A strange world full of odd facts

[Nocoolname]

36 minutes ago, Bullbasket said:

Language, like people, evolves. People also gradually over time will pick up the accent that is prevalent where they live. My Granny (bless her) came over from Ireland at the end of the 19th century, but when I knew her in the 50's, she sounded Scottish to me. Likewise, my Dad, from Ayrshire sounded English to me. It was only because my English teacher on meeting him at a parents open night, pointed out his accent to me.

It's been said that the English language is the richest language in the world, and that it is also a sweetheart language. Goodness only knows what was being spoken  in the days between the Roman occupation and William the Conqueror, but it was probably a mixture of Norse, Danish and Germanic. Then throw in the Norman language from 1066 onwards and it must have been a linguistic nightmare.

The English spoken today has changed from when I was a kid, which in general I see as not a bad thing, just inevitable. But the one aspect of change that I hate is the pseudo West Indian accent that you hear a lot of youngsters,black and white (and older) speaking. To my mind, there's only one source for that and that is (c)rap. I won't call it music because normally there's no singing involved. And that isn't me being an old reactionary, because I've spoken to lots of young kids and most feel the same way about it.

 

John.

Change is the only constant in life and it doesn't stop or slow down for anyone which is why everyone to some degree can find it challenging. Accents will always change and evolve as long as people with different dialects and experiences seek to reach out, embrace and communicate with each other. Those subtle changes are driven by the adaptations needed in order to improve the communication needs at any one point in time and as the latter is also a constant those adaptations will constantly evolve as more variables are introduced (fashion, new discoveries of things, ideas and so forth) which can include arguably the most influential of all, those shared through broadcast media. This is all part of our evolution as a species - all part of our 'growing up' - and while I myself can find some aspects quite challenging at times - including 'loss' - I am far more grateful for being on this 'ride' into the future than I would be to see evolution grind to a halt. 

 

Now that's about as much esoteric thinking as my brain can cope with today. Plus, I'm close to using up my word quota. So it's back to building my AT-AT. 😜

[PhoenixII]

19 hours ago, dogsbody said:

....................After 400+ years of Roman influence, did the Britons speak the same as before the Romans arrived? And don't forget those damned Angles and Saxons! Look what they did to the local lingo.

Chris

Chris, @dogsbody, don't forget, the 'Roman' influence on 'English' was probably more like Romanian and Bulgar, as the climate didn't agree with Italian born Romans!

So, you have Gaelic, Celt, English, Scandinavian, in it's many variations, Angle, Saxon, Jute, Basque, Roman (Latin), Romanian, Bulgar, Slav, Gaulish (European variation of Celt), then, remembering that this Country has been trade dependant for millennia going back to the Bronze age, you will have the Mediterranean languages to add, the likes of Greek, Persian, Sarmation and Iberian, then there will be the North African input from places like modern day Tunisia, Libya, and possibly Egypt, and that lot doesn't even touch on the Indian Sub Continent! The one thing that is certain, we English are just a load of Heinz 57's! 

Paul

[Beardie]

Funny thing about all this moving around the world is that I recently decided to take a chance and had a DNA test done. It revealed that my family is, to a great degree rooted in Scotland and Ireland. The lines of my family were rooted in Islay but originated in Ireland at least a thousand years ago on my fathers side and my mothers side is rooted in the Nairn/Moray area although they stopped in Perthshire for a while before reaching Glasgow. So far I can only say that all my mothers ancestors were from that area back at least to the 1600's. It was only in the later 1800's that both sides migrated to Glasgow, presumably for work. I do have a couple of percent of Scandinavian and a little German/French in the mix oh and I score very highly in Neanderthal genetic markers. Surprisingly I only have 2% officially 'alien' DNA.

[qn30jEkPz7]

Back in the land of odd facts. Can’t take credit for this as I just read this:

 

https://mobile.twitter.com/Oniropolis/status/1208805077340827650

 

This place built to store waste from all those Cold War nuke tests is fascinating and terrifying in equal measure https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enewetak_Atoll

 

[Mick4350]

3 hours ago, LostCosmonauts said:

 

 

This place built to store waste from all those Cold War nuke tests is fascinating and terrifying in equal measure https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enewetak_Atoll

 

I remember one of our Australian TV news reporters covering this a couple of years ago and it has largely been forgotten by the US government and the "bunker" is starting to leach it's radioactive contents into the ground beneath the dome.

[fewr9fkr9595]

Here’s an odd fact -

 

[bentwaters81tfw]

^That's comforting to know. How do they cope with the zombies though? Plenty of them on cruise ships.

[hairystick]

 

On 12/20/2019 at 5:25 PM, Kiwidave4 said:

Even sadder that if the present trends continue that 'culture' will be almost exclusively derived from the least cultured nation on the planet, and appeal primarily to the lowest common denominator in society.

A few months back, I heard that there was a large undergroud movement happening in the Washington DC area - related to music.

It seems that 90's era music is being celebrated by people. It was noted that this was the last decade where people would gather together because of the methodology and community of the music. Radio stations were still prominent, music shops, "announcements" of eagerly awaited bands visiting, etc.

Now we have diversified access to music, and very individual approaches to obtaining it. The younger generation might not even "own" an album or song, but just access it somehow. 

 

 

Returning to the P.o.W topic:

My Mum was one of those who managed to make friends with a German lad. His E-boat was shot out from under him earlier in the war, so spent his time working in the fields and practicing English. He was quite happy being away from the immediate fighting!

His party would walk past Mum's house each day and they'd stop and chat.

When the war ended, Mum went on a brief holidy to Cologne and witnessed the rubble of the city. She took gifts for the family and they stayed in touch. I met Herman and his family in the late 80's when they came south for a holiday. Lovely folks!

Also, there used to be a French onion seller who would catch the ferry across the channel to sell his wares. A bicycle that was so laden down with strings of tied onions that you could not actually see the bike underneath!

He vanished when the war started, but immediately once the war was over he appeared again, exactly the same as before! Mum was quite happy to see he made it through safely.

[Rickoshea52]

On 11/10/2019 at 02:50, dnl42 said:

 

Alaska is the northernmost, westernmost, and easternmost state is the USA

Hawaii, (not Alaska) is the only US state with a Union Flag (Jack) in its state flag. 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Rickoshea52

[Rickoshea52]

Greenford underground station is the the only station on the network where passengers ascend an escalator to reach the platforms. 

[dnl42]

1 minute ago, Rickoshea52 said:

Alaska is the only US state with a Union Flag (Jack) in its state flag. 

Hawaii. A reference to their earlier name as the Sandwich Islands, so named by James Cook.

 

Alaska's flag has Ursa Major and Polaris on a blue field. 

[Rickoshea52]

48 minutes ago, dnl42 said:

Hawaii. A reference to their earlier name as the Sandwich Islands, so named by James Cook.

 

Alaska's flag has Ursa Major and Polaris on a blue field. 

Correct. I don’t know why I got them mixed up. 😐 

[Beardie]

Come on folks we need some more weird facts!! 

 

I have to say that I am very frustrated with Physics at the moment. I can't find the answers to the 'big' questions and so much of the theoretical work at the moment - String theory, M-Theory, Manyworlds etc. etc. just seem so fanciful that my gut feeling is that, while they seem to hint that they are the answer they really aren't. They seem to me to be a bit like Eric Morecambe's piano playing. They contain all the right numbers just not necessarily in the right order. Every new book I read I hope for something that is encouraging but I tend to end up reading all the same things just put slightly differently. 

 

My gut feeling is that the answer is incredibly simple. So incredibly simple that it will take a genius to spot it.

[Pete in Lincs]

I had it just a minute ago. Tip of my tongue. Erm.... I'll get back to you.*

 

And, when the kids berate your lack of computer skills, remind them who taught them to use a spoon!

 

*What was the question again?

[Ratch]

21 hours ago, Beardie said:

Come on folks we need some more weird facts!! 

I thought this had turned into the thread about astrophysics theories 

[Beardie]

Ah well it went that way simply because that sport has a lot of interesting facts that I had been discovering lately but all comers, the weirder the better, are welcome. Pub quiz knowledge builder although I have to say I have never once in my life taken part in such a thing. 

 

Here's an interesting one - The first known vending machine was created by Hero of Alexandria (why couldn't I have been given such a cool name?!) in first century Roman Egypt that dispensed holy water in return for a coin. 

[Beardie]

Having recently decided that, at the ripe old age of 47, I am going to try my hand at heavy weight lifting again after not having touched a barbell since I was eighteen and hurt my back showing off carrying a Suzuki GSX750 engine around I have been taking an interest in the last few years of World's Strongest Man and was seriously impressed to see Englands' Eddie 'The Beast' Hall set a world record by deadlifting an incredible 500kg! I will be incredibly proud of myself if I can work up to even 200kg!

[Black Knight]

Somat whats been annoying me lately; 2019 is not the end of the decade, the end of 2020 is the end of the decade.

We do not count starting at 0 to 9, but 1 to 10, or 20 or 200

[Jo NZ]

17 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

Somat whats been annoying me lately; 2019 is not the end of the decade, the end of 2020 is the end of the decade.

We do not count starting at 0 to 9, but 1 to 10, or 20 or 200

Surely January 1 0000 was the start of the first decade? So December 31 0009 would be the end, cos that's 10 years.

[Black Knight]

There was no year 0, and no January 1st as the first day. In Roman times March was the first month.

In the 300s the Church authorities back worked dates and made the first year of Jesus of Nazareth as year 1. The 'First Year of Our Lord' - Anno Domini - A.D., now known as the politically correct 'Common Era', C.E.

Prior to this everyone dated things by the year of ruling by their present king or emperor. So it was, it the 3rd year of Emperor Tiberius. Only later do historians put a date year counting from that year 1.

This dating by the year of ruling of the monarch was in use until the 1960s/70s in state papers in the UK and is still in use in the Middle & Far East

[dnl42]

THANK YOU @Black Knight! 

 

I've given up on trying to explain this...

[spaddad]

On 12/18/2019 at 12:29 AM, Beardie said:

Here is a very strange fact about me that was pointed out by my wife today. I wonder if anyone else has a similar 'affliction'. We were in Glasgow today and my wife commented that, over time she has noticed that I am a bit of a linguistic chameleon. When I am at home in Argyll I, apparently, take on an Argyllshire accent and I become more 'Highland' the further North we travel or if I am talking about things of a 'Gaelic' nature but, if we go down to visit my family in Ayrshire I start talking with an Ayrshire accent and a similar accent change occurs if I visit the land of my early years in Fife. Apparently when we go to Glasgow or I get worked up about something I turn into Billy Connolly. Is this just another facet of the weirdness that is my extra terrestrial lot or do others have similar traits?

Nope, never changed at all as far as I can tell. I've lived in the soft south for 30 years now & people still say I've never lost my accent.

[spaddad]

2 hours ago, Beardie said:

Having recently decided that, at the ripe old age of 47, I am going to try my hand at heavy weight lifting again after not having touched a barbell since I was eighteen and hurt my back showing off carrying a Suzuki GSX750 engine around I have been taking an interest in the last few years of World's Strongest Man and was seriously impressed to see Englands' Eddie 'The Beast' Hall set a world record by deadlifting an incredible 500kg! I will be incredibly proud of myself if I can work up to even 200kg!

This will not end well.

[Beardie]

Ach I reckon I can manage to work up to 200kilos just fine but I'm not sure if I want to go further than that. I hit the limits of the barbell set I picked up a fortnight ago right of the box. I thought that 80kg would do for starters but found it a doddle to deadlift the lot with not even a hint of a twinge from the old back. Now I need to pick up some more plates. I reckon 100kilos plus will be no problem and then I will take it from there. 

[Pete in Lincs]

Barbells? I can get you a job lifting barrels. And, BTW, we all have bad backs.

 

1 hour ago, spaddad said:

This will not end well.

I know a Landlord that was a contemporary of Mr Capes. He's a big lad, but he also has a bad back. We're not designed for that stuff.