Patch #160 - Do You Trust a Warning Sign?

Are you a rule follower, or is a warning sign more of a suggestion? Josh finds himself stuck behind a temporary fence on a coastal walk while everyone in front of him just strolls straight past it - is that healthy scepticism of authority, or something else entirely? Is a road sign a genuine safety…

Does A Gift Need To Be A Surprise?

For his 40th, Josh received a group gift of money earmarked for a specific piece of DJ equipment - which he then went and found secondhand himself, negotiated the price on, and organised entirely on his own terms. Does that still count as a gift? Is there an obligation for a present to be new, wrap…

Patch #159 - Do You Prefer To Sit Next To, Or Opposite Someone?

Dion ordered himself something at Hungry Jack's by tacking it onto Josh's order, and Josh has been holding onto the receipt ever since. The boys try to work out whether the principle is worth more than the money ($6.90 to be exact). Then Christian wants to know: if you change tables at a restauran…

Patch #158 - Is A 'Maybe' RSVP Actually A 'No'?

Josh has run the numbers on his 40th RSVPs and discovers what every host secretly suspects: a "maybe" is a "no", a non-reply is a "no", and even the yeses can't be trusted. Then Dion gets pulled into the strange social grey zone between a Marketplace transaction and a friendship. The buyer wants t…

Do Clothes Actually Need To Be Folded?

Dion has decided that clothes don't need to be folded. He thinks she should just be laid flat, one on top of the other, in shirt-shaped stacks. Josh and Christian try to walk the idiot through the obvious problems, and somehow end up designing a wardrobe with one mini drawer per t-shirt, like a tie…

Patch #157 - If You Drop A Chopstick, Should You Ask For A New One?

Josh drops a chopstick at a restaurant and, without thinking, flags down the waiter for a new one. Dion and Christian are baffled. To them, you pick it up, you wipe it, and then you keep eating. To Josh, that's grub behaviour! We try to work out where the line is between sensible hygiene and prissy…

Is It Worth Keeping Leftover Foreign Currency?

Why do pubs put foreign currency all over the wall? Christian noticed it for the first time and now he can't unsee it. Is it a love letter to international travellers, a quiet way for backpackers to offload useless złoty, or just lazy decor copied from every other pub in town? Then somehow we end …

Patch #156 - Can You Uninvite A 'Plus One'?

If someone offers you a hot cross bun and it arrives without fruit, have you been deceived? Christian thinks his mum needs to manage expectations better. Josh argues hot cross buns have evolved into a category, like pizza, and you should be able to ask for the variant you want. And Dion wonders why…

Is There a Difference Between a Patio, Veranda and a Mezzanine?

After one innocent question about the meaning of “mezzanine”, we spend an entire bonus patch trying to define architectural spaces. We begin with mezzanines, atriums, lofts, and colosseums before descending into a heated classification debate covering balconies, patios, porches, verandas, pergolas…

Patch #155 - Should You Eat A Bad Sandwich Out Of Politeness?

If you take a sandwich from a shared platter and discover you hate it, are you allowed to throw it out, or are you obligated to keep eating? Josh found himself in this exact situation with a salmon sandwich and chose to power through, whilst retching. The boys try to work out what kind of brain dam…