TIL: Today I Learned

[Zkribbler]

Pepe le Pew is based upon Pepe le Moko, Charles Boyer's character in "Algiers."

 

[W|M]

Most towns of any size in Ireland have acquired an official Irish-language name since 1921- and in fact, due to the quirk of Irish language law, the Irish name is actually the more official of the two, even when it's hardly used. (For example, the administrative body of Ireland's capital city is officially Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath, and only after that, in firm second place, Dublin City Council- even if it is almost exclusively referred to by the latter, legally inferior name.) Many towns in the North have similarly acquired Irish language names since 1997, and a few have even acquired Ulster Scots name as well.

The point being, it is possible for Calgary to have more than one name, and for this to be reasonable and constructive and entirely within the bounds of precedent. Even if, like the Northern Irish, you end up with more "official" names than anyone is likely to use.

Free Doire

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Most towns of any size in Ireland have acquired an official Irish-language name since 1921- and in fact, due to the quirk of Irish language law, the Irish name is actually the more official of the two, even when it's hardly used. (For example, the administrative body of Ireland's capital city is officially Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath, and only after that, in firm second place, Dublin City Council- even if it is almost exclusively referred to by the latter, legally inferior name.) Many towns in the North have similarly acquired Irish language names since 1997, and a few have even acquired Ulster Scots name as well.

The point being, it is possible for Calgary to have more than one name, and for this to be reasonable and constructive and entirely within the bounds of precedent. Even if, like the Northern Irish, you end up with more "official" names than anyone is likely to use.

Some of these aboriginal people are entirely serious about renaming Calgary, and have applied to make it happen. It's required that it be taken seriously, although it's pretty obvious that it's not going to happen.

There are at least two groups claiming naming rights, as both claim to be the original indigenous people who lived here (one claim says centuries; the other says, "Ha, we've been here over a thousand years, we win!" [paraphrase]).

This, along with the demands for renaming other things, the Ontario teachers who want to rename everything that has Sir John A. Macdonald attached to it, and the ones who screech about "cultural appropriation" if a non-aboriginal person even uses an aboriginal word (hello; our country is full of aboriginal place-names, and there are aboriginal words that are so much a part of Canadian culture that we'd be hard-pressed to find alternatives), I'm rapidly losing a lot of the sympathy I used to have.

Lots of Canadian cities have unofficial nicknames. Winnipeg, for instance, is known as "Winterpeg" because it's so cold there. The nickname I hear most often for Calgary is "Cowtown" (lots of ranches in Alberta, particularly near Calgary).

At any rate, "Calgary" is just an Anglicisation of "Cala Ghearraidh", and a misspelling is no sort of hill to die on.

You're never going to get anyone here to spell it like that (okay, maybe Lemon Merchant would, since Irish is her first language).

But the spelling isn't the issue. They want to totally rename it.

 

[Traitorfish]

Some of these aboriginal people are entirely serious about renaming Calgary, and have applied to make it happen. It's required that it be taken seriously, although it's pretty obvious that it's not going to happen.

What people say they want, what they actually want, and what they expect to get are three different things. Again, the Irish example: Irish nationalists say they want to reinstitute Irish as a national language; what they actually want is for Irish to achieve co-equality with English; what they expect is for Irish to get enough official recognition to legitimise it as a living language.

When you are negotiating, you don't start by offering the outcome you expect, but rather you make an offer round about as far away from that likely outcome as you expect your opponents to make. If native groups have started with a demand that seems outrageous, that will in large part reflect the indifference they have learned to expect from Canadian legislators.

 

[sophie]

Apparently it doesn't violate any laws though. I learned this from a news story about an event in Arkansas in which live turkeys were thrown out of an airplane. When people complained, the FAA and law enforcement investigated and found there was no actual violation of the law or FAA regulation, so the "perpetrators" aren't going to face any penalty.

Here's some quotes from the article I read:





https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/faa-turkey-drop-yellville-arkansas_us_5a10bc35e4b0e97dffedcbdb

Sooo...yeah. Apparently it's completely a-okay for you to toss live turkeys out of a plane as long as doing so doesn't put human lives or property at risk.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

You're never going to get anyone here to spell it like that (okay, maybe Lemon Merchant would, since Irish is her first language).

Not unless I was feeling rather masochistic. I loved living in Cala Ghearraidh , or Baile bó for Valka (that means "Cowtown"). Nice place, lovely people. I have yet to see a street sigh that says Cala Ghearraidh though. Pity.

I do think it would be rather funny to watch Calgarians try to get their heads around the Irish spelling, I just don't see it taking off somehow.

 

[Ryika]

TIL that you should never, never, never enter "how to have" into your youtube search bar.

 

[Takhisis]

I do think it would be rather funny to watch Calgarians try to get their heads around the Irish spelling, I just don't see it taking off somehow.

But the Irish spellings actually make sense! (of sorts, but still)

 

[Ferocitus]

TIL that despite the negligible cost of adding iodine to salt (a few cents per
tonne), iodine deficiency is the leading cause of preventable mental
retardation.

(Edit: The asterisks were entered by the forum, not me. It's not an abusive term
when used in a medical sense!)

Until very recently, about 13% of Tibetans were born with cretinism as a result
of iodine deficiency.

One of the saddest (and most uplifting) interviews I have heard recently:
How Creswell Eastman saved a million brains.
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2015/12/02/4364236.htm

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Iodine deficiency also causes low amounts of thyroxine and high levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), which leads to hypothyroidism and goitre. Both are milder problems compared to mental handicaps, admittedly.

 

[Ferocitus]

Iodine deficiency also causes low amounts of thyroxine and high levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), which leads to hypothyroidism and goitre. Both are milder problems compared to mental handicaps, admittedly.

Yes, that's definitely an understatement: those manifestations are almost benign
compared to the fact that in many villages in China, more than 50% of people
were deaf and/or mute as a consequence of the deficiency. The "cretinous" are
able to haul out a child that's fallen into a fire, but that's the extent of
their parenting skills.

So, foodies, does that boutique Himalayan Rock Salt taste the same now?

 

[Ferocitus]

TIL that in Ireland, near Donegal, there is a body of water called the "Lake of
Eyeballs".

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Yes, that's definitely an understatement: those manifestations are almost benign
compared to the fact that in many villages in China, more than 50% of people
were deaf and/or mute as a consequence of the deficiency. The "cretinous" are
able to haul out a child that's fallen into a fire, but that's the extent of
their parenting skills.

So, foodies, does that boutique Himalayan Rock Salt taste the same now?

Actually, on second though, hypothyroidism can be a pretty serious problem, considering that rarely, in severe cases, it can lead to psychosis and delirium and dementia, all those fun things. Myxedema madness if I recall correctly. And comas too. That wouldn't do any good for parenting skills.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Iodine deficiency also causes low amounts of thyroxine and high levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), which leads to hypothyroidism and goitre. Both are milder problems compared to mental handicaps, admittedly.

If untreated, hypothyroidism can kill. I never heard much about any mental illnesses associated with it other than depression.

 

[Lohrenswald]

it is possible for Calgary to have more than one name

 

[Takhisis]

^Drontheim/Trondheim

 

[Ferocitus]

Actually, on second though, hypothyroidism can be a pretty serious problem, considering that rarely, in severe cases, it can lead to psychosis and delirium and dementia, all those fun things. Myxedema madness if I recall correctly. And comas too. That wouldn't do any good for parenting skills.

Yes, hypothyroidism can be very serious in adults, but in most cases it is
treatable. The really dreadful effects of iodine deficiency in developing
foetuses or newborns, such as cretinism and other very severe mental
disabilities, deafness and/or inability to speak, are completely and utterly
irreversible. That's the real tragedy of it.

 

[Lohrenswald]

^Drontheim/Trondheim

why are you bringing up a nazi name

 

[Snerk]

Because he's a fascist in Secret Hitler.

 

[Takhisis]

Das ist inkorrekt.