attach a brackety thing to the side things, using a bunch of these little worm guys

taraa

taraa

Senior Member
Persian
I can't understand the bolded part. Can you please explain?

[Scene: Ross's Apartment, the guys are there assembling furniture.]

Ross: (squatting and reading the instructions) I'm supposed to attach a brackety thing to the side things, using a bunch of these little worm guys. I have no brackety thing, I see no whim guys whatsoever and- I cannot feel my legs.

Joey: (picking up a leftover part) What's this?


Chandler: I have no idea.

(Joey checks that Ross is not looking and dumps it in a plant.)

Joey: Done with the bookcase!

<-----Excess quote removed by moderator (Florentia52)----->

Friends, season 1, episode 1
 
Last edited by a moderator:
    • taraa said:
    I'm supposed to attach a brackety thing to the side things, using a bunch of these little worm guys. I have no brackety thing, I see no whim guys whatsoever and- I cannot feel my legs.
    Click to expand...
    This strange language isn't supposed to make sense, Taraa. It is meant to be a funny way to say that Ross doesn't understand the symbols that are being used in the instruction manual.
     
    owlman5 said:
    This strange language isn't supposed to make sense, Taraa. It is meant to be a funny way to say that Ross doesn't understand the symbols that are being used in the instruction manual.
    Click to expand...
    Aha, thanks a lot, I understand!
    But in general, what is the meaning of "a brackety thing to the side things " and "a bunch of these little worm guys " and "whim guys whatsoever "?
     
    Those phrases don't have any normal meaning: A bracket-like thing is connected to the side things. A bunch of these little wormy-looking things. I can't even guess what whim-guys is supposed to mean...
     
    owlman5 said:
    Those phrases don't have any normal meaning: A bracket-like thing is connected to the side things. A bunch of these little wormy-looking things. I can't even guess what whim-guys is supposed to mean...
    Click to expand...
    Thank you very much :)
     
    There must be an error in the transcription:

    "a brackety thing to the side things ... I have no brackety thing"

    "using a bunch of these little worm guys ... I see no whim worm guys"

    Ross is, it seems, a DIY dunce. A little worm guy is, I should think, a screw.
     
    Thanks a lot! Yes, you are right. I listened again. He says "worm guys" not "whim guys".
    But can I ask it's which meaning of "guy" that it means "screw"?
     
    The speaker is using 'guys' to mean 'things'. 'Worm guys' are things with a worm, something (such as a mechanical device) spiral or vermiculate in form or appearance: such as
    a: the thread of a screw

    Definition of WORM
     
    I guess:
    a brackety - a right-angled support attached to and projecting from a wall for holding a shelf, lamp, or other object
    a bunch - a number of things, typically of the same kind fastened together.
    worm guys - 1. worm - like a little animal what look like metal screw for building,
    2. worm guys - Ross told that in funny way, he called metal screw like worm guys which means metal screw things
     
    A lot of cheap furniture in North America is sold unassembled flat pack, most famously from IKEA but also Walmart and other low end retailers.

    The difficulty of assembling these items is a wide spread cultural joke. Almost everyone in North America has done this at least a couple of times. Even if they have entirely high end furniture now they likely put together a few cheap bookcases in college at least. It's just one of those jokes everyone can personally relate to.

    The furniture is meant to come with instructions and the exact number of required screws, brackets, nails, hinges, etc. But often the instructions are hard to follow and the fittings can be miscounted.

    Anyhow this is hyperbolic humor about a common dilemma.
     
    Ponyprof said:
    A lot of cheap furniture in North America is sold unassembled flat pack, most famously from IKEA but also Walmart and other low end retailers.

    The difficulty of assembling these items is a wide spread cultural joke. Almost everyone in North America has done this at least a couple of times. Even if they have entirely high end furniture now they likely put together a few cheap bookcases in college at least. It's just one of those jokes everyone can personally relate to.

    The furniture is meant to come with instructions and the exact number of required screws, brackets, nails, hinges, etc. But often the instructions are hard to follow and the fittings can be miscounted.

    Anyhow this is hyperbolic humor about a common dilemma.
    Click to expand...
    :thumbsup:
    To expand a little : many of the instructions that come with such furniture have no words - only pictures (of brackets, screws etc) that show the sequence of events needed for assembly. So he has to make up descriptions of the items he sees in the "picture". This has the merit of not needing instructions to be printed in every language where the item will be sold, but accepts that some people cannot understand such things when there are no words, and will get frustrated :D
     
    IKEA directions are frustrating partly because there are no names for the attachment devices, so you have to make up your own. Not everything looks like the things that you already have a name for: for instance, there are a couple of different screw-like things in the IKEA directions for their so-called Poang chair.
    Those little worm guys sound to me like wooden dowels.
     
    Andygc said:
    You'd have problems attaching a brackety thing to a side thing with wooden dowels.
    Click to expand...
    Exactly. They have a whole array of unsuitable fasteners in those kits :D
    But seriously, I wasn't attempting to explain the actual dialogue from a Friends episode, just saying that if someone said 'little worm guys' to me and I had all the parts of some IKEA furniture spread out before me, I would pick up a dowel (if there were one in the kit) and say "You mean this?!!?"
     
    taraa said:
    I can't understand the bolded part. Can you please explain?

    [Scene: Ross's Apartment, the guys are there assembling furniture.]

    Ross: (squatting and reading the instructions) I'm supposed to attach a brackety thing to the side things, using a bunch of these little worm guys. I have no brackety thing, I see no whim guys whatsoever and- I cannot feel my legs.

    Joey: (picking up a leftover part) What's this?


    Chandler: I have no idea.

    (Joey checks that Ross is not looking and dumps it in a plant.)

    Joey: Done with the bookcase!

    <-----Excess quote removed by moderator (Florentia52)----->

    Friends, season 1, episode 1
    Click to expand...
    Hi Taraa!

    Ross is not using American slang, he is just confused by the instructions and pictures in the manual!

    Cheers!
     
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