Silly pics...what'cha got??....maybe NSFW

[stessier]

We use a network of space satellites just to find an unfamiliar address across town.

Shoot, we use them to see how far we've walked/run. Tell that to someone in the 30s.

[YellowKing]

Hehe I made this one as it still blows my mind how far we've come:

[Blackhawk]

And in the 52 years since we have achieved...Tik Tok.

I am sitting in the store writing this on a computer I can put in my pocket that is more powerful than all of the computers at NASA in 1969 combined.

[Sudy]

Yet you've contributed astonishingly little to the exploration of outer space.

[Jaymann]

Da(Y)go Brown
@ArtyCurry

A lady just came up to me and said “Speak English, we are in San Diego.” So I politely responded by asking her “how do I say ‘San Diego’ in English?” The look of bewilderment on her face made it feel like a Friday.

I found this funny, along the lines of: There's no fighting in the War Room!

Edit: English translation would be Saint James.

[Sudy]

Lol.

I can't believe there are assholes who say things like that to people, especially strangers in public (though I've of course read many accounts). For sure if they visited or immigrated to a country/region where English wasn't the main language, they'd still speak it in public to their family or other expats. How can you be so ignorant. And how does it even matter? Yes; I get it, it's just the arrogant, mildly supremacist bullshit you see in every country, but especially U.S. border regions.

I actually did encounter this in Toronto once, in high school in the late 90s, when a substitute geography teacher told two of my classmates to stop speaking Mandarin or Cantonese to each other. At least there I can appreciate the angle that public schooling was supposed to be increasing their English aptitude, but I still wish I'd stood up for them. They weren't being disruptive at the time; they may have just been supporting one another in the language they were most familiar with. I've witnessed plenty of other examples of racism and ethnocentrism of course, but this is the only example I remember of "you're in [x], speak English!"

[Z-Corn]

I've told this story here before but I was at a Tim's in Saint-Sauveur and the teenage girl behind the counter threw up her hands and walked away because I didn't order in French.

Fuck her, I can only read French menus, can't really speak it.

[Sudy]

That's an amusing image. I guess I can understand if she didn't speak any English herself, but why the drama? People have a right to protect their culture, but in business and in one-on-one exchanges with other humans, you do the best you can to accommodate one another.

[Jaymann]

I've told this story here before but I was at a Tim's in Saint-Sauveur and the teenage girl behind the counter threw up her hands and walked away because I didn't order in French.

Fuck her, I can only read French menus, can't really speak it.

In a situation like that I would sorely tempted to speak some pidgen French with an exaggerated accent, like:
Oh, wee moi cherie, geeve me ze croissant si vou play.

[Isgrimnur]

[ImLawBoy]

For all the stereotypes of rude French people, I never had anyone give me any grief for not speaking French when I was in Paris (to my face, anyway).

I did have a waiter refuse to provide a bottle of wine that my companion ordered because it was too cheap (we were there on a business expense account - trying to keep things reasonable). She eventually relented and ordered the next bottle up. The entire conversation took place in French, though, so I only found out about it after the waiter was gone and she told me what happened.

[Sudy]

So was it only on the menu so there was a cheapest option for people not to order?

[ImLawBoy]

Obviously the waiter could tell I had highsecond-from-the-bottom class taste and he didn't want to insult me.

While I didn't know what the discussion was at the time, I could make out that their "dispute" was pretty good-natured. I'm sure he would have given us the cheaper bottle if she insisted.

[LordMortis]

For all the stereotypes of rude French people, I never had anyone give me any grief for not speaking French when I was in Paris (to my face, anyway).

I attempted to use the little French I had learned (and have long since forgotten) to open every conversation and the people I talked to instantly switched to English to keep me from embarrassing myself too much more than I was already doing, or perhaps to keep me from butchering the language. Either way, it was always friendly, especially as the burden was on me and they removed that burden 100% of the time.

[YellowKing]

My sister-in-law (who speaks fluent French) was on a flight to Paris and the flight attendants were going around collecting trash from the meal service. As she handed hers over, the flight attendant remarked something to the effect of "stupid Americans always pile up so much garbage." My sister-in-law immediately remarked (in French), "Wow, that was a very rude thing to say." Needless to say the flight attendant was mortified.

My sister-in-law didn't make a big fuss, but she did contact the airline and point out that they may need to train their staff not to insult their customers in a different language.

Other than that, however, she absolutely loved Paris and said everyone was super friendly.

[Archinerd]

Here's my French story.

I was in a shop in Paris picking out some bottles of wine as souveniers for my family. After a minute though, I realized that I didn't actually want to carry bottles of wine around with me, espcecially since I was only a few days into my three week trip. What about shipping them then? I would need to ask, but I don't speak French.

After a few minutes of talking in our own languages to each other, and failing to breach the language barrier, I decided to take a different approach. I took out my sketchbook and drew a quick cartoon of a few bottles of wine riding on an airplane from France to the U.S. The look of comprehension on the shopkeeper's face was awesome, but in his excitement he responded with more French.

Eventually I understood enough to realize that I couldn't afford the shipping or the wine.

[Z-Corn]

That's an amusing image. I guess I can understand if she didn't speak any English herself, but why the drama? People have a right to protect their culture, but in business and in one-on-one exchanges with other humans, you do the best you can to accommodate one another.

Well yeah, and especially in a resort town. I mean, I can't be the ONLY visitor they get who doesn't speak French.

It was just before the season though so maybe they didn't have their best people working.

[ImLawBoy]

My wife and I were in a shop in Paris (flew my wife out after the business meetings were over), and my wife wanted to buy a pair of boots. The shop owner was helping us, and she wasn't exactly fluent in English, but between her moderate English and my wife's very basic French, we were getting things done. I don't remember the exact discussion, but I mentioned that my wife was buying these boots to remember the trip. I said I didn't know the French for it, but we would call it a "souvenir" in English. We all just kind of looked at each other for a moment until I realized what I had done and we started laughing.

Spoiler:

English stole the word "souvenir" from French.

[Daehawk]

More pics.

[ImLawBoy]

[Archinerd]

[Jaymann]

My sister-in-law (who speaks fluent French) was on a flight to Paris and the flight attendants were going around collecting trash from the meal service. As she handed hers over, the flight attendant remarked something to the effect of "stupid Americans always pile up so much garbage." My sister-in-law immediately remarked (in French), "Wow, that was a very rude thing to say." Needless to say the flight attendant was mortified.

My sister-in-law didn't make a big fuss, but she did contact the airline and point out that they may need to train their staff not to insult their customers in a different language.

Other than that, however, she absolutely loved Paris and said everyone was super friendly.

That comment was not only rude, it's a head scratcher because most of the trash must be from things given out by the flight attendants. Are the stupid Americans carting boatloads of consumables on to the flight? Are they expected to abstain from eating to lighten the load on the FA's?

[Sudy]

More pics.

More pics.

[Blackhawk]

[Isgrimnur]

[Madmarcus]

That comment was not only rude, it's a head scratcher because most of the trash must be from things given out by the flight attendants. Are the stupid Americans carting boatloads of consumables on to the flight? Are they expected to abstain from eating to lighten the load on the FA's?

I might be a difference in method. The American pile their trash whereas, at least in the mind of that FA, some other people place it on the tray in a neater manner so that it doesn't fall off.

While living in Korea I've seen a couple of examples of this. The first is the big one; rice triangles (jumeokbap). You can buy them in all the convenience stores and they make a great picnic but they are a pain to get out of their wrapper until you figure out the method. For the first year I was here I'm sure I looked like an incompetent slob as I ripped the packaging apart because I hadn't realized that one section of the wrapper is made to tear easily and neatly to allow the triangle to slide out. Maybe more directly applicable to the airplane situation I have noticed I use more napkins than the Koreans do. For that matter I sort of ball them up instead of leaving them flat. Some of that is my mustache but not all of it and, no mustache or not, I will probably always leave more trash than the average Korean after eating the same meal.

Doesn't make the comment any less rude but it might be partly true.

[Madmarcus]

I actually did encounter this in Toronto once, in high school in the late 90s, when a substitute geography teacher told two of my classmates to stop speaking Mandarin or Cantonese to each other. At least there I can appreciate the angle that public schooling was supposed to be increasing their English aptitude, but I still wish I'd stood up for them. They weren't being disruptive at the time;

I hate this type of situation.

I teach in an international school. American curriculum, English language instruction, students are aiming for English speaking colleges (mostly US but some Canadian and British). If you walked in you'd say we taught a Korean population but when you dig deeper you find that many of our students are ethnically Korean but hold a different passport or grew up outside of Korea. Everyone is fluent in English but some students are more comfortable in Korean. Others can barely speak any Korean. Big intro to the idea that we have a strict No Korean in class rule due to cheating and instances of being rude to the teachers (very few of whom know Korean). More or less every teacher lets it slide at times because it can be clear from context (and random sprinkled in English words) that they are helping each other or hanging out when they are done with the work. But we know the students and the class dynamics.

Canadian subs are better trained than US subs but I can understand how a sub might be more strict about a similar rule (or simply a perceived guideline) especially if those students seemed to be the only ones off task. Sounds like it could have been handled better though.

[Holman]

I *love* the relationship between English and French, and I bring it up with my Eng 101 students every year.

In brief (bear with me if you already know this):

Around 1000 AD the denizens of southern Britain are speaking Old English, a language that sounds closer to German or Norwegian than what we call "English" today. Then in 1066 the French-speaking Normans invade and take over much of England, imposing rule and establishing French-speaking elite political culture in major population areas.

Naturally, Francophone nobles can't be bothered to learn Old English (especially since they spend much of their time back in France anyway), while peasants and laborers can't learn French because they're too busy working and drinking and dying of various medieval diseases. Eventually (and necessarily), however, there develops a middle range of artisans and merchants and bureaucrats whose livelihoods depend on being able to communicate across classes, and these are the people whose linguistic activity gives rise to Middle English. (Geoffrey Chaucer is famous because he was one of the first London intellectuals to get big writing in MEnglish rather than French or Latin.)

Middle English eventually streamlines its Franco-conjunctive complications and becomes Modern English, the language spoken by Shakespeare and you. But it remains a mongrel tongue, willing to use everything and forget nothing, which is why English has more synonyms and a larger vocabulary that most other languages. And that vocabulary encodes a political history of its own.

For example, when you go to bar you order a "drink," but when you go to a fancy restaurant you order a "beverage." These are of course the same thing, but "drink" is an Old (and thus low-class) English word while "beverage" is French (and thus high-class). Likewise, the animal that the farmer raises and feeds and milks and slaughters is a "cow" (Old English), while the savory meat that we enjoy at a luxurious table is "beef" (from French "boeuf"). You talk about "feces" or "excrement" (both Latinate/French terms) in formal contexts, but you take a "shit" (Old English) when no one is looking.

In fact all classic English vulgarity derives from the pre-Norman-elite side of the language, and "fuck" most of all.

[Jaymann]

That's some some fascinating shit right there.

[Remus West]

That's some some fascinating shit right there.

Would you go so far as to suggest it is fucking spectacular?

[Sudy]

Yet Americans always look at me like I have two heads when I ask for a serviette.

[dbt1949]

I am picturing that now.

[Z-Corn]

I feel like I may have unintentionally set off a bunch of French bashing...and I'm OK with that.

I feel I need to point out that my incident of Intimidation Against An American happened at a Tim Horton's in Quebec.

So could we please point the hatred in that direction, just for accuracy?

[Z-Corn]

Yet Americans always look at me like I have two heads when I ask for a serviette.

I only know what that is because of Nardwuar.

[Isgrimnur]

[Isgrimnur]

[Z-Corn]

I knew I could count on you...

[Jaymann]

Not sure if this is possible...

[Sudy]

I don't know if it's possible, but I'm pretty sure it's dangerous.

[Holman]

The next attempt ends with one of those car alarms going off.