Apparently Space Heaters pull a crazy amount of light

They pull light? Don't you mean electricity?

Do you mean electricity, OP?

Yeah those things are horrible.

Same crap happened to me.

I then bought one of the expensive ones after that and those don’t use up as much electricity.

The cheap ones, well, aren’t so cheap.

Is this an old person thing, "light bill"...?

Yeah - it sounded like OP's not a native English speaker. Pulls too much light? Power? Electricity? Hard to understand.

OP is posting from 1973

R3 the one I bought wasn’t even cheap. It was $70!

I may have to get the Honeywell one that is “Energy Efficient”. May be better.

Anything that creates heat or motion uses a lot of electricity (or any kind of power.)

R4 actually you sound old. I don’t know a young person who wouldn’t know what the “light bill” is.

You may have to cut back on what you pay the iceman and the milkman to balance things out.

OP, it hasn't been a "light bill" since World War 2. Now we plug refrigerators and toasters into the same holes in the wall where we plug in the lamps.

And there's no such thing as an "energy efficient" space heater. Fifteen hundred watts (the maximum wattage sold) is 1500 watts.

R9 has an ice box.

[quote]I called them at 4 this morning

I missed this part. OP is worse than someone who calls about his passport, citizenship papers or visa at 11pm while walking down a busy street.

[quote] actually you sound old. I don’t know a young person who wouldn’t know what the “light bill” is.

We call it electric bill or hydro bill where I'm from. Light bill sounds "off".

OP, are you Andy Kaufman? The wording sounds like something he'd enjoy...

R11 welcome to 2021 bud.

They do make energy efficient heaters now, the same way TVs no longer pull a lot of electricity etc. like they once did.

Most people who grew up in NYC say light Bill still to this day.

Transplants ... they’re different but wanna be us.

Go for the oil heated type that look like a radiator.

[quote]the one I bought wasn’t even cheap. It was $70!

That's cute!

R16 They (and you) can call it energy efficient all you like but as it draws 1500 watts, it uses just as much electricity as any other 1500 watt space heater.

R19 that is one of the bigger prices for store bought space heaters.

Light bill is an old-timey phrase. ConEd or power bill or electric.

R17 - go fuck yourself. You grew up in some outer borough and your only success in life is to have been born in a ghetto of a major city.

I believe Spanish say 'cuenta de luz' in many places. I assume OP is from one of those countries.

I'm old and have never heard "pulling light" Where in the world do you live?

I've heard of pulling taffy

No, no, I mean the notion that $70 isn't cheap.

R22 and you grew up where???

Pulling light?

If you life in NY, take your AC out of your window. Don't dry your laundry on the radiator. Do block the space under the front door and caulk around your window frames, especially at the top where no one every checks.

NYC Tip-Best to go to Home Depot for brown caulk, you don't want to ask for it at your corner hardware store. It can be embarrassing.

^live

R10 I love you

What r10 said wasn’t that witty r29. Or are you him?

However odd & dated this post sounds, I applaud for OP for attempting to change the subject from Civil War 2.0

R17 is a

[quote] [R4] actually you sound old. I don’t know a young person who wouldn’t know what the “light bill” is.

So you’re saying it’s “young person” slang? Ghetto slang maybe? Because no one calls it “the light bill” or says “pulls too much light.” WTF? I’m not a native NYer but I’ve lived here for almost 14 years and I’ve known plenty of NYC natives, and they don’t call it “the light bill”.

[quote] she said that is what is pulling tons of light in my apartment. She said those small things pull tons of light, and most people don’t know it.

She literally did not say this.

"After church today there will be a peter pull at Mrs. Taffy's house"

R35 - and skip the soda fountain and my Sarsaparilla? I guess a jerk is a jerk whenever you can get it.

When was your 100th birthday, OP?

This thread is making my lumbago act up

R30 I am not r10 are you OP cuz you seem hyper defensive? I found it quite amusing, maybe because I’m old enough to know first hand from my parents how out of date reference to a light bill is. It is from The milkman and iceman era.

Invest in some blankets, OP.

My grandmother, who was born in 1909, always called it the ‘lectric bill (with the first syllable dropped), but maybe she’d previously called it the light bill before I was born.

It’s just bizarre to call it “the light bill” and also to suggest that it’s not an old person thing but a young person thing to do so, as the bitch at R9 did.

Op why are your space heats so loud. Mine had a nice little hum. No big deal really.

Get an electric throw. Big enough for one person in bed and doesn't waste heat.

"light bill" must be a regional phrase. I've always called it a light bill.

Is ‘light’ some type of local word for ‘electricity’? Does OP have an accent?

OP - where do you live? Are "light bill" and especially "pulling light" regional expressions like "making groceries" was in New Orleans?

Are youse guys paying the light? Me shut off heat.

R44 Look at the next one they send you.

I'm guessing it says "Electric"

No one says "pulls too much light," OP thought of something dippy to say that would drive DLers crazy, then built an EST around it.

And where do you live, R44?

“Light bill” is so obscure/outdated, it doesn’t even come up when you Google it. There are usually many lively discussions to be found online— on various grammar websites, Reddit, etc.—about odd regional variations on common terminology, lingo, and so forth, but I can’t find any mention of a “light bill” let alone “pulling light”.

Which is odd, considering how popular “light bill” supposedly is with young people, right R9?

[quote]Ghetto slang maybe?

Leave people in the hood out of this! Even they aren't calling it the "light bill."

But seriously, my grandmother who is in her 90s still occasionally says "light bill" and sometimes she says "electric bill" because she is aware that light bill is an old term and people may not know what she's talking about.

Also people might want to remember there are people in their 80s+ on Datalounge. There always have been.

There’s no way the OP is in his 80s. I do want to know where he lives, though.

OP isn't in his 80s, ya ding-dongs, he's a troll.

I just searched for the term ‘light bill’ on Twitter, and literally every person using it is black. No one else. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It might just be a cultural thing.

Try unplugging the sitting room HiFi and the percolator in the Pullman kitchen and see if these help, dearie.

I thought only these could "pull" light, lol.

Whenever I see one of these "Only old people use that phrase." I have to chuckle. Because you know what Madge? YOU recognized it. I picture all these old guys (I will include myself at 53) waiting to pounce on each other to prove their hipness. That, or some bitter millennial just now dealing with the fact that they are now slouching towards EG status.

I love talking to people who use old phrases or remember a different time. I did a lot of reading growing up and find it refreshing to talk to someone literate from an earlier generation. And it isn't just Dickens. I have a couple of Vet friends that served in Vietnam and Korea. Their first hand take on that time and this is usually refreshing.

R54, There are many black people when you run the search but there are also a couple of white people and latinos.

I've noticed many of them are from Louisiana (Saints fans), Florida or other Southern states.

[quote] ...and spoke to a woman named Diaz

Relevance? Other than confirming you are an ass and a liar?

OP is just using another of his numerous accounts. TROLLIN’, TROLLIN’, TROLLIN’....

Fuck off , this never happened, you don’t say light bill...all bullshit. Die.

R59 is right. OP has been replying all over this thread and not actually replying to the questions about the language he used.

Outside of this thread, he seems to create a lot of threads and then never replies to them with the same account. Just creates a thread and then walks away - or comes back under a different account.

Freak.

I don't know if this is still the case, but when I lived in the DC area in the '80s, the gas company was called "Washington Gas Light." And it was ONLY a gas company (not electric), so that name went back to when people and cities used gas for lighting.

Let’s stop hanging up on OP for five seconds. If they live in the northeastern part of the country I can empathize. I had oil heating in my previous homes in MA. Then I bought a house last spring with electric. I was happy to not be relying on oil anymore for heat. But— My heating bills are now ASTRONOMICAL. No one told me heating via electricity was so expensive in New England. (I am from the Pacific Northwest and it was not like this there.) The realtor didn’t tell me. I just had no freaking idea. I had to learn the hard way when the winter came and my bills skyrocketed to an outrageous, shocking amount.

The house is from 1969 so I have baseboard heating and these extra little heaters in the bathrooms. The woman I spoke to at the electric company said specifically, yes it’s crazy expensive to have electric heat here. And she said, do NOT assume that if you go buy space heaters it will cut costs. They are crazy expensive to run. Just for a little space heater. So basically, there is no way around the expense except to get solar panels installed.

So old-fashioned verbiage aside, I get it.

[quote]OP has been replying all over this thread and not actually replying to the questions about the language he used.

Only on DL would the use of "light bill" incite such a visceral reaction. Who gives a fuck? You old queens really need to get laid soon.

No one says light bill. Hardly anyone even says electric bill, most people simply say HYDRO bill. Are you all in the backwoods of Tennessee, by chance??

OP you sound positively insufferable. I'd pay your "light bill" just to shut you up.

R65 feel free. I am ok with you paying my light bill lol

R62 it’s nuts.

My previous apartment (and every place I lived my entire life) had old style radiators, not connected to light.

These newer buildings all use electric heaters and it’s so ridiculous you have to pay that amount to stay warm!

I pay less for AC during summer.

R63 as I was reading though I couldn’t help but wonder why saying light bill was something to get worked up over. DLers seem to have nothing going on in their lives. I know I wouldn’t care, and don’t when they say their many stupid things.

Here , lets go down this rabbit hole

I was just sexually threatened by text.

A certain someone said he was going to yank down my panties- BOTH PAIRS!!!

He then said he was gonna pull a crazy amount of light up my wazoo! HARD!

[quote]Whenever I see one of these "Only old people use that phrase." I have to chuckle. Because you know what Madge? YOU recognized it.

I know what a Fridigaire is because I watch MST3K, not because I'm 120 years old.

My landlord forbids space heaters in the building.

They're the cause of too many fires.

R72 my mother told me to be careful picking one because they cause so many fires, and that’s how my Uncle lost his place.

Hydro bill?

Never heard hydro bill.

[quote]Hydro bill?

It's a Canadian thing

[quote] No one says light bill. Hardly anyone even says electric bill, most people simply say HYDRO bill. Are you all in the backwoods of Tennessee, by chance??

Have never heard anyone say “hydro bill”. Where do you live?

Hydro bill is for water?

It's because a lot of their energy is generated by hydroelectric dams.

I'm a fifth-generation Californian, and when I moved back east I was amazed at how many houses had electric heat. Pretty much everywhere in California has natural gas or propane.

I know DL is all about pointless bitchery but.....c'mon, guys. You're bordering on cruelty in this thread.

They can cause fires, too. A colleague had to deal with a house fire. She kept a space heater on the floor next to her dogs' beds. One of the dog beds caught fire. Fortunately she was able to get herself and the dogs out without injury.

[quote] I picture all these old guys (I will include myself at 53) waiting to pounce on each other to prove their hipness. That, or some bitter millennial just now dealing with the fact that they are now slouching towards EG status.

I’m 41, and while I’m hip, I have no desire to appear young or take up the vernacular of Gen Z or whatever. I want nothing to do with them, in fact. Please, like their vapid, ignorant culture is something to aspire to. I identify strongly with Generation X, of which I am part, and even Boomers. “Light bill” and “pulling a ton of light” aren’t young people OR old people expressions. The elderly people who did use it have all died. It seems to be a Black American Vernacular thing, nothing to do with age.

[quote]I love talking to people who use old phrases or remember a different time. I did a lot of reading growing up and find it refreshing to talk to someone literate from an earlier generation.

I agree with this, and I will go out of my way to use outdated terminology all the time if it’s fun for me. That’s not what OP is doing. He’s not being old-fashioned for fun. And “pulling light” isn’t an expression that *anyone* uses or has ever used.

The cruelty is warranted in this situation, R81.

R70 is the real hero of this thread.

R83 But the crux of the issue, whether you think "pulling light" is trolling or stupid or whatever else, is that space heaters are in fact insanely expensive to run, and you don't realize it until it's too late and you bill comes due.

Oh totally, R85, I agree. And I sympathize with anyone dealing with it. My boyfriend and I have had to use space heaters in our bedroom because our brownstone is so old and only the front half of the house really heats. And it’s MURDER.

I’m going to tell him tonight we need to start pushing light out instead of constantly pulling it in.

How old are some these space heaters that started fires? If I even look at mine wrong it shuts off.

I remember hearing stories about these fires in the 60s & 70s when the heaters had those bright red coils and no thermostat or auto-shutoff features. Also, my electricity bill isn’t much different if I run a space heater for a few hours while I watch TV.

Are you guys leaving on all day & night?

“Filling station”

R86 Marry me! Hilarious. xoxo

R88 Yes!! My grandmother always called it a "filling station." I would think of teeth every time she said it.

Here's one: beauty parlor

[quote] It seems to be a Black American Vernacular thing, nothing to do with age.

It's an old term that people in the South and Midwest still use, because older terms don't fade in those regions as quickly as they do on, say, the coasts. There's a lot of overlap between black vernacular and old-fashioned terminology.

It's similar to how a lot of young kids call stuff "corny" these days, whereas someone like me, 49 years old and probably the age of their parents, never heard it except on old TV shows.

"Pulling light" is not a term used by anyone and it's the dopey thing OP invented, just to get a rise out of people.

R91 It didn't get a rise out of me. I just thought it was weird phrasing, and I was capable of overlooking the phrasing and hearing the actual message. The fact that it "got a rise" out of so many of you caftan cunt queens is perplexing. Or not. We are all chronically under-stimulated because of Covid.

R85, there’s a science to using electric heat - just like light bulbs. If you are in an area for extended periods of time, an electric oil radiator takes longer to heat up, but puts out consistent heat for a longer period of time and takes less energy. A bathroom scores heat bulbs; it’s a good contrast against cold toilet seats.

Any electrical appliance that moves hot air is your lead energy hog - electric dryers (hair&clothing) and space heaters that use fans.

OP, a hot shower will warm you up and knock some 2020 off your ass.

[quote] The fact that it "got a rise" out of so many of you caftan cunt queens is perplexing

Caftan queens? I will fight you.

Hydro = (electronic) energy sourced from hydroelectric dams.

r95, see r79.

So, if we have a polar event (which, science doctors are hinting at), a bunch of Canadian and East Coast queens are going to need rehousing. You had better have good weed and wear a mask. No musky rescues - wolferines, opossum, stoats, etc.

I'm guessing the OP is southern. I've never heard anyone call the electric bill the "light bill" outside the south. I think it's cute. 😉

[quote] I couldn’t help but wonder why saying light bill was something to get worked up over.

You may see it as annoying but I see it as something that makes Datalounge special. There is no moderator dragging everyone back to a topic.

ANY thread on Datalounge about any subject can, at the drop of a dime, change to another more obscure subject relating to a single aspect of the actual topic.

A thread about the Golden Girls could turn into a thread about Blanche's scarves.

A thread about handwriting classes no longer being taught once turned into a thread about the modern day color of black boards, "and if they're not black and they're not chalk based then why are they still being called black boards!"

If a poster makes an accidental pun in a thread, there will be 30 posts relating to it within a two hour period.

Datalounge is a place where people's minds wander and it's horrible when you're actually interested in the topic and hilarious when everyone seems to focus on the strangest of things.

[quote]I’m going to tell him tonight we need to start pushing light out instead of constantly pulling it in.

R89 thats the second or third time you’ve replied something ridiculous to yourself on this thread alone. Are you ok? Schizophrenic?

Why do you keep telling yourself “I love you” and “Marry me”?

I got an email this morning from my electricity provider that my bill was going to 89% higher this month than the same time last year, even though I'm not doing anything different than last year- and this winter is milder than last.

R102 mine is up 113%

You obviously need to get a gas-powered vibrator.

So you called your rent man about paying the light bill?

Are you posting from 1947?

R105 what???

R101, I’m one of the people that poster replied to with “Marry me,” and I promise you—no matter what else is going on with that person—I am not him and he is not me.

R107 but you are. And it’s weird.

I have one of those Dyson heating units; I'd freeze without it.

I went away for a month about 14 years ago to take care of a sick relative; I unplugged EVERTYING but the fridge, and my bill was like 5 bucks less.

Rip off.

I almost wonder if they’re charging us more to make up some for all the people who can’t pay their bills?

The light bills are more expensive because the sun isn't out as long, R110. There isn't as much light to go around.

Russians are experimenting with power outages all over the globe. Buy a bunch of candles, bottled water and canned food, people.

Try geothermal, OP.

R62, if nobody has told you yet, get a gas furnace.

I have a cheap space heater I bought at Aldi. I use it in my home office room during the daytime (where I am most of the day.) Cheaper than heating up the whole house. Of course I'm in SoCal where it doesn't get that cold. (It's supposed to be 80 later this week.)

On TV commercials for utilities, the actors refer to their "energy bill." Do you know anyone who says that? Everyone I know says "electric bill."

Hydro, R116. It's hydro.

Jersey Central Power and Light and Connecticut Light and Power. Two of many utilities using the terminology.

This thread made me ask thin on FB, and the majority commenting call it... a light bill

Look at the bottom comment from the elderly white person.

We NATIVES tend to say light bill. You transplants keep pretending to be us though.

When I was bornt my meemaw looked at my ugly face and buck tooths and said that she was fixin to pull a DNA on me!

Fuck you mee maw!

I love it when confirms it is him all along. LOLZ!

Why is OP's post crossed out? Not like people really troll about area heaters.

r112 we don't rely on Russian energy, unlike the foolish Europeans.

[quote] [R107] but you are. And it’s weird.

No, I really am not. You’re the weirdo here, believe me. Blocking you now.

R126 I am not op moron

[quote]We NATIVES tend to say light bill. You transplants keep pretending to be us though.

Unless you're First Nations, you're not natives. You're the original transplants.

R128 doesn’t know what native means

R125, I believe the people who are complimenting each other and their posts are trolls gaining karma for their sockpuppets. You are correct that most of the compliments and "love you's" and "marry me's" are for completely boring posts.

I'm joking, R129.

I have two of these and they are quite energy-efficient.

I am still loving the idea that someone thinks it is light that passes through the electrical grid.

Most people who use the term "light bill" are aware that it is electricity that powers the things in their home--not light.

Bump

OP calls margarine “oleo” and a sofa a “divan”

What does that all mean R135?

I think "pull light" sounds cute.

They’re terms my grandmother used. And ice box.

Don’t forget broadloom and victrola R138!

[quote] Most people who grew up in NYC say light Bill still to this day.

Nope, born and raised and we never said it and had no friends who did either.

“Pulling light” sounds strictly flyover, like those hicks who call any soda a “Coke” or say “borrow me” when they mean “lend me.”

It’s strictly Capitol-invader shit, duck dynasty speak.

I cannot believe how hard this thread made me laugh. Classic DL to get all bent out of shape about the phrase “light bill.” In spite of knowing how it would end, I was pleasantly surprised by how funny it was.

All of you people with high heat bills should move to Hawaii. We don't have heating bills. You can bitch about the A/C bills though.

[quote] How old are some these space heaters that started fires? If I even look at mine wrong it shuts off.

Old enough to know that your space heater is not an indication of anything. Space heaters are the leading cause of fatal house fires.

Well, they DO heat the space, so...