Michael

It is common in the US to use that word to refer to a the person that thinks and thinks and thinks about something before actually doing it. I belive it comes from one of it's meanings which is "forestall.

helpmeplease123

One of the meanings of prognosticate is foretell...not forestall. Like a prophecy. I think you're looking for procrastinate? (Not trying to be irritating just joining the word of the day discussion!)

Thanks for the advice everyone - I was panicking about trying to get everything done before school starts but looks like I can calm down a bit!

Michael

You are right. I had a brain freeze.

scrubbedexpat099

If we are going to have a spelling bee competition I think you have to be Indian.

dlake02

So, AFTER I had been told I'd passed at the Los Gatos test centre (near San Jose, CA), I just dumbly said to the examiner:

"I bet you don't fail many people"

"Oh no !" she said. "Our failure rate here is around 64%..."

Not since I heard that anyone under the age of about 40 in Belgium has never had to take a driving test was my gob been so smacked......

scrubbedexpat099

They probably have a lot of Hispanic applicants.

dlake02

I was told that it wasn't Hispanic that was the biggest problem, but another ethnic group.

Now, I hate racial stereotyping. I was watching "Indian Ocean" last night (Simon Reeve - EXCELLENT presenter - catch it on iPlayer if you can).

He was driving through eastern India on a new motorway, and it was obvious that they were clueless as to how to drive on a dual-carriageway - in fact pretty clueless as to how to drive at all.

Draw your own linkage here.

kimilseung

or be 6

scrubbedexpat099

There was a guy I used to play Squash with in Boulder, he eventually had to take his UK test in an Automatic, but still failed the US test.

scrubbedexpat099

I so nearly mentioned her, but she did not win.

Reminds me of a film I watched years ago on the subject.

kimilseung

"Akeelah and the Bee" is the only one I can think of. I could only stomach about 15 minutes of it.

helpmeplease123

Well it was more of a vocabulary test really. What nationality do we need to be for that?

GeoffM

Took my driving test today. Ashamed to say I only saw a pedestrian pop out of weaving through stopped cars, jaywalking right in front of me, right at the last minute - but apparently nearly running over pedestrians only counts as a minor issue. Maybe because of that my test was probably 15 minutes long on proper roads, left and right turns, reversing in a straight line, changing lanes, but really wasn't hard at all. Just need to watch for pedestrians no matter how silly they might be.

scrubbedexpat099

Actually that would have been a bonus, Americans have an aversion to Pedestrians.

You never watched Death Race 2000.

As Hawkwind put it so well in Sonic Attack:

Use your wheels. It is what they are for.
Small babies may be placed inside the special cocoons
and should be left, if possible, in shelters.
Do not attempt to use your own limbs.
If no wheels are available - metal - not organic -
limbs should be employed whenever practical.

Malibu Jen

Aw, i failed originally for nearly running a pedestrian over!

But fortunately i passed last Friday Finally no more trips to the DMV!