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Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

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Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#251

Post by daveslash »

Ancapistani wrote: post #217
swores wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I missing some joke or wordplay, or are you just a genuine believer who felt God warranted a mention here?

As far as I know, “you’re doing God’s work” is a relatively common - if somewhat archaic - idiom. It means roughly “I appreciate what you’re doing.”

I also take it to mean that it's either work others are often unwilling to do, or something that's really difficult, or something that I've been wanting for a long time but haven't gotten anyone to help me with.

For example: There's a fluorescent light above my desk that flickers and has been driving me crazy for years. I can't get facilities to fix it because they need a ticket that's approved by management and has an approved budget, and all their other tasks are more urgent.... so it slowly drives me mad for a year. Finally, a facilities person says "You know what... I'm not supposed to do this without management approval... but I'll just fix this real quick and it'll be our secret" ..... Me: "Oh, thank you, you're doing God's work"

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#253

Post by Anthony-G »

Ancapistani wrote: post #217
swores wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I missing some joke or wordplay, or are you just a genuine believer who felt God warranted a mention here?

As far as I know, “you’re doing God’s work” is a relatively common - if somewhat archaic - idiom. It means roughly “I appreciate what you’re doing.”

I suspect the saying may be more common in North America. I’ve never heard anyone say it in Ireland – though American phrases and spelling are starting to become more popular thanks to the Internet and the success of American tech companies.

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#256

Post by jeezfrk »

Ancapistani wrote: post #217
swores wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am I missing some joke or wordplay, or are you just a genuine believer who felt God warranted a mention here?

As far as I know, “you’re doing God’s work” is a relatively common - if somewhat archaic - idiom. It means roughly “I appreciate what you’re doing.”

nah. far easier to be offended. that'll show 'em.

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#257

Post by pksebben »

cactusplant7374 wrote: post #255
pksebben wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hesitate to engage, but I'm curious. What, in your opinion, is "HN Worthy" exactly?

[flagged]

c'mon, man, that's not an answer. I'm asking for details!

The value I can see in this post, as relates to what I think merits HN:

- there's a deep dive into researching a supply chain

- the research in question is an outstanding example of OSINT

- great reading over a cup of coffee

- I didn't have to read about freaking NFTs or anybody's politics

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#259

Post by altun »

snapcaster wrote: post #244
thedrake wrote: post #198

I was the one who solved this. It was an exciting time

That was the most thorough stackexchange answer i've ever read. Thanks for the entertainment

There is a proverb in Turkish that means “One madman (ein Chinese) threw a stone into a well, forty wise men couldn't get it out.” This discussion is a bit like that.

Turkish proverb: "Bir deli bir kuyuya taş atmış, kırk akıllı çıkaramamış."

Re: Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)

#260

Post by hedora »

kortilla wrote: post #210
thedrake wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14672359

I’m confused to how you made the assumption that the designer would be searching for “axe” in Chinese. That still assumes axe but then they decided to color it yellow afterwards?

Later, there's a comment pointing out a transliteration of battle axe into english yields a word that starts with y.

Combining that:

> 鉞 is yuè in pinyin, a romanization of Chinese.

and another comment shows that using Chinese to search for Axe on Google Images returns the original clip art:

> Me getting into the shoes of the designer: Assumptions: 1. The designer is in a hurry. 2. They would search in their language which I found via google translate is 斧头

However, 斧头 doesn't yield anything that starts with Y, and Google image search doesn't really seem to understand that that 鉞 (yuè) means axe. Duck Duck Go image search returns pictures of axes for 鉞, but doesn't show the original clip art in the top of its search results.

At any rate, it's unlikely the designer was using either of those search engines. Perhaps some Chinese search engine displays the "translation" of 鉞 to yué, and also provides the correct clipart.

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