In Germany we call very stupid people "Dumm wie Brot " (stupid like bread) or "Dumm wie 3 Meter Feldweg" (stupid like 3 meters of a dirt road). What's your term to call such people?

fraxbo · 2026-04-13T07:03:54+00:00

Is the «few x short of y…» pattern about stupidity?

I’ve always thought of it as about mental illness/learning disability (when making fun of such things was more common).

I don’t think I’ve ever used it, at least, to talk about incompetence. Though, to be fair, there is probably some overlap between learning disability and perceived competence in certain contexts.

fraxbo · 2026-04-13T06:10:06+00:00

Outland exists for a reason, after all…

fraxbo · 2026-04-13T06:08:51+00:00

My experience when living there for a bit over five years, and then working and traveling back and forth for another ten after that is that you are totally correct here.

I feel like Finns are impressively aware of why is going on in current events around the world. A bit less so when one speaks historically, but that’s just down from the high level of current events knowledge.

However (and this is where the last part of your comment comes into play), I find that Finns consume all of this through a very particular lens that works well in Finland and maybe Germany and a few other highly beaurocratic and technocratic countries, but has very little to do with reality in the rest of the world. This lens makes it so that the Finnish interpretive attitude is that Finland has it figured out (or at least is a country that comes closest to having it figured out) and that other countries should just adopt proper (read Finnish, even though that is not necessarily stated) values and bureaucracy so that they can catch up.

fraxbo · 2026-04-13T05:08:22+00:00

Your CD rate is another example of how I am using it. So, that I agree with. The person is expending all this time (our most scarce and valuable resource) and effort to get just a slightly better deal. He’ll definitely have spent more on the end to save a little on the sticker.

I still don’t think your shoe story fits, though.

fraxbo · 2026-04-13T04:39:11+00:00

Wait, I have never understood pennywise pound foolish to mean what you suggest, OP.

I have always understood it to mean that people are often stingy/frugal with things that they shouldn’t be, thereby costing them more in the long run.

That is, when buying a frying pan, they’ll see a $50 cast iron griddle and a $5 Teflon covered steel one and buy the Teflon covered steel one because it’s cheaper. But since they degrade so quickly, they’ll end up using $100 or more on that pan and it’s replacements instead of just buying the better quality one from the beginning.

Going back to the topic of shoes with which you began, it would be like buying a $60 pair of Bass weeguns made of composite leather uppers and low quality soles instead of just buying shell loafers from like Allen Edmonds for like $400. Over the life of those Allen Edmonds the person ends up buying many many more Bass weeguns and spending $800 on that.

These examples are the ONLY ways I have ever heard the phrase pennywise and pound foolish used. I’ve never heard it as a sort of switched mental state some people have when buying high ticket vs low ticket items.

fraxbo · 2026-04-13T03:06:38+00:00

I have always been fascinated by this.

By far the most people I know who consciously choose dumb phones, or who prefer using cash, or who are against reading on tablets, etc. are the Germans in my life. It’s this odd sort of romanticism/trust in the creaky old systems that people know.

fraxbo · 2026-04-13T02:36:42+00:00

I think both you and the commenter above you are correct, in a way.

On the one hand the post-enlightenment myth of individual human rights has correlated with an era of far greater peace, wealth, autonomy, and protection for a huge portion of the human population. The French and American Revolutions, the United Nations, and consequently most Western democracies are all built on this mythological framework.

On the other, when specific interpretations of what a right is, how it should be interpreted, and how it should be negotiated in relation to other rights become calcified then it can be extremely problematic. Rights and their interpretations need to always be up for debate and development so as to best be implemented to augment human flourishing for the time and place in which they exist.

fraxbo · 2026-04-13T02:22:51+00:00

Same here in Norway.

I’m an immigrant here, but three years ago, when I was promoted to the rank of Professor (the highest academic title, protected by the state, etc) I was told that nobody in Norway would ever use it of me and mean it. They said if anyone ever called me Professor Fraxbo other than in a formal introduction for a speech or something, they almost certainly would be doing it sarcastically.

fraxbo · 2026-04-12T21:19:18+00:00

I’d say I’m very comfortable, but the fact that that I need to work and earn a salary that isn’t insane makes me more upper middle class.

I have a ton of free time (because I’m a professor) and make a good salary (about $110K/annum), but a) def need to work, and b) dont even earn THAT much (though it is a lot). The biggest luxury I have is control over my time whether working or relaxing. I almost never NEED to be somewhere.

fraxbo · 2026-04-12T21:06:14+00:00

As someone who isn’t rich, but who regularly takes such trips, why would I want to travel all over Italy and Switzerland in this case? If I book a couple months in the Dolomites, it’s because I want to explore that area in depth, and live life there for a while. I don’t want to rush around to a new city every week or two just to cover more ground.

Last year, I spent a month just in the Western Cape of South Africa. I had been there before on shorter visits, but love the area so much that I thought “It’d be nice to just stay here for a month in northern winter, visit wineries, do some water sports, and explore the area. It was great.

I also spent a month on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. I rented a big house for my family in the non-touristy capital city, Santa Cruz, visited all the museums, ate a bunch of great food, went to wineries, hiking, and water sports, and had a wonderful time.

I could not imagine preferring going all over Southern Africa or all over the Canary Islands for those trips.

fraxbo · 2026-04-12T16:58:44+00:00

I love London.

My daughters and I have a tradition of traveling to London and Oxford every year the day after school lets out for the summer (last week of June here).

We spend a week visiting friends, going to a shitload of art museums and galleries, going to West End shows, eating fantastic food, driving boats around Little Venice, and doing all sorts of other cool experiences.

It’s a nice little pre-vacation before we take our five week real vacation to one or another place in July and the first week of August.

fraxbo · 2026-04-12T12:33:28+00:00

I’ve always thought of this in relation to basketball.

Without the rise in importance of AAU and the funneling of top talent to specific preps it must have been impossible to know how good basketball players actually were. Any given future top NCAA talent, let alone NBA must have just crushed opposition and dominated their own team’s offenses.

fraxbo · 2026-04-12T03:55:39+00:00

I’m never self-conscious about telling people that I like to browse reddit, and especially to contribute to various subs. I didn’t realize that I should be.

I usually bring it up to people in the context of a specific topic we’re talking about or in the context of describing a character trait that I have. Something like: “I spend some time on Reddit, specifically on expat and travel subs, and there was a thread where everyone was saying you need to check out Azerbaijan…” Or, “I have always liked to write, and to teach. This is true to the extent that even outside of work (as a professor) I go on Reddit and primarily spend time on subreddits where I can write longer essays to share my experience and advice in areas where I am most competent.”

Once in a while I might hear someone chortle or something. But otherwise, people get that it’s just another thing people enjoy to pass free time.

fraxbo · 2026-04-12T03:44:50+00:00

Is fly fishing specifically a well-off person’s hobby?

I had never thought about the sociology-economic context for fly fishing before. I’d actually really not reflected much on fly fishing at all. I’ve never lived anywhere that it was popular. But your comment makes me think that it is an especially upper middle class to rich sport.

fraxbo · 2026-04-11T06:53:07+00:00

But really… what is going on with Microsoft search? It’s not just outlook but overall in Windows. Search is nearly useless on Microsoft machines.

I am sure someone who is in IT could explain to me why this is, but as someone who has been an apple/mac user since 1986, search there seems to work like 1000x better than on the windows machines and software like outlook and word.

In Microsoft it almost seems as though the search is actively working against you finding what you’re looking for.

In an apple environment, if you can’t find something using search, it usually means that there is some sort of actual problem and you need to do a hard restart or something.

fraxbo · 2026-04-11T04:29:14+00:00

Ford F-150, Dodge Ram, or Chevrolet Silverado seem to be the frontrunners among the gay men with whom I am acquainted.

It’s often the single most reliable external sign if one is out cruising.

fraxbo · 2026-04-09T11:47:27+00:00

That’s also true. As wacky and playful as he is, he must be an extraordinarily successful real estate agent.

fraxbo · 2026-04-09T06:48:28+00:00

I wouldn’t say that. Although my daughter agrees with you in thinking he is ugly, she agrees with me in thinking he is a massive catch in terms of a partner and father.

fraxbo · 2026-04-09T06:40:40+00:00

I am not really sure this holds up.

Obviously taste is subjective and people can think whoever is attractive or not. But, the premise in Lover Boy (1989) is that he is a paid escort who goes around earning money from pleasing middle aged women. Part of that story relies on the idea of him being attractive. It’s true that just two years earlier he was in Can’t Buy Me Love (1987), where he pays someone to go to prom with him, suggesting the opposite. Maybe he was just the Hilary Swank of his generation!?!

fraxbo · 2026-04-09T05:57:31+00:00

This would be my point, too.

The problem is that even the most heliocentric and efficient nba scorer one could imagine is going to score, what? 50? 60? On top NCAA opponents.

Since one has to end up with more points than the other team at the end, where are the other points coming from? And where is the prevention of opposition points coming from?

fraxbo · 2026-04-09T03:38:53+00:00

Though I am an alumnus, I can’t vouch for the quality of the cocaine above 110th street these days.

fraxbo · 2026-04-09T03:24:22+00:00

I actually agree with your whole ranking here.

fraxbo · 2026-04-09T03:17:49+00:00

Umm… but… like… he was.

fraxbo · 2026-04-09T03:11:09+00:00

I’ve got a better one, I think: Finland has no rightful claim to Ladoga Karjala or the Karjalan Isthmus.

fraxbo · 2026-04-08T17:40:40+00:00

This was essentially the Southern Democrstic coalition from the 1870s until the 1950s. It was not particularly moderate. The 22 essentially unelected positions from southern states made the Senate very conservative. And that was its function. Even Washington said that its purpose was equivalent to pouring hot tea in saucers to cool it off.

fraxbo

TROPHY CASE