The clueless people are out there among us
The clueless people are out there among us
174 comments
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"I don't have an accent...YOU have an accent!!"
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I moved to California last year from Oklahoma. Occasionally I will say something about moving from Oklahoma and people are like, "oh that makes sense, you have a Midwestern accent sometimes". We all sound normal to ourselves but everyone has an accent. Like the way California people say their O's.
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Midwesterners are the only people I've ever met who don't think they have an accent. And I'm like "you have a midwest accent." They're stunned because to them it's just a "normal" accent, and they know it must be so because it's what the TV man talks like. Obviously I know midwesterners who know they have an accent and the TV man is trained to speak that way. But everyone else I meet and know knows their own accent and can recognize variations of it. They're not so conscious of how they make their accent happen, obviously, since it is their own. But they know they sound different from other people
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I have a hard time understanding the people in a friends village and he lives 50km away
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Like the way California people say their O’s
As a Canadian, it's all I can hear when they speak.
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So, I'm from Seattle, basically, and for the longest time I thought no, I do not have an accent.
Then I learned that the reason I thought that was because well, the accent I have is basically the least distinct from the 'General American English' or 'Region Indistinct American' accent, out of all other regional accents....
With that 'General American' accent being what nationwide newscasters, voice actors and movie stars either developed on their own, or were trained into, for being easily intelligible to any other American accent/dialect speaker, or as just sort of a rounded approximation of 'American', with no specified regionality to the character.
Thats not to say the PNW or Cali or just general US West accents are all exactly the same as 'General American'... they are not... its just that they are the least difficult to understand from a general audience perspective out of other regional US accents/dialects... or at least that is the explanation I've heard.
As I am aware, the main difference between PNW/Cali English and other US regions is that we have completed the cot-caught merger. Absolutely no difference in pronunciation, the verb sounds are the same... whereas in much of the rest of the US, these are different, distinct vowel sounds. We just use the 'cot' pronounciation for both.
Bot cot thot slot thought caught fraught not spot dot.
All the same. No rolling or bending of the first vowel into the u to make a more complex vowel sound, all just 'bot' or 'dot'.
That and pop vs soda vs coke.
For whatever reason, I usually say soda, but that did make me an oddball of most people around me near Seattle saying 'pop'... but a lot of other places in the US use soda, but also a lot of other places use 'coke' to refer to any ... soft drink... which confuses and aggrevates my Autistic brain lol.
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There are a few things that I remember being distinct to Californian accents/dialects as compared to Seattle:
One is the rising tone at the end of the sentence... thing.
I always called this a valley girl accent, and this is because no one I knew as a kid spoke that way... unless their family had recently moved north, from Cali.
Now though, it is more common generally in the PNW, at least in my own experience.... but also that could literally be because a lot of Californians have migrated north.
Another silly, but super easy tell someone isn't from Seattle: Their accent may be essentially indistinguishable from a PNW accent... but they always, always refer to I-5, as 'the 5'... instead of 'eye-five'.
No one born and raised near Seattle does this.
I-5 is the main highway that goes all the way down from Vancouver BC, through Seattle, Portland, San Fran, LA, and runs through all of those cities, so its a major reference point of conversation in all those places.
And yeah, the regional vocab difference for how people refer to it is an example of a difference.
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Relevant exchange from Suicide Squad (the good one with Idris Elba and Flula, not the bad one with Will Smith and Jared Leto)
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I dated someone who in earnest believed she has no accent. She didn't understand what could be wrong about that.
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Would be great if an equally clueless European followed up with
"So I visited your country and remembered seeing this post but when I got there, none of my stuff would fit in your outlets. What the fuck?"
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Take the adapter off, moron.
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One of worlds longest running experiments is when an european tourist visited america and tried to boil water using a kettle and a travel adapter.
The paper published on the experiment noted that water finally reached temperatures of 63c in 2017.
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Someone from Germany or France or one of the other States should do that to take the piss.
/s
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I mean, they're right. It does sound really stupid
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No-one going to mention that they said countries and named two continents?
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I didn't realize because I am too used to it.
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Because it reads like this:
“In other countries, like [those in] Europe or South America”.
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Coming from a 'murican, it's safer to assume they can't name a single country when given a map
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Read it again, d'you really think the same person who wrote that genuinely knows Europe isn't a country?
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No it doesn't
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People like this think Trump is a genius
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Coming soon:
What do you mean my US dollars aren't accepted at any big intl. tourist locations anymore... I have to actually exchange them?
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And in the big touristy cities in Europe, there's so many scam currency exchanges, while if you just take the time to go to official government exchanges, you get reasonable exchange rates. The problem isn't the locals, the problem is that you didn't do the research and you did a dum-dum. (Also fuck the people who are scamming tourists, that's just low.)
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Always check currency in the country you are traveling to, always check approx exchange rate. These are literally just two searches and you are never gonna get exchange scammed (if you use an exchange and not change on the street from random people and get fake or valueless cash).
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I realised this when I took money out of a cash machine in Tenerife.
It shows you an exchange rate and a prompt to accept. If you press yes, you get scammed with a crap rate. It's not really clear that if you press no you still get money but at your bank exchange rate which is almost certainly better than a scummy airport ATM.
I guess it's nice that you get scammed right out of the gate, because at least it puts you on guard for the rest of your holiday. Fuck that whole island tbh.
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At the risk of being that idiot …..
I’m still annoyed at crossing a border over an international bridge and having to exchange currency to pay the toll. There’s a good argument that situation should support both currencies at that border.
And of course the currency exchange at that toll did not allow exchanging the amount of the toll. Scammy ripoff of people trying to cross forcing them to exchange larger amounts than they need
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Oh no I don't find that idiotic, that is very annoying, literally anywhere, between any two countries.
I guess the workaround is to plan ahead and do your currency exchanges before hand, but at least in the US, if you do that in cash, well now you're a drug smuggler or something if you're brown and/or not in the best mood.
I mean, everybody just has the ability to open up bank account debit/credit cards in multiple currencies, right?
Your bank doesn't do currency exchange?
Not my problem, pleb, stay in your geographically confined area with a particular force of monopolized violence.
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The only places I’ve found that take USD are really poor places that really want USD, and maybe Mexico. Even some of those places will really take advantage of the exchange and you get way less than what the USD is worth if you just pay with USD.
I travel all the time and tourist locations, barring the ones I mentioned, don’t want anything to do with handling USD when tapping a card or phone to pay is vastly preferred.
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Well, that did sound really stupid.
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Not do we need a "special adapter" but a converter as well, as Households in the US use 110V opposed to the usual 230V.
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Houses in the US generally have 220v too but not at ordinary wall outlets
There's a technology connections video on it if you're interested in the specifics
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A few years ago there was the possibility of me moving to the US from Germany and if I would have bought a house there, I would probably have installed additional Schuko-outlets all over the place.
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Yes and in Europe houses generally have 400V too but not at ordinary wall outlets
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There's a technology connections video on it if you're interested in the specifics
Exactly :)
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Why?
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Oh don't worry about that, just plug in your 110V appliances and watch them run twice as fast
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When I was 17 my father brought back a stereo from Japan. I was too eager to use it and plugged that directly to 220. It worked for a glorious 2 minutes. We got it working again after we replaced the transformer. Still have it and it still works fine to this day. Learned a lesson too!
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It's less of a problem nowadays where most things have switching power supplies that can handle either just fine
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Oh this gets stranger.
It's usually 120v, but I'm not going to split hairs over 10v.
So, 120v is not a voltage that is delivered from the grid... Technically speaking. Each home is given one circuit of 240v, which is usually part of one leg of a three phase, coming off of the Transformers... 120v is there because they center-tap the transformer. This halves the voltage by consequence. Inside the house the circuits are generally laid out to try to balance the load between each half of the 240v phase.
The idea is that two 120v loads, put in series, will total 240v. So power will ideally go from L1 to a 120v load, to "neutral", then over to another 120v load, then finally back on L2.
More or Less.
120v is basically just half of what you should be loading the system with.
The center tap neutral from the transformer is to collect any load imbalance between L1 and L2 to allow for the two "sides" of the phase to be out of balance and still work.
The US "plug" ( aka receptacle ) is a NEMA 5-15R, or NEMA 5-20R (for 20A); these are designed for 120v operation using the half phase described above. Of course, you can mis-wire it and make all kinds of dangerous abominations if you so choose. There is, however, a less known NEMA 6-15R and NEMA 6-20R that is basically the same, but for 240v operation, replacing the neutral wire with L2 instead (and 15/20A respectively).
So it is entirely possible to have 240v outlets in a North American home, while still being compliant with code.
It's actually really fascinating information when you dig into it.
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For most things people bring on vacation it wouldn’t be a problem since chargers and power supplies can run on multiple voltages. It’s for things like hairdryers where you need converter. Since they are calibrated for a specific voltage to create heat. Though you could probably run them at half settings on the double voltage.
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I know it’s difficult to tell online, but I read that as a joke post. Not serious. But it’s better for others to make fun of others for being clueless I guess.
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Yeah. It always strikes me as bizarre how many people online see something that would only be satire in a sane world and completely assume it's serious. They have no doubts. Never occurred to them it might be a joke...
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Damn Poe’s Law
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Why would you start a joke post with "this is going to sound really stupid"?
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Regardless of where you are, can we all agree that no one's really perfected the electrical outlet yet?
NA plugs make contact without being fully seated, and can leave their live and neutral pins exposed. Worn outlets just let plugs fall out of them (I have 3 or so outlets in my apartment that are borderline unusable because of this).
British plugs are bulky and turn into caltrops when dropped on the floor.
European plugs have the same problem. And you only get like, one outlet per receptacle? Guess you're shit out of luck if you wanna plug anything else in the same spot.
Most of the rest of the world just copied Europe or the UK.
I like Denmark's plug though. Cute lil smiley face.
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Euro plugs are perfect. They connect well, have no live metal exposed, power strips are safe, it can handle 230V Without a problem. They are being copied everywhere because they are well designed.
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I think the Swiss have the best Europlug-based system. Their three-conductor plugs have the same footprint as basic Europlugs, which makes for very dense plug arrangements. Unlike e.g. the German Schuko plug they only fit in one orientation so you get no polarity issues.
It's pretty neat.
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I do prefer English plugs. Euro can wear out or just not hold in as well if they're cheaply made. Never ever had that issue with English ones.
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Couldn't they've made it in a smaller form factor?
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i like the compactness of this triple-plug design used for Type-J, used in switzerland and lichtenstein, although it missed some other points (no insulated pins, no on-off switch, etc)
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Cables going in 3 directions? Who can live at that speed?
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Most connectors I have use partially insulated live/neutral. Ground is optional and completely uninsulated where it's present for safety.
Also, recessed receptacles hide the most dangerous parts. -
The on/off switch always struck me as odd. Like, in a recessed plug such as this where the male prongs have a bit of insulation to them, are they really that worried about a tiny arc that might occur when someone forgets to turn off the device? Like it would make more sense to have a limit switch built into the socket that activates on insertion and deactivates on removal. And even then, with our caveman sockets in the US, a small arc isn't the end of the world, you just know not to have your fingers near the shiny bits.
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European plugs have the same problem. And you only get like, one outlet per receptacle? Guess you're shit out of luck if you wanna plug anything else in the same spot.
The standard amount of outlets per receptacle here (Sweden) is two. Maybe in very old houses it would be only one, but that's rare. If you run into that, there are splitters that make one into two, you don't need to have an extender to split it.
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I don't think it's fair to judge plugs by how they behave when dropped on the floor (unless they're exposing live wires). Do you often have a lot of loose plugs lying around? If you find yourself unplugging things a lot to turn them off, you may be interested to hear the switch was invented not long after the light bulb for exactly this reason.
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If you find yourself unplugging things a lot to turn them off, you may be interested to hear the switch was invented not long after the light bulb for exactly this reason.
- As if that's the only reason you'd ever unplug something.
- Vampire loads. Turns out, most things don't completely turn off anymore. Yes, it adds up.
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Does NA not have insulated pins? Where a half inch of so of the pin nearest the plug head is insulated so when plugging in the exposed part of the pin is inside the hole before the pin makes contact with live power?
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Lol, no.
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It's a right of passage for a kid to learn what a 120 volt shock feels like if they're careless in unplugging something. One pin is just an unforgettable sensation, while both will knock you down. The real mystery is why code requires the outlets installed upside down. Technology Connections did at least one video on the differences of outlets in the world, and his point was that if the ground pin was above the other two, something falling on a partially exposed plug would rest on the harmless ground and not what it can do, short out the two live pins. But then we wouldn't get the cute faces, so...
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that's cute. nah tho. the pins are just… out there. ready to kill you
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It does not. Some devices may have that on their plugs, but it's certainly not standard.
One night when I was 14, I tried to plug in my phone charger beside my bed in the dark and was accidentally touching one of the pins when it made contact.
Fortunately, I wasn't completing the circuit and I was electrically isolated laying on my bed, so I didn't actually get shocked. But I did feel a buzz in my finger like you get from those prank toys that shock the victim. That's a sensation I will never forget.
Not defending our plugs at all.
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UK plug for sure is amazing, the caltrops is just to get you ready for standing on Lego.
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AU outlets sound pretty good by comparison. I'm sure there are improvements to be made, but I never have any of those issues.
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UK plugs seem to have a few good design details.
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My only problem is it’s difficult to plug them in blind because not all power boards and outlets have the ground pin depression to feel for
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I like Denmark's plug though. Cute lil smiley face.
Don't let that fool you, it hides a dark secret
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The Brazilian plug has none of those problems...
Also, what European plug are you talking about? There are quite a few models there.
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re: european outlets number: we usually just get an extender with multiple ports, i have 5 of those in my small flat
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So do we. But we don't need as many of them, usually just for areas with a lot of electronics like entertainment centers or computer desks.
US electric code requires an outlet like every 6-8 feet (2m) along a wall so you shouldn't _need_ to string extension cords everywhere. For the most part, it works pretty well. I have 5 outlets alone in my 12x12ft (3.6x3.6m) bedroom.
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England perfected it
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Brazil's "new" plug (two decades maybe) is pretty good. Doesn't have any of the problems you mentioned. It's similar to one used by a few other countries around Europe.
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Your electronics blows up under EU mighty 240v power lines
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Found the American.
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Average American voter?
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I live in a country with two plug types and actually have to use a fuckload of converters
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US used to be like that too. When polarized plugs first became a thing, they wouldn’t fit into older non-polarized outlets. It took decades for all those to be replaced and I’m sure they’re still out there. Somewhere
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Still I have one (1) in a stairwell in my house. So far I've left it alone, partially because it also has a stupid piece of stair molding blocking part of its cover plate but mostly because I have never in all my years found any reason to plug anything in there.
Somebody probably originally intended it to be for a vacuum cleaner or something, but even the corded ones I've owned have had cords more than long enough to reach both ends of the stairs from a selection of other nearby, non-stupid outlets.
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that sounds like hell lmao where
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For power In the U.S. I have to use USB-A, USB-C, Lightning, cigarette lighter adapter, 110 plug without ground, 110 with ground, 220 - 3 types of connectors on those just for dryers, adapters still for mini USB, micro USB, and that's all before we start to get obscure. Universal lightbulb plugs? Nah everyone had to fuck that up as well.
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The Type I plug was developed by the US government but blocked in Congress during the FDR administration by the Republicans and southern Democrats on the basis that it was a change from the multiple different outlets being used at the time. The 3 core plug didn't become standard until 1965.
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At least they knew it was going to sound stupid.
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We simply use travel adapters.
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And these people vote...
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I think British style plugs are the best despite their bulkiness. For one they are easily fixed and are designed to be so.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about watch this: https://youtu.be/COWlYUvzgZI
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I'll for repairability but the plug isn't usually what breaks.
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If you want a bulky replaceable plug, you can get those at any hardware store. Meanwhile I’ll take the smaller more reliable, more durable and waterproof molded plastic plug
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idk i think our aussie plugs are a good middle ground: they’re about mid way between UK and US in size, are not reversible, don’t have a fuse (but laws govern the type of current things can handle: extension cords MUST be 10A which covers a standard 10A home circuit - i believe there’s some extra built into the rating too), power boards the same, and have a 10A safety switch built into them which prevents daisy chaining over the current just like the fuse
repairability probably not so good, buuuuut i’ve never had a cable break so maybe we do something different with the construction that solves that need?
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Interesting rabbit hole to drill down into …..
I see the Aussie common plug and similarity to other countries. The picture shows partly insulated prongs which is a great safety feature I’ve never seen before
I don’t know whether it’s physically the same size but that’s 240v and US had similar variations at that voltage
Simple US plugs are also not (usually) reversible. Historically they weren’t but the standard changed decades (half a century?) ago to support polarized plugs with one blade wider than the other. If it matters, such as a light switch, the plug must be polarized and can only fit in one direction. For some things, like a sealed power supply it doesn’t matter
There’s always ancient outlets and ancient plugs that never got replaced but those are getting rare
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They were right.
It does sound really stupid.
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The funny thing is only the UK plug design is any good, all others are so much worse they should just give up and go home.
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According to Electroboom Australia is doing it right too.
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Stand on one pointing up and tell me it’s good.
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This is anti Australian rhetoric and I will not stand for it. You are all beneath us in plug game, UK included
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Thailand has really cool plugs. they're shaped so they can fit European or American outlets, quite often. I rarely needed an adapter when I was there
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exhales
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I mean makes sense, there is a big Chunk of population in the USA who don't have the means and opportunity to travel abroad and get used to the other electrical outlets in other countries.
Hell I think 30% of the adults in there haven't ever been abroad once on their lifetime.
Understandably, it's going to baffle more than one person who gets shared those travel experiences from traveling acquaintances
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This is all about standard issues.
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Big if true
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Sounds like a presidential test for those of presidential age.
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There are even converters that will switch single phase 120 to 3 phase 240
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That's a "converter" in the same way an ejection seat is "a chair".
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No need for me to think about it. I own such a converter. Had to get it to power a chinese-made 02 generator that did not have a switch to go to single 110
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174 comments