# Why MrExcel is like Hitch Hiking



## xlHammer (Aug 15, 2008)

Consider the hitch hiker, essentially car-less and potless but in need of getting from A to B. So what does he do? (could a she as well obviously) He puts his faith in humanity and his thumb out in the hope that a charitable and car-owning person will see him and give him a lift.

Now fast forward a few years, Hitch has graduated college, got a job and a home and possibly a family, but crucially he now has a car to call his own. He's heading off on a trip and as he's approaching the motorway junction when he's sees a youngster with his thumb out hoping for a lift.

Hitch is reminded of his own youth and how grateful he was to those who picked him up. 'I can't pay those people back,' he thinks 'but I can pass the favour on.' He pulls over and Hitch2 gets in.

Ok so far? My theory is that this is a parallel with how MrExcel works. The 'hitcher' lacking in excel expertise (a car) puts out their thumb (posts a thread) in the hope that a charitable car-owner (excel geek) will give them a lift (answer their post). Time passes and the newbie acquires their own car  (becomes proficient in excel) and begins to give lifts to new hitchers (answer posts) themselves. Hitch may never be able to pay back those who gave him a lift, but he can demonstrate his gratitude by passing on the favour. That is my theory and that is why MrExcel is like hitch hiking.

Discuss.

Rob


----------



## cornflakegirl (Aug 15, 2008)

I think it's a good analogy - as you will also get posters on here who say the equivalent of "I can't take you the whole way, but I can take you as far as the Basingstoke roundabout".

Probably safer though


----------



## RoryA (Aug 15, 2008)

I'd probably stay where I was rather than get dropped off at Basingstoke, but I take your point.


----------



## Gerald Higgins (Aug 15, 2008)

If somebody asked you for a lift, got a lift from you, sat next to you in silence and jumped out of the car without saying thanks, that would be exactly like SOME experiences on ME 

If somebody in England said "Can you give me a lift to Birmingham", and you offered them a lift to Birmingham, England, and when they'd got in the car they said, "Oh, I meant Birmingham, Alabama. No, not Birmingham Alabama, I meand San Francisco. And I want to bring my 8 friends along. And we need to go via Paris. And we really need to go by train," that would be like SOME experiences on ME


----------



## cornflakegirl (Aug 15, 2008)




----------



## Jonmo1 (Aug 15, 2008)

That was hallarious Gerald...Although I don't think ANYONE, even posters here, would be physically located in England and ask to hitch a rid to Birmingham Alabama...LOL.

Now what would be the MrExcel Equivelant of the Hitch Hiker who happens to be an axe murderer ? Thankfully, I don't think I've seen that Hitcher here yet...


----------



## xyzabc198 (Aug 15, 2008)

Urmm...a hitcher who's trying to get advice on how to put a virus on an excel database to email to people?


----------



## xlHammer (Aug 15, 2008)

Or when there are a number of hitch hikers all holding up signs showing where they want to go and amoungst them is one guy just holding a sign that says 'Need Lift, Very Urgent'. And every now and then he keeps pushing to the head of the queue.


----------



## xyzabc198 (Aug 15, 2008)

And what is the MrExcel equivelant of that? A thread spammer would fit the cutting the line bit, but Im not sure about the rest...


----------



## cornflakegirl (Aug 15, 2008)

Rob, I think the analogy may be breaking down here a little... because I wouldn't stop the car for someone who couldn't be bothered to say where he's going, but I do quite often take a look at those threads, because I am nosy 

(Although not the ones that bump, because I mainly do that in unanswered threads.)


----------



## kgkev (Aug 15, 2008)

Why Basingstoke???


BTW Which roundabout are you on about?  There are so many!!

I have a 4 mile bike ride to work and have to navigate 8 roundabouts.


Not much chance of picking someone up who's gonna attack you here.


----------



## xlHammer (Aug 15, 2008)

cornflakegirl said:


> Rob, I think the analogy may be breaking down here a little... quote]
> 
> 
> What if the car broke down ... and the hitcher had to get out and push ... that would be like when ... um ... no it's gone.


----------



## RoryA (Aug 15, 2008)

"Need lift - Marco go Birmingham."?
Of course, we already know that Marco runs fast, so he probably wouldn't bother hitching.


----------



## cornflakegirl (Aug 15, 2008)

kgkev said:


> Why Basingstoke???



It's a (half-remembered) Douglas Adams' quote...


----------



## RoryA (Aug 15, 2008)

cornflakegirl said:


> It's a (half-remembered) Douglas Adams' quote...


 
*"Excuse me?" said Arthur. "Are you trying to tell me that we just stuck out our thumbs and some green bug-eyed monster stuck his head out and said, Hi fellas, hop right in. I can take you as far as the Basingstoke roundabout?"*


----------



## cornflakegirl (Aug 15, 2008)

"It claimed to produce the widest possible range of drinks personally matched to the tastes and metabolism of whoever cared to use it. When put to the test, however, it invariably produced a plastic cup filled with a liquid which was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea."

He was a very funny man.


----------



## Lewiy (Aug 15, 2008)

> <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>





> the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1lace w:st="on">Basingstoke</st1lace> roundabout<o></o>


<o></o>
<o> </o>
Actually this is a fairly accurate part of the analogy…Hitch hops into my car in <st1:City w:st="on">Reading</st1:City> and asks for the <st1lace w:st="on">Basingstoke</st1lace> Roundabout… “Which one?”, I say…….. “I’ll know it’s the right one when I see it”, he(or she) replies.  “Ok, so which direction should we set off in?”, I ask. “Umm, well, I don’t really know the way, so let’s start by heading to <st1lace w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">London</st1:City></st1lace> and see if that helps”, Hitch answers.<o></o>
<o> </o>
Many people know what they want to achieve, but don’t know how to get there and their initial idea of how it might be achieved is completely wrong/mis-guided.<o></o>
<o> </o>
(for those of you who don’t know, <st1:City w:st="on">London</st1:City> is the opposite direction from <st1:City w:st="on">Reading</st1:City> that <st1lace w:st="on">Basingstoke</st1lace> is)<o></o>


----------



## Domski (Aug 15, 2008)

> That was hallarious Gerald...Although I don't think ANYONE, even posters here, would be physically located in England and ask to hitch a rid to Birmingham Alabama...LOL.


 
Even the Brummies get confused so anyone else could: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7560392.stm


----------



## Cindy Ellis (Aug 15, 2008)

rorya said:


> "Need lift - Marco go Birmingham."?
> Of course, we already know that Marco runs fast, so he probably wouldn't bother hitching.




I work with Marco...he's on his way to Hawaii tomorrow   He doesn't plan to run at all there, even though he runs faster in other location.


----------



## Lewiy (Aug 15, 2008)

Does anyone else find it slightly ironic that Birmingham City Council would, in celebration of their recycling efforts, print nearly three-quarters-of-a-million glossy leaflets??!!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>


----------



## Lewiy (Aug 15, 2008)

Cindy Ellis said:


> I work with Marco...he's on his way to Hawaii tomorrow  He doesn't plan to run at all there, even though he runs faster in other location.


 
That would explain where my Marco's gone


----------



## RoryA (Aug 15, 2008)

Lewiy said:


> Does anyone else find it slightly ironic that Birmingham City Council would, in celebration of their recycling efforts, print nearly three-quarters-of-a-million glossy leaflets??!!<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>


 
It's certainly right up there with the town council that put up braille versions of some public notices, but put them behind glass in a cabinet...


----------



## cornflakegirl (Aug 15, 2008)

I agree that it's amusing, but I don't think it's actually stupid. It's probably a fairly cost and resource efficient way of encouraging people to recycle more, which I assume is the actual point of the communication.

(I'm on holiday next week. I'll have a hunt for my sense of humour while I'm gone  )


----------



## Jonmo1 (Aug 15, 2008)

> It's certainly right up there with the town council that put up braille versions of some public notices, but put them behind glass in a cabinet...


 
That's good.  Almost as bad as having Braille on a Drive Up ATM...


----------



## xyzabc198 (Aug 15, 2008)

cornflakegirl said:


> I agree that it's amusing, but I don't think it's actually stupid. It's probably a fairly cost and resource efficient way of encouraging people to recycle more, which I assume is the actual point of the communication.
> 
> (I'm on holiday next week. I'll have a hunt for my sense of humour while I'm gone  )


 
If they want to save money, print on 300gsm paper, still looks good quality, is easy to recycle and cheap on resources too, printing glossy they would need to goto a print company or have an inhouse press themselves...


----------



## Lewiy (Aug 15, 2008)

rorya said:


> It's certainly right up there with the town council that put up braille versions of some public notices, but put them behind glass in a cabinet...


 
This is even worse:
http://www.goodexperience.com/tib/archives/2005/07/mens_room_sign.html


----------



## Lewiy (Aug 15, 2008)

> If they want to save money, print on 300gsm paper, still looks good quality, is easy to recycle and cheap on resources too, printing glossy they would need to goto a print company or have an inhouse press themselves...


 
I think we’re missing the point here…..Birmingham, UK is dull and grey…..therefore much cheaper/eco-friendly to print (hell, you could print it in black and white and no-one would notice), by printing Birmingham, Alabama, they have wasted precious colour ink.


----------



## RoryA (Aug 15, 2008)

That's hilarious!!


----------



## kgkev (Aug 15, 2008)

> encouraging people to recycle more, which I assume is the actual point of the communication.


 
i would be encouraged to recycle more if you put more junk through my door as well..

I wonder if after the leaflet campaign there marketting department reported an increase in paper based recyling by around 780,000 sheets proving the leaflet was indeed effective.


----------



## xyzabc198 (Aug 15, 2008)

Lewiy said:


> I think we’re missing the point here…..Birmingham, UK is dull and grey…..therefore much cheaper/eco-friendly to print (hell, you could print it in black and white and no-one would notice), by printing Birmingham, Alabama, they have wasted precious colour ink.




Very true HAHA, I wonder if they mixed there own colours or purchased the colours ready made...hmm...I cant imagine they would have gone to the expense of litho printing them with the cost of the plates and such like, but in such large bulk digi print would have been even more expensive, yet I would bet my hat they overlooked that and Digi printed it


----------



## cornflakegirl (Aug 15, 2008)

kgkev said:


> I wonder if after the leaflet campaign their marketing department reported an increase in paper based recyling by around 780,000 sheets proving the leaflet was indeed effective.


----------



## kgkev (Aug 15, 2008)

it says in the report it cost £15,000

Someone ring protoprint / kallkwik and get a quote for 780,000 prints in litho and digital and find the price.  My guess is that £10,000 of that budget went to some graphic designer who overlooked the graphics they used.


----------



## RoryA (Aug 15, 2008)

kgkev said:


> i would be encouraged to recycle more if you put more junk through my door as well..


This was picked up nicely in a piece of junk mail I had the other day. I noticed that at the bottom of the page there was a suggestion that, in order to be more environmentally friendly, I could go onto the company's website and register for product information via email. So my junk mail is now trying to guilt me into accepting SPAM. Though I suppose it's not technically SPAM if I sign up for it...


----------



## xyzabc198 (Aug 15, 2008)

kgkev said:


> it says in the report it cost £15,000
> 
> Someone ring protoprint / kallkwik and get a quote for 780,000 prints in litho and digital and find the price. My guess is that £10,000 of that budget went to some graphic designer who overlooked the graphics they used.


 
I actually work for a print company, and whilst I'm not going to start quoting prices over the internet...well, the design isn't too good and I would love to see the print quality for that sort of price...


----------



## WillR (Aug 18, 2008)

oops


----------



## xyzabc198 (Aug 19, 2008)

WillR said:


> oops


 What's the oops for?


----------



## WillR (Aug 19, 2008)

xyzabc198 said:


> What's the oops for?



Because i'm stoooopid

Started telling the story of the two Birminghams and then realised it had been linkedto already earlier in the post


----------



## xyzabc198 (Aug 20, 2008)

WillR said:


> Because i'm stoooopid
> 
> Started telling the story of the two Birminghams and then realised it had been linkedto already earlier in the post


 
Oh, ok hehe


----------



## Scott Huish (Aug 21, 2008)

> Consider the hitch hiker, essentially car-less and potless but in need of getting from A to B.


 
potless?


----------



## xlHammer (Aug 22, 2008)

Potless = Boracic lint.


----------



## Cindy Ellis (Aug 22, 2008)

HOTPEPPER said:


> potless?



Per the urban dictionary, potless means "completely out of money".
According to the same dictionary, "boracic lint" means "skint" (never heard of that one either), which also means "having no money" -- "flat broke" in the US.
Ain't slang wonderful?


----------



## xyzabc198 (Aug 22, 2008)

Cindy Ellis said:


> Per the urban dictionary, potless means "completely out of money".
> According to the same dictionary, "boracic lint" means "skint" (never heard of that one either), which also means "having no money" -- "flat broke" in the US.
> Ain't slang wonderful?


 
I knew what both them words meant...because im special I guess 
I love urban dictionaries though, they are lots of fun!


----------



## Cindy Ellis (Aug 22, 2008)

xyzabc198 said:


> ...because im special I guess



So...special translates as "from the UK" ? 
I wish I had some slang to throw back...but the thing about it is that I rarely know what I say that might be lost in translation. 
I've learned more UK slang/terminology just hanging around this lounge than in the rest of my life put together!


----------



## Lewiy (Aug 22, 2008)

> I wish I had some slang to throw back...but the thing about it is that I rarely know what I say that might be lost in translation.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>


<o></o>
<o> </o>
Perhaps grab a few phrases from here!!<o></o>
http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/


----------



## xlHammer (Aug 22, 2008)

Are you 'avin' a bubble?


----------



## xyzabc198 (Aug 22, 2008)

xlHammer said:


> Are you 'avin' a bubble?


 
No I'm not having a bubble, I want an archer and I want one NOW!


----------



## xlHammer (Aug 22, 2008)

A whole Jeffrey? you _are_ 'avin' a bubble, you'll be lucky to get a Lady Godiva. Those septics though eh? they 'aven't got a scooby.


----------



## barry houdini (Aug 22, 2008)

xlHammer said:


> A whole Jeffrey? you _are_ 'avin' a bubble, you'll be lucky to get a Lady Godiva. Those septics though eh? they 'aven't got a scooby.


 
To explain, for those not in the know. A Lady Godiva is half a Paul McKenna, or a hundredth of a monkey. A monkey is ¼ of an "Archer" or 20 ponys


----------



## xlHammer (Aug 22, 2008)

Do me a lemon, Lady Godiva = 5 sovs or half an Ayrton if anything.

Come on you Irons.


----------



## Patience (Aug 22, 2008)

Ayrton... There's one of my old favourites. Think I might start using it again.


----------



## xyzabc198 (Aug 26, 2008)

I used to think I knew a lot about slang...now I just feel like an idiot


----------

