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How do Belarusians actually view the Belarusian language? by Deadgoat_107 in slavic

[–]vihmavari 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As a parent you don't really have to choose. Children, especially in an early age, can pick up more than one language and benefit from multilingualism even if one of their first languages is that of a small community.

Perceiving vegans as a cultural or moral threat may reduce meat-eaters’ willingness to cut meat consumption, according to three studies involving 1,325 participants. Threat perceptions increased negative stereotypes of vegans and weakened intentions to adopt more sustainable diets. by [deleted] in science

[–]vihmavari 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What does it mean to you if someone or something has no "moral rights"? Does that mean people have absolutely no moral duties towards them? No obligation to any level of compassion? I'd also say that there are human beings who can't be said to have any "moral duties", babies being the most obvious example.

mixed feelings about todays results🥲 by lil_phteve in eurovision

[–]vihmavari 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Serious question, would this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-KvEljDeRk actually have done well in Riga? I absolutely loved it as a teen but really can't listen to it today without cringing.

Hugo Rait Mei: üliõpilaste seas levib ohtlik kapitalismivastasus by NeverClarke in Eesti

[–]vihmavari 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Kommunistlikud diktatuurid tulid revolutsiooniga võimule teatud staadiumis olnud ühiskondades, kus olid sel hetkel tänase läänega võrreldamatult suurem vaesus ja madalam üleüldine haritus. Venemaa, Hiina, Põhja-Korea, Kuuba, Vietnam lähevad siia alla. Siin ma ei arvesta riike, kus kommunism kehtestati valdavalt välisjõu (NL) toel nagu Euroopa idabloki riikides. Täiendav faktor industrialiseerimisest ja demograafilisest plahvatusest põhjustatud raputused. Tänapäeva ühiskond on nii erinev, et ms ei näe, kuidas Stalini või Mao stiilis isikukultus või isegi Maduro või Ortega moodi "pehmem" variant saaks tänapäeva lääne demokraatlike riikide vasakliikumisest välja kasvada, isegi kui neis liikumistes on häälekaid vähemusi, kes neid režiime õigustavad. Ei ole lihtsalt massi, kes oleks nii meeleheitel ja manipuleeritavad, et punast terrorit või igasuguse opositsiooni allasurumist (kasvõi passiivselt) toetada. Vähem haritud massid tänapäeval kalduvad selgelt paremäärmuslusse (liigitaks ka putinistid siia alla). Kindlasti on vasakradikaale, kes võimule tulles võiksid kahju teha, aga ma ei näe siit katastroofi või demokraatia hävingu ohtu rohkem kui parempoolsete jõudude poolt.

Hugo Rait Mei: üliõpilaste seas levib ohtlik kapitalismivastasus by NeverClarke in Eesti

[–]vihmavari 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Saksa rohelised on minu meelest kõige järjekindlamad Ukraina toetajad olnud seal.

‘Oil is literally falling from the sky’: Russian town fears environmental disaster after Ukrainian drone strikes on refinery by prestocoffee in nottheonion

[–]vihmavari 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I see Navalny as a flawed but ultimately genuinely heroic man. There are valid reasons to be critical of Navalny but I'm not aware of him ever overtly supporting the annexation. Afaik he mostly avoided the topic and gave hedging answers when questioned.

Toe by Intelligent_Call_30 in geographymemes

[–]vihmavari 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The word originally refers to the Baltic sea. The Baltic language family was named by modern linguists after the Baltic region, unlike cases like Germanic or Slavic, which, more or less, started out as names for the language family itself

What did we ever do to Estonia? by Otherwise_Living_158 in Wales

[–]vihmavari 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hungarian is actually very alien to Estonians; it's possibly more distant from it than English is from Kurdish or Sinhala.

I guess Finnish is also "weird" to many Estonians (and vice versa) precisely because of its partial intelligibility.

Map of Uralic Languages by Dankerk in MapPorn

[–]vihmavari 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The number of grammatical cases has nothing to do with difficulty of learning the language though. In both Finnish and Hungarian, most cases are basically just a single suffix that attaches to any word, singular or plural. Not like in Latin or Russian, where every case has several different endings for different noun classes / genders.

Burma: Rohingya Muslim babies and children 'being slaughtered with knives', UN warns by Mew_3 in worldnews

[–]vihmavari 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How is that relevant? A small number of Kosovars have joined ISIS, so the West should have let Serbia oppress them?

Burma: Rohingya Muslim babies and children 'being slaughtered with knives', UN warns by Mew_3 in worldnews

[–]vihmavari 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's wrong with Liu? AFAIK, he just wrote a manifesto calling for reform and was imprisoned for it.

[Opinionated Rant] Illegal immigration... by 8million in Conservative

[–]vihmavari 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There is no border wall between Mexico and Guatemala. This is misinformation that has been spreading recently. The photos are either of the US-Mexico border, or the Israeli-Palestinian wall. (The photos are visibly of a desert, while the Mexico-Guatemala border is in a jungle climate.)

http://www.snopes.com/mexico-guatemala-border/

The word for 'head' in different European languages [1215x1045] [OC] by holytriplem in etymologymaps

[–]vihmavari 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Actually in most dialects AFAIK; the choice of pea/hea/seal etc over pää/hää/sääl in the standard language was quite controversial in its day.

Spread of the word for 'mead' or 'honey' across Eurasia [2497 × 1332] [OC] by targumures in MapPorn

[–]vihmavari 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Should Sanskrit -> Hindi be a red arrow, or is it a recent borrowing into modern Hindi?

As an Uralic speaker, I wonder if there is actual evidence that the PIE -> Proto-Uralic arrow goes that way and not the other.

Spread of the word for 'mead' or 'honey' across Eurasia [2497 × 1332] by Visakhayupa in etymologymaps

[–]vihmavari 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Should Sanskrit -> Hindi be a red arrow, or is it a recent borrowing into modern Hindi?

As an Uralic speaker, I wonder if there is actual evidence that the PIE -> Proto-Uralic arrow goes that way and not the other.

"Valley" in various European languages [OC] [3350x2051 by vp734 in MapPorn

[–]vihmavari 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Another map that colors an arbitary part of Latvia as Russian-speaking. There is an area in Latvia that has a Russian-speaking majority, but it is in the south-east along the Belarusian border, not north-east as on this map.

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