284

I have to pay with paper money.

https://explainxkcd.com/3075/

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[-] zabadoh@ani.social 79 points 2 years ago

Sidewalk chalk isn't made of chalk anymore?

TIL: It's made of calcium sulfate, i.e. gypsum, the same stuff that goes into drywall, as opposed to calcium carbonate, i.e. rock chalk.

[-] candler33w@lemmy.world 53 points 2 years ago

Congratulations you are one of the lucky Ten Thousand! https://xkcd.com/1053/

[-] bonn2@lemm.ee 13 points 2 years ago

I guess count me in that 10,000 as well

[-] zabadoh@ani.social 11 points 2 years ago

Wow, so 20,000 people read this?

Lemmy's more popular than I thought.

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 years ago

Yeah... that's really not in the 1 in 10k catagory. Not even the 1 in 10 catagory.

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[-] Bgugi@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I would say it's probably a lot less than ten thousand - I doubt this is something "everybody knows"

[-] thenextguy@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago

Well, it certainly isn't made of sidewalk.

[-] zabadoh@ani.social 5 points 2 years ago

Unless your sidewalks are made of gypsum.

[-] thenextguy@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

If there are, they won't be for very long.

[-] rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 10 points 2 years ago

No wonder it doesn't taste good anymore.

[-] Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

It's not made of sidewalk anymore either

[-] kbal@fedia.io 35 points 2 years ago

I thought it said "arachnonym" and was looking forward to seeing some spider names.

[-] My_IFAKs___gone@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

Here are some words that rhyme with spider: glider, rider, fighter, miter, waterstrider...

[-] dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 years ago

Aragog, Shelob, Mae Tika, Charlotte...

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 27 points 2 years ago

Ah, you can get actual glass glasses, but typically only for unusual prescriptions.

And you can absolutely buy linen linens. They aren't even hard to find, just more expensive.

Same with silverware, only way more expensive.

[-] papalonian@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

you can get actual glass glasses, but typically only for unusual prescriptions.

It might vary by vendor, but you can definitely get real glass glasses for a normal prescription, if you pay for them. I think it's sold as kind of a premium option.

At the place I got my last pair from, if you got half-frames (ie the ones that only have a solid frame around the top of the lenses) they made you get glass lenses, because the wire that goes along the bottom of the lense causes the plastic ones to split over time.

Odd, I have split frames with polycarbonate lenses; the little strap around the bottom is plastic.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Had the same 10-years ago. They would also paint the exposed bottom half to match the frame, make the frosty bit camouflaged. Tried to get that again a few years later, same optometrist had no idea what I was on about.

[-] papalonian@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

I couldn't tell ya 🤷🏾‍♂️ it's entirely possible that the risk of the lenses splitting was exaggerated to justify their requirement of buying the more expensive lenses with the half frames.

Unrelated, but when I was buying my glasses, I'd fallen in love with these half frames, but disappointedly told the tech I'd have to pick a different pair when she told me about the increased expense. (It wasn't that much more, relatively speaking, but I already couldn't afford the glasses, and had explained earlier that I was trying to do things as cheaply as possible). When she saw how upset I was over not being able to get the frames I really liked over an ultimately negligible amount of money, she gave me the glass lenses for the plastic lense price.

[-] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 years ago

Dumb foreigner here, so what’s the deal with silverware? I mean, if you really want silverware, you get forks and knives that are actually made of silver and come in a fancy wood box. Do people use that word for common steel forks too?

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago

Yeah, it's kind of a generic term for not just tableware, but damn near any utensil that isn't for cooking, like serving spoons, ladles and the like.

Actual silver silverware is just expensive is all. So you aren't going to run to a big box store find it, so a lot of people don't even realize it's out there. Tbh, the way brick and mortar places have been priced out or otherwise failed, you often have to go to a decent sized city to find real silver cutlery and tableware, but when I was growing up some of the department stores still carried it.

Hell, at the lower end of the income scale, steel utensils can be pricey to afford. You end up with some pretty crappy alloy parts with plastic handles. It might technically be steel, but it's such a low grade it falls apart under use.

[-] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 years ago

Yeah, that’s t true. Even steel utensils come in a variety of prices. The nicer ones look cool, have interesting shapes are heavy etc. Moderately priced ones are just stamped steel, but still good and durable. The cheap ones, are stamped out of the thinnest low grade trash you can find. Those will bend if you just look at them wrong. Also, some cheap fruit knives have a plastic handle and aluminum rivets. Stick that into a washing machine and you’ll find out how soluble aluminum is at high pH.

[-] Redjard@reddthat.com 2 points 5 months ago

I don't recommend putting any tableware into a washing machine.

[-] Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

How about normal steel forks and such? They should be fine.

[-] Redjard@reddthat.com 2 points 5 months ago

When they grind down rocks (clothes), they put them in a really big drum (washing machine) and add ball bearings (stainless steel silverware). Even though the ball bearings (stainless) is much harder, it will exit the drum ground smooth and to a fraction of its original size. The drum itself is protected due to the stuff being thrown on itself (requires adequate clothes for dampening).

You will certainly loose any coatings and your knifes and forks (and sporks) will be dull. You might after many runs loose the fork tooths entirely, and your sporks might become spoons. You will also either need to sacrifice your old shirts to the silverware gods, or need to order a few replacement drums and change early before the silverware breaches containment and explores the electric and pump sections of your washer.

[-] rockerface@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

I've had glass glasses in middle school. Because my vision differs heavily on both eyes (left lens wasn't even a lens, just a piece of flat glass), it was constantly skewed under the weight of the thicker lens.

[-] mcqtom@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago

There was a time when rubber ducks were made from ducks?

[-] Bgugi@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

I assume they were originally made from natural rubber, but nowadays are primarily made of vinyl and the like.

[-] thenextguy@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

3 wood...

Golf announcers have been calling 'fairway woods' 'fairway metals' for a while. But since most of them are largely made of carbon fiber these days, even that is misleading.

Isn't wood a sort of carbon fiber composite? Can we go back to calling them woods again?

Wood is sort of a composite material, made of cellulose fibers bound with a polymer called lignin.

[-] nailbar@sopuli.xyz 9 points 2 years ago

The 9 iron and 3 wood made me think he was going to craft something in a 3x3 grid. I failed to associate it with golf.

[-] don@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Alt text:

I have to pay with paper money.

[-] schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 years ago

yes, I think I wrote that in the OP? Are you using an app where you're not seeing that?

[-] don@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago

You did, I missed it.

[-] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 2 years ago

I still prefer to buy sponge sponges. They work better than most of the non sponges.

[-] pitaya@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

TIL that the word "line" originated from the use of linen cords by builders to make a straight line https://www.etymonline.com/word/line

And the words "lingerie" and "lint" are related to linen as well

[-] liverbe@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago
[-] palordrolap@fedia.io 6 points 2 years ago

Why the grimace? Rubber ducks definitely aren't made of rubber these days. They're plastic.

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[-] not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

I feel like a mirrorless camera would fit fairly well on this list. Not quite the same thing, but it's named after what it isn't, rather than what it is.

[-] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 1 points 1 year ago

Anyone can think of other examples? Note that we're not looking for simple misnomers like pencil lead, the things must have been made of the stuff they're named after at some point!

  • marbles
  • compressed air (no doubt somebody has used compressed air for what can dusters are used for nowadays, but selling it in cans has probably never been economically viable)
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this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2025
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