What really obvious thing have you only just realised?

Barry Badrinath

4ensic15 wrote: »

I have spoken to many officers in the Irish army and none have ever said lootenant.

It's rarely heard.

aaronjumper

McGruber wrote: »

It's rarely heard.

What?



Sorry.

The King of Moo

that it's not important how it's pronounced.

FunLover18

Gbear wrote: »

Lieutenant comes from French - Napoleonic-era IIRC. It means "place-holder" if you translated it directly.
At the time ieu was prounounced ef in French. As a result, when it made it's way over the channel, it retained it's spelling and the pronunciation of that time - leff-tenant.

French changed, lieu became l-yuh and that was the pronunciation adopted by the Americans. They changed a fair bit about language deliberately, like dropping u's from harbour, and adopting aluminum instead of aluminium so it may be that they simply decided that pronouncing it "leff" is stupid, which it is these days.

So, would the French today would say 'loo-tenant'? Meaning that both pronunciations are technically correct?

In regard to aluminum/aluminium, the man who discovered it wanted to call it Alumium but settled on aluminum when it came time to publish however it was argued that the 'ium' ending followed a trend already set. To cut a long story short both are technically acceptable.

Lyaiera

4ensic15 wrote: »

I have spoken to many officers in the Irish army and none have ever said lootenant.

Yeah. I have spoken to many army and navy officers too, a fair few naval engineers and the like, and a few lieutenants. And they've all told me that the bollocking people for saying lootenant is a British thing, and the Irish don't particularly care. Especially with the younger crowd who have just joined up, as enlisted and who commonly say lootenant. When they hear the older crowd saying leftenant they adapt. But they've all said it's not a big deal when someone says lootenant.

This is especially the case with the amount of interaction the Irish have with foreign armies, including the Americans.

They said the only people who care are the military nuts, who don't get into the military because they're too crazy to be effective, and would be a liability. The kind who obsess about protocol and have gun fetishes. The Irish military is extremely practical.

Cookie_Monster

not pronouncing colonel as kernel is a new one on me, how exactly do people think its pronounced; col-o-nel?

gramar

I have a sports watch with the time in analog format, just ticks for the hours and no numbers. The only number on the face was to me a seemingly random single or double digit number. Never gave it much thought and thought it might have been hours since I've exercised or hours left till I'm supposed to. The other day I realised it was the day of the month.

OldNotWIse

That it doesn't just go in and stay there. :eek:

OldNotWIse

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

not pronouncing colonel as kernel is a new one on me, how exactly do people think its pronounced; col-o-nel?

I'd be more "kur-nel"

Gbear

FunLover18 wrote: »

So, would the French today would say 'loo-tenant'? Meaning that both pronunciations are technically correct?

It's one syllable that's a bit like l'yuh.

metaoblivia

It took me a long damn time to realize that the title of the television series. "Murder She Wrote" was three words and not two - I thought it was "Murder Sheerote." The series was over by the time I figured it out. As a kid, I had always wondered what a sheerote was. Now I know. Sheerote means I am very very dumb.

JJJJNR

I just realised what was missing from my life..

IRON MAIDEN... Yah!!

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Cotton eyed joe is about an sti

ohnonotgmail

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Cotton eyed joe is about an sti

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

Or just another name for S.T.D.s because you have to get the swabing. Term made most famous by Sweedish tecno/folk/bluegrass band Rednex with there verson of the song Cotton Eye Joe in 1994. “If it hadnt been for cotton eye joe I'd been married a long time ago

Speedwell

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Cotton eyed joe is about an sti

It's about a working man with a cataract who was a little too popular with the ladies the songwriter fancied. STI, lol. I've heard that. Some people and their imaginations.

Wossack

factor 20 sun cream - named as it increases your skins UV resistance by a factor of 20

Realt Dearg Sec

LexieOnRale wrote: »

Cotton eyed joe is about an sti

The very old versions of the song make it very clear that Joe is a literal person who ran off with the man's girl, and as a result he's not married. It's an old slave song. No sti involvement I'm afraid.

Cerisepink

The little plastic tripod thing in the middle of the pizza box is to stop the cheese from sticking to the top! Who knew

Speedwell

Cerisepink wrote: »

The little plastic tripod thing in the middle of the pizza box is to stop the cheese from sticking to the top! Who knew

No! I thought they were free lead figure pedestals to show when your D&D character was flying over an area on the map... OMG, I think the thing I just realised is that you can take the chick out of the nerd clique, but you can't take the nerd out of the nerdchick. Say that five times fast

pickarooney

Wossack wrote: »

factor 20 sun cream - named as it increases your skins UV resistance by a factor of 20

It's a multiple of the number of minutes SP1 lasts.

ohnonotgmail

pickarooney wrote: »

It's a multiple of the number of minutes SP1 lasts.

its a multiple of the number of minutes you can stay in the sun with no sunscreen before you get burned.

OldNotWIse

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

its a multiple of the number of minutes you can stay in the sun with no sunscreen before you get burned.

Oh yeah, so if someone normally burns in 5 minutes, factor 20 gives them 100 minutes. Someone else who would normally burn in 10 minutes will get 200 minutes, from the same factor. This makes sense to me but I had just never considered it before

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

I burned through factor 50. Does that mean any sun at all is bad for me and I will forever look like gone off ham?
There's an obvious thing I've just realised

Polka_Dot

That the name of the washing machine tablets Calgon means calcium gone!

TSMGUY

Money is actually very ****ing important. Who knew?

ohnonotgmail

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I burned through factor 50. Does that mean any sun at all is bad for me and I will forever look like gone off ham?
There's an obvious thing I've just realised

best to remain pale and interesting i think

yupya1

That the hot Blond mum from Modern Family is the same hot blonde from Happy Gilmore!!!:eek:

Cerisepink

It's neapolitan ice cream not napoleon which is how I've always pronounced it. I'm still going to keep calling it that. Napoleon ice cream just sounds right!

xabi

Until last night, when my 8 year old pointed it out to me, I thought the line in Smooth Criminal was 'Eddie are you ok, are you ok Eddie'