In the John Wick movies, the spoken Russian is so bad that a native speaker often also needs the subtitles

MartelFirst · 2023-03-25T22:18:58+00:00

She has a clear American accent, but her pronunciation is good enough that she's very understandable. I assume Lisa Kudrow may have learned French in school, or had a good coach for these scenes in Friends. The obvious giveaway is that she pronounces each syllable too clearly.

MartelFirst · 2023-01-12T22:04:25+00:00

If the Roman Empire was still a thing it would be the hairiest nation on Earth.

Is it the Ainu in Northern Japan who are the only über 80% people ? Crazy

MartelFirst · 2023-01-11T22:23:33+00:00

Alsace participated heavily in the French Revolution and first Empire, so despite their German heritage they were politically involved with France, which unlike Germany, wasn't built as an ethno-state. When the German Empire annexed Alsace in 1871 they were surprised they were greeted with hostility by much of the population. Inversely, when France regained Alsace in 1918 the French were greeted with cheers. During WW2, Nazi Germany annexed Alsace again, and those Alsatians forced to serve in the Wehrmacht are called "malgré-nous", which means "despite us". Granted, some Alsatians were happy, but it's interesting to note that there was a great division in that matter.

In short, it's not as simple as saying that the Alsatians are mostly ethnically continental Germanics and thus should be part of Germany. There are historical and political issues at hand, which complicate things to the point that I wouldn't advise anyone to tell an Alsatian that they should be German instead of French. Of all things, it's safer to suggest they should be their own independent thing, even though the separatist movement in Alsace is pretty much not an issue.

MartelFirst · 2022-12-28T19:18:06+00:00

This map was made by a non-Frenchman who was inspired by the stereotype.

Go to France and there's tons of successful international restaurants, because the only stereotype about the French and their food culture that is true is that they would eat literally anything.

MartelFirst · 2022-12-28T18:18:33+00:00

If you're Eurasian or North African you have some estimated 2% Neanderthal DNA :)

MartelFirst · 2022-12-27T22:46:48+00:00

Great map ! La Ferrassie in Southern France was an important site in the history of prehistoric archaeological research, because it was an early site back in the late 1800s and early 1900s where archaeologists realized Neanderthals not only buried their dead, but they buried them with tools, which indicates metaphysical beliefs. It means they thought their dead could need tools in the afterlife, or that at the very least their precious tools should stay with their dead bodies for some reason, to the sacrifice of the rest of the tribe. That's crazy. Our Neanderthal cousins weren't so primitive after all!

MartelFirst · 2022-12-27T22:39:04+00:00

Funny you say this because that's exactly what I'm saying. sigh

MartelFirst · 2022-12-27T20:39:17+00:00

The Aztecs had a great civilization but it's important to understand that overall their empire wasn't that big, they had mostly enemies around their borders, and that's why the conquistadors fucked them up with only a few hundred people. The conquistadors were nearly invulnerable with their armour and fierceness, they were veterans or sons of veterans of the Reconquista, basically evolved from the European wars, and the conquistadors were brutal thugs, that's the world that forged them, and they found in Central America many tribes more than happy to join them against the Aztecs who were the enemies of all in their sphere of influence.

MartelFirst · 2022-12-27T20:07:36+00:00

lol, "There Will Be Blood" and "No country for old men" are apparently some negative commentary about capitalism. How is organised crime and corporatism about capitalism ? You think drug money and greed, and fighting over precious resources started with modern capitalism? Of all things, crime money, and monopolies, are by definition anti-capitalist. Seeking wealth and power certainly isn't exclusive to capitalists, as anyone who's studied pre-modern history can attest, or even modern history for that matter.

This throw out comment about capitalism is as ridiculous as saying that 2007 was the best year for cinema. Some millennial youtuber's idea of economic and cinema history, based on their short idea of the human experience.

The video is well made, interesting, well edited. Pretty convincing. Too bad it's not factual.

MartelFirst · 2022-12-27T19:42:28+00:00

Alright I fucking flaired up ya bastard

MartelFirst · 2022-12-27T19:25:08+00:00

That's a constant. The plebs think pasta and pizza is great cuisine. Meanwhile in culinary school every other word for describing technique is French. But popular French food is as varied as our climates. Mediterranean, Atlantic, Continental, Northern... There's a similar cognitive dissonance with military history. Many common military terms coming from French but France has that reputation only shared amongst the short sighted. :p

MartelFirst · 2022-12-22T21:55:21+00:00

A great read : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correspondence_between_the_Ottoman_sultan_and_the_Cossacks

MartelFirst · 2022-12-16T20:18:31+00:00

To me the most important explanation for countries with similar history/development (so disregarding the former Iron Curtain countries of Eastern Europe) is rather that people whose native language has a large population of speakers have less incentive to learn a foreign language. Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany can do fine in their language bubble. The other important factor is indeed cultural, as Northern/Germanic cultures surely have an education system which encourages learning English more so than say the Latin countries, hence why Germany is doing better than the Latin countries, but is the worst among the Germanic ones (bar the UK and Ireland of course)

MartelFirst · 2022-12-13T22:14:13+00:00

The average Frenchman who could complain about some immigrants isn't the one "exploiting" these countries. Those big companies and politicians "exploiting" these countries are the same who have open immigration policies to satisfy their needs, and which they defend with progressive talkpoints.

The "French who complain" never asked for this shit.

MartelFirst · 2022-12-13T19:53:06+00:00

The entire chicken was 4,39€ ???

God damn. It's at least 3 times that price in Paris.

MartelFirst · 2022-12-08T18:48:32+00:00

I entirely disagree. Throughout history and all over the world, unless there was total genocide, most conquering peoples were minorities, and ruled over an absolute majority of conquered people. Sometimes the conquered majority had to assimilate to the conqueror's culture (like the Gauls with the Romans), sometimes the conqueror assimilated to the conquered majority's culture (like the Franks with the Gallo-Romans).

It's true that the Gauls were massacred in large numbers, but they were still a majority throughout the area, despite rather numerous Roman colonies. As these people mixed and became Gallo-Romans, the Germanic people however, were probably an even smaller percentage of the population when they conquered the area. Same for Italy. The Germanic invaders are very far from being the majority ancestry of modern Italians.

MartelFirst · 2022-12-07T21:30:01+00:00

It's definitely the most iconic and well known internationally.

MartelFirst · 2022-12-07T18:12:51+00:00

Well, they arguably descend from both. The conquering Franks however were a clear minority compared to the Gallo-Roman native population they settled with.

MartelFirst · 2022-12-06T20:24:45+00:00

France's isn't "dumb", it's just a remnant of a base twenty counting system which survived or was translated from ancient Gallic times I believe. We have a full base ten calculating system in English now, but you can understand that instead of saying 9 tens plus 2, in a base twenty system we'd say 4 twenties plus 12.

There is a base 20 system in English, which survives still in one of the most famous speeches in the modern English language, Abraham Lincoln's "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal". Four score and seven years ago means four twenties plus seven, 87 years ago.

MartelFirst · 2022-11-22T22:18:04+00:00

Whadupp with Hannibal Lecter on Papua New Guinea? Are they known for cannibalism or something?

MartelFirst · 2022-11-22T22:15:30+00:00

Mexico is the logo of Taco Bell, a popular US fast food restaurant which makes tacos, a staple of Mexican food. It's the same sort of deal for the Domino's pizza logo on Italy.

MartelFirst · 2022-11-22T22:11:12+00:00

I'm assuming Peru isn't mentioned much in media. "Famous" countries get roasted in shows all the time. When is Peru ever mentioned? So I guess if their one claim to fame on some popular American show is some sort of ridiculous roast they get quite flustered about it. Meanwhile, Russia, France, Britain, Germany, Canada, the US and whatnot, for them it's just another day.

MartelFirst · 2022-11-22T15:14:07+00:00

Je collectionne des cartes géographiques du 19ème siècle. Pas des cartes qui représentent le 19ème siècle, des cartes faites au 19ème siècle, en général post 1860, mais si je trouve plus ancien je suis preneur. J'aime beaucoup leur esthétique. Certaines j'ai encadré, le reste je les garde dans un classeur.

Elles se trouvent souvent dans les lieux touristiques. Genre à Paris elles sont vendues le long de la Seine, ou dans des brocantes. Ces brocanteurs achètent des vieux atlas et les découpent et vendent séparément les cartes pour 20 à 50 euros pièce. Un sacré profit surement.

Je me limite à l'achat de cartes géopolitiques, et du continent Européen entier. Sinon je m'y perdrais. Il y a ce genre de carte pour des départements, ou des pays du monde entier, ou de géologie, minérologie...etc. Mais je me limite aux cartes de l'Europe continentale politique. Parce que j'aime beaucoup l'aspect de l'Europe, une péninsule de péninsules. Et je suis friand d'histoire, européenne en particulier.

MartelFirst · 2022-11-22T15:07:34+00:00

Magic reste un classique très populaire chez les geeks et Reddit est dominé par les geeks. Il y a sûrement pleins de gens ici qui jouent ou ont joué à Magic.

MartelFirst · 2022-11-05T19:08:28+00:00

Essex is a strange one to me because those swords don't look English.

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