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    Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
    Very fond memories of a couple of visits to Tbilisi in the 1980s, when it was of course in the USSR. Also, when I lived in London I went to Tbilisi restaurant on Holloway Road a few times. Nice nosh, except that, like the Dordogne area of France, they seem to have rather a thing for walnuts, which in my view pretty much ruin any dish they are in.

    A couple of my friends were telling me that they went to a Georgian restaurant in London a few months ago. After too much red wine, or possibly beer, one of my chums was unable to operate his legs so the restaurant manager helped my other mate drag him to his flat around the corner, which was very civil of him I thought.

    I went on Google Maps to see exactly how far they had to stumble, ended up checking the restaurant's memo and now really fancy giving Georgian grub a whirl.

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      Originally posted by Nocturnal Submission View Post


      A couple of my friends were telling me that they went to a Georgian restaurant in London a few months ago. After too much red wine, or possibly beer, one of my chums was unable to operate his legs so the restaurant manager helped my other mate drag him to his flat around the corner, which was very civil of him I thought.

      I went on Google Maps to see exactly how far they had to stumble, ended up checking the restaurant's memo and now really fancy giving Georgian grub a whirl.
      I've never been to Georgia, but my experience in pretty much every country that used to be in the USSR I've been to is that ones hosts will take you to the local Georgian restaurant for a special meal out.

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        I'm obviously a busy man and don't have the time to visit Football. What does Dinamo / Dynamo in team names mean?

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          The name given to the society was supposed to mean "Power in Motion", taken from the Greek: δύναμις; dynamis -power, and Latin: motio, -motion. Not coincidentally, this term was first coined earlier by a Belgian inventor Zenobe Gramme for the electrical generator.

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            Originally posted by WOM View Post
            I'm obviously a busy man and don't have the time to visit Football. What does Dinamo / Dynamo in team names mean?

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamo_Sports_Club

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              Ah, very good. Thank you both.

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                Though in football, it came to be used most often for Eastern European clubs associated with the secret police.

                The most prominent clubs in Warsaw Pact countries were generally associated with governmental entities (the army, police, railways, etc) or nationalised industries.

                Torpedo Moscow, for instance, were associated with the automotive industry

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                  Most football teams under communism were effectively workers teams from different parts of the state. In Romania, Dinamo București were the most hated club because they were the team of the Securitate. I presume other Dinamos/Dynamos were similarly connected to the police/internal security. Other teams had more obvious names (Rapid = state railways, Universitatea/Politechnica, etc)

                  (as ever ursus answered faster and with a more interesting answer)

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                    Dynamo Dresden were the Stasi team in the DDR.

                    I don't think Dinamo Zagreb were the secret police but it was set up after the Communist Yugoslavian government disbanded some existing clubs.
                    Last edited by Patrick Thistle; 06-12-2022, 14:08.

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                      Dinamo Zagreb were essentially the successor to Gradanski, which was one of the clubs dissolved because of Fascist associations during the war.

                      They even briefly tried reverting to that name after the breakup of Yugoslavia.

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                        Originally posted by WOM View Post
                        I'm obviously a busy man and don't have the time to visit Football. What does Dinamo / Dynamo in team names mean?
                        In old Communist Bloc, Dinamo/Dynamo generally signified the sportswashing branch of the local secret police. Hence their fame in the West, as whoever the head of the secret police was could very easily ensure the force's team won regularly by either intimidating refs into compliance or making players trasnfer offers they couldn't refuse. Which meant they were often the domestic champions and so regulars in European competitions (Dynamo Berlin as the sine qua non of this)
                        Last edited by Janik; 06-12-2022, 16:22.

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                          Or, um, what everyone above said.

                          Dukla were the secret police team in Prague rather than Dynamo, though.

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                            Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                            Dynamo Dresden were the Stasi team in the DDR.
                            Just the regional one. D.Berlin were the national Stasi club.

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                              Originally posted by Janik View Post
                              Right, so I’ve read a bit more of my chemistry book, and... what is the only element whose name stems from Hebrew? Note: how this came to be is really convoluted. I’ll tip my hat to The Mighty Trin if he knows this, and particularly if he knows how it happened.
                              You can keep your hat firmly on, Janik! I've absolutely no idea.

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                                Originally posted by Sam View Post
                                This doesn't really qualify as 'interesting', but I'll put it here anyway. I have been a maps nerd for most of my life (hence the maps thread) and am a professional proofreader, but until about an hour ago I thought the capital of Georgia was called Tblisi. It's actually called Tbilisi. I'm at a total loss as to how I'd not noticed this before.
                                Did this revelation come as the result of playing today's edition of an online game by any chance?

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                                  Originally posted by Janik View Post
                                  Or, um, what everyone above said.

                                  Dukla were the secret police team in Prague rather than Dynamo, though.
                                  I had always understood that Dukla were the army club, like the CSKAs, Legia, Vorwärts, etc

                                  Were the army and secret police functions combined in Czechoslovakia?

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                                    Originally posted by Sam View Post
                                    This doesn't really qualify as 'interesting', but I'll put it here anyway. I have been a maps nerd for most of my life (hence the maps thread) and am a professional proofreader, but until about an hour ago I thought the capital of Georgia was called Tblisi. It's actually called Tbilisi. I'm at a total loss as to how I'd not noticed this before.
                                    I also used to think it was called Tblisi, though it's been a few months now since I realized my error.

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                                      Originally posted by Janik View Post

                                      It sounds like you have both found the right one, which is Gadolinium. The named after a person bit is one of the intermediate stages here.
                                      Actually, no. I was thinking maybe Oganesson, named after Yuri Oganessian whose surname derives from the Hebrew name Yochanan (John).

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                                        Originally posted by ChrisJ View Post

                                        Did this revelation come as the result of playing today's edition of an online game by any chance?
                                        It was indeed! I like how they've added the bonus rounds now to make it a bit more interesting than just guessing the outline of the country.

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                                          Originally posted by Sam View Post

                                          It was indeed! I like how they've added the bonus rounds now to make it a bit more interesting than just guessing the outline of the country.
                                          Yes, I like that feature, although I have to remember to check whether they're asking for bordering or just nearby countries. There was one the other day that was driving me potty until I noticed. I've also realised I've not paid enough attention to flags over the years.

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                                            I've never read any Chaucer, but from watching an old Pointless episode with anagrams of the characters who told tales in The Canterbury Tales, I learnt that there's a common noun "franklin" (the only anagram I couldn't work out, the rest were pretty obvious), and so I looked it up, and learnt that it means (non-noble) freeholder, i.e. someone in medieval times who owned their own little bit of land.

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                                              Ah, I did wonder about that.

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                                                In the original Greek 'Apocalypse' means uncovering or unveiling.

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                                                  After reading the Wiki on one of the Prince Henriches today, I learned about Morganatic Marriage. Which is probably something you all knew about anyway, but it's new to me. How utterly bizarre that mid-ranking nobility from a country that no longer exists but is in a country that no longer has nobility still care about this shit.

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                                                    Now do Agnatic-Cognatic Succession

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