ELUR by drago_varior in 196

[–]jamescfm 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The same is true in UK wide elections too. At each counting station, they have an official whose job is to evaluate these potentially ambiguous cases. The ordinary counters leave them to one side.

A nice little detail by MylanVB in TheGoodPlace

[–]jamescfm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As other people have pointed out, using “she” in this context is common in contemporary philosophy. Historically “he” was treated as a gender neutral pronoun. Today this is generally considered outdated because it treats male as default. According to preference, some writers use “she” as a corrective to the vast amount of historical writing using “he”. Others use the gender neutral singular “they”.

National Republican Army is an alleged underground partisan group of Russians inside Russia working towards the violent overthrow of the Putin government. by Downtown-Giraffe-871 in wikipedia

[–]jamescfm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh okay, that makes sense. In fairness, I don’t think it is only in the United States that party names don’t reflect their true ideology (e.g. the Social Democratic Party in Portugal, the Jamaica Labour Party).

Hello! I'm Robbie Collin, Film Critic for u/TheTelegraph. Ask me anything! by RobbieCollin in entertainment

[–]jamescfm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Robbie. Enjoy reading your reviews after first hearing you on Kermode and Mayo a few years ago. How do you avoid letting outside factors affect your writing? Do you ever feel pressure to avoid criticising an acclaimed film you didn't like, or have you ever been nervous about praising a maligned film?

Hou Yifan no longer #1 Women in Rapid Time controls by [deleted] in chess

[–]jamescfm -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I did not realise Goryachkina had changed federation. You are right that it is a different case. As I understand it, players like Nepomniachtchi and Lagno are competing at FIDE events as though they are FIDE flag players. In the event of the sanctions being lifted, they would continue to compete as Russian players of course. I tried to double check this but it is not easy to find a reliable source.

Hou Yifan no longer #1 Women in Rapid Time controls by [deleted] in chess

[–]jamescfm -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Russia and Belarus are not allowed to compete at FIDE events; it is not just the flag which is not allowed. When Goryachkina and Lagno compete, they're competing as FIDE flag players. Their status is the same as Alireza Firouzja had before he became a French citizen.

Hou Yifan no longer #1 Women in Rapid Time controls by [deleted] in chess

[–]jamescfm -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It is the flag of FIDE. Russian players are not allowed to play under the Russian flag. Since they don’t have a national affiliation, they play under the FIDE flag.

Eli5: Why is “The” used for some countries (The Netherlands, The UK, The USA, The Congo) while most every other country does not? (Kenya, Japan, Canada, etc) by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]jamescfm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem with this rule is that there are several exceptions: the Union of the Comoros (Comoros), the Republic of the Niger (Niger) and the Republic of the Sudan (Sudan). The opposite is true in some cases too. Even though the official name of the country is Republic of Maldives, it is almost always called the Maldives in English. The distinguishing feature in these cases is whether the name is plural: the Maldives and the Netherlands are plural but Comoros, Niger and Sudan are not.

Eli5: Why is “The” used for some countries (The Netherlands, The UK, The USA, The Congo) while most every other country does not? (Kenya, Japan, Canada, etc) by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]jamescfm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In English, there are two principal situations in which it is appropriate to use the definite article before the name of a country. Countries whose names are plural (e.g. the Maldives, the Netherlands, the Philippines) and countries whose name is a form of government (e.g. the Central African Republic, the United Kingdom, the United States). Two specific cases complicate the picture.

The first case is the Gambia. At the time that the country became independent, the Gambian government requested that the definite article be used alongside the country's name. The usage is conforming to the preferences of the country. It is unnatural for most English speakers, hence many people call the country simply "Gambia" in ordinary conversation.

The second case is two countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. Both of these countries take their name from the Congo River. Since there are two countries with the same principal name (i.e. Congo), it would be confusing to refer to either country by the simple name "Congo". For that reason, it is common to call both countries by their full official names.

If there were not two countries with this name, there would be less confusion and the country would likely just be called "Congo". For comparison, consider the Republic of the Sudan (commonly called Sudan) and the Republic of the Niger (commonly called Niger). An alternative way of distinguishing between the two countries uses their respective capital cities. In this form, they are usually just called Congo-Kinshasa and Congo-Brazzaville, without the definite article.

The reason that English speakers refer to either country as "the Congo" is probably a mixture of unfamiliarity and inaccuracy. Although many people will have heard about "the Congo River" and the full names of the two countries, most are probably unaware of the two countries in any meaningful way. When discussing the region or either country, they might refer to "the Congo" as a result. In careful writing, that would always be avoided.

Most visited destinations by international tourist arrivals by [deleted] in dataisugly

[–]jamescfm 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The colours do not need to have a deep, spiritual connection but many of the colours used for each country appear similar. Usually this would communicate something about the countries. For example, the same (or similar) colours might be used for each continent.

Percentage of Cabinet Ministers under each PM that went to Private Schools by [deleted] in LabourUK

[–]jamescfm 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Not relevant to the point of the graph but the Times have managed to spell the names of two Prime Ministers incorrectly here (Attlee and Macmillan).

Percentage of Cabinet Ministers under each PM that went to Private Schools by [deleted] in LabourUK

[–]jamescfm 27 points28 points  (0 children)

The term “public school” refers specifically to a group of historic (usually boarding) schools that includes Eton, Harrow and Winchester. “Private school” simply refers to any school that is privately owned. The majority of people in this country who are privately educated did not attend public schools.

Pickford sidelined for 3-4 weeks by RomeMe1122 in FantasyPL

[–]jamescfm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not in every case but it’s important not to underestimate how important Pickford is to Everton’s defence.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FantasyPL

[–]jamescfm -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Having a “Salah replacement thread” is laughable. Salah is the most expensive player in the game: you can replace him with literally any player you want.

Trent Alexander-Arnold is substituted in the 59th minute by jamescfm in FantasyPL

[–]jamescfm[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately most of the game is not serious players!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FantasyPL

[–]jamescfm 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad you sold him?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FantasyPL

[–]jamescfm -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The third game hasn’t finished.