The Verne title refers to distance traveled rather than distance from surface.
― Stevolende, Friday, 19 July 2019 18:17 (four years ago) link
Uh, that's a league, apparently meaning about an hour's walk, not a fathom.
― anatol_merklich, Friday, 19 July 2019 18:31 (four years ago) link
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?!!"
― nickn, Friday, 19 July 2019 20:04 (four years ago) link
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.
― punning display, Friday, 19 July 2019 22:10 (four years ago) link
That 'perk' is an abbreviation of 'perquisite'.
― My nephew accidentally swalled five quarters and thee dimes. (Old Lunch), Saturday, 20 July 2019 12:14 (four years ago) link
Good one!
― Arthur Lowe & Love (Tom D.), Saturday, 20 July 2019 12:18 (four years ago) link
"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)
― a passing spacecadet, Saturday, 20 July 2019 12:32 (four years ago) link
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.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 20 July 2019 12:39 (four years ago) link
That there is a science fiction element to Dude, Where's My Car?
― Ward Fowler, Saturday, 20 July 2019 12:53 (four years ago) link
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
― a passing spacecadet, Saturday, 20 July 2019 13:02 (four years ago) link
high flying birds are on this:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_6P3K7XUAMd86e.png
― mark s, Saturday, 20 July 2019 13:06 (four years ago) link
that "Avenging Force" with Michael Dudikoff is a sequel to the Chuck Norris classic "Invasion U.S.A."
― methanietanner, Saturday, 20 July 2019 13:41 (four years ago) link
For some reason i always mistakenly thought Maiden's Number of the Beast was a concept album...until my late 20s
― Fuck Trump, cops, and the CBP (Neanderthal), Saturday, 20 July 2019 13:53 (four years ago) link
It is one if you want it to be.
― pomenitul, Saturday, 20 July 2019 13:56 (four years ago) link
Lol true
― Fuck Trump, cops, and the CBP (Neanderthal), Saturday, 20 July 2019 14:36 (four years ago) link
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
― Josefa, Saturday, 20 July 2019 14:50 (four years ago) link
Just learned at NCT today that “pump and dump” doesn’t in fact mean conscientiously expressing several bottles of milk in advance
― Chuck_Tatum, Saturday, 20 July 2019 15:41 (four years ago) link
I finally figured out today how to lower blinds. You just pull the strings at an angle! Where's my Mensa membership?
― jmm, Sunday, 21 July 2019 17:42 (four years ago) link
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."
― mick signals, Sunday, 21 July 2019 17:53 (four years ago) link
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.
― I don't get wet because I am tall and thin and I am afraid of people (Eliza D.), Monday, 22 July 2019 01:52 (four years ago) link
loads of our famous people were born elsewhere, especially those who were famous before 2000
― times 牛肉麵 (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 July 2019 02:01 (four years ago) link
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.
― I don't get wet because I am tall and thin and I am afraid of people (Eliza D.), Monday, 22 July 2019 11:42 (four years ago) link
and he’s still got a distinct scots accent!
― times 牛肉麵 (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 July 2019 12:13 (four years ago) link
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.
― Arthur Lowe & Love (Tom D.), Monday, 22 July 2019 12:21 (four years ago) link
... 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.
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Monday, 22 July 2019 13:44 (four years ago) link
I just this minute learned that 'Quebecois' refers to someone from Hong Kong. Thanks, sic!
― My nephew accidentally swalled five quarters and thee dimes. (Old Lunch), Monday, 22 July 2019 13:57 (four years ago) link
I learned the left bank and right bank thing about rivers (flowing downstream) 2 months ago! xpost
― Yerac, Monday, 22 July 2019 13:59 (four years ago) link
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!
― My nephew accidentally swalled five quarters and thee dimes. (Old Lunch), Monday, 22 July 2019 14:00 (four years ago) link
Sam Neill is from Northern Ireland
― Number None, Monday, 22 July 2019 14:07 (four years ago) link
rory mcilroy is british
― phil neville jacket (darraghmac), Monday, 22 July 2019 14:09 (four years ago) link
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
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 14:10 (four years ago) link
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
― untuned mass damper (mh), Monday, 22 July 2019 14:11 (four years ago) link
^ who?
John "Love Is" Paul "In the" Young "Air"
― Arthur Lowe & Love (Tom D.), Monday, 22 July 2019 14:14 (four years ago) link
― Number None, Monday, July 22, 2019 10:07 AM (forty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink
OK now you're just fucking with me.
― I don't get wet because I am tall and thin and I am afraid of people (Eliza D.), Monday, 22 July 2019 14:50 (four years ago) link
Jackie Chan is Welsh
― jou're much too jung, girl (Noodle Vague), Monday, 22 July 2019 14:54 (four years ago) link
you'll be telling us Max Boyce was from Hong Kong next!
― calzino, Monday, 22 July 2019 14:58 (four years ago) link
born there during the Sevens tournament iirc
― jou're much too jung, girl (Noodle Vague), Monday, 22 July 2019 14:59 (four years ago) link
I learned just now that Phil Rudd is the only member of either main AC/DC lineup who was born in Australia.
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:02 (four years ago) link
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
― Josefa, Monday, 22 July 2019 15:05 (four years ago) link
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.
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:08 (four years ago) link
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
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:13 (four years ago) link
Ah, fair point. Evans played on probably my favourite AC/DC records during the two years he was in the band.
― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link
John "Love Is" Pauloh duh, as in not a Young brother, that totally threw me in a “puns you had missed” fashion
― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Monday, 22 July 2019 15:33 (four years ago) link
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.
― I don't get wet because I am tall and thin and I am afraid of people (Eliza D.), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 12:19 (four years ago) link
in a similar vein, Castrol GTX has caster oil in it, made from the beans.
― koogs, Tuesday, 23 July 2019 12:24 (four years ago) link
xpost Whoa. Always just assumed that was somebody's weird last name.
non-xpost Whoa x2.
― My nephew accidentally swalled five quarters and thee dimes. (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 12:25 (four years ago) link
I learned last night that BBC sitcom This Country does not star Mackenzie Crook, it's some other guy who looks a bit like him. Crook is in a BBC sitcom set in the countryside, but it's a different one.
― fetter, Tuesday, 23 July 2019 12:27 (four years ago) link
Only just realised, on the death of Art Neville, that the Neville Brothers essentially grew out of The Meters and didn't release anything under that name until the late 70s. Bit shocked at myself there really.
― crumhorn invasion (Matt #2), Tuesday, 23 July 2019 13:38 (four years ago) link
Speaking of oils, in Oil of Olay the "Olay" (or Ulay or Ulan or Olaz depending on your territory) means nothing at all, although its inventor was trying to play off the word "lanolin."
― Josefa, Tuesday, 23 July 2019 13:47 (four years ago) link