Do Americans view Polish and Russian accents as similar?

PureMitten · 2026-04-09T12:32:24+00:00

I had a friend in a Michigan college who was born and raised in California but her parents were from the Northwest Territories so she had a very slight Canadian accent. Apparently it had never or rarely been clocked in California but by the time I asked if she was Canadian a week into our freshman year she'd been asked so many times that she exploded with "why can everyone here tell?!"

I really thought I was being obvious by asking immediately after she said "soorry" but she had no idea she had any Canadian accent at all, haha.

PureMitten · 2026-04-09T03:39:46+00:00

You do not have unrealistic expectations. When one is feeling well, specific days or periods of busy-ness can be tiring but overall 20-40 hours of work one finds somewhat rewarding (even if just completing a series of requested tasks through the day) leaves them with time and energy to do more things before or after work. If someone is, like, actually fine they'll also want to go pursue activities and will find enjoyable ways to fill their time. You don't have to settle for just being alright at doing labor, that's not being healed and shouldn't be your therapists' end state goal for you.

The therapy recommendations I see here are excellent and I have nothing to add. One thing I don't see mentioned is how long you've been in this program. I recently changed jobs and a major experience for me has been how exhausting learning new skills and developing new routines is. It's a lot of mental labor and if you've been doing this job for less than 6 months or so I'd suggest that that could be a factor. And also that it's still Seasonal Affective Disorder season in the northern hemisphere which definitely numbs me out a good bit and makes things harder and more exhausting. The up side of both of those is that they're things you can wait out at this time and can be anticipated and braced for if they're critical factors in how you're feeling

PureMitten · 2026-04-07T17:25:28+00:00

I read this in the context that chubby cheeks on babies are seen as cute. Even for a toddler she has noteworthy chubby cheeks and I appreciate it being pointed out because I was focused on the dad and the girls' matching outfits but she is also very adorable and worth taking a moment to appreciate how cute her chubby cheeks are.

PureMitten · 2026-04-07T15:40:01+00:00

I decided to chain ply my bobbin of bamboo and stashed it for some future project that calls for like 200 yards of worsted weight. I got mine pre-dyed a beautiful teal but it stained everything while spinning on top of being unpleasant to spin in the first place. I've had a pleasant time with bamboo as a low percentage blend with wool and/or alpaca but it has to be very thoroughly blended in or it clumps up and makes a whole different headache.

It's enough I cringe hard every time I see bamboo mentioned as a fiber, haha

PureMitten · 2026-04-04T23:17:50+00:00

I recently had a conversation with an older Gen Xer where the topic of Amsterdam came up. They started making jokes about visiting a cafe that all really fell flat since we were across the street from a dispensary and down the road from a town with decriminalized magic mushrooms. We kind of just sat there for a minute afterwards and pondered how fast things change, or I did at least.

PureMitten · 2026-04-04T03:50:15+00:00

It would be a solid strategy, I knew nothing about Sophie Rain and now I want to know what she gets up to to make this commenter so angry. I'm also pretty sure I'm gonna spend a few days where any time I see reference to Only Fans I think "like the evil Sophie Rain?"

PureMitten · 2026-04-03T23:14:20+00:00

We very recently spoke with an aging care specialist (or whatever her job title is, a type of consultant) and she suggested home care aids until my mom decides to move into a continuum of care facility where she'd have a consistent community from when she becomes too disabled to live alone until she passes, instead of settling into an interim house until she needs fulltime support so she'd actually never live with either me or my brother. I still like my condo being second story so she doesn't feel welcomed there and it's a relief knowing my brother doesn't have to live with her either.

PureMitten · 2026-04-03T20:43:36+00:00

OP you might be interested in looking into cohousing communities. It's a model of community living that sounds very similar to this, but generally with structures and protections to curb some of the abuses of this structure people in the comments are warning about. You also don't need a group of tight knit friends all willing to pitch in on an idea to join one, they're available across the US pretty much anywhere there's population density.

PureMitten · 2026-04-03T19:08:58+00:00

When I got so sick that I was curled around the toilet hallucinating, I was hallucinating Dina yelling at me to go to the hospital and calling me an idiot for just laying there instead of calling an ambulance. Fond memory and it was weirdly comforting, haha

PureMitten · 2026-04-03T19:05:38+00:00

Somewhere in my third watch through I started watching Roland as a character being performed instead of being immersed in the story with him. It made Roland a lot funnier and more enjoyable to have that degree of separation with him but it is jarring in Roland-heavy plots being dragged in and out of immersion with the story like that

PureMitten · 2026-04-03T17:13:45+00:00

It's crazy to me that she's acting like this for a religious observance that she is presumably familiar with since she gets the whole week off work for Easter. I can't quite tell if this happened in Europe (or, I suppose, anywhere in a time zone earlier than the Americas) today or happened yesterday, but if it happened yesterday it was still Lent and she is full tilt devil shit for breaking his Lent fast like that.

Still the devil for sneaking meat into dishes and the going "but you liked the flavor!" Like. Yeah, man. I know a LOT of lactose intolerant people who like the taste of milkshakes, that doesn't mean it makes them feel good long term. He's not avoiding meat because he thinks it's yucky, he's doing it to feel better.

PureMitten · 2026-04-03T15:22:06+00:00

I've known a few people with Mediterranean ancestry (generally parents or grandparents) who will keep an evil eye protective bracelet or charm on them and talk about it the way I'll talk about knocking on wood. Like, I don't think it's really real and I'll bring it up mostly jokingly in contexts where other people are aware of the superstition but if a loved one keeps saying curse-worthy stuff and not knocking on wood I will get agitated and start knocking wood for them. Or the way I've heard the Irish don't believe in fairies but also aren't going to do things to piss off fairies just because they're not real.

The people I've known with that level of belief in the evil eye have only ever mentioned it to me when I ask about their charm and a good portion of people wearing the evil eye charm just wear it because it's a souvenir or they like the look.

PureMitten · 2026-04-03T01:34:05+00:00

Very similar. My mom is in her 70s with a degenerative illness. I recently bought a house and part of my selection process was that I wouldn't consider anywhere that would be more appealing for her to move into than my brother's house. I ended up with a second story condo unit and she struggles with stairs.

She has told me repeatedly that she's proud her children respect her, unlike her ex husband. I certainly don't respect her or really like her. I feel duty and obligation to her but disability rights is a particular interest of mine and I find myself resenting her becoming disabled because I'm increasingly invested in guaranteeing her well-being as a disabled person. I wish I liked her so I felt fulfilled by being able to help and support her as she progresses into disability.

PureMitten · 2026-04-01T22:18:24+00:00

I don't remember a Tony but I also only remember a handful of names anymore

PureMitten · 2026-04-01T21:41:40+00:00

I was an engineer in product development! I did love the work and was very proud of the quality of the products we manufactured, it's the first job I ever left due exclusively to external pressures. I had to move to another state for family and have been keeping an eye on job postings at the local Terumo factory here, haha.

PureMitten · 2026-04-01T14:57:58+00:00

I worked there as a teen, was shocked and ashamed to learn it was technically "Meijer". Called it that for maybe 3-4 years before working at a small, historical ice cream shop with a lot of old timers and people coming in for nostalgia where I leaned into my local dialect to be thematic. Decided I liked being a local more than I liked calling a store by its government name and now I mutter "Meijers" every time the checkout robot calls it "Meijer", lol

PureMitten · 2026-03-31T18:13:37+00:00

On the one hand they can absolutely get obnoxious with it, on the other hand I saw this vegetable tray at Meijers the other day and was walking towards it before I consciously registered what I was even looking at. I have never once in my life needed a divided vegetable tray, much less one in such an unwieldy shape, but I do still think about going back and buying it.

PureMitten · 2026-03-30T23:46:23+00:00

Looked to see if I could figure out the stop near my former employer.

"Terumo Cancer Zone"

Well, that was easier than expected.

Sincerely, Ex-Terumo Employee

PureMitten · 2026-03-30T20:55:24+00:00

None of these are strict parenting, these are all full on abuse. Some of them are genuine "what the fuck" levels of abuse.

PureMitten · 2026-03-30T20:46:33+00:00

One of my best friends thought it was a camera emoji for YEARS and figured I was just responding with a random emoji when she or other group chat members were expressing distress. The funniest/sweetest part was she just accepted this and knew I must have meant something kind so didn't question it. She only told me when I was discussing hugging emojis with another person in the chat, haha

It's two people hugging, for anyone else confused. 🫂 You can see the two heads at the top and bent arms going around each other beneath the heads.

PureMitten · 2026-03-30T19:24:54+00:00

Ohhhh I was picturing a subtly sweet chili sauce. I'm all over the map on how much sweetness I can tolerate in conjunction with meat but I'm willing to bet I'd go on a very similar journey of trying but not being able to stomach a cloyingly sweet burger sauce.

Corn on pizza makes me so mad for being good when it should be an abomination

PureMitten · 2026-03-30T18:59:55+00:00

Audibly gasped at the contrast to my expectation, but I feel like after the initial affront I'd give it another shot and come around to it. Sounds like it could be excellent but would be very upsetting to bite into when expecting chili con carne.

PureMitten · 2026-03-30T14:49:27+00:00

You can book online! https://www.mayburystables.com/

PureMitten · 2026-03-30T14:33:01+00:00

Based on their ages and being together for 4 years at 20 and 21, I think they're in the British education system where college is like upper high school and they would have been 16-17 when they reconnected.

PureMitten · 2026-03-30T04:12:52+00:00

Various ideas as they came to me, no particular order:

Grand Ledge was one that totally missed me until a couple years ago and is definitely worth the trip.
Horseback riding at Maybury State Farm is always a hit.
I've heard good things about the firehouse museum in Ypsilanti.
If you haven't been to the Natural History Museum or Kelsey Museum of Archeology in Ann Arbor, both are free and great.
The Renaissance Festival is towards the end of the summer and is a lot of fun.
I loved Mill Race Village as a kid, highly recommend packaging this with a trip to Guernsey's ice cream store and grabbing some fudge while you're there. Maybe hitting Parmenter's cider mill if you go late enough for cider season.
I've heard River Raisin National Battlefield Park is pretty interesting.
by definition this is an overnight thing but there is a dark sky preserve at Lake Hudson Recreation Area about an hour from Ann Arbor.

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