The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[spesh]

“Panny”?  A Scottishism that hasn’t yet crept into Tartan Noir?

Well Google failed me, I couldn't find it in any Scots dictionary.
My definition leans towards something a bit wet, a bit cissy, a bit frou frou.
Pingu, when asked, just plumped for "crap".

My handy copy of Cassell's Dictionary of Slang isn't that much more helpful...

According to said tome, "panny" was interchangeable with "panney" as late 18C-early 19C slang for the highway (etymology unknown, possibly Romany) or an underworld term for a house/burglary - thus "do a panny" = rob a house.

In the late 19C, "panny" was a term for a fight between two or more women - the book notes a possible linkage to "panel" being used as a term for a prostitute who worked at a "panel crib/den/house" (a brothel featuring false panels in the prostitutes' rooms so that the clients could be robbed while otherwise distracted), but it seems to have been more of an American term.

[T42]

Sounds a bit thrawpit.

[rafletcher]

Ah Vodafone. Around a week ago I converted a PAYG SIM to contract. This involved getting sent another SIM,  and then asking for that to be replaced by the original, to keep the number. All works well until yesterday when my wife’s phone (for it was her number we were converting) stops working. Only solved by a lengthy call to Vodafone support (in Egypt), and having to swap SIM cards to put in (the fortunately retained) “blank” SIM sent at the time of conversion.

[jsabine]

In the late 19C, "panny" was a term for a fight between two or more women - the book notes a possible linkage to "panel" being used as a term for a prostitute who worked at a "panel crib/den/house" (a brothel featuring false panels in the prostitutes' rooms so that the clients could be robbed while otherwise distracted), but it seems to have been more of an American term.

Surely not linked to Mrs Pingu's quandary, but I seem to remember that to panel someone or to give them a panelling was to engage in fisticuffs and emerge victorious (20/30 years ago, Glasgow/Edinburgh).

[Cudzoziemiec]

Teenage vanity! His first day back at school, following testing yesterday. It's 3 degrees "feels like 1" here and he's gone off in just a t-shirt and cotton sweatshirt. Refuses to put a coat on. Yesterday afternoon, delivering leaflets, it was much warmer and he went out in coat, hat, etc. "Don't complain to me if you get ill" says his mum.

[Beardy]

Mr Sainsbury of the House of Toothy Comestibles has just texted me to apologise for the late delivery and it will now be with me a 13:32. It should have been here between 11 and 12. Grrr

[tiermat]

Mr Sainsbury of the House of Toothy Comestibles has just texted me to apologise for the late delivery and it will now be with me a 13:32. It should have been here between 11 and 12. Grrr

At least you get stuff delivered! UPS have 'fessed up to losing the laptop.  Idiots.

In good news, the keyboard that was sent to me yesterday arrived this morning....

[Mrs Pingu]

Our venerable kettle needs replacing as it doesn't stop boiling any more. I thought choosing a replacement would be a simple task. Had a quick look on Which?  Made a shortlist, but every one I look at on Amazon says they either leak or don't switch off or the lid doesn't fit or the finish comes off etc etc.
 

[Jurek]

Our venerable kettle needs replacing as it doesn't stop boiling any more. I thought choosing a replacement would be a simple task. Had a quick look on Which?  Made a shortlist, but every one I look at on Amazon says they either leak or don't switch off or the lid doesn't fit or the finish comes off etc etc.
 

Dualit 2 litre dome kettle.
John Lewis oblige.

[Mrs Pingu]

Yebbut even the Dualit reviews have people moaning about how their old Dualit was brilliant and the new one is shite (I wouldn't get a Dome model anyway as I find the handle on top jobs awkward because I am a weak and feeble woman).

[Beardy]

Yebbut even the Dualit reviews have people moaning about how their old Dualit was brilliant and the new one is shite.

people will often complain about their bad experiences while those that are happy with their purchase seldom bother to leave reviews. It would be more helpful if Amazon said how many of a particular,item they have actually sold than we as consumers would be able to,measure the number of failures against the number sold. This would be a much more valuable piece of information.

[Mrs Pingu]

Truedat. Meanwhile I still need to make a decision some how...

[rafletcher]

Truedat. Meanwhile I still need to make a decision some how...

This one works well for us, and has done for a couple of years so far

https://www.bosch-home.co.uk/product-list/kettles-toasters/kettles/TWK8633GB

[Kim]

Our venerable Philips got downgraded in its latest incarnation.  More plasticy, and the addition of a ring of blue FRIKKIN LAZER light driven by a HALF BRIDGE RECTIFIER^[1] that gives barakta migraines, rather than the perfectly adequate little LED embedded in the switch of the previous model.

It still meets the important criteria of:
- 3kW
- 1.7 litres
- Cordless
- Gauge that works and doesn't leak
- Barakta-friendly handle and lid



_{[1] To be read in an ElectroBOOM voice.}

[ian]

Truedat. Meanwhile I still need to make a decision some how...

Just pick one, this is why modern life sucks, there are a dozen types of everything. As said, people aren't really inspired to write a review of a kettle unless it's broke or has somehow conspired to offend them. There's only so much effusion that can be managed for a device that boils water.

[robgul]

Argos - cheapest they have - buy 2 so you're ready . . .   they're cheap as chips, but yes not great for the environment to take that stance . . .

[andrewc]

Yes,  I suggested my sister buy something decent & repairable from John Lewis,  she sneered & bought a £15 plastic thing from Asda.   


I'm still using the stainless steel Swan corded kettle that I bought 30 years ago.  In the meantime kettles seem to have morphed into upright jugs, which are all cordless.   I can remember holidays in a Welsh cottage, no electrickery, so the kettle went on the calor gas hob, or on some occasions was stood next to the coal fire...

[Kim]

I'm still using the stainless steel Swan corded kettle that I bought 30 years ago.

Look after it.  The modern ones are all shit.

When we lived in Canterbury, I bought one of the last good Morphy Richards classics to replace the previous crappy plastic one.  Stainless steel was the best approach, as it gave the Canterbury Carbonate something to precipitate on, for lump-free drinks.  Lasted for years, until the switch mechanism finally died.

I understand that kettle switch mechanisms are designed to fail before anything that might cause a fire, leak or electrical hazard reaches the end of its natural life.  Damn you, engineers!

[ian]

We have a stainless steel one from JL, must be fifteen years old. It does, however, pour hot water with the sort of accuracy you'd expect from a bloke who's spent every afternoon and evening in Wetherspoons for the past fifteen years.

For that matter, I've no idea who designs spouts, but if it's you, I'm a man that has a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. Seriously, pyrex jugs, you cannot pour. Why are you jizzing stock over my hob? You're a jug. It's pretty much your job to pour.

[andrewc]

Soft Welsh water here,  so this carbonate stuff is known only from memories of chemistry lessons.   I remember an American girlfriend being amused at kettles,   don't you have hot water dispensers ?  So that's why their tea & coffee are foul. 

[Mr Larrington]

My cheap and cheerful kettle from Mr Sainsbury’s House of Toothy Comestibles is still behaving itself almost eight years down the line, albeit that limescale has dulled the pleasing Cherenkov radiation effect of the “I am on” light.  It doesn’t sing, dance or run an obscure version of Linux to allow it to be controlled from bed though.

[hellymedic]

Cheap, cheerful Sainsbury's kettles are fine.
D didn't like the plastic taste of a plastic kettle so we gave it away.

The stainless steel one we have is fine though its switch doesn't work as well as it did originally.

It's not perfect but it does the job and nobody had to trek miles for it.

[Pingu]

We're in no danger from scale here. Radiation on the other hand...

[Mrs Pingu]

Soft Welsh water here,  so this carbonate stuff is known only from memories of chemistry lessons.   I remember an American girlfriend being amused at kettles,   don't you have hot water dispensers ?  So that's why their tea & coffee are foul. 

No, it's cos their water is disgusterous. (Well, it is in Houston, anyway, and places like Flint it's just plain hazardous).

[Kim]

It's mildly impressive that USAnians even *have* water.  You'd think they'd have replaced it with high-fructose corn syrup (mixed with a federally mandated 10% ethanol) by now.  Texans, of course, can have a locally-sourced organic chemical mix.