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An interesting thing I didn't know until today

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    A few things I discovered this evening.

    My Mum knows how to shoot a small-calibre rifle
    My Mum enjoyed shooting a rifle
    When she was a teenager, my Mum occasionally carried the rifle with her on the tram. This was also fun. She did stress it was unloaded at the time.

    This was all down to being a teenager in Czechoslovakia in the late 50s/early 60s. Particularly a kid/teenager who was in the Young Pioneers and then the post-war Komsomol equivalent (the name of which was escaping her this evening).

    Perhaps more surprising given the Communist Youth organisations she was part of (which explain lugging rifles about on Prague trams!) and that she spent two years at the equivalent of University before emigrating to England, my Mum has never studied or read Das Kapital.

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      She likely couldn't recall the name because it was so generic

      ČSM - Československý svaz mládeže (Czechoslovak Union of Youth)

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        Somehow the existence of the Happisburgh footprints had escaped my attention: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happisburgh_footprints

        (Hoping to entice Various Artist back to the board.)

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          Yesterday I learned the German word for hippo is 'nilpferd'.

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            Ah, so in German it is specifically a Nile Horse, rather than simply a water horse as it is in Latin (and indeed in Hungarian, where it is the delightfully sounding víziló)

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              It's like German speakers knew about a handful of animals, and then every animal observed after that was just named after one of the animals they were familiar with. Capybara being a wasserschwein (water pig), and a porpoise a schweinswal (pig whale)

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                And then there's Bastian . . .

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                  Peaches & Herb did a song called 'United' in 1968 and 'Reunited' in 1979

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                    And whales are walfisch. Even though they are not fisch.

                    Turtles and Tortoises are Schildkröten - Shield Carriers. Terrapins are Wasserschildkröten - Water Turtles.

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                      Originally posted by Janik View Post
                      And whales are walfisch. Even though they are not fisch.

                      Turtles and Tortoises are Schildkröten - Shield Carriers. Terrapins are Wasserschildkröten - Water Turtles.
                      Schildkröten aren't carriers Kröte is a toad. So it's shield toads

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                        Originally posted by Incandenza View Post
                        It's like German speakers knew about a handful of animals, and then every animal observed after that was just named after one of the animals they were familiar with. Capybara being a wasserschwein (water pig), and a porpoise a schweinswal (pig whale)
                        See https://www.dailyinfographic.com/wp-...12/VlakL8H.jpg .

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                          Ooh "shield toads" is a great name.

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                            A guy I kinda knew in college was the S&C trainer for the German and Chinese volleyball teams.

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                              Bryan Adams (of Summer of 69 fame) is a keen photographer. A portrait photo he took of the Queen was used on stamps issued by Canada.

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                                Originally posted by Nocturnal Submission View Post
                                Somehow the existence of the Happisburgh footprints had escaped my attention: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happisburgh_footprints

                                (Hoping to entice Various Artist back to the board.)
                                That’s excellent, and I didn’t know either. I particularly like the way those footprints look exactly as if one of us walked through mud or wet sand.

                                And of course all efforts to get VA back are must be a good thing.

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                                  Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                                  Bryan Adams (of Summer of 69 fame) is a keen photographer. A portrait photo he took of the Queen was used on stamps issued by Canada.
                                  Yeah, he's quite good. That's actually a good thread idea; artists who do other arty things pretty well. Lots of musicians paint, as well. Jim Carrey is apparently a pretty prodigious painter.

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                                    Rebecca Front's dad designed the lettering on the cover of Beatles album Rubber Soul.
                                    Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 10-02-2023, 11:27.

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                                      Captain Beefheart/Don van Vliet as an obvious example. To the point of having a distinct career in each field.

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                                        Kim Novak is still painting at 89, long after she gave up acting. Martin Mull, has an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design, and spends more time painting than acting these days it seems.

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                                          A random 'balloon' joke I saw online led me to read Nena's wiki page. I'd imagined her as a one-hit wonder while she's actually "the most successful German pop singer in chart history".

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                                            You don't know "Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann"? It was a hit twice, two decades apart.

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                                              Originally posted by WOM View Post
                                              A random 'balloon' joke I saw online led me to read Nena's wiki page. I'd imagined her as a one-hit wonder while she's actually "the most successful German pop singer in chart history".
                                              Which chart?

                                              I knew she/they were massive in Germany but I don’t know if they had any other hits beyond there.

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                                                For Germsn language artists, the relevant ones are Germsny, Austris and Switzerland

                                                She has had 7 top 10 albums in Germany, 6 in Austria and 3 in Switzerland

                                                https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nena/Diskografie

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                                                  Originally posted by Sheep View Post
                                                  You don't know "Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann"? It was a hit twice, two decades apart.
                                                  Nope. Only familiar with her balloon related work.

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                                                    "Walk On By" was recorded by Dionne Warwick on the day JFK was shot.

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