Daily random tidbit.

[yayfulness]

I'm 22, and I knew that. Does that make me an old man?

[Giovanni Schwartz]

You're more than a little bit older than me, aren't you? And it might be partially to do with "I've never seen Muppets anything."

[mic0]

You're more than a little bit older than me, aren't you? And it might be partially to do with "I've never seen Muppets anything."

I'm 22 (you're... 21?). yayfulness and I are both quite old - NOT. And I've seen all of about three Muppet movies ever. It's okay Gio, I was only teasing you; there are lots of things I don't know that everyone else thinks is obvious.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Huh. I totally had you pegged at like 25-27ish.

[Craig Jessop]

Dude... I knew about that, and we were even raised by the same people!

[Giovanni Schwartz]

But these people NEVER EVER ONCE showed a Muppets anything in their house. I seem to recall a conversation with The Little Queen of the World where she didn't even know who Miss Piggy was.

[Katya]

Well, you ARE an old lady, after all.

My mom's youngest sister, who is only 7 years older than I am, loved the Muppets when she was growing up and introduced me to them. (She also introduced me to the Beatles, for which I can never thank her enough.) So, the real truth of the matter is that I was raised in Muppet righteousness and have continued to this day. (And being significantly older than you doesn't hurt, either.)

[Katya]

That made me laugh out loud and read it to Sauron.

[Portia]

Well, you ARE an old lady, after all.

My mom's youngest sister, who is only 7 years older than I am.

My grandma has an aunt 7 years her senior. My great-grandma was 22 when her sister was born.

[Portia]

Low'r,

"to look dark and threatening," also lour, M.E. louren, luren "to frown" (early 13c.), "to lurk" (mid-15c.), from O.E. *luran or from its cognates, M.L.G. luren, M.Du. loeren "lie in wait." Form perhaps assimilated to lower (1). Related: Lowered; lowering.

as in

Faithless tradition flees its pow'r,
And unbelief gives way.
The gloomy clouds, which used to low'r,
Submit to reason's sway.

from "Sweet Is the Peace the Gospel Brings."

[Portia]

My least favorite meme, the "no word for X in Y language," showed up in this article.

Google Translate offers me the following options for "privacy" in Greek:


μυστικότητα - mystikótita
secrecy, privacy, privity, privateness, mysticalness, hugger-mugger
ησυχία
quiet, quietness, privacy, calmness, stillness, quietude
μοναξιά
loneliness, solitude, aloneness, privacy, solitariness, seclusion
ερημιά
wilderness, desert, solitude, privacy
μυστικότης
secrecy, privateness, mysticalness, privity, privacy

Any Greek speakers?

[Emiliana]

I took some Koine (New Testament) Greek in college. I don't know how any of those words are used in Modern Greek, but the "mystikoitita" ones didn't mean privacy in that sense in 100-200-ish CE. It's more the sense of ....... well, from what I understand about Mormon temples, that sort of privacy, rather than "leave me alone" sort of privacy.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Chinese has no good word for "smear", nor do they have a word for Deja Vu.

[Portia]

But just because there is no "one word" to express the concept, doesn't mean it's inexpressible!

[Cindy]

I sometimes wish English had more relationship words to differentiate different kinds of relatives (i.e., uncle on dad's side by blood, uncle on dad's side by marriage, uncle on mom's side by blood, uncle on mom's side by marriage; brother-in-law meaning sister's husband rather than husband's brother, etc.). You can be specific about these relationships in English, but it takes a lot more work than in languages like Hindi and Swahili.

[Katya]

But just because there is no "one word" to express the concept, doesn't mean it's inexpressible!

Right. English has no word for "Deja vu" either. (It's French and it's two words.)

[Defy V]

But just because there is no "one word" to express the concept, doesn't mean it's inexpressible!

Right. English has no word for "Deja vu" either. (It's French and it's two words.)

Touche!

. . . does English have a word for "touche"?

[Portia]

But just because there is no "one word" to express the concept, doesn't mean it's inexpressible!

Right. English has no word for "Deja vu" either. (It's French and it's two words.)

*2,000 mile high five*

[Katya]

But just because there is no "one word" to express the concept, doesn't mean it's inexpressible!

Right. English has no word for "Deja vu" either. (It's French and it's two words.)

Touche!

. . . does English have a word for "touche"?

Serious answer: Yes, in the sense that English-speakers can understand and express the concept. No, in the sense that we don't have a word that's been in the language natively (or at least not for more than 100 years).

This gets tricky, though, because the word is borrowed from a specific discipline (fencing), which tends to fix the vocabulary. In French, the word "touché" is simply the past participle of the verb "toucher," which means "to touch." But in English, the word "touché" is not equivalent to the word "touched," in the same way that the Italian musical term "forte" isn't equivalent to the English word "loud."

[Digit]

Love in Register transfer language.