The Public Shaming of England’s First Umbrella User

Post by lostlogin » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 7:07 PM UTC

celticninja wrote: post #58

f_allwein wrote: post #8

"In the minds of many Brits, umbrella usage was symptomatic of a weakness of character, particularly among men. Few people ever dared to be seen with such a detestable, effeminate contraption. To carry an umbrella when it rained was to incur public ridicule." This sentiment is very much alive today. I'm always surprised how I seem to be the only person carrying an umbrella in London when it rains. Especially bankers…

"I do not believe the presence of moisture in the air is sufficient reason to overturn society's usual sensible taboo against wielding spiked clubs at eye level.” China Mieville - Un Lun Dun

Post by khedoros » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 7:16 PM UTC

School-Cotton wrote: post #118

amyjess wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See, for example, Mark Rosenfelder's attempt to algorithmically describe the pronunciation of English [0]. In his introduction, he takes ghoti to task: > Whenever the subject comes up, someone is sure to bring up all the words in -ough , or George Bernard Shaw's ghoti -- a word which illustrates only Shaw's wiseacre ignorance. English spelling may be a nightmare, but it does have rules, and by those rules, ghoti can…

ghoti actually can't be pronounced like "goatee", since the only way to pronounce the former is by stressing the initial syllable.

Post by k-mcgrady » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 7:18 PM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #82

CheckHook wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, working in central London and there's always an abundance of umbrellas in use when it rains, really not sure what this commenter is talking about.

Do they have tour company logos on? In some parts of central London, there's an abundance of rain ponchos, but that's unusual clothing for a Brit. I think to really get a representative feel of average London, it's necessary to survey somewhere like Ealing or New Cross.

Post by khedoros » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 7:22 PM UTC

rtpg wrote: post #49

CalRobert wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Dublin, I think it's considered, if not rude, at least not the height of courtesy, to use an umbrella in dense areas where you will be bumping in to people and essentially pushing your water on to them. However, my feeling is that the real lunacy here is having very narrow pavements (sidewalks) carrying dozens or hundreds of people while having streets, which might be carrying ten or twenty people along the same s…

Funny cuz in Tokyo everyone uses an umbrella, the reasoning I heard from a co-worker being if everyone else rain jackets the trains would be a mucky mess

Post by abritinthebay » Thu, Jul 28, 2016, 8:36 PM UTC

BjoernKW wrote: post #41

raverbashing wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English was not "influenced" by Old Norse, rather, they are siblings

Actually, its both. Old English is related to Old Norse as modern German is to modern Swedish: They're similar but not as close as German and Dutch or English and Frisian, for instance. However, in the Early Middle Ages English was also heavily and directly influenced by Old Norse because Vikings at that time not only more or less continually invaded the English east coast but also settled and established their own j…