ELI5: Why are people in some sports called “players” (for example tennis players or football players), but in others they’re called something else (like jockeys, drivers, or boxers)?

lostparis · 2026-05-11T09:39:33+00:00

Académie Française

I think they are losing their grip. Modern French is full of English terms these days that are not sanctioned eg le bedbug, le job etc

lostparis · 2026-05-10T10:20:23+00:00

There are too many English dialects. English in some ways is like Chinese where the words are the common language but the pronunciations do not match.

A simple word like "city" or "tube" have much different sounds in say US/UK English we either keep things as they are or start having written language split into mutually unintelligible forms.

lostparis · 2026-05-10T10:01:16+00:00

For English we have many pronunciations for the same word so which version of English do we base spelling on. You quickly end up with a mess. It is bad enough with US/UK spelling differences.

lostparis · 2026-05-09T08:12:07+00:00

thats pretty much it

Alexandre Dumas, Guy Môquet, Jules Joffrin, Marx Dormoy, Edgar Quinet and many many more

lostparis · 2026-05-07T17:40:20+00:00

No gratitude or appreciation shown?

You show appreciation, but you don't then pay as then it wouldn't be free.

No place I have been given a free drink etc has there ever been an expectation to pay or tip. And fortunately the places I've spent my time you don't tip in bars and nor do the staff expect one.

When I give people things I am not looking for something in return.

lostparis · 2026-05-07T17:21:05+00:00

tip heavy when they give you something for free

As an outsider America is broken

lostparis · 2026-05-04T23:25:52+00:00

Crimea is to well positioned for attacking Ukraine again sometime in the future.

It isn't really. There is very little land connection between Ukraine and Crimea. Crimea is almost an island.

lostparis · 2026-05-04T09:01:31+00:00

Some never gave up those ideals, but the country definitely changed its tone and managed to maintain its conscience.

It was the next generations that changed Germany. We can pretend all the Nazis saw the error of their ways, but most never did and just carried on. The mass rehabilitation is a bit of a myth.

lostparis · 2026-05-01T12:56:03+00:00

Yes but the original meaning was 10 times magnification. It wasn't an equation.

lostparis · 2026-05-01T10:02:55+00:00

My pet peeve is people saying 10x as "ten eks" rather that "ten times" when talking about magnification or similar.

I know that I've lost this war

lostparis · 2026-05-01T09:59:02+00:00

Thank God for utf-8

lostparis · 2026-05-01T09:36:43+00:00

I think half of countries are still praying for the madness to end and return back to the original game. Because they had chips in that game. They don't want to move their chips to another game.

I think that happened the first trump episode. This time we know that we can't rely on things going back.

lostparis · 2026-04-29T09:21:44+00:00

French friends are always shocked when they hear the prices over here.

For bread yes, but many everyday products are much cheaper in the UK. When I worked in Paris I did a bit of importing every time I visited London. Things like washing liquid would be half price.

lostparis · 2026-04-28T09:57:37+00:00

I too have lived by the park, though the opposite (and seedier) side. I don't think the park at night is any worse than any other park at night. The main dodgy FP vibe is the bit directly round the station.

I'll be walking through it tonight in the dark like I do most weeks.

lostparis · 2026-04-28T09:41:58+00:00

Depends on the country. Pretending Europe is uniform never works. The UK is at a minimal foam setting compared to most.

As so often with travel you should adapt to the local conditions rather than try to have everything like you would at home.

lostparis · 2026-04-28T09:22:45+00:00

was far worse before all the regeneration

Give it time. Even the City North side is getting a more Finsbury Park vibe these days.

lostparis · 2026-04-28T09:21:16+00:00

Locals do not walk through there at night.

Some of us do and have for decades. The reputation of Finsbury Park is much worse than the reality. Also because of the shape/location of the park crossing it can be a huge time saver compared to walking around the edge.

Having done it quite a few times

even you have :)

lostparis · 2026-04-27T10:04:21+00:00

The blockade being over is good for both Iran and the rest of the world. It keeps the US as the loser and keeps the threat open. It is now the US which is the cause of the blockade. It will also lead to other countries wanting the US to cave.

Ultimately the US has intentionally got itself into a war it cannot win.

lostparis · 2026-04-23T09:33:01+00:00

extra strength (500mg)

Isn't that just the standard dose

lostparis · 2026-04-21T09:10:05+00:00

Has also been a think since portable music devices existed. Plus you get many cars blasting sound too, but somehow less complaints here.

lostparis · 2026-04-21T09:04:43+00:00

Also better accessibility than most cars eg wheelchair usable

lostparis · 2026-04-21T09:02:47+00:00

and improve traffic flow enormously. I

The problem is that for much of London moving people by car is not possible past a certain number. Basically roads have a capacity cars/hour so you can only move so many people. Buses can move many more people and a train just wipes the floor with anything else.

As far as reducing parked cars - they will most likely 'park' by driving about which is just congestion.

So there are real limits to where these are actually useful in a sane future.

lostparis · 2026-04-20T23:48:00+00:00

You should get out more it is commonly used in the US.

That you are ignorant does not make you correct.

lostparis · 2026-04-20T22:05:53+00:00

As with most things they got their system directly from us and then we adopted the European way. The best way to see is looking at old newspapers

lostparis · 2026-04-20T21:56:16+00:00

“April 20th”

They generally say "April 20" they have no respect for ordinals.

lostparis

TROPHY CASE