What really obvious thing have you only just realised?

ongarboy · 02-12-2015 12:41PM

seanaway wrote: »

That the call you've been waiting for for 5 days comes just as you are heading somewhere you can't take it.

Is that not more irony, coincidence or bad timing rather than realisation of the obvious?

ongarboy · 02-12-2015 12:42PM

Deleted User wrote: »

That the word "nappy" (ie. diaper) derives from the word "napkin".

I never knew that either - was it really that obvious to everyone else?

New Home · 02-12-2015 12:44PM

Well... yes.

Asarlai · 02-12-2015 11:09PM

ongarboy wrote: »

I never knew that either - was it really that obvious to everyone else?

Also that 'diaper' comes from the French 'diaper' (pronounced 'dee-APP-ay') meaning 'to diap', or 'hold in' from the Old English word 'diap'.

Fascinating stuff really

Roselm · 03-12-2015 01:23AM

Asarlai wrote: »

Also that 'diaper' comes from the French 'diaper' (pronounced 'dee-APP-ay') meaning 'to diap', or 'hold in' from the Old English word 'diap'.

Fascinating stuff really

Where did you hear that? I thought it was from the name of the cloth:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=diaper&allowed_in_frame=0

The King of Moo · 03-12-2015 01:31AM

The word "adder," as in the ssssnake, comes from the Middle English word "nadder," because someone misinterpreted "a nadder" as "an adder."

It's not obvious at all, but it's more interesting than nappies, because snakes are cool.

The Pheasant2 · 03-12-2015 01:43AM

When you've something inside out and someone says to put it outside in....outside in means the same thing as inside out!

FunLover18 · 03-12-2015 02:02AM

The King of Moo wrote:

The word "adder," as in the ssssnake, comes from the Middle English word "nadder," because someone misinterpreted "a nadder" as "an adder."

What is a nadder?

The King of Moo · 03-12-2015 02:04AM

FunLover18 wrote: »

What is a nadder?

The Middle English word for snake. Like "neathair" in Irish.

Asarlai · 03-12-2015 06:03AM

Asarlai wrote: »

Also that 'diaper' comes from the French 'diaper' (pronounced 'dee-APP-ay') meaning 'to diap', or 'hold in' from the Old English word 'diap'.

Fascinating stuff really

Roselm wrote: »

Where did you hear that? I thought it was from the name of the cloth:
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=diaper&allowed_in_frame=0

I don't think you're right.

I saw my explanation on the radio

racso1975 · 03-12-2015 06:19AM

Asarlai wrote: »

I don't think you're right.

I saw my explanation on the radio

brilliant

franer1970 · 03-12-2015 09:02AM

ShiftStorm wrote: »

I'm 30 years old, big into music and I only just realised that The Beatles was spelt that way as a play on the word 'beat'

Never mind that bunch of talentless hacks, Girls Aloud is a play on Girls ALLOWED.

pickarooney · 03-12-2015 09:23AM

The King of Moo wrote: »

The Middle English word for snake. Like "neathair" in Irish.

The Lord's prayer in Irish is actually a Satanist subversion.

Ár nathair atá ar nimhe...

Wabbit Ears · 03-12-2015 04:02PM

I saw a ad for Funderland on Facebook which had a picture of a waltzer and I was like, Waltzer, as in waltzing the dance steps. Should have been obvious but I'd never made the connection.

Ally Dick · 03-12-2015 04:47PM

That the government are always so pro civil service, because they ARE civil servants themselves !

quickbeam · 03-12-2015 08:14PM

franer1970 wrote: »

Never mind that bunch of talentless hacks, Girls Aloud is a play on Girls ALLOWED.

And Boyzone is a play on Boy's Own.

MistyCheese · 03-12-2015 09:54PM

The Luas green line goes to Stephens Green and the red line goes past the Red Cow.

Markcheese · 03-12-2015 10:19PM

The King of Moo wrote:

The Middle English word for snake. Like "neathair" in Irish.

Which is probably just a version of the word nadder anyway as we'd be unlikely to have a "native" word for something that doesnt exist here....

rubadub · 03-12-2015 11:10PM

MistyCheese wrote: »

The Luas green line goes to Stephens Green and the red line goes past the Red Cow.

Are you suggesting this is the official reasoning behind the names, as I have never heard of it before.

I can only find one dodgy site mention it.

http://www.360dublincity.com/blog/Lifestyle/THEGREEN.html

The Luas service, since its inception in 2004, has been a categorical success story. It has two lines: the Red line, named after the Red Cow terminus, and the Green line, named after St. Stephen’s Green terminus. Simple. It’s almost like the Luas has always been here. Once something acquires an affectionate nickname from Dubliners, its popularity is guaranteed. The most popular nickname I’ve heard for the Luas tram is ‘The Gerry Lee’, as in “I got the’ Gerry Lee’ into work this morning.” ‘Gerry Lee’ is a derivative of another used nickname,’The Gerry Lee Lewis.’

The dogs on the street know its spelt Jerry so I would not trust that particular dog.

EDIT: Looking it up, if it was green as in stephen's green the irish name should have been Líne Faiche and not Líne Uaine

04-12-2015 10:21AM

It's the Daniel Day, not the Jerry Lee.

franer1970 · 04-12-2015 01:43PM

Nearly all doors unlock when you turn the key towards the hinge.

Only realised this because the lock on my new patio door is the opposite and I was wondering why I was getting it wrong every time.

Not that a sliding door has hinges obviously, but you know what I mean.

Cienciano · 04-12-2015 02:32PM

MistyCheese wrote: »

The Luas green line goes to Stephens Green and the red line goes past the Red Cow.

Red Line also goes past Goldenbridge, Black Horse, Bluebell.

languagenerd · 04-12-2015 10:37PM

The King of Moo wrote: »

The word "adder," as in the ssssnake, comes from the Middle English word "nadder," because someone misinterpreted "a nadder" as "an adder."

It's not obvious at all, but it's more interesting than nappies, because snakes are cool.

The same thing happened to "orange". The Persian was "naranj", which became "naranja" in Spanish and "norange" in French. Then the n was lost because "une norange" sounds the same as "une orange" in French and "a norange" sounds like "an orange" in English.

[living up to my username here but shh]

Asarlai · 05-12-2015 07:48AM

languagenerd wrote: »

The same thing happened to "orange". The Persian was "naranj", which became "naranja" in Spanish and "norange" in French. Then the n was lost because "une norange" sounds the same as "une orange" in French and "a norange" sounds like "an orange" in English.

[living up to my username here but shh]

mmm....fancy aren't we

not dealing with muck here

pickarooney · 05-12-2015 07:56AM

languagenerd wrote: »

The same thing happened to "orange". The Persian was "naranj", which became "naranja" in Spanish and "norange" in French. Then the n was lost because "une norange" sounds the same as "une orange" in French and "a norange" sounds like "an orange" in English.

[living up to my username here but shh]

How come the Dutch royal family's name and the colour are both 'oranje'? Did they adopt the colour because it sounds like their name or call themselves after the colour/fruit?

What colour were carrots and pumpkins before we had oranges?

This should maybe be in the things you always wondered thread...

dori_dormer · 05-12-2015 08:06AM

They were considered red i think. The colour orange came from the fruit

Edited to add: that's why its a robin red breast, not robin orange breast

IvyTheTerrible · 05-12-2015 08:11AM

pickarooney wrote: »

How come the Dutch royal family's name and the colour are both 'oranje'? Did they adopt the colour because it sounds like their name or call themselves after the colour/fruit?

What colour were carrots and pumpkins before we had oranges?

This should maybe be in the things you always wondered thread...

Pumpkins were always orange in the European languages, because they were brought from the New World (so arrived In Europe after the orange).
Carrots were white, yellow or purple until the 17th century when an orange variety was created. Again, after the word orange was coined.

seanaway · 05-12-2015 10:55PM

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

Pumpkins were always orange in the European languages, because they were brought from the New World (so arrived In Europe after the orange).
Carrots were white, yellow or purple until the 17th century when an orange variety was created. Again, after the word orange was coined.

Em.. explain further please..."Pumpkins were always orange in the European languages, because they were brought from the New World"

So if I understand your point: a thing brought form the Americas was called ORANGE because it was from the Americas????If this very weak assumption is in fact true then we have all been smoking 'orange' and not tobacco. Eating orange chips not potato chips. Can't even begin to word eating oranges (tomatoes) and not Oranges (oranges )

New Home · 05-12-2015 11:04PM

seanaway wrote: »

Em.. explain further please..."Pumpkins were always orange in the European languages, because they were brought from the New World"

So if I understand your point: a thing brought form the Americas was called ORANGE because it was from the Americas????If this very weak assumption is in fact true then we have all been smoking 'orange' and not tobacco. Eating orange chips not potato chips. Can't even begin to word eating oranges (tomatoes) and not Oranges (oranges )

I think IvyTheTerrible meant that the colour of the pumpkins was always called orange over here because the word orange had already been coined by the time they were brought into Europe, and not that everything brought from the Americas was called orange.

seanaway · 05-12-2015 11:14PM

New Home wrote: »

I think IvyTheTerrible meant that the colour of the pumpkins was always called orange over here because the word orange had already been coined by the time they were brought into Europe, and not that everything brought from the Americas was called orange.

Ah grand...

FYI : From wikipedia
The place name Orange has a separate etymology. The Roman-Celtic settlement was founded in 36 or 35 BC and originally named Arausio, after a Celtic water god.[5] The Principality of Orange was named for this place and not for the colour. Some time after the sixteenth century, though, the colour orange was adopted as a symbol of the House of Orange-Nassau.[6] The colour eventually came to be associated with Protestantism, due to participation by the House of Orange on the Protestant side in the French Wars of Religion and the Dutch Eighty Years' War.[7]

What really obvious thing have you only just realised?

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