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Things I Learnt in 2020

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Re: Things I Learnt in 2020

#11

Post by naniwaduni »

r00fus wrote: post #10

Ogden's basic English - interesting find. I wonder if the word list for OBE can be used as "most basic words" for practicing other languages? Would such a "unit vector" for basic speech be similar in other languages?

No. Not only because what's "basic" varies between languages, but because it's precisely the most "basic"-seeming lemmas that map most poorly between languages.

Take the first ten "operations" of the Ogden list: come, get, give, go, keep, let, make, put, seem, take. Every one of these is the kind of word that has multiple non-interchangeable "synonyms" that you could use, depending on context. Expressing the "same" "concept" in another language is kind of like being forced to choose between them, when there's generally no 1:1 mapping.

Re: Things I Learnt in 2020

#14

Post by unnouinceput »

typenil wrote: post #2

A lot of fun facts here - definitely a pick-me-up as the year closes out. I'm cancelling my upcoming polar bear liver eating party ASAP.

Quote: "The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin A in humans is 0.9mg, and you can get that from eating just one-tenth of a gram of the liver from a well-fed polar bear. The entire liver contains enough vitamin A to kill as many as 52 adults!"

I was amused by this one as well :).

Re: Things I Learnt in 2020

#15

Post by codecutter »

valarauko wrote: post #7
FlyingSnake wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

‘Ek number’ is more of a Maharashtra thing IMO. You’ll hear it quite frequently in MH state

I speak Marathi, but haven't ever lived in Maharashtra. In Hindi, it wasn't uncommon to hear "ek number ka ...", but to me the context was always a negging directed at the audacity of the joker, and never as a rating of the joke itself. I also haven't heard anybody use "ek number .." in Hindi in any form in a very long time. It's possible the phrase evolved different contexts and implications in the two languages.

I was born and brought up in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Marathi is my native language.

Ek number was commonly used in my childhood days in Mumbai and it means "First class" or "Classic". Typical uses: ek number joke, ek number daaru (daaru = alcohol, liquor), ek number maal (First class, good looking, hot girl), ek number vada pav (classic food dish) etc.

Re: Things I Learnt in 2020

#16

Post by ghoomketu »

valarauko wrote: post #5
FlyingSnake wrote: post #4

I went into the article expecting it be full of usual banal platitudes, but it's a cute little list of random stuff. I was also pleasantly surprised to see 'ek number' on the list though.

As an Indian who's lived almost 4 decades in India, I have never heard of "ek number" as the response to a joke, or even ever used in the stated context of the joke being rated no 1. The closest I can think of is the phrase being directed at the joker, not the joke; a sort of "Oh, you're a first rate a-hole for cracking that joke". It's a terminated "Ek number ka ... (haraami?)", which is the only form I've ever hear…

Same here. The most common term I've heard is badhiya or mast or even jhakas. Never heard anyone say ek number.

The closest I can think is ek-dam but a person would rarely say that in response to a joke.

Re: Things I Learnt in 2020

#17

Post by vizzier »

Some extra interesting stuff:

[Pie Barm] One of the things I miss most about living in the UK is its breakfast sandwiches from manchester. Usually some mix of sausage, egg, bacon, beans on a big white barm/bap. Can't seem to get anywhere near as good sandwiches here in Canada. [1]

[Erstwhile] There word ere is still used almost the same as its Aer root word [2]

[Ogden's Basic English] XKCD had a play on this [3] using the first 1000 most common words. The Simple english version of wikipedia also feeds off of this basic 850 set [4]

[boh!] Was referenced in the most recent spider man movie [5]

[Why we can smell copper] Nile red had a video in 2019 where he synthesized the organic compound that is created by touching copper [6]

[1] https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/great-british-breakfast-...

[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ere

[3] https://xkcd.com/1133/

[4] https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_write_Sim...

[5] https://youtu.be/NBuPOofPplY?t=139

[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqLH-nTZEOc

Re: Things I Learnt in 2020

#20

Post by every »

awillen wrote: post #18

So... who else has now burned hours on the incompatible food triad? Seriously, it's killing me. Some kind of fruit and chocolate and something??

A food chemist might be able to figure it out. Three foods or additives that singularly or in pairs would be innocuous. But all three combined, perhaps if exposed to heat, would form a toxin. Sounds like my cooking...
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