Things you were shockingly old when you learned

now in my head i can only hear it over beats and like ‘flaCIEEEED!’

but like ymp, i kinda think thats what we're saying?

the british are second only to the french in not pronouncing half the letters in words, imo

Shit, I pronounce it sonn suh-reef, I am a pretentious twat. Not sure I've ever had cause to say it loud though so I've probably got away with it.

― Stockhausen Serves Empirical Jism (Matt #2), mercredi 2 octobre 2019 04:43 (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

how else would anyone say it? that's literally the way to say it

― frame casual (dog latin), mercredi 2 octobre 2019 04:48 (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

That's how I say it too, maybe without enunciating the "n". I've heard "serif" pronounced the way the guys on Forvo do but it would never occur to me to say "sans" like "sanz" tbh.

waitll ye here about what words based on irish should actually sound like

(slurred)

The American pronunciations of names like Maurice, Bernard and Gerard are noticeably less boorish than the UK/Irish ones, for a bit of balance.

wait how dyou say those then

baurice jeansonne

Pompatus

That only a river separates New York state from Canada (I thought there were other states in the way).

not even that, south of montréal

There's also a pretty cool waterfall between the two.

grew up near niagara falls, but only recently went on the maid of the mist boat ride, it was great

Looks like if you reduce NY state to a heavily distorted triangle one whole face borders on Canada separated by a river, lakes and things. & New England is down another face. Think I would have pictured those states as being somehow above it so possibly between it and Canada

By "down" you mean east, yes?

Half of the NE states have Canadian borders even with or north of New York's

Maybe the confusion comes because people conflate New York State with NYC, which is m/l in the SE corner of the fairly large state?

would have viewed the face as being near vertical so the borders being down the side of it. Wasn't really thinking about up or down in terms of further North in relation to that aspect. But would probably have been thinking new England was generally further North towards the Canadian Border which hung as a curtain on the West to East axis if thinking about things figuratively. Which it doesn't really anyway and I'm not sure of the degree of tilt of the body of the continent of North America anyway.

& I also found out when looking at the map that a picture I had since driving to London Ontario for the UWO centenary was totally wrong. I thought we'd driven North and gone through Massachusetts and then NIagara Falls when going from Mount Vernon. I just found out where Niagara Falls actually lies. So that would be an opposite direction.

I don't understand that post but the slice of NY from Buffalo to like Watertown is great.

sorry should have xp-ed.

Had a picture of how the areas hung together from having been driven there in my pre-teens which I've just seen is contrary to the map. So wondering if I mistook Buffalo for something else.

So wondering if I mistook Buffalo for something else.

I mean, you wouldn't be the first.

They were probably bison. It's a common mistake.

I was thinking "a city that ranks in the Top 20 most populous nationally."

I thought for like 40 years that we drove up through Boston which doesn't geographically make sense.
Think I've mainly seen the sliver of New York State around NYC when looking at maps talking about events there and not seen that skips about 4/5s of the State.

Also thinking that a picture of the US based on maps and Atlases and things would have the country squared left to right as if it fit the West to East axis directly when the reality of a naturally formed continent would more probably be considerably to the tilt from those compass point axes. Like.

as long as you can tell the difference between washington state and washington dc, you're good to go

Yeah, met somebody from Washington State yesterday. & found out where the Puget Sound was. Not sure where i would have placed it other than thinking it was a good weird post hardcore band from Dublin about 10 years ago. Or at least they borrowed the name.
She said there were deserts in Washington State which I wouldn't have thought cos I thought a lot of that area was known for rain.

There's a mountain range bisecting the state! The western coastal part is probably better known

I hadn't realized until early this year that there's a Vancouver, Washington.

I'm surprised they don't try to pronounce it Van-COH-ver or something.

Let me tell you something that actually is germane to this thread: When I was a kid, I read about, and we studied in school about, the Salem witch trials.

I was aware that Salem was a place in Oregon. I was not aware it is also a place in Massachusetts. I was never really able to work out how women could have been persecuted as witches in a place that wasn't founded until 1842 but also I was an evangelical so I was used to believing in impossible things that didn't make sense, so somehow I just let it ride. ALL MY LIFE UNTIL ADULT-HOOD.

that was their witchery though, actually being also in the other Salem

i don't think that's so bad? the oregon one is much larger and is a state capital, and it's not like the witch trials appear everyday discussions. i can totally see thinking 'weird, but whatever'

as long as you can tell the difference between washington state and washington dc, you're good to go

I worked at a university archive and special collections in Washington state for years and had at least three conversations with scholars from the UK who were going to be visiting NY/Boston/DC and wanted to casually swing by one day and check out our Virginia Woolf collection. They were all super confused when I explained it would take them several days to get there by train.

The USAF survival training school is in Spokane, supposedly because Washington State has easy access to desert, rain forest, and high altitude snow conditions within a couple of hours.

truly a land of contrasts

i once knew an albertan who thought the white house, etc, was in washington state. it's understandable. i can't tell my rough riders from my roughriders

xxp My dad had to do that course. He said something about being left in the desert with a potato and an onion and iirc he won't talk about it beyond that.

i only learned last year that the redskins is washington dc. I'm from Virginia so I probably should've realized that even sooner.

On your left, Oregon. The state of Washington is on your right.

https://i.imgur.com/wI1RpP7.png

having the potato and onion seems like cheating imo

I thought the Washington football team was the Hatcats.

you were correct

My wife learned recently that a certain college (famous for its sports teams) is not "Yukon" but "UConn."

Haha, the Hatcats' location was a longterm point of confusion for me as well

not "Yukon" but "UConn."

this is wonderful

Ah, the Huskies.

Just like the football team in Washington.

hmm I think that team is Nebraska

wait till you hear about the wildcats

This week I learned that Willie Mays Hayes was the name of a character in the movie Major League and not the seldom-used full name of real-life baseball player Willie Mays.

I hadn't realized until early this year that there's a Vancouver, Washington.

it feels especially trolly bcz Vancouver WA is JUST over the border from Oregon, and Vancouver BC is JUST over the border from the US, on the same road

other vancouver facts:

north vancouver and west vancouver bc are not parts of the city of vancouver bc

anyone who names suburbs with a cardinal direction tacked on to the actual city's name should rethink what they're doing imo