Warning: if you're not this tall, don't click through on the link. Adults only. Etc.

Got pointed at this by a blog: The 1159 Naughty Words. It's a list of words with which you are not allowed to personalize jerseys bought at NFL Shops. (I don't know what they call jerseys in the UK, but I'm sure it's good. Also, I think NFL stands for National Football League, and football is the American variety.)

They're called jerseys, amazingly enough!

I thought they were called sweaters in the US? We use both terms pretty well interchangeably - at least I do - someone may well correct me and explain the difference.

sweaters

No, a sweater here is of wool or wool-analog. What you probably call a pullover or cardigan. Sweats, short for sweat-suit (?), might be applicable.

A Jersey is a kind of woollen garment (sweater, woolly, pullover) whose style originated on the Channel Island of Jersey. I believe it's to do with the formation of the sleeves that makes the difference between a Jersey and any other kind of woollen.

On the nearby island of Guernsey they have a similar kind of garment - called, would you believe, a Guernsey.

And that words list. 60 NINE or 60NINE are both proscribed but, I assume, 69 is OK since it's not mentioned.

Interesting that SI, JA, and YES are OK but OUI is not. And MASTURBATE is OK, but only if it's spelled correctly.

I think I'll just leave my NFL jersey blank.

The list probably only contains words that somebody has attempted to have put on a jersey.

Most US jerseys are either cotton or some synthetic cotton-like material. Not wool. (Maybe the earlier ones werre.)

The list probably only contains words that somebody has attempted to have put on a jersey.

Yes, otherwise the potential variations are endless (e.g., FELL8R).

Come to think of it, I know there's a list and a person responsible to check out proposed vanity plates in California (DMV) to make sure nothing untoward is put on them.

It would be fun to find a copy of that list.

I recall hearing of one that snuck through, to their embarassment, and was banned the following year. It said TIHS.

What's wrong with that? Consider what you'd see if that car were behind you, and you were looking it in your rear-view mirror. Mirror images, you know ...

I'm reminded of when calculators were new. I was in elementary school. One of our kid magazines had a column about how to put messages on your calculator. My favorite was to put in 07734, which when you turned it over, would say hello (sorta).

Ahh - the good ole' days.

Lol - my family's first calculator had a red LED.

Ooh - showing my age

The first electric calculator I used inhigh school, used what appeared to be little neon tubes to display digits. It was made by Lytton, IIRC, and was as big as a bread basket.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jheem, March 16, 2005 11:31

Yup - sounds familiar, jheem . . .although the first one I actually used was a little more advanced than that.

I also remember when we got our first curling iron.

The first one I had was an Olivetti - and you had to pull a handle to make it work. All it would do is add and subtract and it cost about £30 - probably three weeks wages at the time.

I also remember when we got our first curling iron.

The first curling iron I remember seeing was not electric. You heated it up on the stove, I suppose. It was not being used at the time, but my grandmother explained what it was.

quote:

Originally posted by jheem:
The first electric caclulator I used inhigh school, used what appeared to be little neon tubes to display digits.

Nixie tubes!

Nixie tubes!

Yup, them's they!

quote:

...you had to pull a handle to make it work. All it would do is add and subtract

That sounds similar to the Burroughs ones we used at work in the 60s. They took up about the desk space of a large typewriter, but were twice as high. Although they ran on that new-fangled electricity stuff, they often broke down and we had to use a handle instead.

Nowadays for some of them programs you not only need a handle but a password as well. Is this progress?