What is the newest installment of 'Random Thoughts' on Physics Forums?

In summary, the conversation consists of various discussions about documentaries, the acquisition of National Geographic by Fox, a funny manual translation, cutting sandwiches, a question about the proof of the infinitude of primes, and a realization about the similarity between PF and PDG symbols. The conversation also touches on multitasking and the uniqueness of the number two as a prime number.
  • #4,936
fresh_42 said:
C'mon! What difference does it make whether you write football stadium or footballstadium? You did it with foot and ball but excluded the arena.
Just pulling your leg Freshmeistergedangefahrenmeistershaft
 
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  • #4,937
The real revenge is that use of feet is not allowed in...foot ball.
 
  • #4,938
WWGD said:
The real revenge is that use of feet is not allowed in...foot ball.
You know that it's not true!
And the real revenge is, that same words have different meanings:

eventuell = possibly
eventually = finally

actuell = currently
actual = real

respective = in other words
respectively = according to the order

and eventually possibly some more which I actually currently do not remember, resp. will say am too lazy to figure out.
 
  • #4,939
fresh_42 said:
You know that it's not true!
And the real revenge is, that same words have different meanings:

eventuell = possibly
eventually = finally

actuell = currently
actual = real

respective = in other words
respectively = according to the order

and eventually possibly some more which I actually currently do not remember, resp. will say am too lazy to figure out.
Word meaning is discontinuous. A small change by a letter leads to a large change in meaning.
 
  • #4,940
But you also have words like gefahrt that have a different meaning in English...
 
  • #4,941
WWGD said:
Word meaning is discontinuous. A small change by a letter leads to a large change in meaning.
That's another issue. English is an extremely bad error correcting code. So often you can change or drop a single letter and arrive at a still valid word with no or a complete different meaning. I see this more often than you, if my spell checker doesn't alert me although I had a typo.
 
  • #4,942
True, but relatively straightforward and simple in other ways.
 
  • #4,943
WWGD said:
True, but relatively straightforward and simple in other ways.
Simple, yes. Straightforward, no. Not with this pronunciation. <The rest had to be canceled as a political joke.>

I just recognized that the number of taboos is constantly increasing ... All started with pc, then came gender, and now you can't even make political jokes anymore without offending someone. That is not a good thing!
 
  • #4,944
fresh_42 said:
Simple, yes. Straightforward, no. Not with this pronunciation. <The rest had to be canceled as a political joke.>

I just recognized that the number of taboos is constantly increasing ... All started with pc, then came gender, and now you can't even make political jokes anymore without offending someone. That is not a good thing!
I agree, it has gone too far to the point of muzzling speech and being counterproductive.
 
  • #4,945
Notre Dame is burning.
 
  • #4,946
Maybe Votre Dame, not mine.
 
  • #4,947
Ah, my bad, just da it on the news. Hope Quasi is not hurt. Hope not much damage.
 
Last edited:
  • #4,948
Oui notre, pas votre!

Some things are symmetric.
 
  • #4,949
Mais bien sure.
 
  • #4,950
fresh_42 said:
Notre Dame is burning.
That looks like it'll take a while to fix. Ironic if it does turn out to be related to the restoration works.
 
  • #4,951
Ibix said:
That looks like it'll take a while to fix. Ironic if it does turn out to be related to the restoration works.
The odds are pretty good it is. It almost always is, and the main fire could have been observed where the scaffold was.

They had an expert here on tv who told about a similar incident in Berlin when they wanted to replace a hardly inflammable roofing felt by one which couldn't be inflamed at all. But the best he commented was a comment on someone else's twitter comment! Hilarious!
 
  • #4,952
Ah, perfectionism backfiring. Not so fond memories of doing similar myself.
 
  • #4,953
Just like when they replaced the Russian PM a while back. They wouldn't leave Godunov alone .
 
  • #4,954
Sorry :).
 
  • #4,955
I hate it when things are marked "Up to half price". It actually means that the price is reduced by up to half, so the resulting price is greater than or equal to half price, not less than or equal as implied by the marking!
 
  • #4,956
I've always loved when stores more than double the price and then have a half off sale. :oldeyes:
 
  • #4,957
What I like is: "Two to the price of one. You save 50%"
Save compared to what? I save 100% if I don't buy it at all.
 
  • #4,958
We had this restaurant that offered 50% of lunch menu...including half of portions.
Then people pointed it out. And they went back to original portions but charged for every extra:
"Well, now you want a fork and knife? That will cost. A napkin..."
 
  • #4,959
There was a women's store that also offered 50% off. I wanted to ask when they would have 100% of...
 
  • #4,960
Pretty annoying when you need something and everyone thinks you're setting up a joke:"Do you know where I can get a large cup? " A: " No, where do you get a large cup?". It is not a joke, I need a large cup!
 
  • #4,961
You must emphasize your intention starker.

Lol, this is not an error, since then I would have written stärker, which is the correct version. I actually had read starker as synonym for stronger yesterday in an article. It has been written "a starker argument". The Germanisms in English getting funnier and funnier every day.
 
  • #4,962
I don't go by the nickname starker anymore, though.
 
  • #4,963
WWGD said:
I don't go by the nickname starker anymore, though.
Yeah, I can imagine. The misunderstandings were probably too many. Although, I remember this story you told ... (sorry, I can't find anything anymore in our new system, not even my own posts)
 
  • #4,964
fresh_42 said:
The Germanisms in English getting funnier and funnier every day.
Well, English is half and half Saxon and Norman French. It's not really surprising that it has a lot in common with German...
 
  • #4,965
Ibix said:
Well, English is half and half Saxon and Norman French. It's not really surprising that it has a lot in common with German...
Sure, it just surprised me, as I thought strong and stark were already of the same origin. However, as I looked it up now, strong equals streng (= lat. strictus, engl. strict) and stark (germ.) equals old germ. star(a)ch = stiff (from strifaz).

It's more the unexpected occurrence than the linguistic background which made me smile. I would never have had the idea to look up "stark" in an English dictionary.
 
  • #4,966
Stark is fairly common in English - usually as "a stark contrast between" two things. Or "starkers" as short for "stark naked", which is presumably the joke WWGD is making.
 
  • #4,967
I thinking of Tony Stark, although I did not watch the movie. Too busy experimenting with melted cheese. They were giving away free samples for a promotion. I had not eaten any for a while and there seemed to be many variables to consider. Do I first heat up the oven or just put the bread and cheese? Do I first put the bread , wait for it to be toasty then put the cheese on top? Do I let the sandwich "settle" in the oven for a few min afterwards?
Then again, got to be careful with free giveaways. That is how I have gotten in the habit of drinking a half-bottle of soda almost daily. And also because of the sales that make it an affordable habit (addiction, probably).
 
  • #4,968
Lady next to me was talking with customer care, rabid, asking that an employee she spoke with be fired because said employee had (supposedly) deleted her emails. After around an hour on the phone making all sorts of suspect technical claims, she regained access to her emails, the ones she claimed had been irretrievably lost, deleted. No apologies on her part, she found a rationalization for her baseless request that the employee ( that "lost" her emails) be fired. Hope the employee was not fired.
 
  • #4,969
I wondered why the same name is used for a party, as a celebration, good time, as in political party. Google has taken away the excuse for not researching it.
 
  • #4,970
WWGD said:
Lady next to me was talking with customer care, rabid, asking that an employee she spoke with be fired because said employee had (supposedly) deleted her emails.
BOFH.
WWGD said:
I wondered why the same name is used for a party, as a celebration, good time, as in political party. Google has taken away the excuse for not researching it.
The political party is Partei here, and we simply call die Fete, das Fest, die Party. Maybe you should call a party a fete more often, or a fiesta!
 

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