Someone reminded me of this somewhere else. He used the term 'eleventy billion' to describe a large number of things. I once used 'eleventy three dozen' to describe a large number of things and the person said, "Wait...wait...wait...How many is that?
I answered "It's a whole ringtailed passle."
"How many is that?" he asked.
I just told him to learn how to count and walked off.
The other time somebody had done something cool at work and I told the tug skipper, "Give that man a flagon of ale!"
A green deckhand looked at me and asked, "How much ale is in a flagon?"
"It's twice the size of a tankard," I answered and went back on the barge, leaving him confused. Everyone knows what 'Give that man a flagon of ale' mean. It means the same as 'give that man a kewpie doll!'.
The other thing was when I was explaining some kind of manufacturing process and said, "Say you're making widgets..."
"Wait, wait, what's a widget?" he asked.
"OK, this is a subcontractor thing. The company is subcontracting to IBM. IBM is making the MKIV BC-603-7A chrono synclastic infindibulator under a secret contract for the Department of Defense. The widgets are used to hold the body of the Frammis onto the main frame of the finished unit. They also double as the power supply for the infindibulator," I replied.
"I don't understand," he said.
"That's because you don't understand that we're not talking about a specific product here. We're talking about the concept of manufacturing something." With that I changed the subject and wandered off and found something to do to get away from him. Trying to explain something to someone like that is a total waste of time and besides something more important came up. The trash needed emptying.
No comments:
Post a Comment