Things you were shockingly old when you learned

just think about the way you pronounce “singapore” over a gin and tonic in the raffles

cardi-b is a rapper (from the crossword thread)

had heard the name before, obv, but figured on z-list celeb from one of those talent shows

lol, I learn many contemporary pop culture factoids at a shockingly old age thanks to the NYT crossword

Many words, massage being one of them, I stress the first syllable when used as a noun, and the second when used as a verb. Record, permit, progress.

I was wondering if pasta serving sizes had changed a lot over the years and if the measuring hole on a traditional spoon was larger than i a diet conscious era. Or how long the spoon hole had been a feature.
....
― Stevo, Wednesday, May 3, 2023 3:29 AM (eleven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Welp, I just learned what the hole in the spoon is for.

i now know what it's not for, and have some personal reflection to embark on and some apologizing to do to people whose dinners I've attended

xpost to Alba:

Something interesting you might not have realized: a number of words in English are nouns when you stress the first syllable but verbs when you stress the second.

"Your CONduct is better when you conDUCT yourself appropriately.”

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) April 27, 2023

oh that is cool

xxp lol

That reminds me of a little saying that the late great Martin Skidmore was fond of, for remembering when to use "s" and when to use "c" in certain words... He suggested one could "devise a device" for remembering it...

Sooo wait.

Commonwealth differences in spelling with the US has been done to death, but I gotta ask. Does that mean Martin would've said you'd have to have a license to licence?

I seriously thought the c for s thing was just a difference in spelling between the two regions, not that one was used for the verb and one was used for the noun.

Lol this mnemonic may have literally only worked for that pair of words

you need advice? i can advise.

The mnemonic I’ve heard for this is “you can c a noun but you can’t c a verb”

Kind of nonsense because you can see a verb but still

Practise/practice is another one

in theory it's the same for uk licenc/se but US usage has muddied the waters (and the fact that they're pronounced the same).

C-Murder
S-Murder

Buddy Guy's Stone Crazy! is one of my favorite albums. Today I learned that a whole second album, Junior Wells' Pleading the Blues, was recorded at the same session, just adding Junior Wells on vocals and harmonica.

I was just told that Cinco de Mayo is not celebrated in Mexico itself, but only in the US.

Although maybe the guy meant Mexico Mexico, el DF, Mexico City itself.

Hmm, seems to be true.

I think it commemorates a relatively minor victory in some battle for independence, and I've always assumed it was selected in the US for celebrating because of its calendar position - not much else going on in early May.

Cinco de Mayo = a "white people get drunker than usual and get in more fights and car accidents" holiday

- "So when is Mexico's Independence Day?"

- "El dieciséis de septiembre."

- "Hmmm. Did anything ever happen in 'marzo' or 'mayo'?"

Commemorates the Battle of Puebla when they beat the French and slowed up the Second French Intervention.

^this

Just talked to a poblana to get another data point and she confirmed that not even in Puebla is it celebrated.

It was basically invented to sell Corona to WASP Americans

https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2023/05/05/cinco-de-mayo-civil-war/

That the singer from Stereolab is Laetitia Sadier and not Sadler.

Only been listening to them for the last 30 years.

Heh. I've gone back and forth on that one.

Glyn Dillon is Steve Dillon's brother

I don’t do much comics work these days, so I was really chuffed to be asked if I’d like to do the cover for the new #bestof2000AD collection. I jumped at the chance because it features my brother’s iconic Cry of the Werewolf story. #SteveDillon #JudgeDredd pic.twitter.com/cD131r7vKG

— glyn dillon (@glyn_dillon) May 11, 2023

That the singer from Stereolab is Laetitia Sadier and not Sadler.

Marianne Faithful was related to Leopold von Sacher Masoch who gave the world the term masochism. Is that quite Sade-y? I'm sure it could be Sadier

I wound up doing a tour of the Republic with Stereolab when I first came to Ireland in the early 90s cos I bumped into one f the guys who ran teh White Horse in Hampstead or possibly vice versa. Like I was sitting at a dublin bar and he appeared from behind me and said hey Stevo or something to that effect.
I think Laetitia was quite generous with snacks and things

White HOrse guy was being tour manager/possibly sound engineer too. Sean O'hagan was in the band at the time too.

Roquefort is a really great cheese.

oh yeah, one of the best. in small quantities though.

so creamy

Yeah, it's pretty rich. I eat a lot of cheese, but for that reason, I haven't had a blue for snacking in long time. It kind of blew me away.

have known for a long time that the children's network Nickelodeon was named after a sort of old-timey movie theatre. but i never put it together that that name just means an Odeon that costs five cents (a nickel).

and then a totally different thing that occurred to me this week is that taco in spanish means "wad", lol.

Was watching a Peppa Pig with the 3-year-old, the Pig family are walking in the park on a foggy day, and Peppa asks what fog is. Daddy Pig says “fog is a cloud that’s on the ground“, and I was like oh yeah, duh

Clouds can be on the ground if the ground is high enough.

Seance means "meeting" in French

As does reunion.

Seance doesn't quite mean meeting, it's more like session or sitting.

Right. Like the seance is the screening time of a film.