe used for a barbecue (the gathering) as well?
>
> Source: Bob hearts Abishola, a show set in Detroit, but the speaker is
> Nigerian.

Sizzler was (is?) a chain of steak houses which once upon a time (I
imagine sixty years ago) was well-known for the quality of it buffet.
As I remember the steaks were beneath contempt but people went
for the buffet.

You sure there is no capital "S" in the original?

[Quinn C]

* David Kleinecke:

I found references to the restaurant chain online, but thanks for the
buffet reference. That makes it a better fit than just any steakhouse.

Still, "This is a marriage, not a Sizzler" feels like a category error.
"This is a birthday party, not a Red Lobster"? I'm sure people have
birthday parties at a Red Lobster.

> You sure there is no capital "S" in the original?

I'm not good at hearing that difference.

Checking subtitles files ... the subtitles use "Sizzler", indeed.
--
Quinn C
My pronouns are they/them
(or other gender-neutral ones)

[bruce bowser]

I haven't seen many Western Sizzler steak houses recently. I wonder where they all went.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Monday, August 2, 2021 at 5:07:06 PM UTC-4, bruce bowser wrote:
> On Sunday, August 1, 2021 at 9:01:48 PM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote in alt.usage.english:

> > "No buffet. This is a wedding, not a sizzler."
> >
> > I couldn't find a meaning of "sizzler" in the dictionaries that fits
> > this context. Is it maybe used for a barbecue (the gathering) as well?
> >
> > Source: Bob hearts Abishola, a show set in Detroit, but the speaker is
> > Nigerian.
>

> I haven't seen many Western Sizzler steak houses recently. I wonder where they all went.

Gone to covid, every one.

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/09/23/916005485/pandemic-fizzle-sizzler-steakhouse-chain-files-for-bankruptcy-protection

They were primarily in California with some in other Western states.

Another story from a week later said that all the Australia locations
were closing, but they seem to have had different ownership.

Putting one in Detroit is like the Hollywood writers who put "red zones"
-- a sort of parking restriction they have in L.A. -- in Chicago and New York.

[Tony Cooper]

On Mon, 2 Aug 2021 14:16:06 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

>On Monday, August 2, 2021 at 5:07:06 PM UTC-4, bruce bowser wrote:
>> On Sunday, August 1, 2021 at 9:01:48 PM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote in alt.usage.english:
>
>> > "No buffet. This is a wedding, not a sizzler."
>> >
>> > I couldn't find a meaning of "sizzler" in the dictionaries that fits
>> > this context. Is it maybe used for a barbecue (the gathering) as well?
>> >
>> > Source: Bob hearts Abishola, a show set in Detroit, but the speaker is
>> > Nigerian.
>>
>> I haven't seen many Western Sizzler steak houses recently. I wonder where they all went.
>
>Gone to covid, every one.
>
>https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/09/23/916005485/pandemic-fizzle-sizzler-steakhouse-chain-files-for-bankruptcy-protection
>
>They were primarily in California with some in other Western states.
>

Read the full article. They are *not* gone. Declaring Chapter 11 is
a financial step that proposes a plan of reorganization to pay
creditors while allowing the business to stay open.

The step will affect the 14 restaraunts the company owns, but not the
more than 90 franchished locations.

You may have noticed one of the many Sbarro's locations in New Jersey.
Sbarro's filed under Chapter 11 in 2011 and 2014, but they continue to
operate more than 600 locations.

--

Tony Cooper Orlando Florida

[Ross Clark]

A "sausage sizzle", in New Zealand, refers to an event rather than a
location. It means "open-air cooking of sausages, at campfires or on
barbecues, often for outdoor promotions" (Orsman). A common sight
outside a supermarket on Saturday morning is people sizzling sausages to
raise funds for a sports team or some other cause.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Monday, August 2, 2021 at 5:53:56 PM UTC-4, Tony Cooper wrote:
> On Mon, 2 Aug 2021 14:16:06 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
> <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
> >On Monday, August 2, 2021 at 5:07:06 PM UTC-4, bruce bowser wrote:
> >> On Sunday, August 1, 2021 at 9:01:48 PM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote in alt.usage.english:

> >> > "No buffet. This is a wedding, not a sizzler."
> >> > I couldn't find a meaning of "sizzler" in the dictionaries that fits
> >> > this context. Is it maybe used for a barbecue (the gathering) as well?
> >> > Source: Bob hearts Abishola, a show set in Detroit, but the speaker is
> >> > Nigerian.
> >> I haven't seen many Western Sizzler steak houses recently. I wonder where they all went.
> >Gone to covid, every one.
>
> >https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/09/23/916005485/pandemic-fizzle-sizzler-steakhouse-chain-files-for-bankruptcy-protection
> >
> >They were primarily in California with some in other Western states.
>
> Read the full article. They are *not* gone. Declaring Chapter 11 is
> a financial step that proposes a plan of reorganization to pay
> creditors while allowing the business to stay open.
>
> The step will affect the 14 restaraunts the company owns, but not the
> more than 90 franchished locations.

You don't give a shit about the Australian ones, apparently.

> You may have noticed one of the many Sbarro's locations in New Jersey.
> Sbarro's filed under Chapter 11 in 2011 and 2014, but they continue to
> operate more than 600 locations.

No, I have not been to a mall in well over two years. Since Borders
closed, my only reason for visiting the Garden State Plaza was the
Microsoft Store, where experts do all sorts of things for laptops at
no charge.

Moreover, after once sampling something from a Sbarro's, I resolved
never to do so again: like Olive Garden's offerings, their food is very
pretty but completely flavorless.

Whether Sbarro's continues to exist, I neither know nor care.

[Peter T. Daniels]

We would call that a "barbecue" (or maybe a "cook-out"), regardless
of whether the vast variety of foodstuffs known as "barbecue" was
on the menu.

But the restaurant chain is Sizzler, not Sizzle.

We also have Outback, an Australia-themed chain, which principally
advertised its "blooming onion," a deep-fried specialty, and sometimes
mentioned steaks as well.

[Tony Cooper]

On Tue, 3 Aug 2021 06:48:36 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"

<gram...@verizon.net> wrote:

>On Monday, August 2, 2021 at 5:53:56 PM UTC-4, Tony Cooper wrote:
>> On Mon, 2 Aug 2021 14:16:06 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
>> <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
>> >On Monday, August 2, 2021 at 5:07:06 PM UTC-4, bruce bowser wrote:
>> >> On Sunday, August 1, 2021 at 9:01:48 PM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote in alt.usage.english:
>
>> >> > "No buffet. This is a wedding, not a sizzler."
>> >> > I couldn't find a meaning of "sizzler" in the dictionaries that fits
>> >> > this context. Is it maybe used for a barbecue (the gathering) as well?
>> >> > Source: Bob hearts Abishola, a show set in Detroit, but the speaker is
>> >> > Nigerian.
>> >> I haven't seen many Western Sizzler steak houses recently. I wonder where they all went.
>> >Gone to covid, every one.
>>
>> >https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/09/23/916005485/pandemic-fizzle-sizzler-steakhouse-chain-files-for-bankruptcy-protection
>> >
>> >They were primarily in California with some in other Western states.
>>
>> Read the full article. They are *not* gone. Declaring Chapter 11 is
>> a financial step that proposes a plan of reorganization to pay
>> creditors while allowing the business to stay open.
>>
>> The step will affect the 14 restaraunts the company owns, but not the
>> more than 90 franchished locations.
>
>You don't give a shit about the Australian ones, apparently.

No, actually, I don't. Travel to Oz is not in my immediate plans, and
the presence or absence of Western Sizzlers will not affect my plans.

The point being that Western Sizzlers in the US are *not* gone as you
stated. I think that's called being wrong, although it could be
called a "lie" on your part if we use your definition of a "lie".

>
>> You may have noticed one of the many Sbarro's locations in New Jersey.
>> Sbarro's filed under Chapter 11 in 2011 and 2014, but they continue to
>> operate more than 600 locations.
>
>No, I have not been to a mall in well over two years. Since Borders
>closed, my only reason for visiting the Garden State Plaza was the
>Microsoft Store, where experts do all sorts of things for laptops at
>no charge.

My travel plans have not included using the Florida Turnpike (a 309
mile toll road) for several years, but a Sbarro's was in every rest
stop food court on the Turnpike last time I used it.

Not that I have patronized any of them. Sbarro's offerings have never
appealed to me. I didn't need to sample them to know.

>
>Moreover, after once sampling something from a Sbarro's, I resolved
>never to do so again: like Olive Garden's offerings, their food is very
>pretty but completely flavorless.
>
>Whether Sbarro's continues to exist, I neither know nor care.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at 10:00:53 AM UTC-4, Tony Cooper wrote:
> On Tue, 3 Aug 2021 06:48:36 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"

> >You don't give a shit about the Australian ones, apparently.
>
> No, actually, I don't. Travel to Oz is not in my immediate plans, and
> the presence or absence of Western Sizzlers will not affect my plans.

Egotism is not an attractive trait in a superannuated leprechaun.

> The point being that Western Sizzlers in the US are *not* gone as you
> stated. I think that's called being wrong, although it could be
> called a "lie" on your part if we use your definition of a "lie".
>

> Not that I have patronized any of them. Sbarro's offerings have never
> appealed to me. I didn't need to sample them to know.

Sheer bigotry.

[Quinn C]

* Peter T. Daniels:

> We also have Outback, an Australia-themed chain, which principally
> advertised its "blooming onion," a deep-fried specialty, and sometimes
> mentioned steaks as well.

I actually went to one of those with a group when we were at a
conference in Florida. Apparently, none of us Canucks knew about the
onions, because I don't remember anyone mentioning them. We confirmed
that kangaroo wasn't on the menu and wondered what was Australian about
it, then ordered steak, because it said "steakhouse" on the label.

[Ross Clark]

Yes, I know. But the NZ usage of "sizzle" for a barbecuing event makes
me more inclined to believe that "sizzler" might be Nigerian (or
Detroit) slang for the same kind of thing.

[Peter Moylan]

On 03/08/21 22:49, Ross Clark wrote:

> A "sausage sizzle", in New Zealand, refers to an event rather than a
> location. It means "open-air cooking of sausages, at campfires or on
> barbecues, often for outdoor promotions" (Orsman). A common sight
> outside a supermarket on Saturday morning is people sizzling sausages
> to raise funds for a sports team or some other cause.

Likewise in Australia. Usually the sausages are nothing special, but
people like the fried onions.

Earlier comments in this thread made me wonder whether there was a
Sizzler in Newcastle. Googling gave me a news article that said

<quote>
On Sunday, after 35 years in Australia, Sizzler will close its remaining
nine restaurants.

The restaurant chain’s parent company Collins Food said it made the
“difficult decision” after they struggled to recover from slow sales
during the peak impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
</quote>

Apparently Collins Food is the Australian company that bought the
Australian part of the chain, years ago, from its American owner.

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

[Peter Moylan]

On 04/08/21 11:28, Peter Moylan wrote:

> Earlier comments in this thread made me wonder whether there was a
> Sizzler in Newcastle.

On reflection, I think I've been to a Newcastle Sizzler, years ago. Is
that the one where you buy the raw steak and then cook it yourself?

If so, it burnt down long ago and never re-opened.

A hazard of having customers work with open fires.

[Ross Clark]

On 4/08/2021 12:28 p.m., Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 03/08/21 22:49, Ross Clark wrote:
>
>> A "sausage sizzle", in New Zealand, refers to an event rather than a
>>  location. It means "open-air cooking of sausages, at campfires or on
>>  barbecues, often for outdoor promotions" (Orsman). A common sight
>> outside a supermarket on Saturday morning is people sizzling sausages
>> to raise funds for a sports team or some other cause.
>
> Likewise in Australia. Usually the sausages are nothing special, but
> people like the fried onions.

Yes, I should have added "No pretension to quality; hence a good
antithesis to a wedding feast."

> Earlier comments in this thread made me wonder whether there was a
> Sizzler in Newcastle. Googling gave me a news article that said
>
> <quote>
> On Sunday, after 35 years in Australia, Sizzler will close its remaining
> nine restaurants.
>
> The restaurant chain’s parent company Collins Food said it made the
> “difficult decision” after they struggled to recover from slow sales
> during the peak impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
> </quote>
>
> Apparently Collins Food is the Australian company that bought the
> Australian part of the chain, years ago, from its American owner.
>

Just this morning I happened upon what turns out to be OED's earliest
citation for "steak-house":

I went into the City to Dolly's Steak-house in Paternoster Row...
(Boswell, London Journal, 15/12/1762)

He goes on to praise this type of establishment ("A beefsteak-house is a
most excellent place to dine at.") -- comfortable atmosphere, good food,
good service, and cheap! His meal (beef, bread, beer and a penny tip for
the waiter) cost him exactly one shilling.

[Peter Moylan]

On 04/08/21 14:04, Ross Clark wrote:
>
> Just this morning I happened upon what turns out to be OED's earliest
> citation for "steak-house":
>
> I went into the City to Dolly's Steak-house in Paternoster Row...
> (Boswell, London Journal, 15/12/1762)
>
> He goes on to praise this type of establishment ("A beefsteak-house
> is a most excellent place to dine at.") -- comfortable atmosphere,
> good food, good service, and cheap! His meal (beef, bread, beer and a
> penny tip for the waiter) cost him exactly one shilling.

Even in the 1950s I could get a meal for a shilling: a meat pie, or a
piece of battered fish and threepence worth of chips.

Not quite as luxurious as beef, bread, and beer, but we didn't drink
beer in primary school.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at 9:28:09 PM UTC-4, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 03/08/21 22:49, Ross Clark wrote:

> > A "sausage sizzle", in New Zealand, refers to an event rather than a
> > location. It means "open-air cooking of sausages, at campfires or on
> > barbecues, often for outdoor promotions" (Orsman). A common sight
> > outside a supermarket on Saturday morning is people sizzling sausages
> > to raise funds for a sports team or some other cause.
>
> Likewise in Australia. Usually the sausages are nothing special, but
> people like the fried onions.

Ha! So maybe the blooming onion is legitimately a local specialty!

[Sam Plusnet]

On 04-Aug-21 1:50, Peter Moylan wrote:

> On reflection, I think I've been to a Newcastle Sizzler, years ago. Is
> that the one where you buy the raw steak and then cook it yourself?
>
> If so, it burnt down long ago and never re-opened.
>
> A hazard of having customers work with open fires.
>

That should be both good and bad.
Yes, the customer might be too casual with stuff & start a fire - but
there should be plenty of people around who could deal with it before it
got out of hand.
(I'm assuming a sensible choice of building materials & extinguishers on
hand.)

--
Sam Plusnet
Wales, UK

[Sam Plusnet]

Australian chips were cheaper than English chips. I recall, with
regret, a potato shortage in the 1950s caused the price of
four-penn'orth of chips to rocket up to sixpence.

[Quinn C]

* Sam Plusnet:

"This is fine".

--
Do not they speak false English ... that doth not speak thou to one,
and what ever he be, Father, Mother, King, or Judge, is he not a
Novice, and Unmannerly, and an Ideot, and a Fool, that speaks Your
to one, which is not to be spoken to a singular, but to many?
-- George Fox (1660)

[Kerr-Mudd, John]

I don't follow potato prices closely, but I don't recall ever seeing the price of chips dropping back afterwards.

--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.

[bil...@shaw.ca]

Commodities futures trading is a great way to win or (more likely) lose large amounts of money in a very short time,
at least for small-time investors. Organizations that know what they are doing use commodities contracts to make sure
they will have the potatoes (or whatever) they will need at a future date, at a predictable price.

bill

[Sam Plusnet]

On 06-Aug-21 7:24, bil...@shaw.ca wrote:

> Commodities futures trading is a great way to win or (more likely) lose large amounts of money in a very short time,
> at least for small-time investors. Organizations that know what they are doing use commodities contracts to make sure
> they will have the potatoes (or whatever) they will need at a future date, at a predictable price.
>

The concept of a whole number of people and companies buying and selling
tangible goods which, by definition, do not exist...
I'll stick to more conservative ways of losing money.

[Tony Cooper]

You could always buy a boat.

[dinn...@chello.nl]

On Fri, 06 Aug 2021 14:37:54 -0400, in alt.usage.english Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com>
wrote:

No, that ship has sailed.

--
Bart Dinnissen
in The Netherlands

[Sam Plusnet]

I was pretty sure that idea wasn't going to fly.

[Quinn C]

* Sam Plusnet:

Flying boats are definitely out the window.

--
Odo: I've met a lot of Ferengis in my time ... though some of
them may have been more wealthy, I've never met one more devious.
Quark: Thank you Odo, that means a lot to me.

[Snidely]

On Friday or thereabouts, Quinn C asked ...

> * Sam Plusnet:
>
>> On 06-Aug-21 19:43, dinn...@chello.nl wrote:
>>> On Fri, 06 Aug 2021 14:37:54 -0400, in alt.usage.english Tony Cooper
>>> <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Fri, 6 Aug 2021 17:25:04 +0100, Sam Plusnet <n...@home.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 06-Aug-21 7:24, bil...@shaw.ca wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Commodities futures trading is a great way to win or (more likely) lose
>>>>>> large amounts of money in a very short time, at least for small-time
>>>>>> investors. Organizations that know what they are doing use commodities
>>>>>> contracts to make sure they will have the potatoes (or whatever) they
>>>>>> will need at a future date, at a predictable price.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> The concept of a whole number of people and companies buying and selling
>>>>> tangible goods which, by definition, do not exist...
>>>>> I'll stick to more conservative ways of losing money.
>>>>
>>>> You could always buy a boat.
>>>
>>> No, that ship has sailed.
>>>
>> I was pretty sure that idea wasn't going to fly.
>
> Flying boats are definitely out the window.

I think they got left on the beach.

/dps

--
"I am not given to exaggeration, and when I say a thing I mean it"
_Roughing It_, Mark Twain

[Peter Moylan]

As I understand it, futures trading was originally in the category of
"derivatives" that were used to hedge risk, i.e. as a potential balance
against the risk of your other investments losing value. Ut was a tool
for use by conservative investors.

But, like everything else in the stock market, it quickly became a way
of gambling.

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <sekn0c$d63$1...@dont-email.me>,

Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

>As I understand it, futures trading was originally in the category of
>"derivatives" that were used to hedge risk, i.e. as a potential balance
>against the risk of your other investments losing value.

Futures are indeed derivatives, but the original underlying asset was
a tangible commodity, usually a farm product like wheat or hogs or
whatnot. A farmer would "write" (sell) futures to lock in the selling
price of their product, and receive a payment, before the grain is
planted or the calves are born; a processor would buy those futures to
lock in the future cost of their inputs. For both sides of the
futures trade, it allows them to make their cash flows more even and
predictable.

There is a balancing of risks: for the farmer, the crop might fail,
and they would be on the hook for delivery of a commodity they do not
have; for the processor, there might be a glut and they will be stuck
paying a much higher than market price. Most futures contracts,
however, are not physically settled: on the closing day of the
contract, both sides will enter into offsetting trades that net out in
cash, and actually do their buying and selling on same-day markets.
This is why the notional point of delivery for futures doesn't matter
very much, and it's also why the commodity specified in a standardized
futures contract doesn't have to exactly match the real physical
commodity: so long as the ideal commodity is sufficiently
correlated with the real commodity, the trades work out.

Nowadays, of course, there are futures and other even more specialized
derivatives on lots of entirely notional underlying assets, from
interest rates to the value of some market index. A lot of the
activity in these really is gambling (and they used to be forbidden as
illegal insurance schemes) but the trading also supports legitimate
needs in the financial industry to turn unpredictable market behavior
into more predictable cash flows.

-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | "Act to avoid constraining the future; if you can,
wol...@bimajority.org| act to remove constraint from the future. This is
Opinions not shared by| a thing you can do, are able to do, to do together."
my employers. | - Graydon Saunders, _A Succession of Bad Days_ (2015)

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

The only time I ever went to the House of Commons I was lucky in that
someone I had heard of (Gerald Nabarro -- he of the seven expensive
cars, with licence plates NAB 1, NAB 2, NAB 3, NAB 4, NAB 5, NAB 6 and
NAB 7) was speaking, unlucky in that he was talking about futures, a
topic in which I had (and have) no interest.

>
> You could always buy a boat.


--

Athel -- French and British, living mainly in England until 1987.

[CDB]

On 8/6/2021 8:03 PM, Snidely wrote:
> Quinn C asked ...
>> * Sam Plusnet:

>>> dinn...@chello.nl wrote:
>>>> Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:

>>>>> Sam Plusnet <n...@home.com> wrote:
>>>>>> bil...@shaw.ca wrote:

>>>>>>> Commodities futures trading is a great way to win or
>>>>>>> (more likely) lose large amounts of money in a very
>>>>>>> short time, at least for small-time investors.
>>>>>>> Organizations that know what they are doing use
>>>>>>> commodities contracts to make sure they will have the
>>>>>>> potatoes (or whatever) they will need at a future date,
>>>>>>> at a predictable price.

>>>>>> The concept of a whole number of people and companies
>>>>>> buying and selling tangible goods which, by definition, do
>>>>>> not exist... I'll stick to more conservative ways of
>>>>>> losing money.

>>>>> You could always buy a boat.

>>>> No, that ship has sailed.

>>> I was pretty sure that idea wasn't going to fly.

>> Flying boats are definitely out the window.

> I think they got left on the beach.

There was one at the facetious end of last night's news program. This
is not that clip, but the dinghies look the same.

https://www.pilotmix.com/fib-flying-inflatable-boat

[J. J. Lodder]

It seems to have been invented by shipowners in the Netherlands
in the late middle ages.
When you are equiping a ship, and have a date for sailing,
you are in the last days at the mercy of your suppliers.
They know you have to leave,
and that you must have your supplies before you can leave,
so they increase their prices.
The remedy was of course to buy long in advance,
with an agreed delivery date.

And then, later, those contracts were being bought and sold.
You could speculate on prices going up or down.
But it started with real needs, for real things,

Jan

[Kerr-Mudd, John]

On Fri, 6 Aug 2021 18:14:52 -0400
Quinn C <lispa...@crommatograph.info> wrote:

> * Sam Plusnet:
>
> > On 06-Aug-21 19:43, dinn...@chello.nl wrote:
> >> On Fri, 06 Aug 2021 14:37:54 -0400, in alt.usage.english Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> On Fri, 6 Aug 2021 17:25:04 +0100, Sam Plusnet <n...@home.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> On 06-Aug-21 7:24, bil...@shaw.ca wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> Commodities futures trading is a great way to win or (more likely) lose large amounts of money in a very short time,
> >>>>> at least for small-time investors. Organizations that know what they are doing use commodities contracts to make sure
> >>>>> they will have the potatoes (or whatever) they will need at a future date, at a predictable price.
> >>>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> The concept of a whole number of people and companies buying and selling
> >>>> tangible goods which, by definition, do not exist...
> >>>> I'll stick to more conservative ways of losing money.
> >>>
> >>> You could always buy a boat.
> >>
> >> No, that ship has sailed.
> >>
> > I was pretty sure that idea wasn't going to fly.
>
> Flying boats are definitely out the window.
>

Ah've seen a House fly, but I ain't never seen an *Elephant* fly!

[bruce bowser]

On the North Carolina beaches, they even bite.

[Sam Plusnet]

Shore they did.


As they once said in the navy.

"If it flaps its wings, it's friendly."

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Punning aside, I was wondering if flying boats still existed.
Apparently they do. I saw one once, just off the shore in Johore Bahru,
but I was a wee lad then, as it was in 1949.

[J. J. Lodder]

Some WWII planes have been conserved in airworthy condition.
The large passenger carrying flying boats
are of course as dead as the British Empire.
Smaller float planes survive in large numbers,
in Alaska for example.

But you have no reason to complain.
The Bombardier/Canadair fire fighting planes
that you can regularly see in action nearby are flying boats,
even when they prefer to extend their wheels for a dry landing,

Jan

[Tony Cooper]

Orlando is several miles from the ocean, but there are numerous large
lakes in the area. There is a seaplane that lands on a lake near me
quite frequently. I don't know if the owner lives on the lake or why
the plane lands there so frequently.

It's rather disconcerting to see a plane circle and drop down in an
area where there is no airport if one doesn't notice the pontoons.

obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"?

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Yes, of course, I've often seen them. Not too many this year (yet!)
however. They're mostly in Greece.

> even when they prefer to extend their wheels for a dry landing,
>
> Jan

[J. J. Lodder]

'Seaplanes' are either float planes or flying boats.
Float planes are still quite common, flying boats are nearly extinct.

> It's rather disconcerting to see a plane circle and drop down in an
> area where there is no airport if one doesn't notice the pontoons.

Since you mention 'pontoons' is is probably a float plane,
so not really something special.

> obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"?

It lands on water,

Jan

[bruce bowser]

No, not 'water'. But you could say that it "splashes down" or "splashes", but that usually denotes a more negative or unfortunate connotation.

[Cheryl]

On 2021-08-07 3:44 p.m., Tony Cooper wrote:
> On Sat, 7 Aug 2021 19:38:21 +0200, nos...@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
> Lodder) wrote:

<snip>

>> Some WWII planes have been conserved in airworthy condition.
>> The large passenger carrying flying boats
>> are of course as dead as the British Empire.
>> Smaller float planes survive in large numbers,
>> in Alaska for example.
>>
>> But you have no reason to complain.
>> The Bombardier/Canadair fire fighting planes
>> that you can regularly see in action nearby are flying boats,
>> even when they prefer to extend their wheels for a dry landing,
>>
>
> Orlando is several miles from the ocean, but there are numerous large
> lakes in the area. There is a seaplane that lands on a lake near me
> quite frequently. I don't know if the owner lives on the lake or why
> the plane lands there so frequently.
>
> It's rather disconcerting to see a plane circle and drop down in an
> area where there is no airport if one doesn't notice the pontoons.
>
> obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"?
>

It lands. Quite aside from water bombers, I saw one seaplane, a Beaver,
I think it was, very frequently throughout my childhood, since the local
mining company used it to transport workers around. My father used to
travel in it, and the pilot was a neighbour and a friend of my parents.
I even travelled in it once as a very small child, before the company
got serious about not letting non-employees hitch rides. I took it so
much for granted that I never realized that landing on and taking off
from water were considered quite difficult operations. I did know about
two crashes - a fatal crash involving a previous plane that happened
before I was born, and a non-fatal crash when I was a child, but neither
involved a take-off or landing.

--
Cheryl

[Peter Moylan]

In the case of a fire-fighting plane, it waters on land.

[Peter Moylan]

On 08/08/21 01:23, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:

> Ah've seen a House fly, but I ain't never seen an*Elephant* fly!

How do you get down off an elephant?

[Tony Cooper]

On Sun, 8 Aug 2021 09:57:59 +1100, Peter Moylan
<pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

>On 08/08/21 01:23, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
>
>> Ah've seen a House fly, but I ain't never seen an*Elephant* fly!
>
>How do you get down off an elephant?

Get the pluck out of here with questions like that.

[J. J. Lodder]

Bright red piss!

Jan

[J. J. Lodder]

Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

> On 08/08/21 01:23, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
>
> > Ah've seen a House fly, but I ain't never seen an*Elephant* fly!
>
> How do you get down off an elephant?

You ask her kindly,

Jan

[Snidely]

Peter Moylan scribbled something on Saturday the 8/7/2021:

> On 08/08/21 01:23, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
>
>> Ah've seen a House fly, but I ain't never seen an*Elephant* fly!
>
> How do you get down off an elephant?

Throw a forward pass with the duck in your saddlebags.

/dps

--
Ieri, oggi, domani

[Mack A. Damia]

On Sun, 8 Aug 2021 10:11:38 +0200, nos...@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.

Lodder) wrote:

>Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On 08/08/21 05:59, J. J. Lodder wrote:
>> > Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >> On Sat, 7 Aug 2021 19:38:21 +0200, nos...@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J.
>> >> Lodder) wrote:
>>
>> >>> But you have no reason to complain.
>> >>> The Bombardier/Canadair fire fighting planes
>> >>> that you can regularly see in action nearby are flying boats,
>> >>> even when they prefer to extend their wheels for a dry landing,
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >> Orlando is several miles from the ocean, but there are numerous large
>> >> lakes in the area. There is a seaplane that lands on a lake near me
>> >> quite frequently. I don't know if the owner lives on the lake or why
>> >> the plane lands there so frequently.
>> >
>> > 'Seaplanes' are either float planes or flying boats.
>> > Float planes are still quite common, flying boats are nearly extinct.
>> >
>> >> It's rather disconcerting to see a plane circle and drop down in an
>> >> area where there is no airport if one doesn't notice the pontoons.
>> >
>> > Since you mention 'pontoons' is is probably a float plane,
>> > so not really something special.
>> >
>> >> obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"?
>> >
>> > It lands on water,
>>
>> In the case of a fire-fighting plane, it waters on land.
>
>Bright red piss!

Never suck on blue ice.

[Sam Plusnet]

On 07-Aug-21 23:57, Peter Moylan wrote:
> On 08/08/21 01:23, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
>
>> Ah've seen a House fly, but I ain't never seen an*Elephant*  fly!
>
> How do you get down off an elephant?
>

It's easy. Elephants are terrible at American football.

[Garrett Wollman]

In article <mn.40b87e58747bdcbc.127094@snitoo>,

Snidely <snide...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Peter Moylan scribbled something on Saturday the 8/7/2021:
>> On 08/08/21 01:23, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
>>
>>> Ah've seen a House fly, but I ain't never seen an*Elephant* fly!
>>
>> How do you get down off an elephant?
>
>Throw a forward pass with the duck in your saddlebags.

Was really trying to make sense of this as being a reference to Oregon
football but I just can't.

[Lewis]

In message <serirj$u9$2...@usenet.csail.mit.edu> Garrett Wollman <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
> In article <mn.40b87e58747bdcbc.127094@snitoo>,
> Snidely <snide...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>Peter Moylan scribbled something on Saturday the 8/7/2021:
>>> On 08/08/21 01:23, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ah've seen a House fly, but I ain't never seen an*Elephant* fly!
>>>
>>> How do you get down off an elephant?
>>
>>Throw a forward pass with the duck in your saddlebags.

> Was really trying to make sense of this as being a reference to Oregon
> football but I just can't.

If you try to put an Oregon duck in a saddlebag, it'll fight you.


--
If we get through this alive I'll meet you next week same place same
time

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Monday, August 9, 2021 at 11:50:15 AM UTC-4, Garrett Wollman wrote:
> In article <mn.40b87e58747bdcbc.127094@snitoo>,
> Snidely <snide...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >Peter Moylan scribbled something on Saturday the 8/7/2021:
> >> On 08/08/21 01:23, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:

> >>> Ah've seen a House fly, but I ain't never seen an*Elephant* fly!
> >> How do you get down off an elephant?
> >Throw a forward pass with the duck in your saddlebags.
>
> Was really trying to make sense of this as being a reference to Oregon
> football but I just can't.

Not a crossworder, eh? Eider that or something else is the answer.

[Snidely]

Watch this space, where Lewis advised that...

> In message <serirj$u9$2...@usenet.csail.mit.edu> Garrett Wollman
> <wol...@bimajority.org> wrote:
>> In article <mn.40b87e58747bdcbc.127094@snitoo>,
>> Snidely <snide...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Peter Moylan scribbled something on Saturday the 8/7/2021:
>>>> On 08/08/21 01:23, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Ah've seen a House fly, but I ain't never seen an*Elephant* fly!
>>>>
>>>> How do you get down off an elephant?
>>>
>>> Throw a forward pass with the duck in your saddlebags.
>
>> Was really trying to make sense of this as being a reference to Oregon
>> football but I just can't.
>
> If you try to put an Oregon duck in a saddlebag, it'll fight you.

Definitely, though perhaps not as ferociously as a goose. On the other
hand, a lineman is not going to be helpful ... not supposed to use
their hands, and saddlebags usually aren't big enough.

Mallards are common where I lived. Quite a few show up in SoCal, too.

/dps

--
"This is all very fine, but let us not be carried away be excitement,
but ask calmly, how does this person feel about in in his cooler
moments next day, with six or seven thousand feet of snow and stuff on
top of him?"
_Roughing It_, Mark Twain.

[Tak To]

On 8/7/2021 2:14 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
>
> obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"?

It alights.

--
Tak
----------------------------------------------------------------+-----
Tak To ta...@alum.mit.eduxx
--------------------------------------------------------------------^^
[taode takto ~{LU5B~}] NB: trim the xx to get my real email addr

[Tak To]

On 8/6/2021 12:25 PM, Sam Plusnet wrote:
> On 06-Aug-21 7:24, bil...@shaw.ca wrote:
>

>> Commodities futures trading [...]

>
> The concept of a whole number of people and companies buying and selling
> tangible goods which, by definition, do not exist...

Not "non-existent by definition". The goods may already
exist, but are not to be delivered until a future date.

[Sam Plusnet]

On 11-Aug-21 3:01, Tak To wrote:
> On 8/7/2021 2:14 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
>>
>> obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"?
>
> It alights.
>

But its take off delights.

[Tony Cooper]

On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 19:55:49 +0100, Sam Plusnet <n...@home.com> wrote:

>On 11-Aug-21 3:01, Tak To wrote:
>> On 8/7/2021 2:14 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
>>>
>>> obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"?
>>
>> It alights.
>>
>But its take off delights.

Yes, but it causes waves.

[Chrysi Cat]

On 8/3/2021 8:00 AM, Tony Cooper wrote:
> On Tue, 3 Aug 2021 06:48:36 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
> <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> On Monday, August 2, 2021 at 5:53:56 PM UTC-4, Tony Cooper wrote:
>>> On Mon, 2 Aug 2021 14:16:06 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
>>> <gram...@verizon.net> wrote:
>>>> On Monday, August 2, 2021 at 5:07:06 PM UTC-4, bruce bowser wrote:
>>>>> On Sunday, August 1, 2021 at 9:01:48 PM UTC-4, Quinn C wrote in alt.usage.english:
>>
>>>>>> "No buffet. This is a wedding, not a sizzler."
>>>>>> I couldn't find a meaning of "sizzler" in the dictionaries that fits
>>>>>> this context. Is it maybe used for a barbecue (the gathering) as well?
>>>>>> Source: Bob hearts Abishola, a show set in Detroit, but the speaker is
>>>>>> Nigerian.
>>>>> I haven't seen many Western Sizzler steak houses recently. I wonder where they all went.
>>>> Gone to covid, every one.
>>>
>>>> https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/09/23/916005485/pandemic-fizzle-sizzler-steakhouse-chain-files-for-bankruptcy-protection
>>>>
>>>> They were primarily in California with some in other Western states.
>>>
>>> Read the full article. They are *not* gone. Declaring Chapter 11 is
>>> a financial step that proposes a plan of reorganization to pay
>>> creditors while allowing the business to stay open.
>>>
>>> The step will affect the 14 restaraunts the company owns, but not the
>>> more than 90 franchished locations.
>>
>> You don't give a shit about the Australian ones, apparently.
>
> No, actually, I don't. Travel to Oz is not in my immediate plans, and
> the presence or absence of Western Sizzlers will not affect my plans.
>
> The point being that Western Sizzlers in the US are *not* gone as you
> stated. I think that's called being wrong, although it could be
> called a "lie" on your part if we use your definition of a "lie".

Nobody's going to call you out on conflating two chains (both of which
took hits from the pandemic)?

*Western Sizzlin'* is the chain I think you're thinking of. They're down
to basically locations in the Confederate States after a high-water mark
that got them at least as far as Colorado.

The chain everyone *else* was mentioning first was *Sizzler*. It was the
first steak restaurant with a /big/ salad bar, which when Bonanza and
Ponderosa did better in their copying by going full-buffet, eventually
did so as well (at the same time, a similar concept to the original
Sizzler plan was working as Black Angus, but with higher quality steak
involved). Sizzler _got_ to be nationwide, I think, at one point, but
this was /not/ its first bankruptcy and the previous ones had whittled
it down to California, Washington, New Mexico, Washington, Idaho and
Oregon. They had *also* been in Colorado, probably longer than Western
Sizzlin', and I'm sure that there were people who misunderstood them to
be a single company due to the similarity of names.

That said, I'll admit that a series set in Detroit should likely have
gone with Ponderosa or Bonanza. Or possibly gone all the way to Hometown
Buffet. None of those have even the "fake fancy" that WS and Sizzler
have occasionally had going for them, but they actually still exist in
the area that Abishola would be familiar with in this country.

>
>>
>>> You may have noticed one of the many Sbarro's locations in New Jersey.
>>> Sbarro's filed under Chapter 11 in 2011 and 2014, but they continue to
>>> operate more than 600 locations.
>>
>> No, I have not been to a mall in well over two years. Since Borders
>> closed, my only reason for visiting the Garden State Plaza was the
>> Microsoft Store, where experts do all sorts of things for laptops at
>> no charge.
>
> My travel plans have not included using the Florida Turnpike (a 309
> mile toll road) for several years, but a Sbarro's was in every rest
> stop food court on the Turnpike last time I used it.
>
> Not that I have patronized any of them. Sbarro's offerings have never
> appealed to me. I didn't need to sample them to know.
>>
>> Moreover, after once sampling something from a Sbarro's, I resolved
>> never to do so again: like Olive Garden's offerings, their food is very
>> pretty but completely flavorless.
>>
>> Whether Sbarro's continues to exist, I neither know nor care.


--
Chrysi Cat
1/2 anthrocat, nearly 1/2 anthrofox, all magical
Transgoddess, quick to anger
Call me Chrysi or call me Kat, I'll respond to either!

[Kerr-Mudd, John]

On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 19:55:49 +0100

Sam Plusnet <n...@home.com> wrote:

> On 11-Aug-21 3:01, Tak To wrote:
> > On 8/7/2021 2:14 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
> >>
> >> obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"?
> >
> > It alights.
> >
> But its take off delights.
>

I thought that was sky rockets in the afternoon?

(are there non-sky rockets - ok, apart from some crazily mislabelled salad greenery?)

--
Bah, and indeed Humbug.

[J. J. Lodder]

Crazy because from French?

Jan

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

Stephenson's Rocket

[Jerry Friedman]

On Thursday, August 12, 2021 at 8:17:29 AM UTC-6, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> On 2021-08-12 10:21:27 +0000, Kerr-Mudd, John said:
>
> > On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 19:55:49 +0100
> > Sam Plusnet <n...@home.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On 11-Aug-21 3:01, Tak To wrote:
> >>> On 8/7/2021 2:14 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"?
> >>>
> >>> It alights.
> >>>
> >> But its take off delights.
> >>
> > I thought that was sky rockets in the afternoon?
> >
> > (are there non-sky rockets - ok, apart from some crazily mislabelled
> > salad greenery?)

> Stephenson's Rocket

Col. Stapp's rocket sled.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Sam Plusnet]

On 12-Aug-21 15:17, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> On 2021-08-12 10:21:27 +0000, Kerr-Mudd, John said:
>
>> On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 19:55:49 +0100
>> Sam Plusnet <n...@home.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 11-Aug-21 3:01, Tak To wrote:
>>>> On 8/7/2021 2:14 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> obAue:  Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"?
>>>>
>>>> It alights.
>>>>
>>> But its take off delights.
>>>
>> I thought that was sky rockets in the afternoon?
>>
>> (are there non-sky rockets - ok, apart from some crazily mislabelled
>> salad greenery?)
>
> Stephenson's Rocket
>

Congreve rockets also went along rather than up.

Radio City Rockettes?

[Ken Blake]

For what it's worth, in the US, what you call "rocket" usually goes by
its Italian name, "arugula."


--
Ken

[Mark Brader]

>>> (are there non-sky rockets - ok, apart from some crazily mislabelled
>>> salad greenery?)

>> Stephenson's Rocket

> Congreve rockets also went along rather than up.
>
> Radio City Rockettes?

Ride the Rocket:

http://swanboatsteve.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/keystone.jpg

(Toronto Transit Commission. The original phrase was "red rockets"
and it says here

http://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4002.shtml

that it started as a sarcastic description of the TTC's first subway
trains, which proved to be much heavier than the manufacturer had
promised. It was then applied to some TTC streetcars and finally
adopted as an advertising slogan by the TTC itself, to the point that,
today, 60+ years later, their newest subway trains are known as the
"Toronto Rocket" class.)
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "Not looking like Pascal is not
m...@vex.net a language deficiency!" -- Doug Gwyn

My text in this article is in the public domain.

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Thursday, August 12, 2021 at 4:55:11 PM UTC-4, Ken Blake wrote:

> For what it's worth, in the US, what you call "rocket" usually goes by
> its Italian name, "arugula."

Only very recently. I first heard it in one of the songs in Sondheim's
*Into the Woods*, and checking the dictionary gave a date of first
attestation only slightly before then.

[musika]

Well, Italian dialect. I think modern Italian uses "rucola"
Incidentally, rocket also comes from Italian dialect "ruchetta" via French.


--
Ray
UK

[Ken Blake]

On 8/12/2021 2:30 PM, musika wrote:
> On 12/08/2021 21:55, Ken Blake wrote:
>> On 8/12/2021 3:21 AM, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
>>> On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 19:55:49 +0100 Sam Plusnet <n...@home.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 11-Aug-21 3:01, Tak To wrote:
>>>>> On 8/7/2021 2:14 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"? It
>>>>>> alights.
>>>>> But its take off delights.
>>>>
>>> I thought that was sky rockets in the afternoon?
>>>
>>> (are there non-sky rockets - ok, apart from some crazily
>>> mislabelled salad greenery?)
>>
>> For what it's worth, in the US, what you call "rocket" usually goes
>> by its Italian name, "arugula."
>>
> Well, Italian dialect. I think modern Italian uses "rucola"

Yes, You're right. I knew that, but had forgotten. Thanks for the
correction.

> Incidentally, rocket also comes from Italian dialect "ruchetta" via French.
>
>


--

Ken

[Quinn C]

* musika:

> On 12/08/2021 21:55, Ken Blake wrote:
>> On 8/12/2021 3:21 AM, Kerr-Mudd, John wrote:
>>> On Wed, 11 Aug 2021 19:55:49 +0100 Sam Plusnet <n...@home.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 11-Aug-21 3:01, Tak To wrote:
>>>>> On 8/7/2021 2:14 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> obAue: Does a seaplane "land" or does it "water"? It
>>>>>> alights.
>>>>> But its take off delights.
>>>>
>>> I thought that was sky rockets in the afternoon?
>>>
>>> (are there non-sky rockets - ok, apart from some crazily
>>> mislabelled salad greenery?)
>>
>> For what it's worth, in the US, what you call "rocket" usually goes
>> by its Italian name, "arugula."
>>
> Well, Italian dialect. I think modern Italian uses "rucola"

In German, in similar fashion, "Rucola/Arugula" has been pushing out the
older doublet "Rauke".

> Incidentally, rocket also comes from Italian dialect "ruchetta" via French.

You're lucky, then, that ricotta didn't end up being rickets.

--
Odo: I've met a lot of Ferengis in my time ... though some of
them may have been more wealthy, I've never met one more devious.
Quark: Thank you Odo, that means a lot to me.

[Kerr-Mudd, John]

I learnt this recently, playing Wordscapes (US coy dictionary - Webster spelling, no "cunt", "arse", or even some perfectly cromulent UKE words).

https://www.peoplefun.com/games