In this case, how far do we go through? Do we basically eliminate the letter ‘c’? Do we re-add thorn and eth? So many possibilities, but I doubt we will ever see it come to fruition in our lifetimes. There are too many people who are obsessed with tradition in the world.
This. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I like this one, yet I mildly disagree. In my opinion, being that English spelling is already a complete disaster, standardized orthography is important in order for the widest range of persons to maintain comprehension.
However, I do believe that correcting people’s spoken English is ridiculous, especially if it’s their mother tongue. Language evolves, not everyone is meant to sound like some asshole from Cambridge.
In my experience, my French relatives are even worse for this, correcting their young children to always say oui instead of ouias, or asking us to say fais attention ! (written form) instead of fais gaffe ! (Informal, how people talk in familiar settings) when in the presence of their child. Nah bro I’m not going to pretend to be bourgeois just so you can feel superior.
Yeah speaking the language is essential. The Swiss are very protective of their culture, without a doubt, but I live very close to them so I’m pretty used to their way of thinking.
And I’m an early riser to boot, so no problems there!
That’s interesting because in my limited experience, Berlin and Frankfurt are verrry different cities within the context of Germany. Personally, as a foreigner looking to integrate, I would pick Berlin 100%, but maybe that’s just me.
Politically the area leans pretty left, as opposed to the majority of Switzerland which is rather right-leaning. I’ve never lived there of course, so maybe I’d end up hating it, but with how things are going in Europe generally, the list of places where people share the same general ideas is getting smaller and smaller. Also, I speak French, so there’s that aha.
Switzerland (Fribourg) or Norway, I’d try each before making a final decision.
I love it when people think Europe is this car-less utopia… Cities usually have excellent public transport, but in the countryside you still have to drive to get your groceries. Hell, there aren’t even sidewalks on half the roads here, just pavement-ditch-field.
Plumbing, since I’ve been a professional plumber in both North America and Europe. Not the most interesting knowledge base but alas, it is what it is. Other than that, Age of Empires II maybe?
Literally the only name I could think of.
What. The. Fuck.
As a circumcised male, please don’t. Like countless others have said, it’s a bizarre cultural practice that leads to a desensitized tip, and most of the world thinks it’s fucked up. There’s literally no benefits.
France is the absolute worst for this. I once spent ten minutes in a bar trying to figure out who ‘Kenny West’ was… I kept asking my friends if they’re sure that’s how the name is pronounced.
It was Kanye. He even says his name in most of his own songs…
I don’t know about that… In my family of Canadians there was always a little bit of anti-American sentiment growing up. Culturally, while close, there are definitely differences. They used to come up during salmon season and cheat the system by catching over the limit and canning it at night so the authorities couldn’t count their catch. I would never say that all Americans are bad people, but the ‘fuck you, I got mine’ attitude seems to be much more prevalent south of the border.
My wife and I are constantly switching between English and French when conversing amongst ourselves. I’ve often noted that when we want to emphasize a sentence, we use the others native language. It also comes in handy when in public and we want to convey something in secret, because both of our accents in our mother languages are quite strong, so at a whisper even people who know the language but are not fluent will not grasp what we are saying.
"What’s the bullshit?’ = How are you?
As a north american who lives in Europe, agreed. However, the gypsies do not help their own case. They show up in my region every summer, illegally camp wherever they want on private property, and leave huge piles of trash wherever they’ve been. I’ve personally seen them getting into all sorts of debauchery, including breaking into people’s mail boxes and stealing bikes in plain sight. I have nothing against them and I’m sure their culture is extremely rich and interesting, but no one has the inherent right to just rip off the rest of society without consequences. Also, of course they aren’t all stealing and misbehaving, but I understand where people’s preconceived notions come from.
You must be fun at parties.
Couldn’t agree more. Destroying our planet faster just so people don’t have to write their own emails seems insane to me. Google literally wants to use private nuclear reactors to power their AI projects… Do people really think that won’t be expensive, both economically and climate-wise?
Not surprised at all. Pearson is the worst airport I’ve ever had the pleasure of passing through.
The saving grace with French is that when you read a word, you can (almost always) divine its pronunciation immediately. I’m not saying a reform isn’t in order, as not pronouncing half the letters in a word seems kinda stupid, but in my opinion English is several orders of magnitude worse. My spouse, who practically learned English through me while we lived in an Anglophone country for almost a decade and is quite fluent, still can’t spell worth a shit.
And even us native speakers have to guess the correct pronunciation of words we haven’t heard before, which is insane. When l was young I was a voracious reader, but having never heard many of the more uncommon words spoken before, I often internalised the wrong way of saying them.
Fuck it, I’m on board. Let’s gut this thing and start fresh.