aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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The very many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXII
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Jewel Runner
By Mel Brooks' son, weirdly enough. Pity the movie seems to be another run-of-the-mill zombie thriller. I like those, but if someone could successfully transform the book's narrative into a mockumentary, I think it could be fantastic, if singnifcantly less marketable.
This is a product of a goon. Don't worry about it. He pretended to be a 10 year old French Canadian boy and wrote terrible fanfics to troll ppl. Then someone made it into an epic video series taking his text word for word.
aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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I read that as "zombie goatse"--you better not scare me like that ever again.
Since the "Obama channeling Nixon" thread got locked, I thought I'd put this new article here.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/03/25/nixon-has-won-watergate/2019443/
Perhaps a little unfair. The destruction of torture records happened under Bush. It's more of a reflection of how the Presidency evolved in a direction that Nixon wanted.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/03/25/nixon-has-won-watergate/2019443/
Perhaps a little unfair. The destruction of torture records happened under Bush. It's more of a reflection of how the Presidency evolved in a direction that Nixon wanted.
shadowplay
your ad here
Is it rude to leave a wake too soon? Say, 10 minutes?
Farm Boy
I hope you dance
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Depends on the wake. And that's a pretty crappy non-answer. Bear in mind the wake probably means a lot to whatever family/friends you are attending for, so the reason would have to be good just in case they are inclined to feel bad about it? Then again some wakes wind up being kinda a ruckus party-eske. Those might be ok to slip out on near the end of the festivities.
SS-18 ICBM
Oscillator
Can someone tell me about the name Comstock? What language did it originate from? What does it mean?
Borachio
Way past lunacy
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http://www.ancestry.co.uk/name-origin?surname=comstock
It's likely Old English. But beyond com being a form for "come" (unhelpfully), there's no clue I've found for what comstock might mean.
PlutonianEmpire
King of the Plutonian Empire
On that note, what is the origin of the word "sinister", and does it have anything to do with the word "sin"?
Farm Boy
I hope you dance
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Latin for "left" I thought. Something about the sneaky hand maybe, particularly if concerned with saluting/swordfighting/whatever.
Borachio
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Sinister is straight from the Latin for "left", no? And the left hand has been generally regarded as the evil, or dark, side. For no very good reason, imo. Except maybe as the hand you wipe your backside with. While eating with the right.
Sin as far as I know is from a different root - sometimes translated as "debt." Or to "miss the mark."
So I wouldn't have expected a connection.
Sin as far as I know is from a different root - sometimes translated as "debt." Or to "miss the mark."
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081006132647AAhrszt"The English word sin derives from Old English synn. The same root appears in several other Germanic languages, e.g. Old Norse synd, or German Sünde. The word may derive, ultimately, from *es-, one of the Indo-European roots that meant "to be," and is a present participle, "being." Latin, also has an old present participle of esse in the word sons, sont-, which came to mean "guilty" in Latin. The root meaning would appear to be, "it is true;" that is, "the charge has been proven." The Greek word hamartia (ἁμαρτίαis often translated as sin in the New Testament; it means "to miss the mark" or "to miss the target".
So I wouldn't have expected a connection.
Traitorfish
The Tighnahulish Kid
According to Wiktionary "sinister" is derived from the Latin "sinestra", meaning "left hand". If I understand correctly, it has its current meaning in English because it used to be believed that left-handed people were untrustworthy or some stupid thing. It's not related to "sin", which apparently has a Germanic origin.
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
The Latin word Sinister actually had a positive connotation to the Romans before they started borrowing so much from the Greeks.
Supposedly this had to do with the practice of augury. The Roman custom of telling fortunes from birds involved facing south while making one's observations, while the equivalent Greek custom involved facing north. In either tradition, the direction in which the sun rose was considered lucky and the direction in which it set was considered unlucky.
A lot of ancient martial cultures disliked left handed people because they were not very useful when it came to shield wall tactics like the Phalanx. The Romans did not seem to pick up on this through.
The Germanic root of the English word Left means weak or foolish.
Supposedly this had to do with the practice of augury. The Roman custom of telling fortunes from birds involved facing south while making one's observations, while the equivalent Greek custom involved facing north. In either tradition, the direction in which the sun rose was considered lucky and the direction in which it set was considered unlucky.
A lot of ancient martial cultures disliked left handed people because they were not very useful when it came to shield wall tactics like the Phalanx. The Romans did not seem to pick up on this through.
The Germanic root of the English word Left means weak or foolish.
Lohrenswald
世界的 bottom ranked physicist
Are USA governments and presidents allowed to step down if they "feel like it"?
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