Seemingly trivial things that intrigue you

briantrumpet

I was once amused by a French lady who told me that the difference between French and English is that English people don't play with words.

The French certainly like their puns, but my French isn't good enough to tell you much more clever stuff. But I'm sure they do whenever they can.

pblakeney

Cows kill more people than sharks.
I’m surprised cows kill sharks. 😉

pinno

briantrumpet said:

I was once amused by a French lady who told me that the difference between French and English is that English people don't play with words.

The French certainly like their puns, but my French isn't good enough to tell you much more clever stuff. But I'm sure they do whenever they can.

Although a friend of mine who was studying French literature in Paris said to me that she was sometimes so fed up of the sheer volume of metaphor.
I read a short extract (translated) by a journalist sent to cover one of the very early TdF's, more accustomed to commentating about the penal colonies. A line describing a particular dry stage was thus:
'It was so dusty they had spoons in their mouths'.
They didn't actually have spoons in their mouths, the suggestion was the the dust was so thick, the riders needed to spoon the dust out.

My counter to the French woman BT mentioned would be that English can be so wonderfully multi-layered.
An example of that was that short series about cleaners going in to houses that were in total disarray.
Picture a very posh old lady with copious quantities of slap to cover the multitudinous wrinkles, dyed hair in jet black, a cigarette between her fingers on a very long f.ag extension and looking very disgruntled about her world being turned upside down, obligated to clean the mess up.
Leaning against her front door frame as the enthusiastic, colourful cleaners turn up she says in her very posh accent flatly "If I knew you were coming, I would have baked a cake".

rjsterry

briantrumpet said:

I was once amused by a French lady who told me that the difference between French and English is that English people don't play with words.

The French certainly like their puns, but my French isn't good enough to tell you much more clever stuff. But I'm sure they do whenever they can.

The Asterix books, which rely heavily on puns, have been translated into over 100 languages - each having to rework all of the puns.

rick_chasey

Compared to Dutch, English has an awful lot of words and ways to say the same thing.

Often notice in Dutch how there is really often only one or two ways people say something, so it often sounds less sophisticated to the Anglo ear.

Also plays into the directness. Not as many ways to shroud what you want to say.

secretsqirrel

capt_slog said:

This 'joke' posted recently, old I know...

"Stanley have announced that they won't be making 12" rulers any longer".

It's had me wondering if other languages have anything equivalent, where they use what is basically bad grammar(?) to achieve this sort of misdirection to make a joke?

I haven't studied other languages in detail. I did the mandatory French and German at school, it might have been how we were taught but they seemed very rigid in structure. Greek seems the same too for the small amount I've learnt.

I believe that’s a dangling participle….

pblakeney

When did Christmas cakes cease being "a thing"? I had a flashback, went and checked old photos and we did have them. I've not seen or heard reference to them in decades. 🤔

rjsterry

pblakeney said:

When did Christmas cakes cease being "a thing"? I had a flashback, went and checked old photos and we did have them. I've not seen or heard reference to them in decades. 🤔

Mrs RJS makes one every year.

surrey_commuter

pblakeney said:

When did Christmas cakes cease being "a thing"? I had a flashback, went and checked old photos and we did have them. I've not seen or heard reference to them in decades. 🤔

my son likes them so much he had one for his Birthday cake in June

pblakeney

rjsterry said:

pblakeney said:

When did Christmas cakes cease being "a thing"? I had a flashback, went and checked old photos and we did have them. I've not seen or heard reference to them in decades. 🤔

Mrs RJS makes one every year.

👏👏👏
I may have to reinstate this tradition next year. 😉

kingstongraham

I've had a few slices this year - with clotted cream obviously.

pblakeney

surrey_commuter said:

pblakeney said:

When did Christmas cakes cease being "a thing"? I had a flashback, went and checked old photos and we did have them. I've not seen or heard reference to them in decades. 🤔

my son likes them so much he had one for his Birthday cake in June

That means he will like wedding cake too then. 😉

rick_chasey

Lots of people on twitter saying how they hated maths at school because it was too theoretical but the practical maths they learned in their jobs are fine.

I found the opposite; if I didn't get the theory, the rest of it was pointless.

I wonder how much educational gain there is to be made if there was an ability to tweak teaching on a more individual level to account for how we're all wired differently and thus learn differently.

Tashman

rjsterry said:

pblakeney said:

When did Christmas cakes cease being "a thing"? I had a flashback, went and checked old photos and we did have them. I've not seen or heard reference to them in decades. 🤔

Mrs RJS makes one every year.

I make ours. Finished it off last night. Was bloody lovely

rjsterry

We tried a different recipe with amaretto liqueur in it. Not bad and very moist but a bit too sweet for our tastes so will be reverting next year.

Pross

rjsterry said:

pblakeney said:

When did Christmas cakes cease being "a thing"? I had a flashback, went and checked old photos and we did have them. I've not seen or heard reference to them in decades. 🤔

Mrs RJS makes one every year.

My dad makes ours. Bloody Boomers with their gender stereotyping!

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Lots of people on twitter saying how they hated maths at school because it was too theoretical but the practical maths they learned in their jobs are fine.

I found the opposite; if I didn't get the theory, the rest of it was pointless.

I wonder how much educational gain there is to be made if there was an ability to tweak teaching on a more individual level to account for how we're all wired differently and thus learn differently.

I struggled with integration and double differentiation in my HNC maths mainly as it was never explained how it was applied in practical situations. We were given the theory then got some question asking us to use it to calculate something to do with an annulus (which I had to look up the meaning of).

First.Aspect

.

rick_chasey said:

Lots of people on twitter saying how they hated maths at school because it was too theoretical but the practical maths they learned in their jobs are fine.

I found the opposite; if I didn't get the theory, the rest of it was pointless.

I wonder how much educational gain there is to be made if there was an ability to tweak teaching on a more individual level to account for how we're all wired differently and thus learn differently.

Huge, I'd have thought. Good luck figuring out how to achieve it though.

briantrumpet

.

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

Lots of people on twitter saying how they hated maths at school because it was too theoretical but the practical maths they learned in their jobs are fine.

I found the opposite; if I didn't get the theory, the rest of it was pointless.

I wonder how much educational gain there is to be made if there was an ability to tweak teaching on a more individual level to account for how we're all wired differently and thus learn differently.

I struggled with integration and double differentiation in my HNC maths mainly as it was never explained how it was applied in practical situations. We were given the theory then got some question asking us to use it to calculate something to do with an annulus (which I had to look up the meaning of).

Ditto during my A-level re the struggle, and it always felt slippery. We always seemed to be doing stuff for stuff's sake (as with imaginary numbers). Served 'em right for putting me in the top set, which did Pure & Applied, when I probably should have been doing the dunces' Pure & Stats. Plus our teacher was an unsympathetic alcoholic, who always nipped out for 10 minutes in the middle of double lessons to top up.

TheBigBean

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

Lots of people on twitter saying how they hated maths at school because it was too theoretical but the practical maths they learned in their jobs are fine.

I found the opposite; if I didn't get the theory, the rest of it was pointless.

I wonder how much educational gain there is to be made if there was an ability to tweak teaching on a more individual level to account for how we're all wired differently and thus learn differently.

I struggled with integration and double differentiation in my HNC maths mainly as it was never explained how it was applied in practical situations. We were given the theory then got some question asking us to use it to calculate something to do with an annulus (which I had to look up the meaning of).

Bit late now, but for example, speed is a first order differential and acceleration is a second order.

So if you are accelerating at 2 m/s/s, then your speed is 2t m/s and your distance travelled is t^2 m where t is the number of seconds.


(This assumes you were not moving at t=0)

pblakeney

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

Lots of people on twitter saying how they hated maths at school because it was too theoretical but the practical maths they learned in their jobs are fine.

I found the opposite; if I didn't get the theory, the rest of it was pointless.

I wonder how much educational gain there is to be made if there was an ability to tweak teaching on a more individual level to account for how we're all wired differently and thus learn differently.

I struggled with integration and double differentiation in my HNC maths mainly as it was never explained how it was applied in practical situations. We were given the theory then got some question asking us to use it to calculate something to do with an annulus (which I had to look up the meaning of).

Same here. I struggled with 5th year calculus but once an application was explained in uni during my apprenticeship it all gelled.

Pross

rick_chasey said:

Lots of people on twitter saying how they hated maths at school because it was too theoretical but the practical maths they learned in their jobs are fine.

I found the opposite; if I didn't get the theory, the rest of it was pointless.

I wonder how much educational gain there is to be made if there was an ability to tweak teaching on a more individual level to account for how we're all wired differently and thus learn differently.

After my daughter’s treatment she was the subject of some research by a psychologist looking at exactly this. She was in very low percentile when doing things through traditional teaching methods but learning in other ways such as through music she was up around the 98th percentile (she can’t read music but her ability to pick up songs both musically and lyrically is incredible and with scripts she’ll know her part and all the other main roles before anyone else has learned their own).

They gave us a set of recommendations to pass to her school to help with her learning. Every year at parents’ evening we’d mention it and none of the teachers had been made aware. She got no additional support herself as the educational baseline in our area is so low but did get some shared use of a teaching assistant her friend was allocated (her issues were no worse but she lived across the boundary in a more affluent neighbouring Council area where the bar was higher).

briantrumpet

Pross said:

rick_chasey said:

Lots of people on twitter saying how they hated maths at school because it was too theoretical but the practical maths they learned in their jobs are fine.

I found the opposite; if I didn't get the theory, the rest of it was pointless.

I wonder how much educational gain there is to be made if there was an ability to tweak teaching on a more individual level to account for how we're all wired differently and thus learn differently.

After my daughter’s treatment she was the subject of some research by a psychologist looking at exactly this. She was in very low percentile when doing things through traditional teaching methods but learning in other ways such as through music she was up around the 98th percentile (she can’t read music but her ability to pick up songs both musically and lyrically is incredible and with scripts she’ll know her part and all the other main roles before anyone else has learned their own).

They gave us a set of recommendations to pass to her school to help with her learning. Every year at parents’ evening we’d mention it and none of the teachers had been made aware. She got no additional support herself as the educational baseline in our area is so low but did get some shared use of a teaching assistant her friend was allocated (her issues were no worse but she lived across the boundary in a more affluent neighbouring Council area where the bar was higher).

A friend of mine has been tearing her hair out for *nine* years of her son's education after he had a playground accident head injury which completely changed him. At last she seems to be getting somewhere, but the barriers seem to be immense, and none of the agencies seem to want to take charge of the individual child's needs and to harness their positive learning differences.

pinno

Christmas cake = cycling's rocket fuel.

briantrumpet

I was kindly given a booze-laden Christmas pud by a motherly friend... but when I went to reheat it, it appeared that it was only part-cooked (I assume by mistake)... anyway, it turned out that three minutes in the microwave for a decent serving turned it into the food of the gods. As I was in France, with copious crème fraîche, bien sûr.

pblakeney

briantrumpet said:

I was kindly given a booze-laden Christmas pud by a motherly friend... but when I went to reheat it, it appeared that it was only part-cooked (I assume by mistake)... anyway, it turned out that three minutes in the microwave for a decent serving turned it into the food of the gods. As I was in France, with copious crème fraîche, bien sûr.

I still have a Christmas pud left over. I'm saving it for the weekend in the vain hope that I'll burn it off instead of working sat in front of a PC all day.

briantrumpet

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

I was kindly given a booze-laden Christmas pud by a motherly friend... but when I went to reheat it, it appeared that it was only part-cooked (I assume by mistake)... anyway, it turned out that three minutes in the microwave for a decent serving turned it into the food of the gods. As I was in France, with copious crème fraîche, bien sûr.

I still have a Christmas pud left over. I'm saving it for the weekend in the vain hope that I'll burn it off instead of working sat in front of a PC all day.

Christmas still doesn't quite seem like Christmas without my late mum's homemade Christmas puds. She wasn't a great cook, but her puds were manna.

pinno

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

I was kindly given a booze-laden Christmas pud by a motherly friend... but when I went to reheat it, it appeared that it was only part-cooked (I assume by mistake)... anyway, it turned out that three minutes in the microwave for a decent serving turned it into the food of the gods. As I was in France, with copious crème fraîche, bien sûr.

I still have a Christmas pud left over. I'm saving it for the weekend in the vain hope that I'll burn it off instead of working sat in front of a PC all day.

There's loads of them cut price in the supermarkets.

rjsterry

To partly answer RC's question, both my 11 year old and the 13 year old are taught more than one way to solve a given maths problem and instructed to use whichever works for them.

briantrumpet

pinno said:

pblakeney said:

briantrumpet said:

I was kindly given a booze-laden Christmas pud by a motherly friend... but when I went to reheat it, it appeared that it was only part-cooked (I assume by mistake)... anyway, it turned out that three minutes in the microwave for a decent serving turned it into the food of the gods. As I was in France, with copious crème fraîche, bien sûr.

I still have a Christmas pud left over. I'm saving it for the weekend in the vain hope that I'll burn it off instead of working sat in front of a PC all day.

There's loads of them cut price in the supermarkets.

Yeah, might see if I can can find some. Haven't had enough yet.