Can PF Random Thoughts be Split to Help with Server Load?

[DennisN]

There are no normal people here. That's why those that are here, are here.

The problem is, first the English spoke something similar to Welsh. Then we got invaded by the Saxons, the Romans, and the French. After that we have spent about 1000 years figuring out how to merge four incompatible languages and grammars into one.

You forgot the Vikings and the Danelaw . My ancestors tried to fix the Roman and Saxon mess, but your ancestors did not listen. And then the French came and really messed it up .

I remember having heard that the word "window" came from Norse, and it seems so:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window#Etymology

The word window originates from the Old Norse 'vindauga', from 'vindr – wind' and 'auga–eye', i.e., wind eye. In Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic the Old Norse form has survived to this day (in Icelandic only as a less used synonym to gluggi), in Swedish the word vindöga remains as a term for a hole through the roof of a hut, and in the Danish language 'vindue' and Norwegian Bokmål 'vindu', the direct link to 'eye' is lost, just like for 'window'. The Danish (but not the Bokmål) word is pronounced fairly similarly to window.

Window is first recorded in the early 13th century, and originally referred to an unglazed hole in a roof. Window replaced the Old English eagþyrl, which literally means 'eye-hole,' and 'eagduru' 'eye-door'. Many Germanic languages however adopted the Latin word 'fenestra' to describe a window with glass, such as standard Swedish 'fönster', or German 'Fenster'. The use of window in English is probably because of the Scandinavian influence on the English language by means of loanwords during the Viking Age.

So the English word "window" seems to come from Norse, and the Swedish word "fönster" from Latin. We're all messed up.

 

[dkotschessaa]

(pregnant) wife: I feel bloated and gassy.
Me: Sweety, Jupiter is big ang gassy, and it's the most beautiful planet in the solar system.
wife: Oh sweetie!

I think got this expecting father thing down.-Dave K

[note, the spellings above are correct. I am referred to as Sweetie and she is referred to as Sweety]

 

[dkotschessaa]

Oh my. It gets worse:



I should have taken my advice, and taken a nap...

Posted this to FB and a response from my cousin was:

Is hamandcheese correct?

No you need a space between ham and and and and and cheese. 5 ands in a row!

 

[Enigman]

(pregnant) wife: I feel bloated and gassy.
Me: Sweety, Jupiter is big ang gassy, and it's the most beautiful planet in the solar system.
wife: Oh sweetie!

Two points:

1. You just got away with telling your wife that something is more beautiful than her.
2. Jupiter has got some furious storms.

- I would run before she realizes them.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Two points:

1. You just got away with telling your wife that something is more beautiful than her.
2. Jupiter has got some furious storms.

- I would run before she realizes them.

Nope, I am very careful. I said it was the most beautiful *planet* Not the most beautiful *thing*.

She would agree with the second point.

 

[Enigman]

EDIT-
Bah humbug... I went to eat my hat and found that the March Hare had already eaten it...there goes my fedora.

 

[Enigman]

Okay angels have grown bolder and German wisdom is a prime example of... well, german wisdom.

 

[dkotschessaa]

I had a dream that somebody gave me a bunch of ritalin or something. The pills were all very colorful and different shapes.

 

[Enigman]

Okay angels have grown bolder

Something stinks...

 

[AlephZero]

But the good news was, our language was such a mess that nobody even tried to invade us again (except for the Spanish in 1588 and the Germans in 1945, and nether of them got very far).

Lol.

Come to think of it, when was the last time that any country with English as its first language was invaded?

 

[Enigman]

Come to think of it, when was the last time that any country with English as its first language was invaded?

Does Pearl Harbour count?

 

[Borek]

Does Pearl Harbour count?

It was hardly an invasion.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Come to think of it, when was the last time that any country with English as its first language was invaded?

Do you count the Falkland Islands?

 

[AlephZero]

It was hardly an invasion.

I suppose technically there was an invasion force of one sailor (who swam ashore after his midget submarine ran aground). but 100% of the invaders were captured.

Do you count the Falkland Islands?

Good call.

 

[strangerep]

Does Pearl Harbour count?

Umm,... what makes you think English was the first language in Hawaii?

Or indeed anywhere in the Americas?

[Edit] BTW, Sydney Harbour was "invaded" in WWII by a Japanese midget submarine that carried 2 submariners. They managed to torpedo the perfectly harmless ferry HMAS Kuttabul while aiming for the USS Chicago, then committed suicide.

Of course, Australia's first language is not English either.

 

[Enigman]

Umm,... what makes you think

I refute that accusation.

 

[edward]

For many years we had real wood floors. Real wood became too expensive then along came Pergo laminate and engineered wood. Now we have a zillion companies making laminate. The wood look is so popular there is now ceramic planks with a wood grain look.

 

[lisab]

Umm,... what makes you think English was the first language in Hawaii?

Or indeed anywhere in the Americas?

[Edit] BTW, Sydney Harbour was "invaded" in WWII by a Japanese midget submarine that carried 2 submariners. They managed to torpedo the perfectly harmless ferry HMAS Kuttabul while aiming for the USS Chicago, then committed suicide.

Of course, Australia's first language is not English either.

The first language of <anywhere on Earth> is not <any language spoken today>.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

... Of course, Australia's first language is not English either.

My math teacher once randomly told us that the aboriginals of Australia had but three numbers: none, one, and many.

 

[Evo]

My math teacher once randomly told us that the aboriginals of Australia had but three numbers: none, one, and many.

I think they may have heard about the Brazilian Piraha tribe that don't have a concept of counting and got confused.

The work builds on a study published in 2004, which found that the Piraha had words to express the quantities "one," "two," and "many."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080714111940.htm

 

[Ibix]

I think they may have heard about the Brazilian Piraha tribe that don't have a concept of counting and got confused.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080714111940.htm

There are so many of these tribes...

 

[Evo]

There are so many of these tribes...

Name another one like the Piraha.

I guess I should provide a link about them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirahã_people#Culture

 

[Evo]

An oldie, but still goodie.

Recently reported in the Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers Journal,
the following 22 questions were actually asked of witnesses by attorneys
during trials. In certain cases, the responses given by insightful witnesses also appear:

1. "Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep,
he doesn't know about it until the next morning?"

2. "The youngest son, the twenty-year old, how old is he?"

3. "Were you present when your picture was taken?"

4. "Were you alone or by yourself?"

5. "Was it you or your younger brother who was killed in the war?"

6. "Did he kill you?"

7. "How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?"

8. "You were there until the time you left, is that true?"

9. "How many times have you committed suicide?"

10. Q: "So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?"
A: "Yes."
Q: "And what were you doing at that time?"

11. Q: "She had three children, right?"
A: "Yes."
Q: "How many were boys?"
A: "None."
Q: "Were there any girls?"

12. Q: "You say the stairs went down to the basement?"
A: "Yes."
Q: "And these stairs, did they go up also?"

13. Q: "Mr. Slattery, you went on a rather elaborate honeymoon,
didn't you?
A: "I went to Europe, Sir."
Q: "And you took your new wife?"

14. Q: "How was your first marriage terminated?"
A: "By death."
Q: "And by who's death was it terminated?"

15. Q: "Can you describe the individual?"
A: "He was about medium height and had a beard."
Q: "Was this a male, or a female?"

16. Q: "Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a
deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?"
A: "No, this is how I dress when I go to work."

17. Q: "Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead
people?" A: "All my autopsies are performed on dead people."

18. Q: "All your responses must be oral, OK? What school did you go to?"
A: "Oral."

19. Q: "Do you recall the time you examined the body?"
A: "The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m."
Q: "And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?"
A: "No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an
autopsy."

20. Q: "You were not shot in the fracas?"
A: "No, I was shot midway between the fracas and the navel."

21. Q: "Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
A: "I have been since early childhood."

22. Q: "Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for
a pulse?"
A: "No."
Q: "Did you check for blood pressure?"
A: "No."
Q: "Did you check for breathing?"
A: "No."
Q: "So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you
began the autopsy?"
A: "No."
Q: "How can you be so sure, Doctor?"
A: "Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar."
Q: "But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?"
A: "It is possible that he could have been alive and practicing
law somewhere."
Thanks

 

[OmCheeto]

My math teacher once randomly told us that the aboriginals of Australia had but three numbers: none, one, and many.

I wonder what the kids did with all their free time, not having to take all those math classes.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Ah, Evo, those were precious! Someone should develop a movie around those quotes.

 

[Mandelbroth]

17. Q: "Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead
people?" A: "All my autopsies are performed on dead people."

[...]

22. Q: "Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for
a pulse?"
A: "No."
Q: "Did you check for blood pressure?"
A: "No."
Q: "Did you check for breathing?"
A: "No."
Q: "So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you
began the autopsy?"
A: "No."
Q: "How can you be so sure, Doctor?"
A: "Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar."
Q: "But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?"
A: "It is possible that he could have been alive and practicing
law somewhere."
Thanks

Thank you. I needed a good laugh or two.

I'm a little nervous for my math exam today.

 

[dkotschessaa]

My math teacher once randomly told us that the aboriginals of Australia had but three numbers: none, one, and many.

It's how they count their wives.

 

[AlephZero]

I wonder what the kids did with all their free time, not having to take all those math classes.

Probably working through the sequence Pre-Boomerang, Boomerang I, Boomerang II, Mulitvariable Boomerangs, Nonlinear Boomerang Algebra, ...

 

[Enigman]

Why would the irish mob want to kill a CEO of gaming company
>.<

 

[AlephZero]

Q: "Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?"

Reminds me of a quote from Sir Richard Burton, the 19th century army officer, explorer, linguist, etc, etc. A doctor once asked him, "How do you feel, when you have just killed a man?". Burton replied, "I don't have any particular feelings. But how to do feel, in the same situation?"