[jhbadger]

Reminds of of the replacement of "threeks" at the UW-Madison campus in the 1980s. At the time, it was common for satirical parties to win student elections and do odd things like cover the campus with plastic flamingos. One of the satirical parties was upset that the UW-Madison cafeteria didn't have true forks (with four tines) but only "threeks" (forks with three tines). So they decided to work with friends at Northwestern university outside Chicago to trade their cafeteria's forks for UW's threeks. They were successful, but obviously both UW's and Northwestern's administration weren't pleased and the trade was reversed.

[wjnc]

Don’t tell me “fork” and “four” are related.

Did my homework: “Old English forca, force (denoting a farm implement), based on Latin furca ‘pitchfork, forked stick’; reinforced in Middle English by Anglo-Norman French furke (also from Latin furca ).”

Four in Latin is quattuor. Scared me there.

[cenamus]

However, Latin quattuor and english four are related through the PIE word kʷetwóres, as basically all words for 4 in indoeuropean languages are

[yard2010]

In my humble linguistics experience where there's smoke there's fire - many new languages words that sound similar may have and common abstract ancestor in one of the old proto languages

[shkkmo]

Yet 'consume' and 'consummate' have entirely separate origins so it isn't always a safe assumption.

[theodric]

I have some Dansk (which is Finnish, because logic is for Vulcans) flatware from the 1970s which instead of having forks has threeks. Still stabs food pretty well.

[SideburnsOfDoom]

No. A forked stick does not have 4 branches, nor does a fork in the road.

[hgomersall]

It definitely is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0CmaLgxLDE0

[hintoftime]

When I went there in 2012, there was a fee each semester for dining hall silverware that goes missing. They assumed that you'd take $60 worth of silverware and plates.

[whamlastxmas]

I’d steal more than $60 worth out of principle

[xattt]

And get your money back by selling for scrap!

Fun fact: replacing copper pipes with PEX during a renovation will often pay for tools and supplies needed for the replacement when the copper is taken for scrap.

[fuzzy_biscuit]

Is that fun fact legitimate? I know that you can get a premium for copper (see: tweakers who rip out pipes in open buildings and sell it), but the ratio here seems improbable, at least.

[schiem]

According to copper.orgs fact page, the "average" single family home (whatever that means) has 151 pounds of copper pipe. The current scrap price for #1 copper where I live is $2.88. That comes out to around $446.

That would maybe cover the cost of the pex itself, OR the cost of fittings and tools, but probably not both.

[chiffre01]

I'd argue keep the copper in place as much as possible. PEX is plastic. I'm sure it contributes to all the microplastics/PFAS we see all over the place.

[NoMoreNicksLeft]

Honestly don't know which pipe is worse. I've had to crawl underneath my house 4 times to repair pinholes, but squirrels seem to think pex is made out of some sort of heroin candy. They can't get enough. Sadly, I've never gotten any video of what they think of the relatively high pressure water at the center of this candy... might've be some small consolation.

[FireInsight]

Why weren't the administrations pleased and why is it obvious? Did they stop the trade completely or truly reverse it afterwards?

[jhbadger]

Yes, they made the schools reverse the trade. While it was done in a spirit of fun, it was technically a theft of utensils from both schools.