__________ is/are overrated.

[1995hoo]

I'd say the Arsenal soccer ("football") team is overrated. They play in the Premier League, which is the highest level of the English football league system. Teams can be relegated (dismissed) from the league for poor play, though Arsenal has been part of the League since its inception in 1992.

Why is Arsenal overrated, in my opinion? A recent game ("match") exemplifies this. Wenger (the coach) sent Walcott (a striker) on quite early, and as always, Arsenal was trying to walk it in.

In conclusion, it was quite a ludicrous display.

Certain soccer jargon that consists of words that are completely synonymous with other words is overrated. To cite three, the use of "match" when they mean "game," the use of "pitch" when they mean "field," and the use of "nil" when they mean "zero" (or "nothing" or "zip"). There are others. There's nothing wrong per se with using those words. What's wrong is when the snobbier part of the fanbase excoriates someone who doesn't use those words.

[kphoger]

the use of "match" when they mean "game"

In tennis, the only way I can keep the terms straight in my head is by repeating the phrase "game, set, match!".

[formulanone]

I'd say the Arsenal soccer ("football") team is overrated. They play in the Premier League, which is the highest level of the English football league system. Teams can be relegated (dismissed) from the league for poor play, though Arsenal has been part of the League since its inception in 1992.

Why is Arsenal overrated, in my opinion? A recent game ("match") exemplifies this. Wenger (the coach) sent Walcott (a striker) on quite early, and as always, Arsenal was trying to walk it in.

In conclusion, it was quite a ludicrous display.

Certain soccer jargon that consists of words that are completely synonymous with other words is overrated. To cite three, the use of "match" when they mean "game," the use of "pitch" when they mean "field," and the use of "nil" when they mean "zero" (or "nothing" or "zip"). There are others. There's nothing wrong per se with using those words. What's wrong is when the snobbier part of the fanbase excoriates someone who doesn't use those words.

To be fair, there's a lot of people who get bent out of shape over some roadgeek terms which are generally synonymous with each other, or have slightly different meanings from one region/state to another. On the internet, it probably doesn't mean that much. Are you going to correct a family member of the use of highway/expressway/freeway or route-for-interstate or the out-of-towners who say "The Number"? Probably not.

In the context of engineering and contracting, if you need 7 miles of guardrail, you have to be consistent. You can't sketch out 3 miles of Armco here, 2 miles of guiderail there, and a mile each for guardrail and metal-don't-hit-that-stuff or you'll get fired. And in certain contexts, there is one meaningful term and you only use that same one meaningful term, you MUST use it or you risk confusion, chaos, injury, death, or worst of all...public embarrassment. Military Grade Ear-of-Corn type of stuff.

For sports, I kind of get it. For hockey, you'd say "rink" but not for basketball, even if the same arena is used. It's a hockey stick, not a club. (Come to think of it, there's an interesting challenge for an All-Star Game/PGA Tournament, but everyone would decline.) I guess you can tell a lot about a personality type by how they'd react to the occasional term being misused or how much time they'd spill on responses...

People get bent out of shape over their cultural distortion; in absence of real concerns, they'll take anything different as a personal affront and devolve a few centuries over words.

[Max Rockatansky]

Do any of you even talk about road and highway stuff with friends or family?  I tend to avoid the topic given it is pretty niche.  At most I might talk about a cool driving road or something like a Forest Route in general conversation.

[kphoger]

Do any of you even talk about road and highway stuff with friends or family?  I tend to avoid the topic given it is pretty niche.  At most I might talk about a cool driving road or something like a Forest Route in general conversation.

My sister is halfway a closet roadgeek.  She's the only person I know who has ever mentioned how US-400's number doesn't make sense, for example.  But even then, we don't get all geeky about it.

[formulanone]

Do any of you even talk about road and highway stuff with friends or family?  I tend to avoid the topic given it is pretty niche.  At most I might talk about a cool driving road or something like a Forest Route in general conversation.

My sister is halfway a closet roadgeek.  She's the only person I know who has ever mentioned how US-400's number doesn't make sense, for example.  But even then, we don't get all geeky about it.

On longer drives, I'll mention how "hey, this goes to Gary, Indiana" or whatever comes up. I don't think I've mentioned extruded versus incremental sign paneling because I think that might warrant use of the Baker Act.

[kphoger]

On longer drives, I'll mention how "hey, this goes to Gary, Indiana" or whatever comes up.

Most people are interested to know that the non-Interstate highway they're on goes all the way to some other place they're familiar with.

[1995hoo]

Do any of you even talk about road and highway stuff with friends or family?  I tend to avoid the topic given it is pretty niche.  At most I might talk about a cool driving road or something like a Forest Route in general conversation.

I'm selective in what I bring up. My wife will roll her eyes as to most things and is also skeptical of my desire to take alternate routes (I'm partly to blame because of the time I missed a turn in Colorado and wound up adding 125 miles to our drive from Laramie to Denver). My late father would have found some things interesting, but mainly in the sense of being interested in finding scenic routes as an alternative to the Interstate.

On longer drives, I'll mention how "hey, this goes to Gary, Indiana" or whatever comes up.

Most people are interested to know that the non-Interstate highway they're on goes all the way to some other place they're familiar with.

I've found I can say something like, for example, "OK, so I've been to this end of the road and the other end but very little of the in-between." An example of that situation might be when we were riding with our relatives in Florida and we used the southern end of I-75 (although overall I've travelled around 61% of that route). Our nephew asked where the other end is and his mind was kind of blown when I explained where Sault Ste. Marie is.

[hbelkins]

On longer drives, I'll mention how "hey, this goes to Gary, Indiana" or whatever comes up.

Most people are interested to know that the non-Interstate highway they're on goes all the way to some other place they're familiar with.

When I was watching the North Wilkesboro R\race the other day, I noticed the new pedestrian bridge that had been built over US 421 and mentioned to my wife that you could see the formerly-abandoned grandstands from US 421, which is adjacent to the speedway. (It's been several years since I've been on 421 through there, but it looks like the trees have been cut between the grandstands and the right-of-way since my last passage). I casually mentioned that she could go to Richmond, Tyner, or Manchester and go south on 421 and she'd eventually pass by the speedway. She said she thought that was neat. I didn't tell her, though, that it's a torturous drive and that there are better ways of getting to North Wilkesboro from here besides taking 421 all the way.

[Scott5114]

Do any of you even talk about road and highway stuff with friends or family?

I sort of have to translate Engineering or Roadgeek to Common as part of my job. One that comes up sometimes is people will want to order a Big Fuckhuge sign that's bigger than the manufacturing equipment can handle. We can still do a big sign like that, but we have to split it between multiple panels. People usually act like that will completely ruin the sign so then I have to basically give them a primer on incremental panels to get them to realize that half the signs they see every day are already like that and they just never noticed. Since Nevada uses incremental panels I've taken a few closeup photos that I'll send along to show how they handle the attachments and such.

Another recurring thing I have to do semi-regularly is negotiate with people that insist on wanting 1) a freeway sign 2) that is actual size and 3) will fit in their house 4) for cheap. The most recent one of those I've dealt with refused to believe that a particular guide sign is 8 feet wide despite the fact that I was able to track down the plan sheet for it. He declared that he was going to go out with a tape measure and prove me wrong. I haven't heard from him since then.

[Max Rockatansky]

Do any of you even talk about road and highway stuff with friends or family?

I sort of have to translate Engineering or Roadgeek to Common as part of my job. One that comes up sometimes is people will want to order a Big Fuckhuge sign that's bigger than the manufacturing equipment can handle. We can still do a big sign like that, but we have to split it between multiple panels. People usually act like that will completely ruin the sign so then I have to basically give them a primer on incremental panels to get them to realize that half the signs they see every day are already like that and they just never noticed.

What is the biggest sign you and Jake sell these days?

[JayhawkCO]

Paul Skenes (he is the most overrated athlete of all time)

Skenes led or nearly led the National League in a bunch of important stats last year, and he won a Cy Young for it. That seems properly rated to me, even if he's having a slower 2026.

He is the only recent Cy Young Award/MVP winner who hasn't impressed me yet. (probably because he plays for a bad team).

The Pirates are only 2.5 games out of the wild card at time of posting. Not THAT bad.

[Scott5114]

Do any of you even talk about road and highway stuff with friends or family?

I sort of have to translate Engineering or Roadgeek to Common as part of my job. One that comes up sometimes is people will want to order a Big Fuckhuge sign that's bigger than the manufacturing equipment can handle. We can still do a big sign like that, but we have to split it between multiple panels. People usually act like that will completely ruin the sign so then I have to basically give them a primer on incremental panels to get them to realize that half the signs they see every day are already like that and they just never noticed.

What is the biggest sign you and Jake sell these days?

One panel can be up to about 48" but theoretically, we will sell as big of a sign as anyone wants to pay for since we can just keep adding panels to make the sign bigger. We have a computer program we can put any arbitrary size in and it will spit out a price, number of panels, and estimated profit. One time out of morbid curiosity Jake had me run the NB I-15 at I-11 APL sign through it. That sign is 840 in. × 230 in. so our pricing tool says it would need 161 panels, weigh 4919 lb. 8 oz., and run $54,579 on our website or $61,019 if you were unwise enough to insist on doing it through Etsy.

We don't bother to list as an option anything above about 96 in. because it's rare that anyone actually wants to pay for a two-panel sign, much less anything bigger than that. The biggest one I've personally handled was a six-panel sign that someone was installing on the side of their house facing the deck. We hooked him up with a bonus tiny sign in the same colors so he could take it to the paint store and get matching paint to cover the bolt heads.

[kphoger]

If you've never stopped the car and gotten out to stand under a highway guide sign before, it's quite the shocker just to even see how high up off the ground it is.  You really don't get a sense of the scale when driving by at 60 mph.

[formulanone]

If you've never stopped the car and gotten out to stand under a highway guide sign before, it's quite the shocker just to even see how high up off the ground it is.  You really don't get a sense of the scale when driving by at 60 mph.

18-year-old me was amazed that I could fit literally fit my car between the posts. I think I figured they were like 6'x8' at most.



At the time, this road was a dirt road with access to nothing more than a quarry and an RC aircraft field.

Ironically, the current signs are much smaller and there's thousands more vehicles per day at this point.

[Scott5114]

If you've never stopped the car and gotten out to stand under a highway guide sign before, it's quite the shocker just to even see how high up off the ground it is.  You really don't get a sense of the scale when driving by at 60 mph.

Yep, and this is the root problem of these conversations I have with people. But whereas people like us will actually walk up to one to satisfy their curiosity some people would rather argue with me over email about it. I assume the reason I haven't heard back from tape measure guy is because he did actually go out there with his tape measure and when he walked up to the sign was like...oh.

[kphoger]

If you've never stopped the car and gotten out to stand under a highway guide sign before, it's quite the shocker just to even see how high up off the ground it is.  You really don't get a sense of the scale when driving by at 60 mph.

Yep, and this is the root problem of these conversations I have with people. But whereas people like us will actually walk up to one to satisfy their curiosity some people would rather argue with me over email about it. I assume the reason I haven't heard back from tape measure guy is because he did actually go out there with his tape measure and when he walked up to the sign was like...oh.

How wide is an 18-wheeler?  About eight or nine feet.  Add a little wiggle room, and that means one lane on the highway is eleven or twelve feet wide.  Let's say the highway has two lanes, with a sign panel over each one of approximately the same width.  We're already at more than twenty feet.  Now go into your living room, get out your tape measure...

[TheCatalyst31]

Do any of you even talk about road and highway stuff with friends or family?  I tend to avoid the topic given it is pretty niche.  At most I might talk about a cool driving road or something like a Forest Route in general conversation.

Every so often, especially when I'm driving somewhere with my partner, I'll do the roadgeek version of this XKCD.

[I-57/Route 66 Fan]

Cry about it.

I prefer Ernie Clement and Addison Barger.

How is that a response to the post you quoted?  Would you prefer that Ernie and Addison do your crying for you?

My two favorite Blue Jays players.

[Max Rockatansky]

Cry about it.

I prefer Ernie Clement and Addison Barger.

How is that a response to the post you quoted?  Would you prefer that Ernie and Addison do your crying for you?

My two favorite Blue Jays players.

You probably ought to cool it with this thread and other nominal opinion posts for awhile.

[kphoger]

Cry about it.

I prefer Ernie Clement and Addison Barger.

How is that a response to the post you quoted?  Would you prefer that Ernie and Addison do your crying for you?

My two favorite Blue Jays players.

My point is that that has nothing to do with "Cry about it."  You quoted a post and then simply replied with whatever popped into your head next.  The point of quoting a post is to answer a question or add additional pertinent information or whatever.

You probably ought to cool it with this thread and other nominal opinion posts for awhile.

Yes.  I know this forum has a lot of off-topic conversation, but people get irritated when you feel the need to post every single thought that crosses your mind.  I tell one of our sons all the time:  Just because you think it, that doesn't mean you have to say it out loud.

[thenetwork]

Do any of you even talk about road and highway stuff with friends or family?  I tend to avoid the topic given it is pretty niche.  At most I might talk about a cool driving road or something like a Forest Route in general conversation.

I was visiting some friends in Ohio last month, and they were talking about how their area was getting so many new roundabouts in their area (NE Ohio) and how confusing they were. This despite there being 3 large old traffic circles within a 45-minute drive of them (Sharon Center, Litchfield, and Tallmadge).

Then I told them how likely the area could see DDIs and SPUIs in the next couple of decades and showed them examples of said interchanges.

Probably kept them from sleeping that night!

[1995hoo]

Do any of you even talk about road and highway stuff with friends or family?  I tend to avoid the topic given it is pretty niche.  At most I might talk about a cool driving road or something like a Forest Route in general conversation.

I just used the term "gore area" while eating breakfast. But I had a reason. I was reading the sports section and there was an article about Tony Romo's arrest. The article said police stopped him after they saw him passing cars by using the gore area, and it said when they pulled him over he didn't know what a gore area was.

I suspect most people would not recognize the term "gore area" unless you explained it to them, so I read the paragraph to my wife (omitting the clause that explained what the term means). She had no idea what it meant.

[kphoger]

I suspect most people would not recognize the term "gore area" unless you explained it to them, so I read the paragraph to my wife (omitting the clause that explained what the term means). She had no idea what it meant.

Al Gore invented it, right after the internet.

[CtrlAltDel]

I suspect most people would not recognize the term "gore area" unless you explained it to them, so I read the paragraph to my wife (omitting the clause that explained what the term means). She had no idea what it meant.

Al Gore invented it, right after the internet.

That's why it's the information superhighway.