response 51 of 239:

Oct 14 15:20 UTC 2003

Is your "Jet Dry" supply empty?

response 53 of 239:

Oct 14 19:16 UTC 2003

The apartment complex manager said this problem happens sometimes if 
the water softener for the building is on the fritz.  I guess they 
fixed that yesterday.  I tried my dishwasher last night.  It didn't get 
rid of all the film left on the dishes that I hadn't scrubbed by hand. 
It did handle the ones I'd washed by hand, though.  If I run the rest 
through another time or two, they'll probably be fine as well.

response 55 of 239:

Oct 16 17:35 UTC 2003

I don't know who softens the water in Tecumseh.  I do know the water in 
Lenawee County is the hardest water I've ever seen.  When I lived 
outside nearby Clinton and our water softener was low on salt, taking a 
shower was a horrid experience.  That film that was on my glasses would 
stick to my skin just as well.  I'd come out of the shower and feel 
dirtier than when I'd gotten in it.

I fear to know what would have happened if it'd ever run out.  Since I 
didn't notice any broken glasses or other dishes, I presume it didn't 
get that bad last week.

response 57 of 239:

Oct 20 07:52 UTC 2003

  Not the most pressing short question, but perhaps someone here can
  satisfy a point of curiosity for me.  I recently rewatched the film
  "Cold Comfort Farm", a British period comedy which made a joke out
  of the phrase "something nasty in the woodshed."  I've seen and read
  other British humor which has riffed on that phrase, too.  However,
  although the nature of the "something nasty in the woodshed" is
  usually pretty apparent from context the origin of the phrase itself
  remains a complete mystery to me. 

  Does anyone know where it comes from originally?

response 59 of 239:

Oct 20 16:24 UTC 2003

<reads #58 twice, then laughs>

response 61 of 239:

Oct 20 18:38 UTC 2003

It comes from Stella Gibbons' book "Cold  Comfort Farm" (1932). There
is a review at http://www.catharton.com/stellagibbons/worksfarm.html
that remarks upon 'Stella's most profound feat of comic invention centres
round the famous phrase: "something nasty in the woodshed."'

response 63 of 239:

Oct 20 19:44 UTC 2003

That's a good question as there could have been a use of the phrase in
Cockney or other English slang and Gibbons picked it up for her spoof of
English country life. But apparently it was her use of it that set it free
into popular use.

However it doesn't seem uncommon for authors to popularize expressions,
comic or otherwise. 

I just finished a crossword puzzle that used as answers now popular
expressions that (it claimed) all originated in one work of fiction.  The
expressions are "thank you for nothing", "the sky's the limit", "mum's the
word", "no love lost", "give the devil his due", "stone's throw", and
"smell a rat". Can you name that work?

response 65 of 239:

Oct 21 03:07 UTC 2003

Re #63:  After some painstaking, arduous research (read: spend five
minutes typing stuff into Google) it doth appear that the work in
question is _Don Quixote_ by Cervantes.  In fact, I came across a
website that lists many many expressions from Quixote.  Among the
more familiar:

  o As ill-luck would have it.
  o Which I have earned with the sweat of my brows.
  o Can we ever have too much of a good thing.
  o Plain as the nose on a man's face.
  o Out of the frying-pan into the fire.
  o Bell, book, and candle.
  o Let the worst come to the worst.
  o Why do you lead me a wild-goose chase?
  o I find my familiarity with thee has bred contempt.
  o Sure as a gun.
  o Sing away sorrow, cast away care.
  o Thank you for nothing.
  o Murder will out.
  o It is the part of a wise man ... not to venture
     all his eggs in one basket.
  o Within a stone's throw of it.
  o Let us make hay while the sun shines.
  o Every man for himself, and God for us all.
  o I shall cry my eyes out.
  o A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
  o Here is the devil-and-all to pay.
  o I begin to smell a rat.
  o Faint heart never won fair lady.
  o Let every man look before he leaps.
  o He has an oar in every man's boat, and a finger in every pie.
  o The proof of the pudding is the eating.
  o It is good to live and learn.
  o He is as mad as a March hare.
  o I must follow him through thick and thin.
  o There is no love lost between us.
  o All is not gold that glitters.
  o Honesty is the best policy.
  o I have other fish to fry.
  o All in good time.
  o Matters will go swimmingly.
  o Good wits jump; a word to the wise is enough.
  o You cannot eat your cake and have your cake.
  o The pot calls the kettle black.
  o When thou art at Rome, do as they do at Rome.
  o Many count their chickens before they are hatched.
  o Rome was not built in a day.

If Cervantes truly invented all of the above, this is astounding.  See
http://www.literatureclassics.com/browselitquotes.asp?subcategory=SU&author
=Sa
avedra
for a longer list.

Shakespeare was also a great creator of language.  When ever I read
some Shakespeare or see it performed, I'm always struck by how many
familiar everyday expressions I hear.  The Bard invented 'em.

<remmers makes a note to himself to read Don Quixote some day>

response 67 of 239:

Oct 21 12:11 UTC 2003

(Time to do some more Googling...)

response 69 of 239:

Oct 27 03:54 UTC 2003

I don't think "something nasty in the woodshed" comes from anyplace other
than the Stella Gibbons book (which was a favorite of mine long before the
movie).  The matriarch in that book saw "something nasty in the woodshed"
and this event has caused her to brood in her room for decades, casting a
dark shadow over Cold Comfort Farm.  The heroine manages to dispell the
cloud, with the help of travel brochures, as well as slicing through many
other knots in the dismal tangle of Cold Comfort Farm.  Part of the charm
of the book is that the "something nasty in the wood shed" and several other
mysteries (including that of the rights due to the heroine) never get
resolved.  They just get swept out the door without further examination.
The knots are cut, not unraveled, and everyone goes free without further
ado.

Rather disappointing to hear that people use the phrase in contexts where
the meaning is obvious.  That's really missing the point.

response 71 of 239:

Oct 27 14:29 UTC 2003

Many mysteries are best savored in an unsolved state.

And the idea that you don't have to deal with the burdens of history, you
can just forget them and get on with life is charming and refreshing.  Every
one in the mideast should read "Cold Comfort Farm" once a week.

response 73 of 239:

Oct 30 02:26 UTC 2003

Browse the "root" of your hard drive, basically the drive letter.  Set the
viewing properties, and from there somehow you select an option to set it for
all subfolders... either from a right-click or in the menus.