Things you were shockingly old when you learned

I just learned that a "fathom" is only 6 feet/183cm, not some huge undersea depth as I had imagined.

I can't even begin to six feet why you would think that.

i am just now learning this as well!

They changed the movie title bcz 43,744,532 Fathoms Under The Sea used more digits than most cinemas had for their marquees

Um, literally the distance you can physically fathom or grasp with your arms outstretched? I suppose "fathom" for "grasp" may only be used in the abstract "understand" rather than the literal sense in English now? Norwegian has "fatte" ("understand" nearly always, physically "grasp" in some older literary usage), which may have helped me understand this unit without too much trouble.

The Verne title refers to distance traveled rather than distance from surface.

Uh, that's a league, apparently meaning about an hour's walk, not a fathom.

I think Stevolende knows that, he's just listing something else he realized late. I had the same misconception, "How can you be that deep, the earth isn't even that thick?!!"

It wasn't until I heard my college professor say Friedrich Nietzsche's surname outloud that I realized it wasn't pronounced the same as Green Bay Packers linebacker Ray Nitschke, even though it obviously doesn't have a K in it. This was long after I'd first tried to read him and probably attempted to name-drop him in a few weighty conversations.

That 'perk' is an abbreviation of 'perquisite'.

Good one!

"pox" is just a 15th century re-spelling of "pocks", as in pockmarks

https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=pox

(this dawned on me while reading some twitter discussion abt chickenpox which has now disappeared from my timeline so no link - anyhow there was much talk of "pocks" so I might be the last person alive to have realised this)

I thought standardised spelling was only really happening thanks to the printed word which was only happening around that time, possibly even a little later. Otherwise there was a lot of spelling variation depending on what area you were in or where your education was from etc.

That there is a science fiction element to Dude, Where's My Car?

xpost/eckes poste

this is true, so I guess a better summary might be that in the late 15th century people began to think of "pocks" as a word/condition in its own right rather than a plural of another word, and would sometimes write it down accordingly in a less plural-looking manner, and we've* done so ever since

a bit less snappy though

* I've**
** ok I am not quite that old

high flying birds are on this:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_6P3K7XUAMd86e.png

that "Avenging Force" with Michael Dudikoff is a sequel to the Chuck Norris classic "Invasion U.S.A."

For some reason i always mistakenly thought Maiden's Number of the Beast was a concept album...until my late 20s

It is one if you want it to be.

Lol true

The Left Bank in Paris is not on the left side of the map but rather on the left side of the river when you're traveling downstream

Just learned at NCT today that “pump and dump” doesn’t in fact mean conscientiously expressing several bottles of milk in advance

I finally figured out today how to lower blinds. You just pull the strings at an angle! Where's my Mensa membership?

a league, apparently meaning about an hour's walk, not a fathom

According to the introduction to my 20,000 Leagues, which I happened to be reading this morning, a league on land ("le plancher des vaches") is about 4 kilometers, but a nautical league is 5.555 kilometers: "la vingtième partie du degré d'un grand cercle de la Terre."

Colin Hay is Scottish by birth, and only moved to Australia at age 14. He has a strong Scottish accent. Hand to heart, I've only ever heard him sing before today. Never heard his speaking voice.

loads of our famous people were born elsewhere, especially those who were famous before 2000

It's just so weird that I've been hearing his music for more than 30 years and it never occurred to me that he sounded like anything but a "typical" Australian, if not Crocodile Dundee. It's like finding out Michael Hutchence was Quebecois or something.

and he’s still got a distinct scots accent!

I think Malcolm Young had traces of a Scottish accent, Angus (and Bon Scott) none at all - George Young was entirely Scottish, from what I've heard.

... John Paul, totally Aus!

^ who?

It's like finding out Michael Hutchence was Quebecois or something.

better be sitting down, because Michael Hutchence lived in Hong Kong from ages 3 to 13, LA for a year when he was 15, and in Hong Kong from about 25 to death.

I just this minute learned that 'Quebecois' refers to someone from Hong Kong. Thanks, sic!

I learned the left bank and right bank thing about rivers (flowing downstream) 2 months ago! xpost

We should have a 'celebrities whose actual country of origin is different than you thought' thread if we don't already. Only very recently learned that Gregg Turkington is Australian!

Sam Neill is from Northern Ireland

rory mcilroy is british

oh god

I've been watching the On Cinema stuff after frequenting that thread and the thing I just learned is even more mortifying when it comes to my lack of being observant

I think I was used to seeing pictures of his comedic alter ego and I only just now realized that Gregg is the same Gregg who... oh man, I feel dumb

so long story short, yes, he's the Neil Hamburger Gregg Turkington

however, he was only *born* in australia (to american parents) and has probably never claimed to be australian

^ who?

John "Love Is" Paul "In the" Young "Air"

Sam Neill is from Northern Ireland

― Number None, Monday, July 22, 2019 10:07 AM (forty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

OK now you're just fucking with me.

Jackie Chan is Welsh

you'll be telling us Max Boyce was from Hong Kong next!

born there during the Sevens tournament iirc

I learned just now that Phil Rudd is the only member of either main AC/DC lineup who was born in Australia.

a real one is I didn't know the Van Halen brothers were half Indonesian - learned recently from Dave Roth interview on Marc Maron pod

Ha, I learned that from an ethnomusicology prof in undergrad. I remember a fellow student tried to seriously consider whether there was an audible gamelan influence in their playing.

I learned just now that Phil Rudd is the only member of either main AC/DC lineup who was born in Australia.

Mark Evans was born in Australia!


I just this minute learned that 'Quebecois' refers to someone from Hong Kong. Thanks, sic!

I just this minute learned that the words “or something” don’t exist

Ah, fair point. Evans played on probably my favourite AC/DC records during the two years he was in the band.

John "Love Is" Paul

oh duh, as in not a Young brother, that totally threw me in a “puns you had missed” fashion

Palmolive (the cleaning product, not the musician) was so named for the stunningly obvious reason that the original soap contained both palm oil and olive oil.