Let me put you in the picture, let me show you what it means

[venta]

You'd think that, by now, I'd have exhausted all my weird words and phrase. Or, at any rate, learned which ones of them would get me funny looks. Apparently not, though.

Last night I sent a text message which ended "... and once you've found your keys you'll be framing".

I got the response "framing?"

Er... ok. You know the drill now, don't you? Clicky time!

[Poll #1871848]

And not relatedly: microwaves. Why are they so complicated? I don't want to be able to set 10% power for a fish-based plated meal of 350g, I want to choose a time and press "go". Full power.

Do people really use these features? Assuming we're not talking about combination microwaves and ovens, or anything like that, does anyone do anything other than full power, go?

I'm perfectly happy that such microwaves are on offer, for those as want them, but why are there none available which have basically a time dial and a big green button?

[Poll #1871849]

Comments

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

I don't have a microwave at home but for the one at work yeah, it's basically full power for however long it says on the readymeal/soup carton. I have occasionally been known to use the defrost function in an emergency but I don't like it as it always seems to partly cook the edges of the food.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, chicken defrosted in a microwave really terrifies me! It always looks vaguely scary and is definitely cooked about the edges.

[metame.livejournal.com]

Up 'til a couple of months ago I pretty much only used my microwave for the odd bit of defrosting (which I do with the aforementioned changes in power).
Since then it has been all "90 second full power" to heat up a heat-pack, but I'm hoping to get back to the low power stuff evenutally. So I think I need about 3 buttons, rather than the 8 or 10 it has.

[venta.livejournal.com]

heat-pack

Ah yes - onebyone said when I saw him the other day that you were a bit non-optimal in the spinal region at the moment. How's it going?

[metame.livejournal.com]

Very much in "pain management", rather than "getting better" mode still. Physio not able to help much, so an MRI is being scheduled.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Boo! That sounds extremely sucky :(

I guess then there's the problem of whether the MRI finds anything notable - if so, that's bad because Bad Stuff In Your Back, but also good, because at least it might be an identifiable thing which can be tackled.

*hugs*

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Where are you seeing physio? (In a "my physio is lovely and helpful and more usefully, is friends with one of the spinal team who'll be reviewing that MRI" way.)

[glamwhorebunni.livejournal.com]

I believe that microwaves are for full power, but my girlfriend uses their defrost function as well.

[lnr]

I'd work out "framing for *something*" from context, not sure I'd get it on its own. Sorry, not on your side on this one :)

Oh and I mostly do N minutes, nuke - but use the auto-cook function for jacket spuds, the defrost setting for sausages from the freezer (though I pretend they're a chicken quarter), and have recently discovered the lower-power settings are useful for melting chocolate. Sliced bread is defrosted using blasts of 10 seconds of full power at a time though. I use the timer function sometimes too.

Oh, and even though it *has* all the other settings it's still really easy to do N minutes, nuke (just hit the 10 min, 1 min and 10 sec buttons enough times to get the right time then hit nuke) - so I don't see there's any harm in it having the other functions too.

(Stone Roses? Can't remember the name of the track. Half a kudo? The messiah is my sister and all that.)

[venta.livejournal.com]

You can have half a kudo. Would you prefer the ku or the do? (It's called Love Spreads, but you were fairly clear. Also, checking, it seems the words are more correctly let me show you what I mean. No doubt I'll get an earful for that when I get home ;)

Oh, and even though it *has* all the other settings it's still really easy to do N minutes, nuke (just hit the 10 min, 1 min and 10 sec buttons enough times to get the right time then hit nuke) - so I don't see there's any harm in it having the other functions too.

No, I don't really mind the other buttons being there so long as they are avoidable. Our work microwave has an enormous wodge of buttons, and a big dial. I use it only rarely, and I invariably expect the dial to do time so twist it only to find it's offering me different power levels. It's then a bother to get it back to the "just nuke, dammit" setting :)

[lnr]

Ah yes, ours is OK in that respect but a bit weird when you want to use the timer: I assume you need to press the timer button first then set the amount of time, but this starts changing the clock. Instead you're supposed to put the time in first but then press "timer" rather than "nuke".

Oh and I'll have the "ku" please :)

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

I said 'Three minutes, nuke', but for defrosting things or melting things for cooking what I actually do is pick an arbitrary lower percentage of power for a fairly random amount of time and keep an eye on it.

I don't know how to use any of the weird meat, jacket potato etc settings.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I don't think I know how to use micorwaves :)

I often nuke quite small quantities of vegetables (for bento boxes). Sometimes with mixed results. If you put a small quantity of chopped carrot in a microwave, with a little water, on full power for 30 seconds the carrots catch fire.

Yes, really.

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I thought you were giving us a useful recipe... good thing I read to the end! Evidently you didn't kill yourself but I hope you didn't kill the microwave.

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Sarah's microwave has the usual collection of buttons, but one of them - an obvious one - means "add 30 seconds to the timer at full power", so basically you can stick something in and bounce on that button.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's how our work one works. Except it also has a large, tempting dial that I invariably get tempted by and spin and thus set it into some stupid mode.

Today I managed to remember just to hit the 30s button, but that's a rarity (I don't use it often).

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Mine came from Robert Dyas and has a power dial and a time dial and that's it. I use it on half power for 3 minutes to reheat a box of e.g. Chinese food from last night. The gaps in between the zaps give it a chance for the heat to stir itself through the whole box and reduce the frequency of vegetable-explodage.

I also use this for 5 minutes to cook potatoes in a bowl with a plate on top. 5 minutes, rearrange, 3 minutes, done.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Mine came from Robert Dyas and has a power dial and a time dial and that's it.

Sounds great :)

I guess the trouble is, I didn't buy our microwave, I was given it by a friend after she had a rented-house-too-many-microwaves issue. So I didn't choose it. And it was very nice of her to give me hers :)

Since it still works, it doesn't make sense to replace it just because it has a UI which is cleverer than I am. If it blows up (or I kill it in my incendiary carrot experiments) I shall certainly be checking out Robert Dyas or Argos for simpler designs.

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I hate digital microwaves, but you can still get them with 2 dials, one for power, one for time. £32 from Argos last month.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I vastly prefer dials for setting these things, but wouldn't go so far as to say I hate digital microwaves. I mean, they're inferior but I don't hate them.

Are there other reasons you dislike them, or are you just more easily moved to bilious hatred than I am?

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Like showers, what they do is trivial, but manufacturers make them complicated to distinguish them in the marketplace. I think the hatred comes of using other people's microwaves and realising I need a manual to do beans on toast.

[venta.livejournal.com]

...meaning ironically that the best way to distinguish yourself in the marketplace is to be ridiculously simple. The microwave and/or shower equivalent of the big-button phone :)

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

Yes. So showers should have 2 controls, One for waterflow, and one for temperature with memory between showers, so you get what the previous person thought was sensible by default. Travelling for months at a time you get to loather having to do a new high lag feedback calculation first thing every morning. Oh, and hot/cold labelling using embossed letters, not poncy coloured rings that fade.

You are getting me going, soon I'll be framed!

[sammason.livejournal.com]

If you try to frame me for those body parts in the bin bag, I'll figure it out in court.

Meanwhile, my microwave is a livesaver. Really. For this ex-chef, now crip, microwaving can make the difference between getting my meal and swearing at a closed fridge door.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Microwaves really are great for all kinds of reasons. Hurrah for technology making sure you can still get your meal of an evening.

And, as it turns out, more people use the funky features than I'd expected. I'm very much a nuker :)

[sammason.livejournal.com]

Yes, I took a long time to admit that my cooking days are over. Hence all those kitchen electricals ready to give away. Btw anybody reading this who's in the British Isles, if you want kitchen electricals I may be able to help.

When we make the journey to our House B, it really knackers me. One of the things I ask Watson to do is to fetch fish and chips then put it on a plate in front of me. Sometimes it's quite difficult to manage using the cutlery.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Also (belatedly) I note that thus far you're the only person who doesn't think saying "are you framing?" is odd[*]

Is it something you'd say, or just something you're familiar with?


[*] I'm expecting at least one more vote when exspelunca shows up, but she patently doesn't count for validation purposes (she's my mum, and I learned it from her).

[sammason.livejournal.com]

I did think it quite odd, but then I know whose blog this is ;-) I might say it in a conversation about picture framing, maybe in a conversation about crime.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I understand "you've been framed" "framing someone" "being framed" and "framing a picture" but your sentence makes no sense.

My microwave has a dial with only only min, defrost, mid, mid-max and max.

I use defrost for defrosting leftovers from the freezer, max for cooking them, and min for delicate operations such as softening butter.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I suppose (but have no evidence) that framing might be short for something like "establishing a framework". So "I'm framing for leaving" is basically "I am beginning the operations required for leaving and getting ready to go". It then gets abbreviated to just "I'm framing" to mean generally getting ready and becoming sorted.

It's one of those things that I was never aware was unusual, but apparently it really is :(

[pm215]

The OED's cites for 'frame, v' in the "set about, make an attempt to do something" sense predate by a couple of hundred years its first cite for 'framework' in the abstract sense. In fact the whole sense of frame "give structure to, shape, or construct" seems to be a later development (1300s) than older senses of "to further, benefit" and "to accomplish" (which date back to Old English and earlier). So I suspect your folk etymology is a bit heavy on the folk :-)

(I love the way local libraries give free online access to the OED; it's a fantastic timewaster...)

[venta.livejournal.com]

So I suspect your folk etymology is a bit heavy on the folk :-)

It's a fair cop. I was patently making it up as I went along.

Anyway - the net conclusion seems to be that I'm not weird, or in this case northern, I'm just antique :)

(I love the way local libraries give free online access to the OED; it's a fantastic timewaster...)

They do who with the what now? I'm a member of my local library (they've never mentioned it). Where do I sign up?

[pm215]

I think you can now just go to http://www.oed.com/ and it ought to drop down a login box at the top that lets you type in your library card number. Assuming your local library has actually subscribed to the OED's 'remote access' product (most have) it will let you log in and then you can just access the dictionary from anywhere.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, sad to say not all library services have signed up to the OED. But it is rather brilliant.
Ours has a mostly interesting selection of other such free logins as well: http://www.suffolklibraries.co.uk/libraries-and-mobiles/suffolk-reference-direct/

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing ours isn't signed up - I couldn't find details on their website.

I tried typing my library number into the OED box, and it asked me to select my institution from a list. The list offered me Bedfordshire County Library or "TAKEWA". I don't think I'm either of those, so I'm guessing my local library isn't an option. I'll ask them about it next time I'm in.

Aha! No! I have located the info! I have to sign in prefixing my library number with "EAL" (for Ealing).

Crap, now I'm never going to get any useful work done today :)

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

My economy-destroying task for today is done :-)

[ceb.livejournal.com]

"I'm framing for leaving"

Now that you say that it's starting to ring a bell.

You should definitely be allowed to keep your access to language, you keep the rest of us entertained with it :-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

I do exist largely for entertainment reasons :)

[cleanskies.livejournal.com]

Defrost. Don't forget defrost.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Defrost? That's nuke for a short period, right?

Or leave on the worktop.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

None of your microwave poll answers are much good for me since I'm awkward like that.

I use my microwave a lot and for all sorts of things, but I can't choose the top answer because I don't use arcane features of the device to accomplish this. Similarly, the word "complicated" doesn't seem to fit. For me, using microwaves is all about knowing when to cut things up and when to add water and when to cover things and what cooking times things need. Give me a fancy feature on my microwave and I'll... forget how it works. In fact I'll probably forget it's even there!

[venta.livejournal.com]

I may not have phrased my poll answers very well, but from what you've written I think you agree with me :) Microwaves don't need fancy features, they need a means to make them go for a set time.

By "complicated", I just meant a selection from the micro's menu that was more complex than "select time, go". Knowing when to cut things up, cover them, etc is independent from that.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Yes, in that case I'm agreeing with you. :-)

(In fact even setting the time shouldn't be necessary. A microwave was developed that auto-stops when the food in it is cooked, but it wasn't a bit commercial success so it disappeared again!)

[rabbit1080.livejournal.com]

I no longer own a microwave - I wasn't using it much anyway. I'd use it for veggies, which I now blanch or steam or stir-fry instead. "Nuke for 3 minutes" then keep a vague eye on the contents seemed to work fine, back when I used to microwave stuff.

I agree that microwave control-panels are outrageously complicated these days.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

More accurately, I do exactly one other thing which is only slightly more complicated, namely the defrost setting.
This is for when I've got something out of the freezer that I'm going to be cooking anyway but it's a pain to do so from frozen (like frying sausages).

[venta.livejournal.com]

If I have frozen things, my experience is that vegetably things can be safely defrosted on nuke, and meat will come out terribly regardless of how you do it. Accordingly, I don't need a defrost setting :)

I guess there may be categories of vegetably thing (like veggie sausages) that I don't interact with that don't quite fit into either situation.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, it's only really the veggie sausage kind of category I use it for. Actual vegetables I would usually just cook from frozen (also maybe using the microwave, but on full if so).

[exspelunca.livejournal.com]

Framing - blame your grandad as it came from him, presumably via me. It is used in the sense of being set up and ready to go/do something and could be naval slang as much of his was.
Microwave? Nah. Takes up too much worktop space in relation to use I'd get from it.