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Small, Worthy, Unworthy -- You Call It!


Zorral

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18 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

That was the compromise they eventually settled on. The original reform wanted to do away with the ß entirely. You know why they kept it in, and settled for that compromise?

Names. There are families with an ß in their name, and they were thinking of the poor children.

Interesting, I didn't know that. I do like ß as a part of German language, it makes it special.

I can totally get people not wanting to change their names like that. My surname has a Č in it. I hate to fill out forms that don't allow me to enter that and want me to enter C instead (grrrr, especially paired with the "enter your name as written on your ID" instruction - well, this is my name as written on my ID!). It is my name and I want to have it spelled like I have grown up with it.

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2021 Beaujolais Nouveau for 2021 for sale today.  The preposterous Beaujolais Nouveau fad long ago peaked and disappeared.  Oddly then, in the last four years I have come to appreciate Beaujolais Nouveau, which I never did before, and so certainly didn't care.  Equally certainly though, it's bit of comforting continuity from Before, to see it in our local wine store today, when there's so little else, so certainly I had to get a couple of bottles.  We didn't have any last year.

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8 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

Hey, thank you for teaching me a new phrase. :D My German is better than my English.

It's mainly know as a major fight song anthem. Not sure how big hip hop is in your part of the world, but it was a big deal when it came out many years ago.

And my German would have been a lot better if the grad students who recorded the conversations for my intro to German course hadn't done so next to one of the busiest streets in Minneapolis. Every third or fourth word was garbled. Also didn't help that snobby German universities won't accept exchange students who hadn't completed all four intro levels. :tantrum:

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7 hours ago, RhaenysBee said:

Well that’s just silly. Can’t they just say the person is a Dampfschiffkapitän at Donauschiffahrtgesellschaft? 

Obviously they could, but then there wouldn't be such a ridiculously long word to make fun of. :D

6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

And my German would have been a lot better if the grad students who recorded the conversations for my intro to German course hadn't done so next to one of the busiest streets in Minneapolis. Every third or fourth word was garbled. Also didn't help that snobby German universities won't accept exchange students who hadn't completed all four intro levels. :tantrum:

I think some recordings deliberately have background noise to teach you to listen to language being spoken in a more realistic setting. But obviously that should be reserved for higher levels of language teaching, not for beginners. Similarly with stuff like speakers using dialect or slang. It is odd that your uni had (I assume American?) students record that, instead of just using a recording that goes with a coursebook, there are plenty to choose  from.

Universities demand you to show a level of their language to prove that you can even follow the classes.

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6 minutes ago, Buckwheat said:

I think some recordings deliberately have background noise to teach you to listen to language being spoken in a more realistic setting. But obviously that should be reserved for higher levels of language teaching, not for beginners. Similarly with stuff like speakers using dialect or slang. It is odd that your uni had (I assume American?) students record that, instead of just using a recording that goes with a coursebook, there are plenty to choose  from.

The University of Minnesota has a huge campus and student population, currently ranked 9th largest in the U.S., and University Ave. is where they recorded all of listening activities as far as I can tell. The entire language department is right off of the street, and the place is a mix of crazy traffic and giant parties all at once. You can't hear your friends talking to you at times when they're standing right next to you.

 

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Universities demand you to show a level of their language to prove that you can even follow the classes.

I meant in the context of learning a language while studying abroad. I ended up taking Spanish 1001-3 in Argentina (while also learning some German down there, just saying...) through a joint program with Universidad de Buenos Aires. The German universities didn't offer beginner language programs. I had hoped to take German 1 and 2 here and then spend the summer there completing 3 and 4, but that was not to be.

It still baffles me why I didn't try to opt out of the language requirement from the jump considering I completed four levels of French in HS.

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3 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

Universities demand you to show a level of their language to prove that you can even follow the classes.

Ah my mum would cry tears of blood reading that… 

3 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

Obviously they could, but then there wouldn't be such a ridiculously long word to make fun of. :D

My first high school German teacher had taught us a similarly long and ridiculous word but I can’t remember it for the life of me. You had to use it in a sentence if you failed to hand in an assignment, or something like that. That used to result in a lot of cheer and the most ridiculous things ever said :lol: 

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8 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

The University of Minnesota has a huge campus and student population, currently ranked 9th largest in the U.S., and University Ave. is where they recorded all of listening activities as far as I can tell. The entire language department is right off of the street, and the place is a mix of crazy traffic and giant parties all at once. You can't hear your friends talking to you at times when they're standing right next to you.

Weird. But as I said, the more puzzling is why they wouldn't just use the recordings of native speakers in the first place.

8 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

I meant in the context of learning a language while studying abroad. I ended up taking Spanish 1001-3 in Argentina (while also learning some German down there, just saying...) through a joint program with Universidad de Buenos Aires. The German universities didn't offer beginner language programs. I had hoped to take German 1 and 2 here and then spend the summer there completing 3 and 4, but that was not to be.

Interesting. I know some universities in Austria have beginners classes too more in the way of a language course, not a university linguistic course way. I would have thought Germans would have something like that too.

I had to prove that I knew enough German to enrol in an Austrian university when I did Erasmus, but just an email from my department coordinator was enough. Because I was studying the language itself in the first place.

6 hours ago, RhaenysBee said:

Ah my mum would cry tears of blood reading that… 

... why?

6 hours ago, RhaenysBee said:

My first high school German teacher had taught us a similarly long and ridiculous word but I can’t remember it for the life of me. You had to use it in a sentence if you failed to hand in an assignment, or something like that. That used to result in a lot of cheer and the most ridiculous things ever said :lol: 

That sounds like a funny strategy, I am sure it was a popular teacher. :D 

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1 minute ago, Buckwheat said:

... why?

Because they take international students with zero German knowledge and it’s an impossible task to get them to a level of knowledge to even pass at the end of the 2-3 year programs. And the teachers’ third language isn’t automatically English, most of them did German-Russian degrees back in the day, so some of them struggle with teaching German in English, their fourth language. 

1 minute ago, Buckwheat said:

That sounds like a funny strategy, I am sure it was a popular teacher. :D 

Not popular no, but probably the most respected. She was a tiny but very strict old lady, the only German teacher who managed to teach us some German. 

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Not that this will interest anyone beyond a few hardcore nerds (you know who you are), but Games Workshop has finally addressed neo-nazis' love for their Warhammer 40,000 universe:
 

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The Imperium of Man stands as a cautionary tale of what could happen should the very worst of Humanity’s lust for power and extreme, unyielding xenophobia set in. Like so many aspects of Warhammer 40,000, the Imperium of Man is satirical.

[...]

That said, certain real-world hate groups – and adherents of historical ideologies better left in the past – sometimes seek to claim intellectual properties for their own enjoyment, and to co-opt them for their own agendas.

We’ve said it before, but a reminder about what we believe in:

“We believe in and support a community united by shared values of mutual kindness and respect. Our fantasy settings are grim and dark, but that is not a reflection of who we are or how we feel the real world should be. We will never accept nor condone any form of prejudice, hatred, or abuse in our company, or in the Warhammer hobby.” 

If you come to a Games Workshop event or store and behave to the contrary, including wearing the symbols of real-world hate groups, you will be asked to leave. We won’t let you participate. We don’t want your money. We don’t want you in the Warhammer community.

 

Bravo!

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Just received a letter from the rozzers, telling me I am to be prosecuted for driving at 38 mph on a road with a 40 mph speed limit. Wtf's all that about then? It was on the A406, near my mum's. Speed limit has been 40 mph as long as I can remember.

Baffled.

 

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21 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Just received a letter from the rozzers, telling me I am to be prosecuted for driving at 38 mph on a road with a 40 mph speed limit. Wtf's all that about then? It was on the A406, near my mum's. Speed limit has been 40 mph as long as I can remember.

Baffled.

 

Prosecuted? :eek: For speeding?? :uhoh: I’m very confused indeed. 

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Two Thanksgiving pies achieved! Cognac-Pecan, and Pumpkin! Whew. I had to get up at 6 AM to get here!  I had to make the crusts last night so the butter would get cold and rigid again in the fridge overnight -- per the NYT food person's advice.  She was right.  That made the crusts much, much nicer.

 

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1 hour ago, Zorral said:

Two Thanksgiving pies achieved! Cognac-Pecan, and Pumpkin! Whew. I had to get up at 6 AM to get here!  I had to make the crusts last night so the butter would get cold and rigid again in the fridge overnight -- per the NYT food person's advice.  She was right.  That made the crusts much, much nicer.

 

I have been making pies for years and have never come across that advice.  Cool.

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Just now, maarsen said:

I have been making pies for years and have never come across that advice.  Cool.

There seems nothing at all that Melissa Clarke doesn't know about making food.  She's way too high class and ambitious and skilled than I can emulate in my very limited circumstances for cooking.  But something comes along that seems right, I go for it.  Partner's been out of the house all week almost all day doing studio production.  So there was actually room to make pie crust!  My contribution to Tomorrow's gathering.  Still small, of course, -- but last year we couldn't gather at all and it was so sad in many ways -- though we still had ample to be thankful for, of course.  More so this year -- especially the vaccines that allow us to gather with a few friends.

 

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