Issue #2520
- WEALTHY: Your stop-loss points could be working against you (Rick Pendergraft)
- HEALTHY: It may not boost your metabolism, but… (Craig Ballantyne)
- WISE: Jean Kerr on airplanes
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- 7 rules for your next plane trip (Suzanne Richardson)
- These blunders can be funny, but not if you’re the one who’s making them… (Don Hauptman)
- It’s Fun to Know… about Pilgrim fashion
- Add “conflate” to your vocabulary
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Keep Yourself in Trades by Widening Your Stance
In golf, when you are putting in the wind, you have to widen your stance.
In volatile markets, this rule can be adapted to apply to trading as well. It may seem like strange advice, but in times of extreme volatility, you need to widen your stop-loss points. Most people think you have to do the opposite and tighten them.
Let me explain: When the market is swinging back and forth wildly, movement within a day can knock you out of a position. Then, when the market swings back in the direction you were counting on, you will have been stopped out… and missed the gains you should have had.
It’s frustrating when a trade goes against you. But it is even more frustrating when you are in a trade, get stopped out, and then the trade turns around.
Take my advice and loosen up your stops a little. You still need to set stop-loss points, but when the market is volatile, you want your stops to be nearly impossible to reach within normal market activity. What constitutes “normal” activity keeps changing. What seems normal now would have been considered insane just a few months ago.
[Ed. Note: The market may be volatile, but it still offers plenty of ways to profit. Loosening up your stop-loss points could keep you ready to tackle opportunities as soon as they present themselves. Market analyst Rick Pendergraft has put together an educational program that lays out the simple steps you need to take advantage of these chances to prosper. Not only do you get three months of Rick's best recommendations, you also learn how to make good investment choices yourself. Get the details here.]
”I feel about airplanes the way I feel about diets. It seems to me that they are wonderful things for other people to go on.”
Jean Kerr
The Grouchy Traveler’s Guide to Airplane Etiquette
Traveling. You’re stuffed into a tiny metal cylinder for hours at a time. You’re cramped. You’re hungry. You’re slammed up against a stranger. So why make it any worse than it has to be?
But some people seem to think that the world exists for them and them alone.
Take, for instance, the gentleman who sat down beside me on my flight home after Bootcamp, pulling on the seat in front of him as he eased into his. He proceeded to pick his nose, sneezed, and then kept creeping into my personal space. (Every time his arm touched mine, I’d squinch a little closer to the window. Only to feel his arm touching mine – again.)
The two hours I spent on that plane rank right up there with getting my wisdom teeth removed as one of my top-10 most uncomfortable experiences. (At least I was knocked out for the wisdom teeth!)
Travel – extra costs, constant delays, overworked airport personnel – is already high-stress. And with the holidays coming up, you’re probably going to see bigger crowds and feel even more frazzled.
Here are seven rules to make sure you never drive your seatmate as crazy as mine drove me. They’ll make you a lot more pleasant to travel with. And here’s hoping your good manners will rub off on those around you.
Travel Manners Rule #1. Keep it down.
iPods are super. Portable DVD players – great. But I don’t want to listen to the latest Jonas Brothers CD or listen to you guffaw at Steve Carell’s antics in Get Smart. Bring headphones with you – noise-canceling headphones. Because they keep outside noise to a minimum, you’ll be able to do your listening at a more reasonable volume. That’ll keep your seatmates happy and protect your hearing. Hold the headphones about a foot away from your body. If you can still hear something, it’s too loud.
Travel Manners Rule #2. Watch what you eat.
Yes, it’s annoying that most airlines have eliminated any sort of food service. But there’s nothing worse than getting my nose up-close-and-personal with my seatmate’s egg salad sandwich and side of Funyuns. Before you wrap up that garlic sausage hoagie to enjoy on the plane, remember – smells that make your mouth water just might curdle someone else’s stomach.
Helena Echlin of Chow.com offers a few suggestions: Bring cold food, which is less aromatic than hot food. (She recommends sushi, wraps, and sandwiches.) Avoid tuna. Skip “crumbly or slithery” foods like crackers and noodles. And give your trash to the flight attendant as soon as possible.
Travel Manners Rule #3. Watch your mouth.
For my last trip to Delray Beach, I’d printed out a stack of articles to edit. When my seatmate sat down, I smiled and agreed that the weather was delightful. But then I got back to reading and making notes. He, however, kept asking me questions and making comments about the weather. Hey – I’m fine with exchanging pleasantries and sharing a little small talk. You never know who you’ll meet on a plane, after all – a potential partner, customer, or future boss. But if I’m reading or sleeping or otherwise engaged, don’t try to strike up a conversation.
A Harris Interactive and Yahoo! FareChase poll found that 50 percent of people surveyed dread sitting next to an overly garrulous seatmate. And a CheapFlights.com survey found that Chatty Cathys are the most offensive violators of airplane etiquette.
Travel Manners Rule #4. Pay attention to boundaries.
• Armrests. I’m sorry if the armrest between us is uncomfortable. But we are already closer than I want to be, and that slim metal rectangle is the only thing separating my space from yours. So keep it down.
• Leg room. Yes, your carry-on is too big to really fit under your seat. But that doesn’t mean you can stretch out your legs under MY seat.
• Under the seat. Your carry-on luggage – that includes your purse, ladies – goes under the seat in front of you. NOT under the seat you’re sitting on. I don’t know why this is the rule, but it is. And if you shove your laptop under your seat, you’re robbing the person sitting behind you of leg room and a space for her own bag.
• Tray tables. I’m happy to keep your drink on my tray table when you head to the bathroom. (Not so much when you’re just sick of having your tray table down.) But ask first.
Travel Manners Rule #5. Keep your toys quiet.
I’m not a parent, so I’m sure there’s more to picking out toys than finding those that might be least annoying to other people on an airplane. But even if that beeping fire truck is Jimmy’s favorite, leave it at home.
Travel Manners Rule #6. Figure out which seat you’re in.
On one of my trips home from Florida, I overheard a conversation I’ve heard a dozen times:
“Oh, I think you’re in my seat.”
“What? I’m in 10C. That’s this one.”
“Um, no it isn’t. You’re sitting in 10D, not 10C. 10C is the aisle seat, not the window.”
“Oh, sorry, I thought it was the window.”
Even if it’s your first time flying – ever – it’s not hard to figure out where you’re sitting. First, look at your ticket. Prominently, under “seat,” you’ll see a number next to a letter. That’s your seat.
Now, take a look around the airplane. Turn (mentally, if you like) toward the front of the airplane. Starting on the left and moving right, the seats will be lettered A to D (or higher). So A is always the window seat. The highest letter (C on most Embraer planes, F on most Boeing 737s, L on Boeing 777s) will also be the window seat.
Once you know which seat you’re meant to be in, sit in it. (If there are empty seats on the plane, you may be able to switch – but only once the doors are closed.) On a flight from Atlanta, I went to sit down and found my seatmate in my window seat. When I smiled and told her she was in my seat, she wasn’t at all surprised. Hoping that I didn’t care enough to call her out? Too bad.
By the way, if you really want a window seat (or aisle), you can choose your seats on most airline websites when you buy your ticket. You can also try to switch your seat when you check in – either online or at the kiosk in the airport.
Travel Manners Rule #7. Be nice.
Traveling puts me on edge. And I’m betting it’s not your favorite thing either. But one way to make it more tolerable – for yourself and everyone around you – is to be friendly, polite, and just plain nice. If you have to ask someone to turn down her iPod or move her drink off your tray table, do so in a gentle, thoughtful manner. It doesn’t take a lot of effort. And it will make the trip a lot easier for everyone involved.
[Ed. Note: These seven "rules of travel" barely scratch the surface of irritating in-flight behavior. What's your biggest airplane etiquette pet peeve? Let us know right here.]
The Truly Wealthy “Fish” in a Different “Lake”
These days, it seems everyone is out to make a quick buck. But they are all fishing in the same pond, so to speak. The real money is in a nearby lake… actually, more like an ocean of profits that almost no one knows about.
Take a walk with me and let me show how you can follow a few simple steps and lure more profits to you on a consistent basis than anything I’ve ever seen.
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3 Reasons to Eat Breakfast
Some experts say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it “boosts your metabolism.” I’m not one of those people. But I do believe you should eat breakfast.
Here’s why:
1. Breakfast starts you out on the right foot. Bill Phillips, author of Body For Life, believes that if you don’t start your day with a good breakfast, it sets a poor precedent. Your mind starts down that dreaded path of, “Oh well, I’ve already blown it, I may as well keep eating whatever I want.”
So wake up on time. Eat the breakfast that is on your meal plan, and you’ll have a better chance of sticking to your daily plan.
2. Folks who eat breakfast tend to maintain their weight loss better than folks who don’t. The research I’ve read has never really explained why – but, hey, it does seem to help.
3. Eating breakfast can help you eat less. Researchers from Toronto have found that folks who eat a high-fiber breakfast tend to reduce the amount of food they eat the rest of the day. They call it the “first meal effect.”
So there you have it. Three good reasons to start your day right with breakfast.
[Ed. Note: Extending your life and living out your years in tip-top health is really a matter of making simple lifestyle choices - like eating a high-protein, low-carb breakfast. For more easy-to-implement ideas about how to live longer and feel better, click here.
In addition to eating right, you can burn fat by following Craig's Turbulence Training exercise program.]
The Language Perfectionist: Mixed-Up Expressions
By Don Hauptman
Recently, a friend of mine, attempting to convey the idea that someone was naive, referred in an article to “a babe in the manger.”
She had, I suspect, conflated the image of an innocent infant (from the story of the birth of Jesus) with the phrase “a dog in the manger” (from one of Aesop’s fables). “A dog in the manger” has an entirely different meaning and moral: You shouldn’t senselessly hoard an item, denying it to someone else even though it’s of no value to you.
Such garbled phrases are called “malapropisms” or “malaphors.” Like the one above, the cause is usually the grafting of one recollected proverb or expression onto another. Examples: “He has a mind like a steel sieve.” “Now I’ve given the cat away.” “It’s not rocket surgery.”
Here are a few more of my favorites:
• Listening to a radio program, I heard a report on an embattled jury deliberation that included this colorful phrase: “It’s the pink elephant in the room.”
• A business colleague overheard this description of something that occurred quickly: “It happened in the blink of a click.”
• In a newspaper article, a clinical psychologist was quoted as saying, “The idea that there is some normal level of sexual functioning drives me up the creek.”
These gaffes are often amusing, although the joke is usually at the expense of the hapless writer or speaker. Don’t be the target of this sort of embarrassing humor. Always review your writing to ensure that it’s free of inadvertent malapropisms.
[Ed Note: For more than three decades, Don Hauptman was an award-winning independent direct-response copywriter and creative consultant. He is author of The Versatile Freelancer, an e-book recently published by AWAI that shows writers and other creative professionals how to diversify their careers into speaking, consulting, training, and critiquing.]
It’s Fun to Know: Pilgrim Fashion
Remember dressing up as a Pilgrim for your grade school Thanksgiving play? Well, guess what? If your teacher really wanted you to look authentic, she wouldn’t have made you wear that goofy black and white outfit (set off by those ridiculously oversized buckles).
The truth is, those early colonists wore black and white only on Sundays and formal occasions. Pilgrim women typically wore red, green, brown, blue, violet, and gray. Men wore beige, green, and brown. And those buckles? They didn’t become popular until later in the century.
(Source: History.com)
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Word to the Wise: Conflate
To “conflate” (kun-FLATE) – from the Latin for “fuse together” – is to combine different elements.
Example (as used by Don Hauptman today): “Recently, a friend of mine, attempting to convey the idea that someone was naive, referred in an article to ‘a babe in the manger.’ She had, I suspect, conflated the image of an innocent infant (from the story of the birth of Jesus) with the expression ‘a dog in the manger’ (from one of Aesop’s fables).”
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Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
Similar Articles:
- The Grouchy Traveler’s Guide to Airplane Etiquette – Traveling. You’re stuffed into a tiny metal cylinder for hours at a time. You’re cramped. You’re hun…
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- The Language Perfectionist: Mixed-Up Expressions – Recently, a friend of mine, attempting to convey the idea that someone was naive, referred in an art…
- 3 Reasons to Eat Breakfast – Some experts say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it “boosts your metabo…
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Our TSA not learning from others such as the Israelis at Ben Gurion airport. Preboarding at Barcellona for Newark was far easier than in the USA. What I could not understand was after going through Customs which is in the secure area, I had to go outside and recheck my checked baggage and do the “hokey pokey” back through the TSA line.
My most annoying seatmate was a young smartly-dressed man in the aisle seat. My daughter was in the middle, and I had the window. This was Boston to London, not a short flight. The guy flatly refused to move to let us out to use the restroom, saying that if we wanted to get out, we should have booked the aisle seat.
We waited until he was asleep and then climbed over the armrests….
I couldn’t agree more with your sentiments regarding air travel. My Pet Peeve … In South Africa some airlines such as SAA are not strict about the amount of carry-on luggage people bring. A few inconsiderate folk abuse the priviledge of carry-on to avoid collecting their luggage at the conveyer, and therefore fill up an overhead compartment meant for the carry-on luggage of 3 people, so that when their seatmates arrive there is no space left. As well as being inconsiderate, I feel this is also potentially putting safety at risk.
While all of the things you suggested make sense and are common curtisy, not being stuck on the tarmac for hours so the airline can boast on time flights helps. The airline and airports coorporation in getting everyone checked in helps, as in having enough staff to handle the flow.
As for you finding a mate while travelling? I don’t think that will happen. You have far to many things that bother you about other people and apparently life in general.
Just thought that would aleviate one of your travel concerns.
Sincerely,
Karl Noel
you get a window seat next to a big fat man who falls asleep and you cant get out of your seat cause you would have to climb over this man.
children kicking the back of your seat and their parents say nothing to them.
smelly, dirty WC
Overweight people who cannot fit into one seat, yet try. I’m not small myself, but I don’t flow over the armrest into others’ seats. I was on a crowded seat from Atlanta to Charlotte, crammed into a window seat (I prefer the aisle) and the guy in the middle was so obese that he took up a seat-and-a-half. I had to lean forward for the entire one hour flight in order to draw a breath.
Upon landing, my seatmate apologized, but I was so upset that I said loudly, “Why don’t you go on a diet or buy a first class ticket!” I was going to berate him further, but the look on his face filled me with pity.
One more thing regarding comfort while flying; try to get a seat either in an Emergency Exit row or a “bulkead” seat. A bulkhead seat sure won’t improve the view, but the extra leg room is worth it and there is virtually zero chance of having a 5 year who forgot his/her Ritelan meds hanging over the seat in front of you and making faces for a three hour or longer flight.
Great article, Suzanne! I have two big airplane pet peeves. One is to get stuck sitting next to someone with a bad cold. I actually had a lady cough on me during an entire cross-country flight! And the other is to be in the aisle seat when the person next to you has a weak bladder.
well it is nice to be in a place of wealth which u urself havenot think of i am so pleace being here.i love u everybody and may the of our LORD JESUS CHRIST be with u
My pet peeve on flights: People who dress disgracefully. Sure, I know the days are long past when most passengers wore suits, high heels, ties, and shined shoes. Really,I welcome business casual outfits, both for comfort and style.
However, I don’t want someone sitting by me (or even boarding my flight) who wears an old style undershirt, pants pulled down far enough to show a tatto (and even the start of what I consider private anatomy), a cap turned backwards,earrings on places other than the ear, or a blouse that leaves nothing to imagine.
Respect your flight companions–and yourself) by using good manners with your clothing selection.
I totally agree with your travel manners rules, thank you! I would add, that children are wonderful creatures, but why unleash them on an innocent traveler? I have had many airline experiences ruined by children kicking and/or tapping on the back of my seat. It is also uncomfortable to have a child peering at you from the seat in front. I have raised five kids and never have I allowed them to bother other passengers during a flight. I suggest parents bring quiet activities and pay attention. The person next to you is not there to entertain your kids! Thanks!
I’m amazed at how often the person in the seat in front of you slams down into the seat and reclines the seatback as soon as the plane is airborn. They don’t take the moment to check that there isn’t something on the tray table behind them, or that there isn’t a very tall person behind them who might not have any leg room on a crowded flight.
Take that extra time to check with the person whose space you’re invading. Reclining your seat is not an inalienable right.
I was on a no-leg-room flight from Milan to London. The lady in front of me put her seat all the way down, virtually inches from my nose. I complained (I thought quietly) to my husband, but she heard, turned around and said,”obviously you haven’t flown before. This is how it is.” I know the seats were originally intended to go back, but when they moved them closer together, I started leaving mine upright, or only go back a little, in order to not annoy the person behind me.
Parents who don’t manage their children on flights. It is not fun having the back of your seat kicked for a few hours, especially if you are trying to relax. Just makes for a very tense trip. So do the toys that come over the top of the seat into someone’s lap.
I actually enjoy air travel, but, there are two things that can really put a damper on my flight.
1) Please don’t use BOTH arm rests if it is obvious the person in the middle (usually me) doesn’t have anywhere to put his/her arms. It’s no fun when the people on both sides spread their wings out leaving the unfortunate “B” seater squished and feeling trapped.
2) When you put your seat ALL the way back after a yummy in-flight snack, look first to make sure you haven’t completely taken up the remaining four inches of free space the person behind you is enjoying. Relax, yes. Hostile takeover…please, no.
On a flight of any duration, especially overseas,
someone fully reclining their seat back right into the lap of the person behind, even before taxiing, and expecting to sleep away the trip deserves to be told better. Some segment of the at-altitude flight must be expected to be cramped, but not to the extent of forcing someone to change seats, as I was on an overseas flight – even after complaining to a stewardess.
My pet peeve on airplanes is parents or caretakers letting their children run up and down the aisles, or bounce around and shake your chairback during a flight. Just control your kids. I control mine and expect the same in return.
I am 6′ 3″ tall – mostly long legs. When I ride
in coach, my knees are touching the back of the
person in front of me. ALWAYS, that person
likes to lean all the way back…………..
I don’t have an airline pet peeve, but I do have a tip that solves all of the issues mentioned in the article: buy two seats in coach. You buy yourself an automatic buffer from the next passenger, you can pick the two seats you want (outside plus inside if you go to the bathroom a lot), you have two drop down trays (useful for us who work while we fly), and it’s a lot cheaper than 1 first class. Anybody who is not willing to pay the extra fare or insist their company pay for two seats is simply choosing to be a victim of overcrowding. Use Travelocity or buy 6 months in advance and the cost is quite reasonable.
Getting a middle seat (a pet peeve in itself) and then having the person in the window seat and the person in the aisle seat both have to have two arm rests, leaving me zero arm rests. You would think one of them would be curtious enough to allow me at least one arm rest to use, since they already have one arm rest to use by default.
When this happened to me, I waited for the opportunity to grab an arm rest (about half way through a two hour flight) when he leaned over to pick something up off of the floor and cemented my elbow to the arm rest for the rest of the flight.
Airline Travel Pet Peeve…
When I am on a plane I have found that if I turn the air blower on it will make me ill about 85% of the time. I don’t care if the person sitting next to me wants the thing blowing in their face but if it’s directed so it’s blowing at me and that person won’t change it when asked nicely I may forget that I am supposed to be a nice old man…
Hi, Suzanne,
I fly reasonably regularly and your article on flying made me giggle; there was so many things I’ve experienced. One of my pet peeves is the child who sits behind you and thinks it’s funny to kick your seat. Even worse are the parents who refuse to believe their little darling could possibly be annoying anyone and who get angry when you politely suggest they get their child to stop.
Hi, taking out your make-up kit is not gentle. But dressing poshy and dark sun glasses does attract favors.
During the war in Bosnia, a local radio news announcer opened with “Belgrade enjoyed its thid night of bombing last night”
When waiting in between flights – I think it is very rude to talk loudly on your cell phone while waiting for the next flight – especially if it is a long drawn out description of some kind of gossip or detail that you really shouldn’t share with everyone in the room.
I have had several experiences with person behind me. You have noted some one pulling on seat ahead to move around. I have also had then pushing on it (seats are thin). I have also had people do a lot of pounding on their tray which is transmitted very well to person in that forward seat. Also people my stuff things into space under seat ahead and then keep moving their feet around so some of the items squeeze through into my foot space.
I am a copywriter and publicist, but I am also an avid travel writer. I fly a lot. “Jet-Set,” I guess you could say. My biggest pet peeve are those that literally bounce up and down on their seats, or grab the headrest behind them and shake the seats. I have seen grown men do this, and it is shocking. They act like children in a movie theatre. Then they look around the plan, seraching for someone to notice them, I guess. Has anyone ever experienced such madness?
Kids (& adults) kicking or pushing the back of your seat.
The person in front of you recling their seat right back(should be banned on all planes)
Big people just squezzing into their seat and taking half of your seat!Go on a diet or dont fly or put bigger seats on planes or put them altogether!
What does one do when one is sitting in a window seat and the passenger beside one is a 300 pound male who not only hogs the armrest, but also oozes into a third of one’s assigned seat, with his jacket brushing into one’s face and space?
One could not even pull out the tray table because of his ooze. Then he fell asleep and began to snore as offensively as many people of that size do. My only recourse was to sit forward in my seat (it was bulkhead) and be annoyed. gus like those should buy 2 seats and be kind to others!