Double Post

[chridd]

meow time!

[ratammer]

It's Chico time!

[chridd]

who?

[chridd]

…I mean, ¿quién?

[ratammer]

I refer to this.

[ratammer]

*plop*

[chridd]

This time tomorrow night it will be a different time than it is now.

(…at least here.)

[ratammer]

Oh, DST? You start it quite early then.

[chridd]

*springs forward*

[ratammer]

*holds you back*

[chridd]

*falls back*

[ratammer]

*pushes you forwards*

[chridd]

*swings*

[chridd]

*gets off the swing and goes to the slide*

[ratammer]

I may win on the roundabout, then I lose on the swings.

[chridd]

roundabout? would that be a merry-go-round?
(I think "swings and roundabouts" is an expression I've heard before and I don't know what it means)

[ratammer]

Yes, a roundabout is a merry-go-round or carousel, and the phrase you mentioned is a shorter version of phrases like the one I mentioned.

[ratammer]

Night.

[chridd]

*looks up what the expression means*
*isn't sure what swings and merry-go-rounds have to do with that*

[ratammer]

I did a search and found... many disagreeing explanations. The most plausible one seems to be that, originally in the form "what you lose on the roundabouts you gain on the swings", it referred to fairground owners losing money on their roundabouts (because the price to ride them didn't cover the cost of running them), but making it back on the swings (because the price to ride them would be more than whatever little maintenance the swings would need).

[chridd]

Do fairs have swings? I mostly associate them with parks and school playgrounds, and I don't think I've seen any that required money (aside from tuition for private schools/preschools/etc.). Unless swings are referring to something different? Or maybe things were different when the expression started?

[ratammer]

Yeah... like I said, this was only the most plausible explanation I could see.

[chridd]

*goes back to the swings*

[ratammer]

*goes away*

[ratammer]

*comes back*