The Cellar - Weird News

I say! Steady on old chap! ;)

A few weeks ago I made a rare visit to Reddit where a topic was based on a report in the Daily Telegraph.
An American contributor said he couldn't take seriously reports in international journals with spelling errors.
I read it and the spelling was completely correct.
What must he have been thinking?

Gravdigr

06-13-2015 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanaC (Post 930947)

I remember an awesome episode of Star Trek Next Gen, where they encountered a race that communicated entirely through metaphor and allegory.

I remember that one...Didn't Jean-Luc finally get through to them using the epic of Gilgamesh, or something?

Sundae

06-15-2015 05:15 AM

I was shocked that the escaped zoo animals walking round Georgia hadn't been mentioned on here. Then realised it was Georgia the country, not Georgia the American state.

Not that it makes the floods or the roaming wild animals any less important for the local inhabitants.

Quote:

Georgia flood: Warning over escaped zoo animals
9 hours ago
Heavy flooding in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, has killed at least 12 people, with officials warning people to stay indoors to avoid animals that have escaped from a zoo.
The missing animals include tigers, lions, bears and wolves. Three of the dead people were found within the zoo.
A hippopotamus was cornered in one of the city's main squares and subdued with a tranquiliser gun.
Sarah Rainsford reports.

Link to BBC article above, including footage of a bear huddled on a windowsill, a hippo wearing a tranquiliser dart as an earring, and a mercifully brief photo of what I think is a drowned tiger :sniff:

tw	06-16-2015 10:17 AM

[quote=Sundae;931137]I was shocked that the escaped zoo animals walking round Georgia hadn't been mentioned on here. /QUOTE] There is already a movie about it. Of course, they Hollywooded the facts and venue.

monster

06-17-2015 09:37 PM

Fig Rolls are Fig Newtons :/ never come across them called cobblers -that's like fruit pie with no base.

footfootfoot

06-17-2015 10:29 PM

What's the etymology of "bloody" and why is it so rude?

Undertoad

06-18-2015 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lamplighter (Post 930144)

UT, here is your friendly corporation looking out for your best interest.

FOLLOWUP: Apparently, Mickey didn't like the publicity he got! --

NY Times: In Turnabout, Disney Cancels Tech Worker Layoffs

Quote:

Although the number of layoffs planned was small, the cancellation, which was first reported by Computerworld, a website covering the technology business, set off a hopeful buzz among tech employees in Disney’s empire. It came in the midst of a furor over layoffs in January of 250 tech workers at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. People who lost jobs there said they had to sit with immigrants from India, some on temporary work visas known as H-1B, and teach them to perform their jobs as a condition for receiving severance.

Lamplighter

06-18-2015 12:59 AM

Maybe it wasn't just the publicity.
It's amazing how quickly the threat of a legal action puts ripples in the pond.

... from your link above:

Quote:

The Labor Department said last week that it had opened an investigation into two outsourcing companies,
Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, for work they did for Southern California Edison, a power utility.
It also referred complaints to the Justice Department for a separate inquiry.

Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, has called for an investigation of the H-1B visa program.

Tech workers who lost jobs in Orlando said Cognizant was one of the firms importing Indian immigrants to replace them.

Undertoad

06-18-2015 10:09 AM

To be sure, because I made a "dey took er jerbs!" post,

I would like twice as many people to be allowed visas and to come here and legally work. I would just like them to be evenly distributed across all professions, not just targeting certain ones.

Quote:

The visas are meant for foreigners with specialized skills to fill discrete positions when Americans with those skills are not available. In the applications large companies must file for the visas, they have to confirm that no American workers will be displaced.

I was right over there you motherfuckers!! Nobody asked me!! I would work for fuckin' Disney!!!

Clodfobble

06-18-2015 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

What's the etymology of "bloody" and why is it so rude?

"By his blood," as in Christ's hands and feet on the cross. Often seen in Shakespeare as "'Sblood" before the S got dropped. Also where "zounds!" comes from, shortened from "by his wounds."

As for why it's so much ruder than "Christ on a handlebar" or similar such vanity-taking, I dunno. Culture is weird.

DanaC

06-18-2015 01:06 PM

There's a lot of dispute over the word bloody. It is likely it has multiple origins - depending on usage.

Clod's example is one of the possible origins, another is By'r Lady, again used often in Shakespeare and appears in various other places. There's also a dutch word, irrc that is similar to bloody and fits the usage more closely - I'll have to wiki it.

ok - yes, wiki'd:

Quote:

It has also been surmised that bloody is related to the Dutch bloote, "in the adverbial sense of entire, complete, pure, naked, that we have transformed into bloody, in the consequently absurd phrases of bloody good, bloody bad, bloody thief, bloody angry, &c, where it simply implies completely, entirely, purely, very, truly, and has no relation to either blood or murder, except by corruption of the word

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody#cite_note-2

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