on coping with C19 lockdown

[Conor Dary]

The whole article is really a hoot....obviously some of these people haven't traveled much in a car..I mean traveling the country in a Tesla seems rather dodgy. I've driven across the country several times and I sure wouldn't..

This summer, Katie Jacobs Stanton, a venture capital investor living in Los Altos, Calif., saw her moment for a fresh start.

In August, Ms. Jacobs Stanton gave away most of her possessions, bought a Tesla and prepared to hit the open road with Taco, her golden retriever. “I had this image of a glorious, beautiful American landscape and mom-and-pop, Main Street U.S.A.,” she said.

She found a different reality. First, someone stole her Tesla. (The police recovered it.) Then her first stop, Reno, was grim. “It’s a very sad city,” she said. In Tahoe, wildfires raged. In Bozeman, Mont., Taco became sick. A trip to a veterinarian led to emergency surgery; Taco had eaten a tube sock.

She froze while camping in snowy Yellowstone and stressed over the icy roads. Then her daughter in college got the coronavirus, and Taco needed more surgery. (Both recovered.) On top of it all, people in small towns she visited didn’t wear masks and were hostile about it.

By late October, she was ready to call her gap year short. “I think I just want to go back home,” she said. “No more road trips for Katie Stanton.”

[Atticus]

I've seen both terms used FWIW.

'Line trimmer' as opposed to 'hedge trimmer'. Weed-whacker must be what the low-brow hoi polloi must use.

[lonewolf]

Yes, us low brow hoi poi call em weed "whacker" not "wacker"

[Atticus]

Yes, us low brow hoi poi call em weed "whacker" not "wacker"

And the essential difference in pronunciation is . . . ?

I just realized that I've heard them referred to more as 'weed-eaters'.

[gm]

Weed-eater is the proper term :-}

[Trickstat]

Weed-eater is the proper term :-}

I thought people preferred to smoke it!

[gh]

turns out that Weed Eater is a brand name

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weed_Eater

[bad hammy]

The Google has spoken! Based on Google hits we have a clear winner. Personally I've been in the weed whacker camp (maybe a west coast thing?) and never heard of strimmer before today.


string trimmer - 10,300,000
strimmer - 5,400,000
weed eater - 4,800,000
line trimmer - 1,330,000
weed whacker - 1,020,000
weed wacker - 906,000

[Tuariki]

The Google has spoken! Based on Google hits we have a clear winner. Personally I've been in the weed whacker camp (maybe a west coast thing?) and never heard of strimmer before today.


string trimmer - 10,300,000
strimmer - 5,400,000
weed eater - 4,800,000
line trimmer - 1,330,000
weed whacker - 1,020,000
weed wacker - 906,000

Is Geoffrey Toobin a weed wacker or a strimmer?

[lonewolf]

And the essential difference in pronunciation is . . . ? .

whak vs. wak to make a fine point. doesn't matter, you will not be able to make the distinction for the noise

[tandfman]

And the essential difference in pronunciation is . . . ?

There is a difference between whacker and wacker if you are one of those people (like me) who thinks that where and wear should not be pronounced the same way.

[gh]

There is a difference between whacker and wacker if you are one of those people (like me) who thinks that where and wear should not be pronounced the same way.

me too

[tandfman]

That having been said, I suspect that the few times in my life I've ever actually spoken those words, I've pronounced it weed wacker rather than weed whacker. Given the context in which I referred to the thing, it would have been logical for me to pronounce it that way. 😉

[Atticus]

There is a difference between whacker and wacker if you are one of those people (like me) who thinks that where and wear should not be pronounced the same way.

I know the voiceless wh sound, but I doubt very many people make the distinction. Wiki sez its a South thang, but I don't hear it here.
Saying it to myself just now, I might make the distinction in weather and whether.

[gm]

Quite relevant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZmqJQ-nc_s