Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT: 11-15 October 2010 (1771-1775)

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Schmorgluck:

--- Quote from: zadojla on 16 Oct 2010, 17:25 ---
--- Quote from: pwhodges on 16 Oct 2010, 16:03 ---I remember trying to explain to a supermarket manager the inherent absurdity of selling fire alarms for £3.99 each, £7.99 for a 2-pack, or £12.99 for a 3-pack.  I got nowhere.
--- End quote ---
I used to work for a supermarket chain (now-defunct Grand Union, for those in the NE USA).  That is a supermarket trick, deliberately done.  Most people assume that the price-per-unit improves as the size of the package increases.  Not true at all; usually the second-largest package has the best price-per-unit.  They assume most people have neither the skill nor will to actually calculate it for themselves.
--- End quote ---
It happens in France too, even though displaying price-per-unit is required by law here. They assume enough people won't double-check said price-per-unit for it to be worthwile. Sadly, they seem to be right, because I see it here and there. Hell, I can't affirm I didn't fall into this trap sometimes.

Mr_Rose:

--- Quote from: Schmorgluck on 16 Oct 2010, 17:35 ---And as a disclaimer: out of experience, I'm able to make the difference (at least in French and English) between dyslectic people and people who don't give a shit or even use deliberately bad spelling. Come to think of it, I wonder how the former view the latter. I suspect they might find them offensive.

--- End quote ---
As a dyslexic who, by means of the magic of spell-checkers can in fact get things right most of the time, I have less than zero respect for the whiny little turds (and they always are) that just don't bother.
I also tend to get irate at those dyslexics who use their condition as an excuse to not bother. But that's slightly less socially acceptable.

Omega:
I joined specifically to say this: I was never taught how to read an analogue clock during my childhood. I'm 15- I grew up with digital clocks, and it wasn't until I encountered the analogue format in eighth grade that my parents realized this and quickly corrected my absence of knowledge. It still takes me a while to read analogue clocks, and I wear a digital one for the sake of clarity. So, no, I wouldn't say it's motivation or ability- I and the majority of my immediate peers just didn't learn how to read them during "learning" stages of our lives, and, like the problem of studying a language after the part of our lives where we are most receptive to that kind of thing, we still have trouble doing so (not that reading a clock is really comparable to learning a language).

brew:

--- Quote from: Akima on 16 Oct 2010, 16:53 ---
The idea that "today's youth" is somehow stupider or lazier than the commentator's generation at the same age is a classic "Dang kids!" reaction.

--- End quote ---

Who presented it in that way?  How is not being able to read an analog clock in a generation where analog clocks will no longer be common some horrible thing?  It was just brought up as an interesting difference.

Carl-E:
It really is a generational difference.  The first digital clocks were a Bauhaus experiment in the late 20's / early 30's., but digital clocks (usually on clock radios and stoves, where the numbers were turned by a motor like an old odometer) weren't common until the 60's, and then digital watches became ubiquitous in the 70's. 

But there was a backlash to those...

It was very uncommon for people my age and older to see digital clocks when growing up.  We learned analog (or analogue, depending on who taught you to spell).  Our 15 year old friend Omega has it right - there's a window of opportunity for things like this, and more people are missing it nowadays than ever before.  As soon as cash registers could calculate correct change, counting up change became a lost art, unless you worked with a simple cash drawer.  You only learn what you really need to know to get the job done, after all.  We adapt to our surroundings, and as they change, so do we. 

Generationally. 

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