Things you were shockingly old when you learned

That 'Fugazi' isn't just a proper noun…

slang term for fucked up situation, does it double as a verb too?

I don't think so. Anyway, I thought it was a made-up proper name or an Italian word.

IT's a term that was popularised during the Vietnam war, though I've got it running through my head that it might make an appearance in Catch 22. KInd of hyper-portmanteau shortening of a couple of words.

you are thinking of FUBAR, no? ("fucked up beyond all recognition"?)

"The group still needed a name, so MacKaye chose the word "fugazi" from Mark Baker's Nam, a compilation of stories of Vietnam War veterans, it there being a slang acronym for "Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In [into a body bag]"." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugazi#Formation_and_early_years_(1986%E2%80%931989))

there you go

that the Brooklyn Dodgers are still around and they are not called the Brooklyn Dodgers.

There are alternative views on that word derivation
http://www.yourdictionary.com/fugazi

"The group still needed a name, so MacKaye chose the word "fugazi" from Mark Baker's Nam, a compilation of stories of Vietnam War veterans, it there being a slang acronym for "Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In [into a body bag]".

Yeah, right, we all know where he really got it from.

http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/233/cover_18291617102008.jpg

saying you were inspired by Derek Dick aka battered Fish Masala doesn't sound so cool!

I have to confess I've never heard a single note, crotch, demisemiquaver of Fugazi, the band, and it might well because I automatically think of Fish capering about with his big face painted.

I can remember them on Peel when I was a kid. Never felt compelled to listen any further.

I have never heard a note of that Fugazi, but could 99% assuredly say it sounds nothing like Ian MacKaye's band, based on that album cover alone.

OK, I take it back. For about 15 seconds, starting here - https://youtu.be/XOHhDsVV-DY?t=257 - both Fugazis sound the same.

i love all of these Fugazis tbh

Despite Portishead being one of my most listened-to bands of my adult life, I only just became aware that Beth Gibbons had a solo album in 2002

I love that album

I enjoyed it on first listen last night, yeah

I listened to that so much at the time, it still holds up

I love it but it isn't a solo album

No no I know, but still

Paul Webb, right. Talk Talk guy

when I was a teenager "1 Fugazi" was written on show flyers and meant $5

not to leave my tablet on the plane

:/

when they've done the controlled explosion I'm sure they'll send you the bits

Um, how is it possible that I've only just this morning realized that an asterisk has five points, not six? This feels like some 'Berenstein/Berenstain'-esque revisionist history shit tbrr.

citation needed

wikipedia has 5-pointed in the text but 6-pointed in the big box-out on the right. so i think it's a typeface thing, the way 'a's can be different in different typefaces.

6 in Georgia, Times New Roman, Garamond, Verdana. 5 in Helvetica, Arial, Courier, Comic Sans.

actually, if i'd gotten further than the picture

"In English, an asterisk is usually five-pointed in sans-serif typefaces, six-pointed in serif typefaces [citation needed]"

mine are normally 5-pointed when i'm hand-writing stuff because you can draw one without lifting the pen from the paper

Okay, so I'm only partially crazy, then. Whew.

Well, I was at least shockingly old when I realized that asterisks have a varying number of points.

Pompey is pronounced Pom-pi and not Pom-pay.

Is that Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus or Portsmouth?

'Twas only a few years ago I found out that many 3 or 4-way junctions here in the UK have traffic lights where you need to press the crossing button in order to activate a pedestrian crossing cycle. Before that I'd just stand there bemused as the green man remained resolutely unlit.

What FBPE stands for. Like a minute ago. And I almost searched for FPBE. In fact I've just had to check again whether it is FBPE or FPBE.

Pompey is pronounced Pom-pi and not Pom-pay.

You sure about that?

https://forvo.com/word/pompei/#it

but... Pompey though

Depends on the Pompey.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth

Oh, right. Had no idea.

https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/cute-small-pomeranian-dog-peeing-park-urinating-105437652.jpg

Also, mispronounced in English...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompey

I was all set to finally add “why Portsmouth has that inexplicably annoying nickname Pompey" to this thread and then I found out no one really knows. The first explanation here sounds totally fucking made-up though:

https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-2010,00.html

"Jacob" is the latin cognate of the name "James." I was trying to figure out why it was Jacobean Era, when James was the guy. I knew in Spanish it's Jaime, or Diego related to Iago? So I feel like I was so close for so long, but somehow failed thrive in onomastics.

That Windsor Safari Park doesn't exist any more and Legoland is in the same place.

Beth Gibbons also worked with Paul Webb on the first O-Rang album, which came out before (or perhaps just after) Dummy.

& O-rang were Talk Talk minus Mark Hollis or something similar.

Apart from the unofficial fourth member (IE producer and co-writer) of Talk Talk, Tim Friese-Greene, who went on to record as... Heligoland!