Last week, a big fella, leaning up against a rail in a restaurant, looking straight at me, and talking up a storm. I'm at a table some 7 or 8 feet away, and looking straight back at 'em. Now you would think, what's the problem here? No problem! The big fella is deep in concentrated conversation with someone on a cell phone. This big fellow is using the blue tooth, clip it on your ear style technology, nearly hidden behind his ear and hair. You'd think we were about to start a brawl...

And come to think of it...
Gosh! Tomorrow, the 28th, will be 5 (count them FiiiiiVE!!!!!) years on the board. What in the world do I have so much to talk about?
http://www.catchaway.com

Back in the old days I never crashed my car or got a ticket in my haste to get to a phone, but just today... Spouse called me while I was driving and I swerved into the other lane trying to manipulate the buttons. And I was just answering the phone, hitting the "speakerphone" button, then doing the reverse of the two actions. I couldn't hold it to my ear, and risk a ticket. So, I had it lying open-faced on the passenger seat with the speakerphone on. I gotta invest in one of those seashell earpiece devices. Or just not answer, wait til I get where I'm going, and return the call. Kinda like in the old days.

I've had a phone for about three months now. My phone takes pictures. Videos, too. Neat. I got it after the Virginia Tech shootings. Fear is the best salesman. Next, I'm looking at getting a panic room, because the fallout shelter has no access from inside the apartment.

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quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:
... or does it seem like someone on a cell phone talks much louder than he would were the other person in the room with him?

This is completely true. Apparently with a landline you hear your own voice coming back through the earpiece, but with a cellphone you usually don't. This leads people to underestimate the loudness of their own voice.

When I got my first cellphone (which we, rather more quaintly, call "mobile phones"), I decided I would try talking very softly into it and ask the person at the other end if they could hear me. Of course, they could. And so I remain a very quiet cellphone user. Everyone else carries on shouting because they haven't bothered to do the experiment.

quote:

Originally posted by philnic:
"...which we, rather more quaintly, call "mobile phones")...

...and it's "MO-bile" rather than "MO-bull", as I recall from my recent visit, is it not?

quote:

Originally posted by tinkerbell:
Likewise during a funeral service.

Bill Engvall tells of an incident involving his Uncle Jack popping the tab on a beer during a family member's funeral. In the church!

quote:

Originally posted by grasstains:
Or just not answer, wait til I get where I'm going, and return the call. Kinda like in the old days.

That's what I do.

quote:

Originally posted by Braling II:
...and it's "MO-bile" rather than "MO-bull", as I recall from my recent visit, is it not?

Indeed. MObile (not Mo-bull); MISS-ile (not MISS-ull); HOST-ile (not HOST-ull). There's a distinct pattern.

Germans have it best, though. Their mobile phone/cellphone is called a "handy".

grasstains, you should heed the words of Click & Clack: drive now, talk later.

I don't really talk and drive, I mean holding-the-phone-to-my-head-dialing-numbers-and-checking-inbox-and-voicemail-and-missed-calls-while-driving talking and driving anyways. It's more like flip-open-the-phone-push-send-hit-speakerphone-place-phone-on-passenger-seat talking and driving. It's no more hazardous than changing radio stations or lighting a cigarette while driving.

Eating anything bigger than what could be considered "bite-size" while driving should warrant a citation. You should see the monstrous burgers, and burritos, and submarine sandwiches people grapple with while driving here in the states. Then there's that 64 ounce bucket of soda between their legs, or even worse... a scalding hot 24 ounce cup of sticky sweet coffee.

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quote:

Originally posted by grasstains:
You should see the monstrous burgers, and burritos, and submarine sandwiches people grapple with while driving here in the states. Then there's that 64 ounce bucket of soda between their legs, or even worse... a scalding hot 24 ounce cup of sticky sweet coffee.

Fat, stupid Americans! Bigger is better, no?

Supersize me!

Bucket of soda indeed!

Driving distractions! Someone was recently cited for eating spaghetti while driving with his knees!
Of course, besides phone calls and eating, driving while farding is very dangerous!


(did he say "farding"?)

Farding must be a Scandihoovian thing.

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Doug,

Is that a 64-ounce bucket of soda between your legs?

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Here's an actual article re the above:

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?sid=673206&nid=456

quote:

Originally posted by grasstains:
Doug,

Is that a 64-ounce bucket of soda between your legs?

Hey now - this is a family board!