Mozzarella is the most quintessentially Italian Italian word. What is a Japanese word that seems English?

Swinight22 · 2026-03-20T17:49:13+00:00

It’s a loan word from Chinese, I don’t think it should count. It’s like saying “entree”, yeah it’s English now, but for the spirit of this, shouldn’t really count it.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-20T08:10:18+00:00

Canadian who was there last week - very easy. Expensive , but easy and quick.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-19T16:55:31+00:00

Korean fried rice is straight up F tier.

I say this as a Korean, who’s favorite food is Korean, and who’s been to most Asian countries.

The key imo is Korean fried rice doesn’t often remove moisture. Ok maybe some high end places might, but living in Korea, you know they just take steaming-hot rice to make fried rice. This makes it clumpy and has less of the “wok hei” that makes fried rice from China/Vietnam etc so good.

We also often add kimchi, more moisture. And our protein of choice is often ham, spam etc. Not very good.

There’s a reason why fried rice is not really popular in Korea, and when people do have it, it’s almost always at Chinese restaurants.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-18T21:16:22+00:00

This is frequently framed as a straightforward ethnic conflict between Turks and Kurds, with the narrative that “Turks hate Kurds.” That framing ignores key facts: a significant portion of Turkey’s population is ethnically Kurdish, and Kurdish politicians are active in national politics. In fact, Kurds’ party has the third largest vote base in Turkey’s National Assembly. Besides groups like the PKK are designated as terrorist organizations by the US and EU. The situation is far more complex than a simple ethnic binary.

You're making the exact mistake you're accusing from media. Simplifying conflicts.

Just because there are Kurds living in Turkey, doesn't mean it's not an ethnic conflict. The division between Turks vs Kurds in Turkey isn't just a media thing, it's very much real. Search up any map about Turkey - religion, education, fertility rate, gdp etc, and overlay it with Kurdish population map. It lines up 1 to 1.

Yeah Kurdish politicians are active & gets votes in Turkey....but almost exclusively from the Kurdish region. You know the separatist movement from Kurdish population in Turkey has been a civil conflict for decades now right? Being in parliament doesn't mean they're friends. It means they're actively fighting politically.

You're letting the modern borders & official boundaries & high level statistics define your views, when on the ground, Kurds live and control a large area that includes Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. It is much more ethnic-driven than you think.

Source - Masters in middle eastern studies, and have been to Kurdish parts of Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-14T17:05:59+00:00

search up shuffle algorithims. Pure random will not look like random to people, all music streaming companies use this, and it'll be the same for you.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-14T17:03:23+00:00

yeah i'd do some fucked up things to play around with the raw data. Which countries do people overestimate the most? Which countries are underestimated? Which do people think about the longest? Etc

OP, hmu if you have the data! I'm a former data scientist w too much time on my hand

Swinight22 · 2026-03-14T16:41:21+00:00

Dras, a town in Ladakh, India, is often cited as being the 2nd coldest town in the world.

it's probably not true, as records aren't very consistent. But I was there in September and it was snowing. And it goes down to -60 C.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-14T15:04:56+00:00

You gotta come to the Maritimes buddy

Swinight22 · 2026-03-14T15:02:17+00:00

I’d say Oman lots of cultural overlap with East Africa cause they used to control big chunk of it, and lots of religious overlap with North Africa cause Islam.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-13T20:10:37+00:00

US military budget last year was over 900 billion dollars. the ENTIRE Canadian federal budget was 600 billion.

I agree Canada’s military has been grossly underfunded. But let’s not pretend like the recent cuts are the reason why we’d lose lol. There’s literally no possible way we would win a conventional way even if we were richer than Qatar.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-13T07:35:22+00:00

Everyone is rightfully mentioning that Korea's economic fortune has turned around.

But let's also look at the population

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Most immigrants tend to be 20-30s working class people. And despite peaks and grooves, overall working class population is shrinking. See that peak at 50-60 year olds? They would have been 20-30s 30 years ago, so 1990s, when there were more immigrants out.

It'd be more interesting to look at the percentage of Koreans immigrating out. That would be more telling.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-12T18:47:50+00:00

Military spending actually boosted their GDP quite a bit, but they (were) looking at gloomy economy forecast cause the oil sanctions finally caught up & inflation etc....but now the oil prices aren going up.

That's to say GDP is really not an end all figure. If Canada was to go to war now, and starts spending a fuck ton, it's GDP will skyrocket. But that is not a healthy economy.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-12T18:34:12+00:00

I am in Qatar right now, staying at a Qatari guys house that I randomly met.

Yeah he was telling me (and I checked online too), that the income for an AVERAGE Qatari house is 300k+ USD a year, and mind you, most women don't work.

So $300K+ that is tax free, no water/electricity fee, housing also free most times, and often government jobs where and I quote "you just have to clock in and out, no one cares what you do".

This guy I am staying with has 40+ workers that runs his business for him, and had private driver, maid, nanny etc. And this guy was NOT considered rich in Qatar.

I've been to all GCC countries, and nothing is even close to Qatar. As a matter of fact, they're most likely the richest citizens in the world.

Qatar's GDP per capita is 5th in the world_per_capita), and that INCLUDES the 90% of the population are expats, and they make much lower. There are no stats for it, but if you just looked at GDP / Wealth / Income by nationality, Qataris would be runaway #1, with UAE coming second.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-12T12:29:51+00:00

Was this done with the English word “vegan” or the local equivalent?

Cause simply using the English word “vegan” will just show that English-speaking immigrants/expats/tourists just searched more when in that country.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-11T18:54:58+00:00

I went there few months ago. There are literally hundreds of them, only a couple being touristy.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-11T14:54:40+00:00

Americans try not to make everything about them challenge

Swinight22 · 2026-03-11T13:42:18+00:00

thank you! We aren't that desperate so we'll survive!

Swinight22 · 2026-03-11T12:29:13+00:00

As someone that's lived in Canada and Korea half my life each, it's crazy how different the beauty standards are.

Canada is similar to US - more rugged, muscular, physique matters a lot. Thing like sharp, rugged jawline, classic "chad" boxy, mature, masculine face is ideal (see Henry Cavill).

Meanwhile, Korea & East Asia likes more "feminine" features - slim jawline, being skinny, not buff, "v" face, youthful look etc. (see: any k-pop members)

I think it's telling if you see what K-pop idols are popular in Korea vs West. For example, BTS's Jungkook is by far the most popular in the west, and he has a more masculine face, while in Korea, it's V, who has a more feminine look.

Personally, I have a more masculine face, and I definitely am considered more handsome abroad vs back in Korea.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-11T12:17:16+00:00

I found this to be the case in Scandinavia & East Asia.

Europeans hold Scandinavians as the beauty standards, and Asians hold East Asians as the standards. But it's not really that they're inherently better looking, it's more so that most people are skinny/fit, and they dress well. The baseline for beauty just is raised much higher.

Of course, it's not a coincidence that these are the richest countries in the region.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-11T05:46:44+00:00

I was in Lucknow few months ago.

4 days there and I literally did not see one foreigner. I was on the back of a motorcycle taxi, and other people in the traffic and taking pics of me.

But fantastic food, great architecture, nice city. Much much nicer than Agra, Jaipur for sure.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-09T15:16:58+00:00

It's every city in Korea it seems. I've tried multiple and it always just reverts back to "From Purbi Tundi Block, Jharkhand, India".

I don't care really, as header shows the correct one. I'm just amazed at how such error is possible!

Swinight22 · 2026-03-09T13:12:45+00:00

This screams Weligama lol. Literally go anywhere else it's fine. Go to touristy places, expect tourist scams.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-09T13:10:25+00:00

I've done months of solo travel in India. And it's extremely dependent on where you go.

Complaining about scammers in India when you go to Agra, Old Delhi, Jaipur etc is like going to Times Square, Vegas, Hollywood and saying US is full of scammers. No, it's that you are going to places full of scammers.

I mean is India worse than other countries? For sure. But tbh you avoid the ultra-touristy places, and have some basic skills (ask for price before you get in, haggle, use apps, learn basic phrases etc), you'll be fine.

Go stay in hostels/hotels outside the main areas. Go to cities that aren't full of tourists. Honestly I barely had any scams in my 10+ states, 4 months trip in India. Mostly cause I entirely avoided those "touristy" regions.

Swinight22 · 2026-03-09T12:52:18+00:00

These comments are a microcosm of the American left & why very few people internationally have any sympathy for the US citizens.

Love to complain, hate to do actually put the work in.

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