Daftest or most humourous thing you`ve been asked for/about

AdrianWint:

I was also told that, in days long gone, one of the reasons that the older generation feared electricity is that they believed it was some kind of invisible water like substance. One popular myth is that if you left the lamp out of a fitting with the switch on, this invisible 'electric water' would drip out of the lampholder during the night & pool on the floor. If you stepped in it the next morning it would kill you.

Sounds rather like the medicine of Galen!

Chris Pearson:

It's a funny old thing. Sockets unequivocally up = off, down = on. Lights up = off, down = on, both up or both down = off. 


So why is up = on in a CU? ??

It's a peculiarly UK things to have up for off(*) - most of the rest of the world (including the continent) are the other way around - hence when we started using European/international standards for CU components we adopted the more common arrangement. Lightswitches we can still orient whatever way we prefer.


(*) actually not all UK switches are meant to be up for off - I recall as a child noticing that the toggle switch on a bacon slicer in a local shop was "upside down" (this was long before Harmonization) and asked about it - the shopkeeper explained it was deliberate since in an emergency it was somewhat quicker and easier to slam the switch down in a hurry than getting your hand in position between the counter and the underside of the switch and flicking up upwards.


   - Andy.

AdrianWint:

"Electricity is like a kind of water"


Remember when you leave batteries in something too long and they leak? That's the electricity coming out!


I was also told that, in days long gone, one of the reasons that the older generation feared electricity is that they believed it was some kind of invisible water like substance. One popular myth is that if you left the lamp out of a fitting with the switch on, this invisible 'electric water' would drip out of the lampholder during the night & pool on the floor. If you stepped in it the next morning it would kill you.

And this is exactly why I wear rubber soled slippers in the morning. 

AJJewsbury:

Chris Pearson:

It's a funny old thing. Sockets unequivocally up = off, down = on. Lights up = off, down = on, both up or both down = off. 


So why is up = on in a CU? ??

It's a peculiarly UK things to have up for off(*) - most of the rest of the world (including the continent) are the other way around - hence when we started using European/international standards for CU components we adopted the more common arrangement. Lightswitches we can still orient whatever way we prefer.


(*) actually not all UK switches are meant to be up for off - I recall as a child noticing that the toggle switch on a bacon slicer in a local shop was "upside down" (this was long before Harmonization) and asked about it - the shopkeeper explained it was deliberate since in an emergency it was somewhat quicker and easier to slam the switch down in a hurry than getting your hand in position between the counter and the underside of the switch and flicking up upwards.

The way I think of it is that if you slip off a ladder (tall or short) you are more likely to tip a switch dolly down. That matters for a CU, but not really for an ordinary switch.


Mrs P, who comes from the Americas seems to be used to the other way about.


Your local grocer must have been very modern - ours was still hand-cranked. ?