I can't hold this in any longer.

[krait]

DEAR FANDOM, AND ALSO THE REST OF THE WORLD,

"TAB A" GOES WITH "SLOT A", NOT WITH "SLOT B". BECAUSE TAB B, IN FACT, GOES WITH SLOT B. OTHERWISE YOU ARE BUILDING SOME KIND OF MOEBIUS STRIP OF ENDLESS TABS, EACH OFFSET BY ONE UNTIL THEY MUST EITHER LOOP BACK (TAB Z TO SLOT A) OR CONTINUE INTO INFINITY!

I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR APPLYING THIS IN ALL FUTURE FIC, WRITING, AND CONVERSATIONS.

THANKS,

KRAIT


P.S. No wonder you guys think IKEA furniture is so hard to assemble, if you can't manage the basic concept of 'parts should match up'!

Comments

[cheyinka]

I've had furniture instructions (I think for a desk) that really did go "put a in b, c in d, e in f" /o\
Fortunately there weren't more than thirteen such pairs, or things could have gotten complicated!

[pantswarrior]

Same here. The diagram points out the different components as A, B, C, etc., and then will be like "Insert 3.5 inch rod (A) into pre-drilled hole (B)". That's how most of my furniture/appliances have been, so someone saying "insert tab A in slot A" wouldn't have made any sense to me at all...

[krait]

Wow, that is... very strange! It's like saying that one should put the A key on the B key button, or take Pill A for Ailment B; it sounds bizarre to my ears!

Unless, of course, it was the kind where all the parts are simply numbered/lettered and then assembled as-they-go? Like, left side of bookcase (A) has hole (B), and back piece (C) has peg (D) etc. In which case one would have plenty of mismatches, but not all in order...

[pantswarrior]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I've been faced with when I assemble stuff. The mismatches aren't necessarily in order in those cases, but with "Tab A in Slot B" as it's used in fandom, it would be kind of ridiculous to start with "Tab D in Slot G" or some such if there are only two "components" being "put together".

Of course, in cases of threesome there may be "Tab A goes in Slot B while Tab B goes in Slot C". XD