Sounds Familiar ?

Borrowed from a forum which is not quite as heated (at times)

Q: How many people does it take to change a light bulb on a Forum?

A: 1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed.
14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently.
7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs.
17 purists who use candles and are offended by light bulb discussions.
6 to argue over whether it's 'lightbulb' or 'light bulb'.
Another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid.
22 to tell THOSE 6 to stop being jackasses.
2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is 'lamp'.
15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that 'light bulb' is perfectly correct.
19 to post that this page is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a light bulb page.
11 to defend the posting to this page saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant here.
36 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty.
7 to ask if the brands of light bulbs used are worth the money.
19 to tell them that if they like the light bulbs, buy them.
5 People to post pics of their own light bulbs.
15 People to post "I can't see S$%^!" and use their own light bulbs.
7 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs.
4 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's.
5 to post to the page that they will no longer post or are leaving because they cannot handle the $!%cking light bulb controversy.
6 to report the post or PM an admin because someone said "f÷×$"
4 to say "Didn't we go through this already a short time ago?".
13 to say "Do a search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs".
1 to bring politics into the discussion by adding that (insert politician of choice) isn't the brightest bulb.
4 more to get into personal attacks over their political views.
5 admins to ban the light bulb posters who took it all too seriously.
1 late arrival to comment on the original post 6 months later and start it all over again.

They missed one

[pedant/] bulbs are what daffodils grow from. These devices are lamps[pedant\]

I remember in Algeria ordering lamps, and that was what I got, the whole head lamp, minus the bulb. Once one thinks about it, historically the lamp fitted on a spigot so it could be removed to light it or clean it, in the lamp you had a wick, or a mantel, with all the controls be it the water drip rate (carbide) or wick pushed out of tube, or amount of gas released, and parts needed replacing.

So clearly the whole collection of items was the lamp, be it on the house wall or ceiling, or one front or rear of push bike, when I had a cycle fitting it was to work our what size frame I required, not some thing to help see the road with, that was always a cycle lamp, which inside it had a bulbous sealed glass globe called after its shape, the bulb.

Be it a bulb or tube, today I ask for exactly that light bulb or fluorescent tube, and remember having to explain why I had run out of head lamp bulbs but had loads of head lamps which I did not require. Simple call a spade a spade.

Or a digging implement

ericmark said:

I remember in Algeria ordering lamps, and that was what I got, the whole head lamp, minus the bulb.

Click to expand...

Did you order in English, or perhaps Welsh, in a country where the spoken languages are French or Arabic?

winston1 said:

Did you order in English, or perhaps Welsh, in a country where the spoken languages are French or Arabic?

Click to expand...

I was working for a Dutch company who employed 30% English, 30% Dutch, 30% Portuguese, and 10% Algerian, since most of the Dutch spoke English that was the main language, and since all the parts manuals in English that was the written language used, and parts sent from England this was the problem you had to order well in advance, so a mistake like that took some time to correct.

I presume you do of course mean British when you refer to one of the nations of the United Kingdom

He does live in Wales, don't forget - so perhaps he meant English and England.



I presume you don't mean the Language should be called British.

Oh dear. We'll be getting mentions of six counties next.......