So that’s why aol censors used to stop me from talking about Dick van Dyke! But anyway, if the oceans rise, you build dikes, which requires some people with strong backs to lay down pilings and sea walls at low tide. Heavy machinery and quick drying cement will get the job done fast. But the Dutch managed with considerably less back in the day.
I work with a post-boomer, bit of a social warrior type, the kind you wouldn’t joke around with about that stuff.
One day, we were working on something, and as I stared intently at something I was working on, I asked him to hand me a pair of dykes to cut a wire. I had my hand out, and when no dykes were forthcoming, I glanced over, and he was looking at me with an odd look.
Puzzled, I said again “Can you hand me a pair of dykes?”
His face was frozen, and he said awkwardly “Uh...uh...umm...’dykes’ is not a good word to use...they are called ‘diagonal cutters’...”
I forget exactly what I said, but it boiled down to an exasperated “Just give them to me.”