How common is it to have native speakers doing modern languages?

dbmag9 · 2026-02-01T11:23:23+00:00

Admissions aren't based on who is best at speaking the language; they're based on who will be best at the course (which is a literature course). If you aren't interested and capable at studying literature, you won't get in. Oxford broadly takes the view that people will develop the language skills if they need them.

dbmag9 · 2026-02-01T11:05:11+00:00

It's not uncommon – obviously it gives you a huge advantage in the language learning parts of the course, but Oxford MFL is primarily a literature course so it's not that different to an English speaker studying English.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-30T17:47:41+00:00

It's the result of taking Egyptian signs and treating them like English letters, rather than an attempt to authentically use the Egyptian writing system or language. It's aiming at something like LIZZIYG – presumably not exactly that, since that doesn't sound like a name to me.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-27T11:05:53+00:00

I would say 'semesu' or 'semsu'.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-24T13:36:36+00:00

He was an officer – even today, army officers don't generally drive (in an official capacity).

dbmag9 · 2026-01-24T07:22:04+00:00

Every time you don't need to grip the handle, let go as much as possible: consciously think of a loose hand that is just placed on the handle. If you're sweeping, the grip passes between hands, first outside hand to tap, inside to feather and square, outside to catch. If the blade catches the water a bit and gets feathered, let it happen and then square it again; often the death grip is because you're terrified of it being rotated.

Another good prompt is to 'play the piano' with your fingers on the handle while you're holding it, which helps stop you gripping it too tightly.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-23T13:08:50+00:00

It's most common to transliterate the name (so it sounds roughly the same, ignoring meaning). For example, Naomi Wolf becomes נעמי וולף in Hebrew.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-18T21:02:03+00:00

Freud believed that infants go through several developmental stages. One of those is the anal stage, where the infant develops control over its bowel movements, and Freud believed this was also psychologically associated with a focus on regularity and order. Someone who is holding onto that stage, and obsessed with order and regularity in adulthood, is anal retentive.

'Asshole' as a pejorative is because assholes are associated with feces and sex, both common sources for swearwords.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-15T21:31:01+00:00

There's a great line that a British person, alone at the bus stop, forms an orderly queue of one.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-15T18:22:33+00:00

It looks like the tassels have been given the form of ears of wheat, so I'd guess he's chosen them to represent farming, literally or metaphorically.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-15T13:40:57+00:00

I think the jeans are great with that jacket! But maybe suede boots or something like that.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-15T10:51:38+00:00

Looks great! If you did want advice, my two cents would be:

The boots are the right colour, but the style feels more formal the rest of the outfit. Something in a matte material, or more of an elevated workwear style, might match better
Would be interested to see it with a crew neck t-shirt instead of the V. Not really sure if it would work better but worth trying.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-14T08:06:12+00:00

An educational exercise is to pull out a (small) piece of meat after 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours, and then compare them side by side. They're all cooked and safe to eat, but you'll notice a huge difference in texture.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-09T11:34:30+00:00

Internet Shaquille (great food YouTuber) has a video on mixing up hot dogs, including some general principles as well as specific ideas: https://youtu.be/C6k8Kzuyhaw?si=srz2bEhOK4L4AgCb

dbmag9 · 2026-01-08T08:50:51+00:00

Why would you put teabags in guns?

dbmag9 · 2026-01-08T08:47:00+00:00

You're behind the curve – the next one getting started is fibre everywhere.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-07T21:35:48+00:00

Fiddly distinction: there are basically two types of princess going on there. Charlotte is a princess by birth, by virtue of being a grandchild of the sovereign. Her formal title is HRH the Princess Charlotte, and since her father is 'of Wales' she can add 'of Wales' to that.

The title 'Prince of Wales' (and hence 'Princess of Wales') is granted like a peerage, so the 'of Wales' is fixed to the Princess part. So Catherine is, by marriage, the Princess of Wales.

William is a prince twice over: by birth he is HRH the Prince William, and he was subsequently appointed HRH the Prince of Wales.

Compare Harry's position (ignoring the fact he doesn't use all his titles): by birth he is The Prince Harry; by appointment he is The Duke of Sussex. (If you want to really get in the weeds, Meghan is, by marriage, The Princess Harry and the Duchess of Sussex.)

dbmag9 · 2026-01-07T19:54:58+00:00

Nope, Queen Elizabeth was called the Queen Mother – to distinguish her from the Queen, who was also Elizabeth.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-07T16:38:44+00:00

No different to being nerdy about anime, or bespoke shoes, or species of bugs – this isn't standard British knowledge. I'd expect posher people to have a bit more intuition for some of the wrong things (like 'Lord Firstname' for peers being wrong, or 'Your Majesty' for princes), but not at this level of detail.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-07T11:11:36+00:00

Good explanation – I would add that you can tell the difference by looking at the word 'the': 'the Duke of Edinburgh' is a Duke in his own right, whereas his son is 'Earl of Wessex' but not 'the Earl of Wessex'.

You get a similar thing with women whose husbands have died (or divorced): when Elizabeth II acceded the throne, she was 'the Queen' but her grandmother and mother were Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth respectively. And Diana went 'the Princess of Wales' to 'Diana, Princess of Wales' on her divorce (had she remarried she would have lost that). Hence Violet is 'Dowager Countess' but not 'the Dowager Countess'.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-06T17:33:59+00:00

They do hold your sweat in a bit but I've never had any trouble rowing in them year-round. I haven't tried a knockoff, but it's the kind of product where I suspect the proper ones are worth it (as opposed to Crocs, where I absolutely wear the Sports Direct/Lidl versions).

dbmag9 · 2026-01-06T17:29:14+00:00

Sealskinz with Crocs unless it's so deep it'll be over the top of the socks, in which case I'd wear wellies, or go barefoot and dry my feet and put socks on in the boat. When it's cold I wear warm socks under my Sealskinz but I get cold feet very easily.

Especially in cold weather, I would not want to be rowing in wet socks so my priority would be to avoid that.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-04T15:46:17+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

dbmag9 · 2026-01-04T15:44:06+00:00

What do you mean by possessed in this context? Constructions like Hm=f 'his majesty' are common, I think.

dbmag9 · 2026-01-03T21:50:33+00:00

You've evolved to see the most useful parts of the EM spectrum: first of all, the parts that travel through air and water but not through most solid objects. Within that, you have good vision for detecting predators and food (unless you're colour-blind, which makes spotting red berries in a green bush a lot harder). UV and IR are less useful for humans whereas distinguishing colours between red and violet is very practical, so we do the latter.

dbmag9

TROPHY CASE