Why?
We all have them. Moments of confusion. We are all baffled. Perhaps you’re flummoxed by the same things. Like:
1. Why anyone needs to learn the recorder.
2. Bank privacy rules.
So they ring & ask to speak to my husband. I’m all, “He’s not here, can I help?” And they’re all “Privacy regulations prevent us from talking to you. Could you give us his mobile number?” Seriously dude?
3. Enjo.
I know it’s supposed to be amazing, but with apologies to the environment, I need chemicals involved when I’m cleaning. Or at least a chemical smell.
4. Pausing Live TV
Does. My. Head. In.
5. Rollmops*.
There is no good reason for these.
6. Why men have such a problem with coins.
7. Ears pierced with humungous circular thingies.
Or things that look like miniature elephant tusks. Eww. Look outside – does it look like the Amazon out there? No? Then don’t put a dish in your ear.
8. Why my husband’s sneezes are so freaking loud.
9. How my daughter can be “too busy” to eat her lunch at school.
She’s 6. What the hell is she doing? Her Barbie thesis?
10. Why are brandy snaps called brandy snaps?
I made some last weekend. There was no brandy involved.
11. Personalised number plates with the model of the car.
What – just in case I didn’t notice your car is a BMW318, you need to point it out with a plate that says BMW318?
* Rollmops are pickled herring fillets, rolled into a cylindrical shape around slices of onion, pickled gherkin or green olive with pimento. Told you.
Nicole McLachlan was personal assistant to Federal Ministers and CEOs for an aeon. She’s a newly minted stay at home mum who irons, punctuates perfectly and blogs at ironingandapostrophes
What are the things that baffle you? That you just. Don’t. Get.
Comments
409 Comments so far
Here’s what baffles me……when watching the nightly weather on the news, why do they spend 75% of the allocated time telling me what the weather was like today? Sorry but I already lived it and know what it was like already!
I would much prefer we got a half accurate forecast for the coming two days, rather a brief reference to what might or might not happen in the sky tomorrow!
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Certainly laughed out loud! I felt a little as though I was reading a blog by Seinfeld. So true! I wonder how many more things there are that can be added to the list…….
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Agreed, except for number three…persevere, get the hang of it and do your whole family, your house (and the environment!) the most amazing favour
)
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What baffles me if why my daycare charge for public holidays?! Clearly they are not working & the kids aren’t in the centre so why do I have to pay them for my child being with me?!?! I just don’t get it!
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because the carers still get paid! parent fees pay carers or at least part of it, carers don’t get nearly as much as parents pay!
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At the risk of coming across a little bit boring, at little humourless perchance, I CAN see the points of 1, 2, 3, 4 & 7:
Recorders introduce music to kids in a way that’s not intimidating.
I’ve been a victim of fraud and, believe me, those privacy laws are there for a reason.
Microfibre is BRILLIANT! I don’t have any chemicals in the house and I’m a clean freak. Use some eucalyptus oil mixed with water in a spray bottle if you want a smell.
Pause TV is fan-bloody-tastic
While I’m not a fan of those large earring holes (especially when said earring is left out and the earlobe looks like a saggy fanny), It’s just someone’s fashion choice – the nose ring of the naughties. Each to their own. And while on the subject of fashion, people who can’t afford it but HAVE TO HAVE a bag/shoes/sunglasses because of some designer for a mind-numbing amount of money – now that baffles me.*
I don’t have time for a list right now but one major thing that baffles me is Four Wheel Drives in the city. I remember first scratching my head over this phenomenon way back in 1997 when I worked in Hawthorn, Melbourne. What’s with all the four wheel drives around here? I would ask my colleagues. I got obsessed and would count them on my way to work down Glenferrie Road. So strange that this obsession seemed to coincide with the steep rise in petrol prices and our awareness of the finiteness of petrol.
Four Wheel Drives and their status as the must have family car. That’s what baffles me.
*I was at my local market the other day buying my $5 sunglasses from a little shop that sells excess stock. These young cool looking guys were trying them on and sniggering. I was feeling a bit bold and said “You know what’s really funny? People buying sunglasses for $300.”
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I just re-read what I wrote and I have to say, I don’t like my shouting! Why did I? I don’t know…I guess I wanted to emphasis and if there was an italics button I would have used that
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Why is it that my husband was able to call Telstra and get an internet account set up on our home phone bill, which was in my name, without ANYONE contacting me about it?
When the service turned out to be sh1t, he called up to cancel and they wouldn’t speak to him because I was the account holder.
I called up and they tried to tell me that I had to fork out a $300-odd cancellation fee because I had a 24 month contract. I asked where the contract was, and they said I had verbally agreed to it over the phone.
When I explained that that was impossible, because nobody had ever spoken to me, they just kept referring to the ‘notes in the system’. I’ve worked in call centres before and I know how salespeople can write whatever they like in the notes to get a sale through!
I asked them to play the recording of my voice agreeing to the contract and wouldn’t you know – they couldn’t do it.
Needless to say, I cancelled my contract and never had to pay the cancellation fee.
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Hillarious.
For me its
1. People walking slowly and taking over the path. Pick the slow lane people!
2. People who cut in when i’m shopping. Does my head in!
3. People who text me back one word responses. Argh!
4. People who wear makeup to the gym.
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I was a gym makeup wearer. Only because I would go straight there after work and didn’t have time to wash it off – it was rush hour on the treadmills and waiting a few minutes to wash off makeup could have meant a 60 minute wait for the tready!
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I have the same issue with sneezing, but with my mum. Why do you need to yell AND sneeze… is the regular sneeze not satisfying enough for you?!
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Totally agree!! I’m known for pompously telling these people that you don’t need to use your voice to sneeze. I think they’re just attention seeking.
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Nope, have to dispute this one. I have a very loud sneeze, as does every woman descended from my maternal grandmother in my family – it can be a family thing. And we’re not all extroverts personality-wise! I *wish* my sneeze was quieter, but there’s a lot of force behind it. I’m pregnant, and I have to either hold the back of a chair or sit to sneeze, otherwise the things it does to my sinuses short-term could have me collapsing! It’s efficient – I usually go through several tissues 1-2 minutes later, unavoidably – but I wish it wasn’t quite a shock to both my sinuses and everyone else’s eardrums! Basically (to put it bluntly for the sake of clarity), every bit of fluid throughout my ears, nose and throat goes rocketing through – it’s worse for the person sneezing, believe me!
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Rollmops don’t actually have to be rolled around anything
they can just be pickled herring and are super yum when made with herring you’ve caught and filleted yourself and popped in a jar with vinegar, onion and mustard seeds over night. Just in case anyone wanted to try some that are yummier than those peculiar looking objects in the supermarket are likely to be.
Also, why do old people look at me, trailing my three, invariably misbehaving kids under five around the supermarket and say “Can’t you control your children?”.
“Why no sir/madam, it would appear not, but thanks so much for asking…..”
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Yes,it has been discussed numerous times on Mamamia already,but it never stops baffling me….so many people (who supposedly had some kind of education at some point in their life) do not know the basics of their mother language…even my small kids know the difference between bringing or buying something (brought/bought),are able to spell ‘definitely’ and know that ‘should of’,'could of’ and ‘would of’ make no sense whatsoever…
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Love 4: pausing live Tv is a great thing! My kids start talking during my favourite show I click pause and mumma is happy again! I can listen to them and then put the show back on.
5. I adore Rollmops they are a Dutch thing, I have Dutch relatives so was introduced to them early. I can eat a whole jar. They are high in protein, no fat and taste amazing!!!
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What baffles me? How my children are apparently a bastion of sibling adoration at daycare – they play together, eat together, share, look out for each other and are generally super gorgeous. Yet when they get home…… Why do they save the trying to kill each other for me?
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Maybe someone’s already posted this – but in answer to the BMW question – BMW bought a series of personalised plates with the numbers after the ‘BMW’ corresponding to the number of the car. So these came with the car already.
Although I’ve definitely seen those people with the ‘HOLDNV8′ or whatever they are as number plates!
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‘Baby on board’ stickers……do not get this?????
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i answered this early in this lot, its a warning about a demented person who is lacking in sleep and may at any time drive badly
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If someone needs to warn people about their bad driving, in other words dangerous driving, then they shouldn’t be on the road.
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And those family member stickers on rear car windows… WHY???!!!
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Yess! The worst one I’ve seen is with the wife blacked out with black text and just the dad and 2 kiddies – on a black holden commodore in very poor condition (made me wonder if she was in the boot) AND what do the babies with the halos represent??? Had a big family argument here about that one, can anyone enlighten me?
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The babies with halos represent children who have died.
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While I understand that most families still count children who have died as being part of the family, I don’t know that I would put the picture on the car, for everybody that I might have an interaction with to see. Dropping the kids off at school, and seeing that random mum….
Like sometimes it’s easier to say I have 2 kids, rather than I had 3 children but one died.
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How rude of me to be serious, but the recorder is actually an excellent starter instrument; small enough to hold for little fingers, cheap, easy to blow, and can be played singley or in a group.
Great for learning the basics of music- pitch, dynamics etc, as well as basic music reading.
And then if kids discover their love of music, they can play another, bigger, instrument more suited to their personality!
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Yes, indeed. Recorders are a great first instrument. We’ve been getting a lot of mileage out of ukuleles as well for primary school beginners.
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My kids learn both the recorder and ukulele at school. It is an excellent start. Not all recorders sound plastic and squeaky if the time is given by teacher/student to practice. My son has played in a combined schools groups of 700 recorders on stage at the Opera House (3 times!) and it sounds amazing. Even our school principal has commented that he no longer cringes when anticipating a recorder group performance.
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Mine is a little personal. I can very easily get pregnant (i try once and I`m pregnant) but I can’t carry a baby. How cruel of life!
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Nicole, you need to take a step back and stop hating on meaningless, pointless things that annoy you. That post itself baffles me, do we not have better things to talk about than why people dont like change? really?
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Its just a bit of fun. I definitely enjoyed reading this quick, little post.
So I am not only baffled at how a 6 year old is too busy to each lunch, but also at how adults will state “i just forgot to eat lunch today”, how do you forget this?? I pretty much plan my day around it…but then again that’s probably a good reason for why i can’t budge those last 5kgs, haha!!
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I loved Nicole’s post – very witty! Yes my husband sneezes REALLY loudly too – what’s with it??
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See my reply to someone else above. I’m curious, is it genetic? i.e. do his parents / siblings / aunts/uncles have loud sneezes?
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Graffiti. I just don’t understand what can be achieved by ruining another persons perfectly nice fence/wall/property?
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Oh the men and coins – yes! We have approximately 4 designated coin-drop-off jars/money boxes/dishes etc. And yet every single day I find little piles of coins just lying on random surfaces.
I was so bad at music that I failed the recorder. It was the only thing I ever truly failed at at school.
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Weird baby names, including the use of seemingly random nouns and verbs or bizarre spellings. I am truly baffled why someone would want to call their baby Jayscen.
Short shorts. Cut more like underpants. And skimpy ones at that. Why people do you want to show butt crack, above or below?
Devon. Why do kids love it so much and what on earth is in it?
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devon?
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otherwise known as fritz in some states
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and polony in others!
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Trust me when I tell you: You SO don’t want to know what is in it.
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lips and arseholes!
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Read the packaging (ingredients list). My husband hates chicken, but loves devon. I recently got curious about it (I’m pregnant, and was trying to establish if it was OK to eat or not), and checked the ingredients list. It’s nearly half chicken! Don’t think he’s changed his mind about either devon or chicken as a result, though!
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Hehe, Men do have a problem with coins! My partner puts them all in the draw from his pockets, they’re in the car, trouser pockets, everywhere! I know they’re heavy, but if we’re out as soon as he gets coins, he gives to me and says “I don’t want them, you have them!” Ha. I collected up all the coins in the house/car I could find the other day. $380. Hilarious.
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I have paid for entire nights out with my husbands coins!
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I don’t have a husband, but I don’t spend gold coins – I collect them and put them towards a holiday. 12 months of gold coins can get me over $1000 of spending money / hotel upgrade
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It baffles me that shopping centres can have the air conditioner on in summer at sub zero temperatures, but if it was that cold outside, they’d have the heaters on.
It baffles me that people actually watch current affairs shows enough for them to continue to be made every day.
It baffles me that the west has an extreme obesity problem and 3rd world countries are in famine.
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It baffles me that God made nits. I thought everything had a purpose or was part of a food chain or something. But nits??????
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This made me LOL!
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Yes! And please someone explain the purpose of fleas and ticks!!
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I spent the morning fine tooth combing nits out of my daughters hair .. Happy Australia day!
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It baffles me that my youngest child will not eat fruit, its nearly a phobia, she will not sit near anyone that is eating it .I have tried buying all types of fruit in an effort to get her too eat it , dragon fruit for example , she has never seen one in her life, cut it up and told her it was a vegie (which she loves) and was told no its not its fruit, how the hell does a 3 yr old know what is a fruit and what is a vegtable???? also has told me she will not eat tomatoe because that is a fruit also !! But even more baffleing is her favourite snack for daycare is fetta cheese ,smoked salmon and olives, go figure
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Bad news. I have two close adult friends who still won’t eat fruit. Same phobia. Weird.
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Expensive tastes! What would she make of sundried tomato, or pickled/dried fruits? I know, not as nutritious as fresh…. but perhaps better than nothing?
Sorry, can’t help much on this one… I have the opposite issue. I have to exercise control over my child’s fruit consumption, or risk a fruit bowl that was meant to last 4-5 days disappearing in just over 1 day! And nag her to let me have my own fruit to myself too! (I’m 23 weeks pregnant, so that’s important!)
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same here!! drives me up the wall! i’ll look forward to that half punnet of blueberries all day for breakfast, and fruit bat will cherry pick them from the fridge while i’m at work and hubby is being daddy day care! there’ll be nothing left but apples and oranges and a manky looking lime 3 days after a $50 fruit delivery!! *sigh*
and WHY will we have an obsession over rockmelon, then as soon as we ask the fruit lady to bring more, and there’s plenty chopped up in the fridge, will it be flatly refused at all opportunities!
child! you’re sending me to the poor house with all this fruit obsessing! i love that she’s healthy, but i’m trying to be healthy too!! share the love and have a sandwich sometimes! or maybe eat dinner with us once in a while!!
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What baffles me is how some fashion labels can charge so much for a bikini. Come on ! What is that ? A metre of fabric. Seems the less there is, the more you pay.
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That’s because they have to get the structural engineers in to make sure it will all stay put!
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I hate summer because of how expensive bikinis are!! SHOP til you drop (or maybe vogue?) ran an article about why bikinis are so expensive. Something to do with they take longer to make because they need more sample sizes, and they make less of them so that is more expensive and the fabric itself is really expensive. the article actually made sense to me, but i still resent paying that much money for something i never wear!
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A 6 year old being too busy to eat lunch, lol. In primary they made us to sit down and eat for a 10 minute period at the beginning of every lunch.
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Things that baffle me:
-Why someone would decide to taste the white stuff that comes out of that particular area of a cow/goat
-Rubics cubes…don’t get it at all
-Dementia…working in a nursing home I am baffled everyday by the total vulnerability yet vast physical strength of people with demetia. Ask them what they did last Tuesday and they won’t be able to string a sentence together, but ask them about their wedding day sixty years ago and you’ll get a long and detailed story. Baffling and quite devestating sometimes.
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While we’re on the top of noises that husbands make, my ex did the following noisy things that drove me completely nuts and never understood:
- snorted really loudly in the mornings (like people who have runny noses do, but way grosser and way worse).
- opened his mouth when he chewed, making a popping noise;
- clanged his cuttlery against his teeth whenever he ate something; and
- made slurpy noises whenever he ate anything liquid – cereals, soups, anything.
I don’t know why his mother never taught him to eat properly!
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Not surprised he is now an “ex”
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eww Thats just bad manners!
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Not necessarily. I had a Korean friend who was highly dispirited when all his polite Western friends ate the noodle soup he’d made very quietly. You’re meant to slurp to demonstrate its deliciousness / your enjoyment, apparently! So, this is definitely a thing that varies culturally!
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Fun post!
I had a baffling situation today.
I decided to take stairs instead of lift between floors at work.
In the stairwell I heard a lot of noise, like a powertool and also someone talking
when I reached my destination I saw the cleaner vacuuming the stairs and talking on his mobile at the same time. AT THE SAME TIME. In a hollow stairwell.
How he could hear the person on the other end of the phone over the sound of the vacuum was …
Baffling.
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Why Australian TV networks don’t fast track all their US shows when people are watching them online…
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Twitter. I just don’t get it!
You may have the most unbelievably exciting life on the planet, but I still would not be interested in reading 20 updates in a day about you. NO ONE not Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Bill Gates etc is THAT interesting! Not all day every day!
Am too busy living my own life to be micro-interested in someone else’s that I don’t even personally know (and no, I wouldn’t want to read updates from my best friend 20 times a day every day!).
I. just. don’t. get. it!
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It’s addictive
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I cannot thing of a single person from whom I would like to hear every tedious thought and musing during their day. I will NEVER get into Twitter. The amount of people who clearly hang on every word that Kim Kardashian says is truly astounding, you’d think the woman was actually doing something worthwhile.
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I don’t want to get too defensive of Twitter but I will say every person who has used the ‘tedious thought, silly musing’ argument to me and then joined has always come back with bright eyes one day saying ‘OH MY GOD I GET IT NOW’! It’s so much more dynamic than that. I can’t think of a single breaking news story I haven’t heard from (reputable) Twitter sources before it even touched an online news website, not to mention the constant stream of intelligent thoughts, debates, witticisms … it has made me a smarter person, I think.
But each to their own
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Fair point, I guess I just think of it as celebrities tweeting innane crap all day long.I’m sure that there is good stuff too, I have trouble keeping up with emails, texts and calls and I dont think I could cope with any more info!
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yeah its actually amazing if its used right! When the tsunami hit in Japan, noone could get any info out apart from twitter! and as long as you dont follow celebrities and only follow the right people its a great tool! I have a stationery boutique and follow a lot of people in the design world and its amazing the new products and suppliers i find! its a great business tool!! But yeah…celeb updates are boring as batshit and i can see why a lot of people wont use twitter because of that!!
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I do get that there would certainly be some interesting thoughts in there, but I would suggest that you would have to wade through an AWFUL lot of rubbish to get to those poignant moments! We try to unclutter our houses but then we go an give our brains this massive amount of clutter to walk around with, if you know what I mean?
I would certainly believe that worthwhile news would show up there, but in the same way that if my phone rings while I am driving and I will wait until I am at my destination (rather than pull over to check who it is) because it is very unlikely to be life-and-death for them to get through to me right that second, I am happy to wait the short time (nowadays) for someone else to sort through the clutter and provide the important bits served on a plate through a news site. I know it is someone’s job to keep an eye on feeds like this (in the same way that journalists would keep an eye on the police radio, or similar, as it is their job and a good way to keep up with things to report) but why the average joe wants to do that on top of their full time jobs, families, and lives is beyond me when so much of it seems like wasted space.
But you are right Rick, to each their own. I can see how it would have addictive qualities (in the same way that I wish I could spend more time away from MM sometimes – I think I’m addicted!
) but Twitter seems a whole other level for me personally and I just can’t do it!
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I was an anti- tweeter, too, but the workplace I’m in thrives on the passing of news and links to articles in related industry magazines and journals. The inane stuff gets ignored, the relevant and interesting stuff gets discussed and distributed with an immediacy that can’t be matched.
Agree with Miss T that it can be addictive having the Tweetdeck on all day, though. And I almost never look at it once I get home. Too much else to do!
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If you follow people who post a lot of innane crap then you’ll read a lot of inane crap. If you follow people who only tweet when they have something to say then it’s quite entertaining. Mine makes me laugh and informs me of current events and things I would never have been exposed to otherwise. It’s a good way to dip your toes in a variety of different subjects and listen to a bunch of different people that you would never look up otherwise.
It is what you make it.
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Hi Rick, this is really interesting, what you have said here. I feel like twitter has passed me by – I don’t really get it, and have know idea how to learn more or join in. How about writing a longer version of what you’ve just said, in an article, with examples of what you’ve just explained. I don’t really understand what you mean by it being ‘dynamic’. And also maybe some interesting people to follow (is that the right term?)
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BRILLIANT idea. Leave it with me!
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Please do it Rick. And can you really dumb it down for people like me who have no clue at all? Like, what is it exactly? Is it like text messages that everyone can read? Do you do it on a computer or is it a phone thing? In which case does that mean you must have a smart phone? I’m guessing my old Nokia won’t cut it. Would love to know more. You could call it ‘Tweet cheat sheet: Twitter for twits’.
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Exactly!! I once thought the exact same of twitter as these other commenters, but joined one day because I was bored. Ohmygod I love twitter. People don’t actually really talk about themselves on twitter like they do on facebook, they talk about what else is happening. I find out most of my news stories on twitter!! Not to mention it is AMAZING for reading people’s thoughts on matters. One of my fav past times is watching QANDA on a monday night, and having the twitter feed open in front of me! And, people can be really funny and witty when they only have a certain number of characters to muse on something!
Next week will actually mark 6 months since I deleted my facey, but I would not delete twitter everrrr!
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This probably isn’t the right place to ask this..but can you explain Twitter? I really don’t get it either! I have signed up and am following a few people but think I am missing the point!
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Oh it baffles me too. I just don’t get it….
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Don’t get twitter either. My partner is obsessed.
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Oh you made me laugh eith this post Nicole!
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How my husband can sit at the computer and play his computer games for ages and no kid goes near him. But the second my butt hits the chair in front of the computer, I have at least 2 children hanging off me!
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I know where your coming from. My kids walk past their dad sitting on the lounge to come and ask me for something when I’m in the shower.
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Tennis. I just don’t get it. If the object is to make their opponent miss, why do they hit the ball AT them? Whenever I ask this question the other person laughs, not realising I’m not joking. It’s SUCH a boring sport, I’d rather watch cricket or golf.
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Nooooo! Not GOLF….
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Nooooo, not cricket!!!!
Would prefer to slam my head against the wall every five minutes for more than an hour than watch cricket. For hours on end. For five days straight!!
It’s sooo mind numbingly boring! (In my very humble opinion of course!
)
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Golf is the worse!!! at least tennis has some sweaty hot boys every now and then! who wants to watch men hit a ball that wear long socks and tuck their polo shirts in to their short errk
but seriously…i agree…i cant stand tennis or golf OR cricket!!
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The way you hit it puts spin on the ball, and you also want to mix it up with straight shots that they just don’t get to, and forcing them to make errors as well. Also lulling them into a false sense of security – you do the same thing over and over then change it slightly, you’re more likely to force them to step the wrong way or hit it too long.
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I have worked for a bank. There is good reason why they can’t talk to you about your husband’s accounts. Many many many women and men have “running away accounts” that is private and kept from their partner. This is such a no brainer formality I can’t believe it is even on the list.
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I might have read it wrong, but I don’t think the author was talking about the privacy concerns being weird. I think they were saying ‘so if you know all his private details and won’t speak to me, why are you asking ME to provide his mobile number, and trusting I will also give you a REAL one’?
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Because at a bank we don’t always have someone’s mobile number, and we will still verify their personal info with them when we ring the number you give us, before getting into anything regulated by privacy.
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Banks calling me, then asking for my personal details over the phone to ‘verify’ who I am, pisses me off no end. You could be any random, yet you expect me to tell you my personal info to you?? If you are the bank, you already have that info (along with the phone number you just called me on). On the other hand, you could just as easily be a criminal who got my name and number out of the phone book – you seriously expect me to hand over my date of birth to help you steal from me??
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They do have that info – they are asking you to verify it. If you are worried, call the number for your bank and ask to get put through to whoever called you. I used to do callbacks for clarifications of a bunch of stuff when I was a bankie, I would expect people to not be happy with the phone ringing and someone asking for their DOB, Mum’s name, etc etc.
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i NEVER give my number to anyone. I tell the bank/medicare etc that I don’t have one, if they insist, I make one up. All contact via these institutions are via email or the post.
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Why?
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Isn’t it just ironic, more than anything?
If I was asked to provide a mobile number in that situation, I’m sure I’d say “I’m sorry but in accordance with my family privacy policy I’m not allowed to provide those details.”
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See I understand banks not talking to people other than the person on the account. But this situation baffles me:
The powerline outside my boyfriend’s house was hit by a cherry picker one day. It was repaired, but then a few months later exploded, cutting power off to the whole street. He called Telstra (ISP) to let them know that his internet was down, and the street was probably down as well, and could he get a technician to come fix the line. (side note = the lady on the other line kept telling him to unplug and plug back in his modem, even after he told her like 5 times it was a physical hardware problem! it is incredibly frustrating dealing with indian call centres!) so anyway, he had to be at work when the guy came, and let the telstra people know that I would be at home to speak to the dude.
On the day of the dude coming, I missed his phone call. He left a message saying it was a street problem, he’d just seen someoen else in the area blah blah blah. No contact details, no mention of whether he was still actually coming or not. So I call telstra, trying to get the appt details of whether this guy was still coming or whether i could go do some shopping. They wouldn’t tell me anything even though I had all the acct information and my bf had previously verified me! Not to mention that I only wanted to know appt details! It wasn’t even personal information I was after!
Soo frustrating, and that definitely baffled me.
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Politicians thinking they can do a better job designing the school curriculum than trained educators. The Naplan results trend over the last 4 years suggests otherwise. Like, der!
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Dont even get me started on the new early learning frame work in childcare . The government has turned caring for little ones (under twos particularly) into bloody rocket science!!!
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Naplan results have mostly improved in the last 4 years. And all the people designing the curriculum are trained educators. The chairperson of ACARA is a professor in Education and Melbourne University. Also the new National Curriculum is really good!
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The merit of the National Curriculum is subjective. For some states it’s considered an improvement. For others, not so much. Hence NSW delaying its implementation again.
NAPLAN also has surprisingly little to do with subject syllabi.
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The original poster suggested the trend of naplan results were declining. They are not. The merits of Naplan is questionable, but the results still mostly show improvement in literacy and numeracy over the last 4 years.
In terms of the National Curriculum, I think having the same curriculum nation wide can only be good. In Qld the Scribbly Gum unit plans are very well done and provide really good resources to teachers. I am not sure what other states are doing to provide support to implement the National Curriculum, but I would argue that there aren’t vast differences between most state curriculums and the National Curriculum. It has simply evened things out and made it that little bit easier for teachers. At the end of the day it will still be the teachers delivery that makes all the difference. Also whether or not people like it, my main point was that it is education professionals who have designed it, not pollies who have no qualifications. It doesn’t work that way.
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Fax machines. For the longest time I thought there were tiny glass tunnels running underground between all the fax machines in the world. I now know that’s not true, but really, how do they work?
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SNAP!!! Hahahahaa!! I’m exactly the same. The internet, I get. Mobile phones, I get; but fax machines!!!!
So funny to see I’m not alone!
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Ohh Daisy, I love fax machines, but that is probably because I’m a lawyer, and I like that when I fax something no-one can ever use the excuse of “oh I didn’t get your letter” when I have a nice pink confirmation slip saying it went through!
You can request a read receipt on email, but they can decline to send it to you so you are not 100% certain they got it!
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Umm, through phone lines. You’re lucky you weren’t around in the bad old days of telex.
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wtf is telex?
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Lol, I’m not surprised ppl haven’t heard of telex. Back in the day ( when dinosaurs roamed the earth) telex was used instead of fax. A message was typed onto a ribbon of paper, which was then phoned through to your destination. This was pre windows (or even ms dos) days.
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Pre dos?
No such thing, surely???
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People who don’t travel. Obviously I am not talking about anyone who is going through a difficult time financially or otherwise, and can’t travel for the time being, but those who say they have no interest in travelling EVER. This is one of the greatest mysteries in life for me and no matter how hard I try I just can’t understand that someone is happy to live their life in their tiny little bubble and die without seeing anything but their surrounding suburbs. Truly baffling.
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Oh yes!!
Our own country is great they say why would i go anywhere else on holiday?
:facepalm: thats not the point!!
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I don’t get it either. I just don’t understand how anyone can be proud of ignorance.
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I do definitely have a strong desire to travel (haven’t got to do nearly as much as I would have liked to – life kind of got in the way, but I’m happy with where I am for now!) but I would suggest there is also a certain amount of merit in travelling around your own country too.
I think we can have a certain snobbery about travelling around Aus not being real travelling. I think most people would be amazed at the differences in people around our huge land. Compare a Melbournite with a Coober-Pedy-an for example! Very different takes on life, very different climate/ surroundings etc.
I have lived in plenty of places in Australia (my whole life – it was due to my Dad’s work) and it always blew me away how vastly different people could be only a few hours from somewhere else.
I think travel overseas is a brilliant idea (like I said, I definitely want to do more) but travelling in Aus is also valuable.
I did once meet a cabbie in Sydney who proudly told me that his entire life he had not been outside of a few suburbs – this definitely made my jaw drop! This is a bit toooo small of a travel range I would suggest!
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Indeed. One of my friends once said “Why bother spending all the money when you can just google a photo of the Taj Mahal?”
He wasn’t joking. I had to pick my jaw off the table.
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My X was the same. Why go anywhere outside of Aussiland? He would not listen to news, read books or newspapers… Hence he is an X
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Wow Kate, I don’t even know what to say. That is ignorance and stupidity at its best.
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I’m actually one of those people! I have traveled (a bit – Asia, Europe, US) but there is no desperate pull to ‘see things’. It’s really hard to describe but I’ve thought about (why I don’t feel the need to travel) a lot as I’ve felt I’ve needed to defend it a lot! As Mum of 2 said, there is a bit snobbery about traveling. It’s like, if you haven’t then you lack ‘cred’ somehow. That people (like my brother) who have trekked Nepal, been to Tibet, road tripped through Central and South America and done the work visa in London have so much more going for them.
For me, I think it comes down to living in my head. I would say I’m quite cerebral and am entertained by my brain and imagination. And for that I can be anywhere…still feel I haven’t explained but there you have it for now.
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Ahh, now that I think about it, there are two things that baffle me.
#1 – Kim Kardashian. How on earth is she popular? Why is she on the cover of magazines and why do people watch her crap show? I just don’t get it.
#2 – people putting ‘celebrities’ or more so ‘a list actors’ on pedestals. I don’t understand it at all. As I tell my 8yr old, they get paid ridiculous amounts of money to dress up and pretend they are someone else, so what’s the big deal? Screaming and flipping out like a teenager because Johnny Depp has just arrived? Seriously? I understand that most love their job (who wouldn’t when you get paid exorbitant amounts of money) and they get invited to the opening of an envelope but they get no privacy in return. Oh and some are absolute egotistical b*stards who dont care about anyone except themselves. I’d much rather be excited about meeting the person who finds a cure for cancer than meeting Brad Pitt.
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We were at a JB today and my son saw the box set for Keeping Up with the Kardashians and he said “What she has a tv show, whats it about, not like her life would be very interesting.”
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I love listening to actors talking about how “hard” the job of acting is!!
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Don’t work in bank, but have always worked in public service depts. Same privacy rules, Your husband might be happy for you to know his financial business, not every marriage is like that. He can (usually) give permission for you to speak on his behalf.
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Why I am exhausted the whole day, but wide awake when I get into bed.
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One more thing that baffles me – why do people feel the need to put bananas in a plastic bag in the supermarket. You dont eat the skin for goodness sake you don’t need to use a plastic bag just put them in your trolley and walk away from the plastic!!!
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He he you should try living in Dubai….. I kid you not they sell the bananas individually wrapped in plastic with their own little barcode for each banana!!!!!!
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That’s an easy one. You may not eat the skin but if you put your bananas say in a fruit bowl next to other fruit, then the skin does come into contact with the other fruit. I’ve seen children wee in trolleys (yes honestly) plus god knows what else when they are left outside – no thanks, need a barrier between the trolley and anything I’m going to be putting in my mouth!
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But why can’t you just wash the other fruit that comes into contact with the banana skin? I am coming from a waste point of view too…is it really necessary for all the plastic use? As for the individually wrapped bananas in Dubai – this is bizarre! Surely they would sweat and go off quicker!
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Geez lucky i don’t get sick i suppose!
I put nothing in plastic bags! Does the cashiers head in but I can’t stand the waste!
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Almost the same; I do draw the line at a beans and mushrooms though!
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I agree with the first comment! I actually don’t put any of my fruit or veg in plastic bags (except perhaps beans if I buy them but I rarely do) to save on plastic and time. Too much waste!! i just wash really well when I get home.
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I put them in because if I don’t the checkout lady does it (I have now bought reusable fruit bags).
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My kids will help themselves to a hand full of grapes when we pass through the F and V …
Anyone else do this??
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No, it’s stealing!
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The phrase “since records began”… What happened before that? Did people just walk around feeling slightly different to yesterday? Who decided to write it down?
Must have been one hell of a record breaking day that day.
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It baffles me that women like to wear very high heels that you can’t even walk in!
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and they don’t actually realise that beyond a certain height they actually make your legs and feet look quite ugly
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Tinned chicken. Ew.
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And tinned cheese, which for some unknown reason seems to be a staple food in America.
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Never heard of tinned cheese before! Bleurch.
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I saw in the US bacon flavoured cheese spray in a sort of aerosol like the whipped cream canisters. I can’t think of anything natural about that!
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I am baffled by the hatred many people seem to have for the ‘baby on board’ signs and the ‘My Family” stickers. Why? What does it matter what other people stick on their cars? Even if people are doing it to show off, what does it matter? I used to use one of the ‘baby on board’ things because someone told me you are supposed to use them so emergency services will know to check for a baby capsule in the event of an accident. I wonder how many people I made really, really angry by driving around with it on? I honestly had no idea I could be pissing people off until I read peoples comments on here.
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Where I live, almost every car has one, and I believe it’s compulsory if you own an SUV. I hate them because they typify a certain type of family: dad, mum (almost always with shopping bags), kids, dog, perhaps a pocket pet. As if this is the only type of family we can be proud of. Only lately have I begun to see the odd one showing a “different” family. Still all white though…
Maybe I’ll like them when I see a realistic one, maybe a teenager with a bucket bong.
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http://www.creepyuncle.com.au/
Hee hee!
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oh some of these are GREAT (not all though!) Thanks for sharing!!
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The rumour of emergency services checking for a baby based on one of those signs is a hoax. Otherwise there would be much stricter rules enforcing them – i.e. must be taken down when baby isn’t in the car, etc.
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It baffles me why people would want to advertise their family on their car, and it’s always the breeders with lots of kids too. I must admit they make me really annoyed when I pull up behind a car (usually 4WD) with them across the back window. You can now get ones with a stick figure saying “I don’t give a f*&ck who’s in your family”.
And I have to correlate what Anonymous below said about the baby on board signs, it was a total hoax about them alerting emergency services and the story was put about to scare people into buying them. I can promise you they ALWAYS check for car seats and capsules in the case of an accident.
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Oh man, I got screamed at on a post for suggesting that the “Emergency services will check if they see a Baby on Board sign” was a crock. As if they’re not going to ascertain the occupants of a vehicle in an accident either way.
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my sister in law has one, and her theory? ‘it might make people drive a bit safer if they see one in the car.’ ….Really? really really? I can see it now, *driving like a maniac* *driving like a maniac* *sees ‘baby on board’ sign* ‘oh, i better be careful, those people can procreate, i better drive carefully around them, god forbid i drive like a maniac around a pair of procreators and their offspring!
again… really? i hate them, they’re schmucky and assume that anyone cares that they can reproduce! i find them irritating and distracting, due to their irritant nature, and my irresistable need to roll my eyeballs at them!
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I’m with you – I don’t see how those little stickers manage to make people so cranky. I don’t care what’s on your car window as long as it’s not one of those God-awful ‘F*** off, we’re full’ stickers – now they are something to get worked up about!
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These ones give us a laugh (usually a cynical one)
Jet pilot
Porn star
No fear
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It baffles me that my husbands way of helping tidy up is to come and ask me where everything goes. With everything he picks up. One article at a time.
He then gets baffled by how obnoxiously rude I become when I yell at him to stop interrupting me every five seconds and doesn’t he fucking live here and can’t he fucking open a drawer or a cupboard and take a fucking look for himself?
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I can so relate !
On the rare occasions my husband unstacks the dishwasher (his version of foreplay), he leaves half the stuff on the counter because he claims he doesn’t know where it belongs…..funny…he always seems to know where these things are kept when he wants to use them.
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Im baffled by the apparent need of young males to wear their trousers so low their undies are in full view.
I DONT WANT TO SEE YOUR UNDIES! FFS, PULL UP YOUR PANTS!
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I am baffled how women can let a stranger give them a brazilian wax.
And why some women want big, fake tits!
And fake glued on fingernails!
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Ha – try doing it yourself and you will soon see why we pay someone else to do it!
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I find it baffling that anyone tried waxing anything more than once!
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what’s wrong with rollmops?? beautiful with pumperknickel or rye bread..they’re like a slimy pickled onion..eheh
and why would one be embarrassed going through a check-out with them..it’s not like their condoms or incontinence pads!!..
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