The General Chat Room

[Pulcinella]

I came across a new word yesterday when I was helping a friend translating some product packaging information. This is what she replied when I queried it:

A shive is a plastic disc that sits in the mouth of a jar, underneath the cap. (We sometimes hear it being called an "inner lid")

Anyone met it before?
Rather like the aglet (metal or plastic tag at the end of a shoelace): you know there's a word for it (in the trade) but usually have no other reason to come across it.

[Bryn]

I came across a new word yesterday when I was helping a friend translating some product packaging information. This is what she replied when I queried it:

A shive is a plastic disc that sits in the mouth of a jar, underneath the cap. (We sometimes hear it being called an "inner lid")

Anyone met it before?
Rather like the aglet (metal or plastic tag at the end of a shoelace): you know there's a word for it (in the trade) but usually have no other reason to come across it.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shive

[oddoneout]

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shive

Well this has proved an entertaining diversion on a grotty day. An acquaintance keeps sheep and spins wool and this year has embarked on a flax experiment in addition, and the alternative meaning of fragment of plant matter(a and d) is relevant. I shall make a note to pass that on to her.

[Pulcinella]

Yesterday's similarly packaged product was this:

FACE MASK WITH HELIX ASPERSA (SNAIL SLIME) AND MICROGRANULES OF OLIVE PITS

Sounds positively disgusting, but I made no comment other than that the 'helix aspersa' presumably refers to the snail not the slime!
I hope I don't get a free sample as a thank you present.

[vinteuil]

'helix aspersa'

... apparently has anti-bacterial properties -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornu_aspersum

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7554965/

[Serial_Apologist]

Yesterday's similarly packaged product was this:

FACE MASK WITH HELIX ASPERSA (SNAIL SLIME) AND MICROGRANULES OF OLIVE PITS

Sounds positively disgusting, but I made no comment other than that the 'helix aspersa' presumably refers to the snail not the slime!
I hope I don't get a free sample as a thank you present.

Maybe even it was used to seal the package!

[Jonathan]

At least Wikipedia got the Latin name right, Helix aspersa has been a nomum dubium for quite a few years!

[teamsaint]

Just by way of name dropping, I had a very pleasant chat with a Bond Girl today.
Which was nice…..
a charming lady .

[smittims]

I don't know if this is the best place to raise this, but I've been thinking about car ownership and would like to hear others' views.

I've always been fortunate in not needing a car, though I have owned cars on and off in the past. I've always lived in areas with good public transport, or within walking distance of workplace, etc.

It occurs to me that many car owners do not get economic use of their cars. Many buy a car, insure and tax it, MOT it service it and maintain it to run on the roads 24 hours a day, but actually use it for perhaps one hour a day, driving to work, driving home again. The rest of the time it's a rather expensive metal box. Certainly, I think many who use a car less than every day, just to visit a friend or go on holiday , would save money hiring a car whe they needed it.

I know that for some , owning a car is an important part of their life, like owning a record collection. But is it worth the expense?

[gradus]

Without a car daily life would be very difficult. We have no public transport and there is no prospect of any starting here. Taxis aren't a realistic possibility and biking everywhere, even by electric bike would be near impossible, so for us the car is vital. If I lived in London or where public transport is provided I'd probably eschew ownership of a car in favour of occasional hiring.

[smittims]

I was forgetting that most of these new rural housing etsates have no shops, and probably no bus services, so yes, in such cases , a car is vital. I was thinking of suburbanites who get in their car merely to drive down the road to buy a newspaper (admittedly, a very old-fashioned thing to do these days).

[Old Grumpy]

We have a car (just one) in rural N Yorks. There are buses, both only 3 a day and none after 6pm.

I walk to the shop to get my newspaper...


...call me old fashioned if you like!

[vinteuil]

many car owners do not get economic use of their cars. Many buy a car, insure and tax it, MOT it service it and maintain it to run on the roads 24 hours a day, but actually use it for perhaps one hour a day, driving to work, driving home again. The rest of the time it's a rather expensive metal box. Certainly, I think many who use a car less than every day, just to visit a friend or go on holiday , would save money hiring a car whe they needed it.
I know that for some , owning a car is an important part of their life, like owning a record collection. But is it worth the expense?

... a reasonable question. For us here it's largely psychological. We live in a part of west London very well served by public transport, all of which we can use for free. We still have a sixteen year old VW Golf, which we use not very often : Mme v to badminton once a week, occasional trips to Asda or IKEA, occasional trips out to the Chilterns or to visit family, occasional long continental jaunts. On a spreadsheet, I'm sure it wd be 'cheaper' to take taxis or U-bers, or hire cars when really needed. The question is - 'would one?' - or rather, say 'nah, not worth the faff' - and not go on those trips which, with a car, are so easy to do.

An analagous case : pre-covid, we had and used an Arts Fund card, which entitles you to various free exhibitions and various at half-price. Probably, during a year, the Arts Fund subscription didn't cover its cost for us: ie it wd've been cheaper just to go the exhibitions and pay full price - but with it, if you find yourself in (say) Bath, and there's an exhibition at the Holburne of Menstrie Museum of some minor master you've never heard of : at £12 a head you might say - nah, whereas at £6 you could say - o worth a shot. So altho' on paper it might be cheaper to eschew the annual subscription - would you actually go to the events? - it's a real question, which we are pondering as I write...

.

[Serial_Apologist]

... a reasonable question. For us here it's largely psychological. We live in a part of west London very well served by public transport, all of which we can use for free. We still have a sixteen year old VW Golf, which we use not very often : Mme v to badminton once a week, occasional trips to Asda or IKEA, occasional trips out to the Chilterns or to visit family, occasional long continental jaunts. On a spreadsheet, I'm sure it wd be 'cheaper' to take taxis or U-bers, or hire cars when really needed. The question is - 'would one?' - or rather, say 'nah, not worth the faff' - and not go on those trips which, with a car, are so easy to do.

An analagous case : pre-covid, we had and used an Arts Fund card, which entitles you to various free exhibitions and various at half-price. Probably, during a year, the Arts Fund subscription didn't cover its cost for us: ie it wd've been cheaper just to go the exhibitions and pay full price - but with it, if you find yourself in (say) Bath, and there's an exhibition at the Holburne of Menstrie Museum of some minor master you've never heard of : at £12 a head you might say - nah, whereas at £6 you could say - o worth a shot. So altho' on paper it might be cheaper to eschew the annual subscription - would you actually go to the events? - it's a real question, which we are pondering as I write...

.

The one thing I really do miss not having had the car for the past 17 years is the ease of carrying home large new household devices bought at one or another of the local supermarkets, such as spin dryers and microwaves, which are a faff to take on buses and too large for a bike journey. It was also nice just being able to get into the thing and drive out into the Kent and Surrey countryside and visit historic towns, stately houses and so on. But the reward for the huge savings in money terms is of course enormous, especially in London - and not just in being able to enjoy free senior citizen public travel. For all the metropolitan noise, pollution and stress, were I to be offered the alternative vaunted tranquillity and slower pace of life, I don't think I could now adapt to small town, village or rural living, and the associated necessity to own a car.

[JasonPalmer]

We use the car and buses as well as both use cycling, the car is very usefull for moving our five year old about. Looking forward to him growing up and joining me on country lane cycling.