Home Depot tells ambulance to leave

[Floater]

No, I wasn't joking. The rest of the World started calling it "table tennis" some 50-60 years ago. "ping-pong" just sounds utterly outdated to me.

[ganzfeld]

Don't know much about the rest of the world but both terms are used in Japanese. (Pinpon and takkyu, which means 'table ball'.) ETA - also, doesn't the term table tennis predate ping-pong (which was a trademarked term). And the game was called other things before that so...

[Don Enrico]

I hear both (Ping-Pong and Tischtennis) in German, but Tischtennis seems to be the name used in amateur sport. It gets much more Google hits on German pages, too.

[ganzfeld]

I was under the mistaken impression that the word ping-pong was from Chinese. It turns out that it was the trademarked Parker Bros. 'Ping-Pong' set that was taken to Chinese, not the other way around. But the word in Chinese sounds very much like ping pong (or pinpan). I guess it sort of literally means "table tennis" but, really, only after the fact. It's the only word used in a very populous country where table tennis has been very popular.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Floater

No, I wasn't joking. The rest of the World started calling it "table tennis" some 50-60 years ago.

The rest of the world? I think you might be casting too broad a net, there.

[firefighter_raven]

Originally Posted by Avril

And there isn't much exercise in standing around and watching your fellow firefighters play while you wait your turn. If they were so into doing it for sheer exercise, you'd think they would have chosen a group activity, like basketball.

Some departments don't allow playing basketball due to the possibility of injury (especially the way firefighters play it).

[GenYus234]

Originally Posted by firefighter_raven

(especially the way firefighters play it).

With the hook-and-ladder trucks?

[firefighter_raven]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

With the hook-and-ladder trucks?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpHjX0OyrX0 more competitive and more contact but similar

[Avril]

Well, aside from the condescending nature of Floater's post, they could have used the table at the firehouse if they had gone to the community center solely for exercise. The truck needed to be driven. And yes, firefighting shifts do have periods of intermittent boredom (thank goodness).

I was never deriding anybody for this practice.