Complaint Department discussion

Home Depot is a rip off!

Pip off or Rip off? Hmmm...I'll go with Rip off since I have no idea what Pip off refers to. :-P

Air Fares in Canada are (is) a rip off!

Wallmart is a rip off, it acquired (such a nice gentlemanly word) one of our very nice thank you supermarket chains and made it horrible.

Walmart is a rip off. Agreed. And the only way to stop the spread of this disease is to never NEVER spend money there. I should talk, of course, I ended up with a blown tire a few years back and it happened at the start of a holiday weekend AND the only place that was open was - you guessed it - I was beside myself with rage - but had no other choice. (I hand my head in shame).

Are you handing in your head, Rick, or has it been ripped off…?

Roger wrote: "Are you handing in your head, Rick, or has it been ripped off…?"

Sorry, (more head hanging) I meant hang my head. I can't type anymore - to much thesis-ing ;)

Worry, not, I used to be able to touch type…then Steve Jobs invented a real computer, now my fingers run so far ahead of my eyes and brain I spend more time trying to correct the mess, I'd be better off not bothering in the first place!

Outrageously high college tuition is a rip off. Who wants to graduate owing $60,000 or more?

Yes, whatever happened to the enlightened concept that to educate the young is to create the future, and that education should be free (or at least a reasonable cost) to make that future possible?

i agree

When it became a profitable business.

And, since most universities (at least here in the states) consider American Football to be the pinnacle of and the reason for their existence, most sports programs get more funding than the libraries which most people actually need more.

Did you know that the excuse that most universities give for their continued support of the athletic programs is that these programs, particularly that strangely named game football - which only in the US is NOT played with the feet (more proof that the US is filled with morons is not needed), bring in revenue for the institutions? But the reality is that the universities are actually paying huge sums to get these programs going. If an academic program sucked that much money annually it would be dropped faster than an athlete on performance enhancers (wait ... That might not be the best analogy).

Yeah, I have heard that excuse. Problem is, when you have one of the worst AF teams in the country (the (s)Lobos @ UNM) that explanation doesn't fly well [especially when every other team at UNM is showing them up, hahaha - best soccer/baseball/basketball teams - men & women >snicker<]. UNM is supposed to be a research college, but a friend once told me that it's actually at the bottom of the list for such colleges and has some of the worst libraries in the country.

So yeah, explain how the sports programs help with the more important job of academics?

I got nothing Lori. I'm still trying to get my head around how "No Child Left Behind" is suppose to help educate and was started back in 2001 and it still doesn't work. Corporations are destroying education. Everyone demands that teachers be held accountable for students that just do not WANT to learn and yet CEO's are not held accountable for making decisions that put billions into their off-shore bank accounts while leaving the environment in ruins and employees without jobs.

Any teacher worth her salt will tell you teaching for tests only teaches a kid how to take tests.

Lori wrote: "Any teacher worth her salt will tell you teaching for tests only teaches a kid how to take tests."

I couldn't agree more.

I was lucky to attend a school that believed in a thoroughly rounded education, which included teaching how to pass exams because that's what the world demanded. Blessed with more than the national average of eccentric teachers, too, not to mention several well-published in their fields. There, sport was a part of the rounding, to keep the kids fit and competitive, but mostly alert. Competition in football (okay, soccer), cricket, and swimming was really only an exercise in community spirit and never an end in itself.

Hallelujah Highgate!

P.S. I'm not saying I was 100% happy with being there…

I hated P.E. - does that count? I was soooo happy when I got to the 11th grade and discovered I didn't have to take any more P.E. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

The biggest problem with sports in both high school and college is the emphasis on their importance rather than the fact that they are meant as extracurricular activities and not the end-all, be-all of existence.

[Monika wrote: "Pip off or Rip off? Hmmm...I'll go with Rip off since I have no idea what Pip off refers to..."

A pip is a spot on a domino or one of the dots on a pair of dice.]

The US Congress is a rip off!

Isn't a pip also that thing on the collar of military uniforms to designate rank?

Working for pay is a rip off! Everyone should have everything they want and only have to work because they want to work!

Rick wrote: "Isn't a pip also that thing on the collar of military uniforms to designate rank?..."

Right you are Rick. See Pip4 definition 2

pip1 /pip/
noun
1. A small hard seed or fruitlet in a fleshy fruit
2. A pippin (obsolete)
ORIGIN: Appar from pippin
pipˈless adjective
pippˈy adjective
pip2 /pip/
noun
A short, high-pitched signal analogous in sound to the word ‘pip’, esp as used in radio signals, the speaking clock, payphones, etc
the pips (informal)
The six pips broadcast by the BBC, made up of five short (counting down from 55 to 59 seconds) and one long (marking the start of the new minute and hour)

pip3 /pip/ (slang)
transitive verb (pippˈing; pipped)
1. To defeat narrowly
2. To blackball
3. To pluck, plough, reject, or fail in an examination
4. To foil, thwart, get the better of
5. To hit with a bullet, etc
6. To wound
7. To kill
intransitive verb
To die (esp with out; archaic)
ORIGIN: Perh from pip1
pipped at the post
Defeated at the point when success seemed certain, or at the last moment

pip4 /pip/, earlier peep or peepe (Shakespeare) /pēp/
noun
1. A spot on dice, cards or dominoes
2. A star as a mark of rank (informal)
3. A speck
4. (on a radar screen) indication, eg spot of light, of the presence of an object
5. A single blossom or corolla in a cluster (botany)
ORIGIN: Ety uncertain
a pip (or peepe) out
1. One in excess of the total of pips aimed at in the old card game of one-and-thirty, hence, having overshot one's mark
2. Tipsy

pip5 /pip/
noun
1. Roup in poultry, etc
2. An ailment or distemper vaguely imagined
3. Syphilis (slang)
4. Spleen, hump, disgust, offence (informal)
transitive verb
To affect with the pip
ORIGIN: Appar from MDu pippe, from LL pipīta, from L pītuīta rheum
give someone the pip (informal)
To annoy or offend someone

pip6 /pip/
intransitive verb
To chirp, as a young bird does
ORIGIN: Cf peep2
[Chambers Dictionary (12th Edition) © Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. 2011

Also note:

Verb: pip
(pipped, pipping)
|pip|

Kill by firing a missile
=
shoot
~
kill
⇒
flight, pick off

Strike with a missile from a weapon
=
hit, shoot
~
injure, wound
⇒
grass, gun down, kneecap

Defeat thoroughly • He pipped the floor with his opponents
=
mop up, rack up, whip, worst
~
beat, beat out, crush, shell, trounce, vanquish

Preston wrote: "Rick wrote: "Isn't a pip also that thing on the collar of military uniforms to designate rank?..."

Right you are Rick. See Pip4 definition 2

pip1 /pip/
noun
1. A small hard seed or fruitlet in a..."

OK, now you're just showing off Mr. Co-Moderator. ;P

Michael wrote: "Subway is a rip off"

Have you heard what they put in their bread? The same stuff that goes into the soles of sneakers.