Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

Hi all

I saw my goddaughter this morning and she asked me a question her mother coudnt answer , my goddaughter does have a point as she was in the car with her mum and said look at the sheep’s but her mother corrected her.

Question;

if 1 pig is called a pig and any more are called pigs , same with cow cows , horse horses , chicken chickens . Why cant sheep be called sheep’s

I said I don’t know she did give more examples I just smiled.
Someone here must have a answer

Spruce or more than 1 Spruces ?

 

Hungary continues to import Russian oil and is also exempt from tariffs for a year according to news reports.
Somewhat surprised about the migrant claiming asylum in the Netherlands for himself, wife and 8 children and then expecting to be able to have another 2 wives and 5 more children join him there.
I'd assumed 1 man having 3 wives was as illegal there as it is in the UK. Nothing to do with Human Rights - just need to accept that bigamy is not lawful in some countries so little point in objecting.

 

Maybe a question for Mr Google ?

 

I think your god daughter has a good point @Spruce.
Maybe it just doesn't sound right ??
I wonder about how we term various country's populations too.
We have plenty of "an" 's............... German, Canadian, American, Bolivian, Peruvian, Russian, Egyptian, Zambian etc.
Then we have the "ish" 's...............English, Spanish, Danish, Polish, Welsh and so on.
And then the "ese"'s..............Chinese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Portugese.
If you swapped one for the other, they sound a bit odd ?
No doubt there is a more basic explanation tho.

 

For sheep apparently sheep is the both the singular and plural. However according to the OED sheeps was used as the plural into the 17th century.

 

But we can say the Germans, the Americans etc, although not the Englishes, the Chineses or the Welshes.

 

I agree, @shiney , that there ought to be a better way of comparing efficiency of heating systems than talking about 300%. But that figure is high because a) the heat pump doesn't generate heat, merely moves it, and b) as with all forms of heating, it gives the "best obtainable" figure. It's like the nonsense of MPG figures for new cars. Maybe useful for comparison, but hardly likely to be obtainable by the average driver...

There must be different solutions for different situations. What works for you is right for you. I was just trying to counter the "heat pumps don't work" argument; clearly they do work, in many situations. We were faced with having to do a lot of work on our leaky bungalow, including re-plumbing the central heating and replacing the ancient oil boiler (no gas in rural Ireland), so it made sense for us.

 

Yes - I think that was my point. Sheeps sound just as strange to the ear as does Englishes or Chinians.

 

@pete, decades ago the Dutch, always economical, captured heat exhaust from power stations and used it to heat massive greenhouses so they could grow all sorts of fruit and veg. Two deacdes ago, after worries about being able to feed their own nation, they innovated techniques and mechanisation to grow more produce in less space. They are now the world's second biggest fresh produce exporters despite having such a small land mass.

That same innovation and technology led them to produce ornamental plants with automated seed sowing, pricking out etc and means their plants are cheaper than those with high labour input but do tend to be restricted in varieties. Before Brexit they were a major source of plants for SMs and chain GCs. Their operation is large enough for them to pay for the export licenses/plant passports needed to continue selling to the UK.

British producers can't compete with their prices so GCs and SMs continue ti import but clever nurseries and producers concentrate on newer/rarer/more unusual plants and varieties to keep their cutomer base.

@Ergates a few years ago I was looking for some solar lights for the polytunnel. I eventually found some made in Germany but it took a lot of hunting as everything else was made in China. I share your opinion of Turkey.

 

I have an oil fired boiler as no mains gas available here. The price of oil for heating and hot water is rarely mentioned when utility costs are debated.

 

@Philippa we had PV panels fitted soon after moving here and no longer use the CH boiler to heat water. We added a bigger hot water tank that is heated by leccy, some form the PVs and some from small dedicated heat exchange pumps and, in winter, a boost from the mains.

When we added our shower room extension that had its own hot water tank as it was so far form the other and also has a leccy radiator as we'd have had to dig up floors to add another CH radiator. Our radiators are all old fashioned cast iron things and huge so we have them on low to medium at most so, if the day ever comes, I expect not to have to have to change them if we do have to go to heat exchange thingies.

 

That was us when we first moved into our village 40 years ago. When our first house was built, it and all the neighbours houses were piped into a big communal oil tank controlled by one of the big companies. When the supply covenant was lifted the residents started making the necessary modifications that allowed them to shop around for cheaper oil deliveries. Thankfully the village was connected to gas shortly after we moved into our second house and we then switched over.

 

The line between bigamy and polygamy can be a bit blurred, depending on where you are. The argument in this case seems to be the man lawfully married 3 wives and feels he should be able to bring them all with him under the right to family life of the Human Rights Act. As he now lives in a place where polygamy would be bigamy, which would be unlawful, the court must decide whether his rights trump law.

 

I suppose when you move to a new country you leave your old country’s laws behind and adopt those of the new one. Like driving on the left etc etc.

 

That is what you should do @Tidemark but some cultures don't accept that and carry on as normal, usually ones where women are treated as little more than chattels.