Um, that's pretty much what I'm trying to find out, I guess. Food is the real cultural gap, once again.

I think the only answer here is people are a little crazy sometimes.

Yup. Which is why usually kids drink them in the morning, when they're leaving their house, and not later during the day.

Okay, I have no idea.

I only got it once, as they put butter in the coffee

Ewwwwwwwwww!

Was the imperial gallon equal to 5 quarts, American?

Yes.

I vaguely recall conversation by my folks, when buying gasoline during trips to Nova Scotia and PEI (which has long had the litre of milk in a plastic bag that you put in a pitcher doohickey). First, they'd calculate the Ca-US $ exchange rate, then the size difference of Imperial vs. American gallon. It was very mathy.

Yeah, I remember my dad going through that. We used to have a camper for our '70 Ford pickup truck - the truck had been modified with an extra 20 gallon tank. So my dad would top off both tanks before entering Canada, which minimised the number of expensive imperial gallons he had to buy. At one point a Canadian border guard complained about this....

I think the only answer here is people are a little crazy sometimes.

Oh, but that's the answer to so many things! Well, I guess I'll have to settle with that. I will also like to attribute to that the fact that I needed a few seconds to even imagine that there are people who never heard of the concept that is so familiar and commonplace here.

Thanks for all your efforts, you guys. Google is a thing of wonder, but Buffistas are doing the very same thing, with an addition of suggestions, options, solutions and opinions, all topped by snark. No program can ever do that.

[Edit: 86=43*2. There are plenty of programs which can do that, and you'll just have to take my word for not being one. Of course, no program will ever be this obssessed with Israeli chocolate-milk baggies which are fun to drink from (being, for example, unable to drink), so that may be a proof in and of itself.]

The other day I went to this fancy candy store and asked for half a pound of Gumi Bears. The clerk asked me if I was German. Then she told me that unlike almost eveyone, I pronounced "Gumi" the correct German way (as the Germans prefected Gumi technology first).

The supposedly correct way to pronounce it is "GOO-me." Most people pronounce it "gummy."

When I was in Guatemala, if you bought soda at the carts in the street ,instead of giving you the bottle, they would open the bottle, pour it into a little sandwich baggie, and hand that to you with a straw.

actually, I think it was the biteing of the bag that may have appalled her - I can't go to a reastrant where they don't give me a straw - unless it is a formal restaurant. there is something about straws here. so if you had to poke the bag with a straw it might have been ok.

I just caught up. Some impressions:

Happy Wedding! Happy Birthdays!

The balance beam is not all that bad, as far as gymnastics goes, if what you're doing is relatively simple, and not upside down. You instinctively fall away from it, though I have fallen on it a number of times. It's not really as bad as you'd think. The bars are inherently painful, even if you're doing them perfectly. The floor is quite often painful, since it is so easy to slam into. The vault? Terrifying. You should not have to run at anything. So, basically, I'm with Kristen.

I saw bits of the R. Kelly video on "Best Week Ever." So incredibly weird. And funny.

Mayonnaise is gross.

And some questions:

Also, why on earth is it so hard for Kelly Monaco and Alec Mazo to do publicity? Why?? Don't they understand that I am desperate for something to feed my DwtS obsession?

And finally, I submitted my resume to a job that I really, really, really, really want, and I want them to call me right this very second. Why are they taking their time about it? Why??

Nilly, I will come as soon as is feasible, and, unless my children are the subjects of dangerous psychological experiments in the meantime (other than the ones I perform routinely, that is), I can nearly guarantee they'll drink chocolate milk from most containers, possibly even shoes.

In Malaysia, the coffee came in baggies like that also, but as it was a little warm, there would be a plastic clamp with a loop around the top of the bag, so you could hold that. Or hang it on something nearby. Like a chain-link fence, while you waited for the bus. I only got it once, as they put butter in the coffee, which I really didn't ...

What is up with the butter in coffee? My evil exboyfriend's grandmother put Margarine (oleo, maybe, to some here) in her coffee. I never got that. She was not Malaysian, by the by. She was some mix of British Isles ancestry--white American Protestant. I almost lost my lunch when I saw her do it.