Stupid boaters

[cheshire~rose]

 

Doesn't the term "blonde" refer to one's natural hair colour? If the blonde is out of a bottle you're not really a blonde, shurely? Same way as when I'm standing on a chair I can't claim to be "tall".

 

The aforementioned profile pic seems to suggest I am not blonde but anyone who has been watching the value of Loreal shares plummet in the last twelve months or so will probably realise that I have stopped fighting the roots now!

 

I must get a more up to date picture - I really do not want to mislead people into thinking they are reading posts from a brunette!

 

A certain forum member who I have known for a few years now has a nickname for me "sparrowhead" he assures me it was from all the times I kept beating him at Mah Jong but I have my doubts.

[blackrose]

Since there are more boaters now than there were 10 or 20 years ago, one would also expect there to be more "thick" boaters. Whether the proportion of thickos has increased as a % of the total is another question... I suspect the answer is "yes", due in part (as someone already mentioned) to an increase in technology on boats, but also due to a general decrease in hands-on skills which has accompanied the growing affluence and the disposable culture we have witnessed over the same period.

 

When I lived in Tokyo I used to fix my motorbike myself - simple things like adjusting the chain tension that I'd learned in my teens. Japanese people used to walk past staring in disbelief - they don't do anything like that themselves and that's probably the way we'll end up in this country too.

 

There's a bloke at my marina who had a 3.5kw electric radiator running off shore power. He also has an combi that switches to inverter automatically if there's a break in shore power. He went for a pump out recently without switching the heater off and 30 mins later his 1000 A/h battery bank was knackered and he couldn't understand why. He then phoned the bloke who installed the electrical system who explained how it works to him - but he still couldn't understand it!

Edited March 9, 2010 by blackrose

[Guest wanted]

Its working half a bottle of wine and i can feel myself growing more intelligent

 

Last Friday night, I got so 'intelligent' in the pub that nobody could understand what I was saying!

[cheshire~rose]

In the alternate life that is an internet forum, you are whoever/whatever you want to be....

 

So true - says Rose as she carefully removes a speck of invisible dust from her Christian Dior jacket and carefully places her delicate shell pink Jane Shilton leather purse into her delightfully tiny little duck egg blue Gucci clutch bag. Rumaging deeper into the rich saphire satin lining she pulls out a Bolinder she was tinkering with earlier.

[romarni123]

Last Friday night, I got so 'intelligent' in the pub that nobody could understand what I was saying!

Wonder if i had two bottles i would be able to spell long words

[Keeping Up]

A certain forum member who I have known for a few years now has a nickname for me "sparrowhead" he assures me it was from all the times I kept beating him at Mah Jong but I have my doubts.

I couldn't possibly comment ...

 

Even a delightfully tiny little duck egg blue Gucci clutch bag packs quite a wallop when it's got a half-brick in it.

[Nine of Hearts]

In the alternate life that is an internet forum, you are whoever/whatever you want to be....

 

That just isn't true. I'm a 4' tall mexican dwarf who bends spoons for a living. I've tried several times to pass myself off on this forum as a podgy northern git with a narrow boat, but no-one ever believes me.

[Guest]

That just isn't true. I'm a 4' tall mexican dwarf who bends spoons for a living. I've tried several times to pass myself off on this forum as a podgy northern git with a narrow boat, but no-one ever believes me.

 

You're not getting it... it's not what others believe you are, but what you believe you are..

 

 

Rumaging deeper into the rich saphire satin lining she pulls out a Bolinder she was tinkering with earlier.

 

That is an effing... big bag you have there

[Grace and Favour]

Ah - here we have the makings of an oxymoron - - a blonde (?) who beats others at MahJong . . . a degree, at least, of intelligence! Well done Cheshire Rose!

The aforementioned profile pic seems to suggest I am not blonde but anyone who has been watching the value of Loreal shares plummet in the last twelve months or so will probably realise that I have stopped fighting the roots now!

 

I must get a more up to date picture - I really do not want to mislead people into thinking they are reading posts from a brunette!

 

A certain forum member who I have known for a few years now has a nickname for me "sparrowhead" he assures me it was from all the times I kept beating him at Mah Jong but I have my doubts.

[johnjo]

I think there's something wrong with this poll, I clicked 'Whats thick' and didn't get an answer, what am I doing wrong.

Edited March 9, 2010 by johnjo

[bag 'o' bones]

It strikes me reading posts on this forum that in general there is a new type of boater that hasn't a clue how anything works on his or her boat.

 

Discuss

 

Or it could because there are knowledgable folk on here who take the time to explain hence attracting more people looking for advice.

 

It is true there are people who do not have a great deal of knowledge on how their boat works and even less about how to fix things when they go wrong.

 

No different to cars, DIY and the world in general.

 

I have to admit I have raised an eyebrow when asked something which is down right obvious to the point you wonder if the individual is taking the piss, but to be fair that is rare.

 

What does really annoy me though are the 'academic' type who think that being unable to wire a plug is some sort of perverse sign of a superiority.

 

I just think: 'No, your just stupid'

[Speedwheel]

How long ago is 'used to be'?

[DHutch]

Not stupid, but often maybe more ignorant or inexperienced.

 

20 years ago, sod, even 7 years ago when i started boating properly. If you owned a boat you where probably fairly into boating, or in a few cases, new to it. Else you where a hirer, some of which where very good, others less so or newer.

 

Now you can be a owner, for 5 years or more, without having done any real boating.

 

It is these people, who while not thick in anyway, so things that appear stupid without the explanation of being new to the activity.

If thats not awful in itself. The really bad ones are the ones that as above, but for some reason, thing they are more experienced or competent than they otherwise might be

 

 

 

Daniel

[sociable_hermit]

There do seem to be a lot of people on boats who do not appear to have an interest in boating.

 

I have an INTEREST in boating, but I'm not a very practical person, more of a bookworm / internet geek. I can do basic DIY and service boat and car engines (well, the latter ones where you could actually change things and it wasn't all ECUs and covers with anti-meddle star fixings), but I'm naturally a mechanical numpty. I've generally picked things up either through repetition, or in a rush because I've had to (necessity is the mother of invention). Help and advice on here and from my boating friends in the real world has been invaluable.

 

We can't all be experts. The people that say you have to be an expert before you take a boat anywhere are also idiots, in their own way. How the hell are you expected to get the experience?

[Speedwheel]

It is not the people who are 'thick' or know nothing that bother me - indeed usually they are very pleased for advice or assistance.

 

It is the people who have had a boat a couple of years and know a bit (often what they know is incorrect) but think they know it all. There seems to be a certain type of person who will fall into this description.

[romarni123]

I think everyone must have asked said or done something dumb on a boat, i do it all the time this week i have been moaning the batts must be low as it seems darker in here than it normally is,then i realised i have a grey tint in my new glasses which makes things look darker.

[Nine of Hearts]

On stupidity it may be worth noting that Helvetius observed that no man is born stupid. We are born ignorant, not stupid. It takes education to make us stupid.

[Shasterian Noble]

I think everyone must have asked said or done something dumb on a boat, i do it all the time this week i have been moaning the batts must be low as it seems darker in here than it normally is,then i realised i have a grey tint in my new glasses which makes things look darker.

 

That's just brilliant.

 

Some may say that's a touch of genius in that you are able to view the world in a completely different way to the rest of us... that the tint is in the glasses is subjective, and just like Schrodinger's Cat maybe it was both that the world was tinted and the glasses were tinted at the same time...

 

Damn, confused myself again... what's this boating lark we're talking about?

[GUMPY]

If you are saying that people should not ask for advise or help, then I am sorry if it offends you, but I assumed that this was one of the things that this forum was set up for, if I am wrong then, sorry.

Not at all, the only thing that does me in is when someone asks a question comes up with his/her own theory and is obviously wrong but wont accept people telling them so.

 

Are you saying idleness that when you first went on a boat you knew every thing there is to know about boats canals locks?

No, I cant remember back that far it was 50 years ago, I certainly had explained to me the theory of how a locks worked but I tended to portage my PBK

 

Strikes me you could use this "assumption" for all kinds of things including car drivers, motorway users to name but two. Some people are more cautious than others, some take more time to learn, some people are know-it-alls, some people are nice, some people are not. Take a chill pill cos there's nowt as queer as folks.

 

I gave up drugs in 92 don't need them now too relaxed.

 

How long ago is 'used to be'?

 

its certainly got much worse in the last ten years

Edited March 9, 2010 by idleness

[ditchcrawler]

Wonder if i had two bottles i would be able to spell long words

Just have three and you wont give a ****

[romarni123]

Just have three and you wont give a ****

should that be ****faced thats a long word

 

Not at all, the only thing that does me in is when someone asks a question comes up with his/her own theory and is obviously wrong but wont accept people telling them so.

 

 

No, I cant remember back that far it was 50 years ago, I certainly had explained to me the theory of how a locks worked but I tended to portage my PBK

 

 

 

I gave up drugs in 92 don't need them now too relaxed.

 

perhaps thats why you cant remember your mistakes

 

its certainly got much worse in the last ten years

[blackrose]

I have an INTEREST in boating, but I'm not a very practical person, more of a bookworm / internet geek. I can do basic DIY and service boat and car engines (well, the latter ones where you could actually change things and it wasn't all ECUs and covers with anti-meddle star fixings), but I'm naturally a mechanical numpty. I've generally picked things up either through repetition, or in a rush because I've had to (necessity is the mother of invention). Help and advice on here and from my boating friends in the real world has been invaluable.

 

We can't all be experts. The people that say you have to be an expert before you take a boat anywhere are also idiots, in their own way. How the hell are you expected to get the experience?

 

I think you've hit on something there. Nobody is really expecting everyone to be an expert, but there are a lot of people on boats thesedays who don't seem to have any interest in boats. Each to their own of course, but if you own or live on a boat it just makes sense to be interested in how it works

 

Edit: However, I wouldn't include anyone on this forum in that group - we all had to start at some point and there are no stupid questions (ok, well maybe some!) But just by joining and logging on forum members are showing an interest.

Edited March 9, 2010 by blackrose

[Chagall]

It strikes me reading posts on this forum that in general there is a new type of boater that hasn't a clue how anything works on his or her boat.

 

Discuss

 

thick boates? ..... as thick as two planks maybe?

 

 

Does grammar and spelling really matter any more?...... Discuss!

 

for goodness sake! if you are going to put up a pointless poll then at least lay it out properly!

[barge sara]

I guess there are boaters who do it your way and thick boaters.

Oh, and snotty gits who like to feel superior.

Don't think its changed much in recent decades though, was ever thus.

 

Not sure which way that leaves me voting.....

[Québec]

Sorry....but what's voting? (or should that be whats voting?).

 

I feel a bit thick.