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On Tue, 08 Mar 2011 20:20:42 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> and
>> yes, I do check that what I was charged is what I paid. That's how you
>> (a) avoid getting ripped off, and (b) avoid finding yourself in an
>> overdraft situation.
>
> So, what, you literally sit down and check all of the thousands of
> transactions you make, one at a time, to make sure every single one
> matches the printed recipt?
Yes, I thought everyone does that.
> Doesn't that take an insane amount of time?
Sure, that's all I did the entire month of January.
OK, I'm being somewhat facetious here.
So realistically, no, I don't check every single item. But if I'm out
shopping, I have a vague idea of how much the items I've bought come to,
and if the receipt shows a different value than I expect, then I do get
an adjustment.
And of course, I'm the kind of person who will say "you didn't charge me
enough" in some circumstances. There's a restaurant that my wife and I
frequent, for example, and every once in a while they leave our drinks
off, so I just have them add them back in at the register (I know they're
not there because the bill doesn't include them).
I've also had occasions where a clerk has double-entered an item and not
realized it, and I use the receipt to get that corrected as well.
It's called "money management". If I don't have at least an awareness of
how much I'm spending, I might end up overdrawn, and that incurs more
fees. People make mistakes, and a receipt is a good tool for catching
those mistakes.
>>> Why is it called a "square root"? Surely "square route" would make far
>>> more sense...
>>
>> It seems to have grown out of the old English "Rote" (there's a
>> citation circa 1425). Etymologically it derives from the French word
>> 'racine' (which translates to 'root', natch). "radix" also is used,
>> and that's latin for 'root'.
>
> I knew it would be French! :-P
The OED is my friend for this type of question. :-) My local library
makes the online edition available to me.
Jim
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