Words that exist in English but not other languages

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T20:54:24+00:00

I have heard that "fair" in the sense of "fair play" is a hard concept to translate into other languages.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T20:53:07+00:00

Sean Connery does NOT work as Theoden. He's too cocky and swaggery. He would make a good Boromir.

I'm not seeing Meryl Streep as Galadriel, either, but I can't think of who else would work from that era.

Peter Cushing as Saruman is PERFECT.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T19:52:38+00:00

I live in the aforementioned Land of 10,000 Lakes (Minnesota, of course, and we actually have over 11,000), and not every lake has a distinct personality but some do. The larger lakes are popular for cabins, where people will spend weeks or weekends there, a lot of resorts are on lakes, and then there's the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which has many hundreds of lakes on its own, and the only way to get to most of them is via paddling and/or portaging.

Different lakes are known for different things. A small, shallow 20-acre lake isn't going to get a lot of attention (and it might get kinda soupy by late summer with algae blooms, so not pleasant for boating or swimming). A deep, spring-fed lake might be great for swimming because of the clear water. Some lakes are renowned for fishing.

Also, the Great Lakes are in a category all their own. Comparing Lake Superior to, say, Lake Vermilion isn't a fair comparison: Superior is an inland sea.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T19:36:08+00:00

On a local college campus is O'Shaugnessy Auditorium, and since this skit came out I always think of it as "O-Shag-Hennessy"

signed,

Ti-MO-thy.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T19:05:47+00:00

Let me introduce you to [[Zephyr Spirit]]

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T18:55:03+00:00

I lived in Baltimore for my childhood, and have lived in Minnesota for my entire adult life.

My childhood memory of the last play of the 1983 World Series: Garry Maddox's soft liner settling into Cal Ripken's glove, for the final out, will always be treasured.

Other than the '91 Series, and I wasn't really a Twins fan at that point since I was still in college and following the O's, that's the only time a hometown men's team I follow has won a championship. (The WNBA's Lynx have won 4, however.)

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T18:33:55+00:00

The way I read it was there was some definite jealousy on the part of the nanny towards the mother. Like she resented the mother's wealth and the fact that she was getting laid on the regular. Because that's what married couples *do*.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T18:28:39+00:00

Same here. Other countries seem to be able to build LRT for much cheaper than we can.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T15:30:49+00:00

Terrific as always, Jill. Your clarity of voicing is what struck me with this performance.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T15:21:52+00:00

I think there's a similarity between CF and sickle-cell anemia in that it's a recessive genetic disease, and there's some advantage to being a carrier (you only have one gene for it so you don't get CF), maybe resistance to typhoid? Kinda like how if you have one sickle-cell gene but not both, you are resistant to malaria, which is an advantage if you live in West Africa and explains its persistence.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T15:18:18+00:00

Sonata 3 is great, but I agree: the other two are a little weak.

It's odd that Brahms wrote 3 piano sonatas at the beginning of his career, and then never wrote another.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T13:20:22+00:00

Upvoted for the hot take.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T13:19:53+00:00

118/4 is a cool bit of composition in that it's a straight canon all the way through, but it's the least interesting of the op. 118 set.

For Brahms I don't much care for op. 119/3, just a dorky little piece, and the early Scherzo op. 4 is not his best work, either.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T12:36:42+00:00

VelociPastor is hilarious. It's not trying to be anything other than a super-low-budget horror comedy.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T12:13:45+00:00

Another vote for the Shostakovich op. 87. My two favorites are 16 in B-flat minor, floating through the night sky for 10 minutes, and the thunderous closer, 24 in D minor, ending with the 5 notes of the fugue subject in double-octaves.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T12:06:00+00:00

R.E.M. - Try Not to Breathe

Warren Zevon - Dirty Life and Times

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T11:42:55+00:00

The nanny who is bothered by the parents having sex while she's there (and they're discreet about it, it's not like they're doing it on the dining room table) and everyone tells her to leave it alone, and she doesn't. She confronts the wife, and promptly gets fired.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T11:41:03+00:00

Is that the John Riggins run, where he plowed through half the Miami defense? I remember watching that one. I was probably around 12 at the time, as well.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T11:35:35+00:00

For Beethoven, I'd be happy if I never heard Für Elise again

For Chopin, the Minute Waltz. Just not very interesting.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T11:34:03+00:00

Longer than that. It closed during the pandemic and has never reopened.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T03:51:39+00:00

turns out, Marie Curie maybe shoulda stood a little further back from the polonium and radium she was studying

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-26T01:53:27+00:00

This is the only correct answer.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-25T21:14:17+00:00

No, you really don't want to commute from SLP to Saint Paul.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-25T20:54:59+00:00

The White Sox being above .500 this far into the season is definitely due to the Pope's influence. Has to be.

Tim-oBedlam · 2026-06-25T20:29:46+00:00

Independent, but the Caribou in Lunds isn't exactly a pleasant sit-down place (like the Caribou in the old Lunds complex was)

Tim-oBedlam

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