Kevin's Watch

Definitely not, sarge.

The thread appears to have ceased its drifting.

Then it must be time for random facts!


Fact: Definition of a Kilometer
If you were to take the Earth and cut it in half along a line passing from the North Pole through Paris, and then measure the distance of the curve running from the North Pole to the equator on that circle, and then divide that distance by 10,000, you would have the traditional unit for the kilometer as defined in 1791 by the French Academy of Sciences.


Fact: Fear of Long Words
A fear of long words is, ironically, called "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia"

Fact: Cyrillic Alphabet
Bulgaria is the birthplace of the Cyrillic alphabet, the second most widely used alphabet in the world, which was developed in the 10th century.

Fact: Donkey Etymology
In the late 18th century, the word donkey started to replace ass, almost certainly to avoid confusion with the word arse, which, due to sound changes that had affected the language, had come to be pronounced the same way (/æs/ > /ɑ:s/ and /ɑ:rs/ > /ɑ:s/). The /ɑ:s/ pronunciation of ass was eventually restored to /æs/ in order to reserve the distinction, but not without the curious consequence of American English losing the word arse entirely and assigning its meaning to ass. The origin of the word "donkey" itself is unknown.

Fact: Walnut Etymology
The word walnut derives from Old English wealhhnutu, literally "foreign nut", wealh meaning "foreign" . The walnut was so called because it was introduced to England from Gaul and Italy.

Fact: Tounge & Language
The word "tongue" can be used as a metonym for language, as in the phrase "mother tongue". In many languages the word for "tongue" and "language" are the same. A common temporary failure in word retrieval from memory is referred to as the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. "Tongue twisted" is a term used to described being unable to pronounce a word or phrase correctly. A "tongue twister" is a phrase made specifically to be very difficult to pronounce. Items relating to the tongue are often called lingual, which comes from the Latin word lingua, or glossal, which comes from the Greek word for tongue.

Wow, impressive, Wyldewode.

Wyldewode wrote:
Fact: Definition of a Kilometer
If you were to take the Earth and cut it in half along a line passing from the North Pole through Paris, and then measure the distance of the curve running from the North Pole to the equator on that circle, and then divide that distance by 10,000, you would have the traditional unit for the kilometer as defined in 1791 by the French Academy of Sciences.

I need sohisticated CG animation to comprehend this. Or a Futurama cartoon.

Fact: Fear of Long Words
A fear of long words is, ironically, called "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia"

The people who thought that word up must've been laughing sadistically.

Fact: Walnut Etymology
The word walnut derives from Old English wealhhnutu, literally "foreign nut", wealh meaning "foreign" . The walnut was so called because it was introduced to England from Gaul and Italy.

Foreign nut: see also TOURIST.

matrixman wrote: I need sohisticated CG animation to comprehend this. Or a Futurama cartoon.

It is a little bit complex, isn't it?

Where's sarge to jump in with a good pic that suggests complexity.

Pretty!

Very Austin Powers

That looks a little scary.

Is that a broccoflower, Lyr?

Q. When the Philosophers speak of gold and silver, from which they extract their matter, are we to suppose that they refer to the vulgar gold and silver? A. By no means; vulgar silver and gold are dead, while those of the Philosophers are full of life.

MsMary wrote:Is that a broccoflower, Lyr?

Yes. I saw it one day when I was reading about fractals in nature.

Nice image there, Lyr.

Neat, but what in the world is it?