Misc comments 54

[redbird]

Misc comments 54 (from two years ago, but apparently never posted):

[To a locked post] It occurs to me that when people talk about the value of hanging onto things, because they have memories, versus the value of decluttering, there's almost never a mention of things that it's good to throw away even if you have physical space for them. That the mere fact that an object carries memories doesn't make them, or it, positive.

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Prompted by oursin pointing to yet another "the average person has only read a few of these" articles (but not by the contents of said article or list):

I am never quite sure whether those "most people have only read 6 of these 100 [presumably important] books" are intended to make the reader of the article feel superior because s/he has read more than that, or to make people feel bad that they have only read five or six. Or perhaps to make the list-compilers feel superior, because they get to judge "importance" and be listened to.

What I'm reasonably sure of is that the "average person" has spent less time reading, and more time watching television and movies, than I have; if it was "the average person has only seen six of the most important hundred movies ever," I suspect the only way I would get to six is if they skewed it just right to catch the time in my relative youth when I was watching movies semi-regularly, either in theaters or on TV. The way some people stop reading when they leave school? That's close to my experience of film.

So I wonder, not for the first time, how much of it is "you should read more" and how much is "you should choose your reading differently."

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To hobbitbabe, who is writing about a tourist visit to New York City:

I'm enjoying reading these, and I'm glad you got up to Inwood Hill Park and liked it.

You're right that bodegas don't generally have the word "bodega" in their names. I'm not sure why. If I recall correctly, they occasionally are "something or other grocery" and sometimes just have signs that advertise a few of their main products ("sodas, bieres, frutas y vegetales" or similar: if a bodega carries meat the sign will probably say "carnes" or "carniceria," because not all of them do). I don't know if the shopkeepers think the English "grocery" will sound better in the name, if they bother with either.

A lot of supermarkets don't have signs saying "supermarket," though they might have "market" or "grocery" in their names. (Or just a large sign that says "QFC" or "Safeway" and you either already know or can tell from the size of the place and the signs advertising some of what they have inside.)

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[amaebi.livejournal.com]

The bodegas I've most regularly seen call themselves bodegas have tended to sell supplies for spells.