Things You Learned Today

[Hillonearth]

9 hours ago, tamthebam said:

Old English had a letter that looked a bit like a "p" called Thorn which stood for "th". Icelandic I think still has the letter. Typesetters substituted the letter y for thorn as it was the closest looking letter in the Latin alphabet 

The Scots surname Menzies is pronounced properly "Mingiss" as the Z stands in for a letter in Old Scots called "yogh"

Your mind processes unfamiliar letters to be the thing that looks most similar - Icelandic's the best example as you say, as when we see a -ð in a word we automatically think it's a -d rather than the soft -th sound in "that".

The disappearance of yogh - it looked a bit like the tailed -z some people use so as it fell into disuse people started pronouncing it that way - now means Scotland's full of McKenzies who are pronouncing their own name wrong - some, but not all people called Menzies have kept the old pronunciation, but McKenzies have universally discarded the original "McKenyie" pronunciation.

Another letter that fell into disuse even earlier was wynn...it was the original -w sound in English based on the rune ᚹ, but by the early middle ages had been replaced by two -u's, and hence why we pronounce the letter "double-u"

 

[hk blues]

11 hours ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

There is a knob on the underside of the crossing stop button box which rotates when the green man is displayed.

This is for the benefit of blind people.

They still wouldn't be able to see it turn

[Rugster]

12 hours ago, Boghead ranter said:

A few weeks ago, I discovered that you get a much easier and closer shave if you shave AFTER being in the shower, rather than before.

40 (forty) years of shaving, and I just discover now.

 

11 hours ago, Bairnardo said:

I am absolutely fucking stunned you didn't know this.

Genuinely. I now question your Larbert traffic complaints given that there's no way they allow you to operate a vehicle.

Have to agree, it's a well known fact the heat from the shower opens the pores and helps ease the shaving process. But I'll tell you what's even better - shaving IN the shower. Doddle.

[coprolite]

13 minutes ago, Rugster said:

 

Have to agree, it's a well known fact the heat from the shower opens the pores and helps ease the shaving process. But I'll tell you what's even better - shaving IN the shower. Doddle.

Not with an electric shaver. 

Does anyone still use them? 

[Rugster]

7 minutes ago, coprolite said:

Not with an electric shaver. 

Does anyone still use them? 

I don't but you can actually buy electric shavers which are usable in the shower.

[Mark Connolly]

I had a waterproof electric shaver for years, though I now have one of those Phillips OneBlade ones where you can adjust the length like hair clippers

[AsimButtHitsASix]

I know a lass who married a Dalziel and has the "yogh" on her passport now rather than the Z. 

[Todd_is_God]

53 minutes ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

I know a lass who married a Dalziel and has the "yogh" on her passport now rather than the Z. 

That must be a pain in the arse when entering passport details.

[coprolite]

1 hour ago, Rugster said:

I don't but you can actually buy electric shavers which are usable in the shower.

 

1 hour ago, Mark Connolly said:

I had a waterproof electric shaver for years, though I now have one of those Phillips OneBlade ones where you can adjust the length like hair clippers

Things i learned.  People still have electric shavers and now they're waterproof. 

[carpetmonster]

16 hours ago, Cosmic Joe said:

Apparently skidmarks is not an exclusively Scottish term. 

It featured in an old episode of Sex in the City (I know -  my wife watches this absolute tripe). 

Every day is a schoolday

British writer perhaps? In Chicago the train lines are just named after colors and there’s a Brown Line. You’d think that’d get called the skidmark if it was in the local parlance, but I’ve never heard it. It’s open day at the school this morning, I can ask my kid’s new teacher. 

[eez-eh]

1 hour ago, Mark Connolly said:

I had a waterproof electric shaver for years, though I now have one of those Phillips OneBlade ones where you can adjust the length like hair clippers

The OneBlade is excellent. The blades last for ages and I don’t think it’s ever nicked my skin.

For the people who shave in the shower - do you have mirrors in your shower or are you just hoping for the best?

[Rugster]

6 minutes ago, carpetmonster said:

British writer perhaps? In Chicago the train lines are just named after colors and there’s a Brown Line. You’d think that’d get called the skidmark if it was in the local parlance, but I’ve never heard it. It’s open day at the school this morning, I can ask my kid’s new teacher. 

It also featured in Friends. 

[hk blues]

1 minute ago, eez-eh said:

The OneBlade is excellent. The blades last for ages and I don’t think it’s ever nicked my skin.

For the people who shave in the shower - do you have mirrors in your shower or are you just hoping for the best?

My face hasn't changed much lately so I'm able to navigate around it with little risk.  Shaving in the dark is where the risk is! 

 

[carpetmonster]

Just now, Rugster said:

It also featured in Friends. 

Maybe it’s just them hip New Yorkers use it and us Midwest yokels ain’t down with the jive talk daddy-o. 

[Abdul_Latif]

12 hours ago, Oystercatcher said:

Also Julius Caesar should be pronounced Julius Kaiser 

More like Chay-zar, but yeah, definitely not the way it’s butchered in English.

[hk blues]

A quick google search confirms that skidmarks are pretty universal - or there are a lot of us Scots out there spreading the word across the globe

[Melanius Mullarkey]

10 minutes ago, carpetmonster said:

It’s open day at the school this morning, I can ask my kid’s new teacher. 

Some coincidence when it turns out the teacher is Mr Mark Skidmarks from further up the thread.

[carpetmonster]

1 minute ago, Melanius Mullarkay said:

Some coincidence when it turns out the teacher is Mr Mark Skidmarks from further up the thread.

And scenes when he’s named his boy after him so there Mark’s kid Mark Skidmarks. 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

3 minutes ago, carpetmonster said:

And scenes when he’s named his boy after him so there Mark’s kid Mark Skidmarks. 

Messy.

[Rugster]

@Bobby Skidmarks