Today I Learned

Discussion in 'General Chatter' started by oph, Oct 24, 2015.

  1. vuatson

    vuatson [delurks]

    on the one hand that's awesome

    on the other hand it is also 100% the setup for a sci-fi horror film
     
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  2. swirlingflight

    swirlingflight inane analysis and story spinning is my passion

    I love it for both these reasons
     
    • Agree x 4
  3. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

    We just need to accept that eventually all of our technology will be made out of living creatures and the majority of astronaut training is going to be how not to accidentally get digested by your space suit.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2020
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  4. vuatson

    vuatson [delurks]

    [​IMG]
     
    • Agree x 6
  5. chthonicfatigue

    chthonicfatigue Bitten by a radioactive trickster god

    This also reminds a great deal of Cordwainer Smith's SF writing except iirc he posited it would be shellfish used as radiation shielding, but still. Close. Especially as he died in 1966.
     
    • Like x 2
  6. PotteryWalrus

    PotteryWalrus halfway hideous and halfway sweet

    ab57f232-4fb0-42c8-b0fe-03c5218e80fa.jpg

    "extra spicy fishie, no seasoning required"
     
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  7. bornofthesea670

    bornofthesea670 Well-Known Member

    Ancient Egyptians were pretty straightforward. Didn't they call cats "meow" (spelled differently but i cant remember how) because thats the sound cats make? Love it haha.
     
    • Agree x 2
  8. PotteryWalrus

    PotteryWalrus halfway hideous and halfway sweet

    To be fair, that follows a lot of naming conventions worldwide. I think even 'cat' the English word was from one based on the chattering noise they make when frustrated XD
     
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  9. BaseDeltaZero

    BaseDeltaZero Shitposting all night.

    'Mau', I believe. That's certainly the modern name of the primordial Egyptian breed.
    Egyptian Mau - Wikipedia

    There are several theories. It seems to be derived from the Latin 'cattus', itself a loan word meaning, well, cat. (Despite the existence of 'felis', it seems they felt a second word was necessary) Exactly what language 'cattus' is a loan from is unclear, with two primary theories being that is derived from a Semitic language such as Arabic 'قَطّ/qaṭṭ' , or another Afro-Asiatic language such as Nubian 'kadis' The origin of that I don't know, but the Hebrew equivalent 'חתול/chatool' means swaddling cloth or wrapping. There's another theory that's its derived from the Uralic word for 'stoat/mustelid' by way of 'käďwä', meaning 'furred animal'
     
    • Informative x 5
  10. Wingyl

    Wingyl Allegedly Magic

    we have "cat" and "kitty" so it doesnt surprise me at all
     
    • Agree x 2
  11. BaseDeltaZero

    BaseDeltaZero Shitposting all night.

    Kitty (and kitten) is also very clearly derived from the Arabic 'qitt', which the feminine of the above mentioned 'qatt', so it's possible two of our words for cat are just different sexes of the same root word. :P
     
    • Informative x 4
  12. ChelG

    ChelG Well-Known Member

    Yet another reason I shouldn't have a pet fox; apparently they pee when happy, and fox urine really, really, really stinks. Shame, they're about the prettiest animals ever.
     
    • Witnessed x 4
  13. ChelG

    ChelG Well-Known Member

    https://www.cracked.com/article_21986_6-things-people-get-wrong-about-bibles-christmas-story.html
     
    • Informative x 5
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  14. Deresto

    Deresto Foolish Mortal

    My parents for years threatened not to do anything for any holidays in winter for above reasons, saying it was blasphemy, but never actually gave such an in depth analysis! That's neat. Personally i just do holiday stuff because i like giving people things and eating crazy food, so the religious connotations themselves never really interested me until i was older
     
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  15. Exohedron

    Exohedron Doesn't like words

  16. Deresto

    Deresto Foolish Mortal

  17. Acey

    Acey hand extended, waiting for a shake

    • Agree x 3
  18. turtleDove

    turtleDove Well-Known Member

    Oh, yeah. At least 50% of Pompeii hasn't been excavated and there are no plans to do so until the technology's advanced enough that they can preserve it properly once it's excavated.

    There's a lot of sites like that in China, too, where they know there's something historically super important buried at a specific site...and it's not going to get dug up until they're sure they can do it properly and keep it preserved right for future generations. (The tomb the Terracotta Army came from, primarily. Although that's also not getting excavated until there's some significant tech advances, because the next section they'd be looking at digging up has some quite worrying quantities of mercury in the soil...and, uh, the emperor whose tomb it is was supposed to have had a whole 3D map of China laid out in one of the chambers, complete with liquid mercury to simulate the rivers. The good news about the mercury in the soil is, it means the odds of the map actually being real are better than one might have expected. But it's still a serious hazard to contend with.)
     
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  19. ChelG

    ChelG Well-Known Member

    A word which definitely applies to me:
    [​IMG]
     
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  20. Acey

    Acey hand extended, waiting for a shake

    On the one hand, this is an extremely useful word and I'm glad I now know it!

    On the other hand, all I can think of when I see "dory" in ANYTHING is the Ellen DeGeneres fish from Finding Nemo.
     
    • Agree x 3
    • Winner x 1
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