h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It probably needs a new washer if it's dripping, not just tightening.

(I've a vague recollection that you guys might call 'washers' something different - but I can't recall what.)

Change the washer and or use a reseating tool(I was a plumber by trade)

Washer= round metal or plastic thingy that goes in recesses between thingies? That's probably all the way at the back of the tap. I've got sideways plumbing pipes in there- because I have an oval tub and it's not flush with any of the walls- so it should be pretty easy to work on. I'll check it out.

I don't think they pick QotDs from private journals, so you're safe

You've confused me PC . I thought faucet was an American word for tap but now you've said tap too. Is a bathroom tap a tap and a kitchen tap a faucet? Or by faucet, do you mean a single tap that both h & c water can come out of? I'd call that a 'mixer tap' (whether it was in the bathroom or the kitchen.)

I wanted to post in your "cultural differences" thread but I couldn't think of anything to say. Maybe this is such an example? My understanding of many American words comes through watching American sports, movies and tv shows but I also (trying to solve crosswords ) come across many American words in my dictionary. The trouble with the dictionary is there's not always an indication of usage. I thought US faucet = UK tap but obviously not.

I guess what I'm asking is how is a tap different from a faucet?

Van (celebrating the differences)

Ooh - speaking of cultural differences - (I guess I should reallyb post this there - but, meh)...

That was covered on R4's 'Excess baggage' (travel programme) by a BBC American correspondent. He said that Americans are very friendly wherever you go. But one time he was one a beach, and his four year old was gambolling about naked. Some people approached him, and he assumed they were going to say 'Hello', in the friendly, American way. Instead they said:
'There's a city ordnance against *that*.'

That simply wouldn't occur to a Yooropeeyan.

I need a new ballcock, by the way.

I was listening to that one too Ed! Especially compared to the next guy living in Morocco where even the builders and fixers visiting their property would ruffle the kids hair and hug them and every one was fine. Esp. the bit where he said he nearly did that to a strangers kid when he landed back in the UK - I can see the DM headline now!

p.s. tap/fawcet - I often wondered, if Farah Fawcett was born in the UK would she have been Farah Tap?

I used to be a tap dancer. Until I fell into the sink and broke my ankle.

Actually...the guy in Morocco said that the builders working on his house would kiss his kids all over every morning.

Myself...I refuse to change my behaviour because of the manufactured idea that we should be too scared to interact with children these days. In still talk any baby or toddler I meet. And I get really angry about tye blanket ban on photographing anywhere where the might be children. Just in case someone gets hold of an image of a fully clothed child singing in a school concert and misuses it for masturbatory purposes? Oh, c'mon!

well yes, especially given the number of people using various open web picture hosting sites to hold their family snaps.

And there you are. We're also meant to be cautious about this...'Just In Case'. In case of what?

No, the 'just in case' is the point. It's all about using fear as a tool for keeping the population in line says my more cynical side. I'm not sure it is quite as self aware as that, but the effect is there.

All of which completely ignores all the stats and case history behind actual cases. But then we know what the govt thinks of stats and facts and evidence.

The faucet is the spout thing the water comes out of, which may have a base, and which may have a lever attached if it is a mixer faucet. The taps are the handles you turn to make the water come on and off (if you don't have a mixer faucet).

Regarding blanket suspicion of adults interactions with children... I agree that in the US, it's just too much. Though it seems a bit so in the UK- I hear the pedo word bandied about quite easily.

I was raised to be a bit paranoid in regards to Stranger Danger, but to some degree I attribute that to the fact that my dad was a cop and we lived within a short distance of the home where John Wayne Gacy did his thing. So I think that made my parents a little overly protective. Later on, when my mom got crazy, it was more a case of her hating everyone and not thinking anyone was good enough to associate with us; she wouldn't even let us talk to other *kids* without practically running a background check. But I digress.

It's the paranoia about that sort of thing that's so popular here that prevented me interacting with a lot of seemingly nice younger folks even here on h2g2. I can't put myself in a position of knowingly fraternizing with a minor without the explicit permission of a parental unit (or both, if both are present).

I think we're slowly begining to wise up to teh interwebs now, though. Last week I spotted a poster in my kids' school:

'You can't close down the internet.
But you can talk to your children.'

Yeah, most kids would be pretty likely to grasp the difference between things they should take seriously and things they shouldn't, if their parents speak with them first. They'd be less vulnerable to the few genuine nasties out there, but then we'd also avoid lots of needless crying about "cyber bullying" by people who establish an internet presence and then moan that not everybody likes them.

As for "cyberbullying" - kids should be talked to not just about how to deal with being a victim of it, but not doing it in the first place!