[phaedrus]

When I was growing up in the late 80s thru 90s, my family was an early "casualty" of this economic trend. The housing / rental market in Massachusetts was already too expensive and layoffs too rampant for a blue collar family to survive. We had to move across the country.

I remember even as a kid being confused about the Simpsons. It didn't look like my family's situation. It didn't even look like the life of any of the people I knew. They/we lived in houses without switchplates over the outlets. Houses they rent but didn't own, or rent-to-own houses with gotchas in the fine print they didn't understand.

The Simpsons also never went hungry. They had family meals. At my friends' houses we ate microwave potatoes with soda. My family went hungry 3 days at the end of each month.

[twic]

> They/we lived in houses without switchplates over the outlets

What's the significance of this? I think this is a nuance of American wiring that is lost on me, i'm afraid.

[phaedrus]

Yes American outlets are already more dangerous than European style; when the switch plates are missing there are exposed live contacts on the sides.

I don't know why but it stood out to me how many houses (of friends) I saw where all the switchplates were gone. At some point maybe they're removed for painting/wallpaper, or they just break, and either through a lack of money or lack of motivation never get replaced.

[souprock]

Traditional outlets have the plates held on by just one screw. That screw runs through a piece of plastic that is just 0.4 inches (10 mm) wide. The screw pulls the whole plate against the wall, which probably sticks out a bit due to an uneven surface. That stress point, right at the screw, will break.

[realce]

They're poor and their house is pretty shitty.