The SOMETHING I NEVER UNDERSTOOD thread

[mikegarrison]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A8re_Jacques

French:

Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

Translation:

Brother Jacques, Brother Jacques,
Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Ring matins! Ring matins!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

English lyrics:

Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?
Brother John, Brother John,
Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.

[c4ndlelight]

Nov 11, 2020 15:05:00 GMT -5 azvb said:

How are songs that have rhymes translated to another language? I mean, I know they translate the words-they just don’t rhyme?

In the words of my Russian professor: "Poetry is what's lost in translation."

[trojansc]

Nov 11, 2020 15:05:00 GMT -5 azvb said:

How are songs that have rhymes translated to another language? I mean, I know they translate the words-they just don’t rhyme?

Most of the Spanish to English and vice versa songs seem to actually change some words or alter lyrics. More important to have flow then word for word translations. Some songs are very different.

[Wolfgang]

This is something I understand but it's not something I knew until recently.

My default desktop wallpaper for my computer that comes with my OS is a photo of a well-known location. It has morning, afternoon, dusk, and evening versions depending on when you're on the computer. It's the same angle of the same location but different "time of day" look. It's possible that it has even finer versions than the above.

I never noticed it before because until recently, I've always used my own personal wallpaper, e.g., photos of family, dogs, kestrels. I never used the default wallpaper. Recently, I upgraded my OS and, out of sheer laziness (and just lack of time; I'm super busy), I left the default wallpaper photo intact. The first version I saw was of the location at dusk. Next morning, the photo was of the same location but it was bright and sunny. It didn't freak me out. Just pleasantly surprised. I'm aware of the concept. I even thought about doing it for my own forum. Also, Cindy Luis (former Honolulu Star-Bulletin writer who covered Hawaii volleyball) has a blog and she rotates among different "time of day" versions of the same shot. It's a simple thing, really, but I love it.



Here's Cindy Luis's version:
(As far as I can tell, she has hers set to 'random' for every refresh.)

www.cindyluis.com/

[HOLIDAY]

How can anyone in their right mind like the taste of liver, lutefisk, or tripe.

[Deleted]

My father loved liver. Charred, no less. So, unfortunately, we had it a lot when I was growing up. The dog was well fed.

My father also liked brains and heart and octopus and many other disgusting foods. I think he mostly liked a lot of them because he enjoyed seeing our reactions.

[Wolfgang]

Never understood cannibalism. At some point during the meal, it must've occurred to you that, hey, your nibbling on Bob's collarbone.

[Deleted]

Not a problem if you already knew you were eating Bob. Who was a bastard, btw. Had it coming to him, in short.

[Deleted]

Also, have I ever mentioned I don't understand why people think Brian Wilson is a genius?

[azvb]

Why do people move to a residential neighborhood and park their work trucks there?
Why do people plant grass but don’t maintain it?
Why do people buy a Motor Home the size of Rhode Island and think it’s okay to park it on the street?

I’ve been looking up city residential codes today, as you can probably tell. 😐

[rockhopper]

How do the scissors know which hand is holding them?

[Deleted]

Because they're sharp?

[Wolfgang]

Sexual attraction.

I never understood why some people are attracted to certain body parts and not others, while other people are attracted to those other body parts but not the former parts. I suppose you'd need a psychiatrist to figure that out.

For example, I was never attracted to butts, legs, feet, neck, boobs. My wife likes ear lobes, which freaks me out. I myself just like the face, not necessarily the eyes or nose or mouth but the overall combination. I never liked overweight women but there was one time when I took my dry cleaning to the dry cleaners and an overweight girl with the loveliest face was the clerk. (This was before I was married.) I kept going back to the same dry cleaners even though I had no dry cleaning to do. Sexual attraction is a mystery.

[mikegarrison]

Nov 16, 2020 21:42:42 GMT -5 Wolfgang said:

Sexual attraction.

I never understood why some people are attracted to certain body parts and not others, while other people are attracted to those other body parts but not the former parts. I suppose you'd need a psychiatrist to figure that out.

For example, I was never attracted to butts, legs, feet, neck, boobs. My wife likes ear lobes, which freaks me out. I myself just like the face, not necessarily the eyes or nose or mouth but the overall combination. I never liked overweight women but there was one time when I took my dry cleaning to the dry cleaners and an overweight girl with the loveliest face was the clerk. (This was before I was married.) I kept going back to the same dry cleaners even though I had no dry cleaning to do. Sexual attraction is a mystery.

People are complicated.

But that said, here are some reasons:

1) Secondary sexual characteristics: because we can't really see chromosomes and hormones and stuff, we tend to focus on secondary sexual characteristics to reveal them to us. Breasts, for instance. Hip shapes. Body mass. The shape of the face. These all clearly show differences between men and women. And in-between forms tend to reflect lower or nonexistent fertility.

2) Association: Why do people like a particular food because it reminds them of their first date or that trip to Thailand or whatever? Because they associate one pleasurable thing with another. Maybe your wife had an early sexual experience where she noticed someone's earlobes, and she now associates that with sexual pleasure.

3) Symmetry: Our insides are not very symmetric, but our outsides are highly symmetric. In part this is because it's hard to walk with legs of different lengths, but in part it is because people instinctively use external symmetry as a clue to genetic fitness. It is well-proven that the faces people think are most attractive are also the ones that are most symmetric, and photoshopped mirrored faces are generally perceived to be more attractive than the faces of the real people used to create them.

4) Signals of health: Throughout much of human history, being slightly "overweight" compared to the norm was a signal of health. Good access to food, good genes, plenty of strength reserves, no parasites, etc. These days when food is plentiful, being slim is actually a more rare sign of good health or good genes, although being super-skinny is generally not attractive to most people anyway. There is a reason why "dad bods" tend to be thought of as sexy, as long as they aren't too extreme.

5) Signals of youth and (for women) virginity: Younger people are more fertile. Your genes like that. Also, virgin women can't possibly already be pregnant with another man's child. If you are a male, your genes really don't like the idea of raising some other guy's kids. (Your brain may disagree, though -- lots of men make fine adoptive fathers.) So signals of youth in women and signals of never having had kids are both signs that a guy might have exclusive sexual access to a woman, and thus could be sure that her kids were his kids. (This seems to outweigh the other situation where a woman never having kids might actually be a sign of infertility. Your genes are gamblers that play the odds.)

[mikegarrison]

Here's something don't understand:

Why are there five Spice Girls, but only one of them is named after a spice?