The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Spring has arrived in North Texas. Last week it was snow, now I'm getting pounded by hail. That stuff is loud! Not to mention the car alarms going off (I keep my car in my garage, so no problems there).

CD
 
Last edited:
LissaC said:
I once had to interview someone who was Scottish. I swear I couldn't understand 80% of what that person said.
Click to expand...
My husband has exactly the same problem. I have spent the entire time we've been together 'translating' for him, from Scots into Manchurian... luckily for me apart from being born in Glasgow which gave me a head start, I spent a great deal of my childhood in the Highlands, so it is second nature to me.

We did have one very funny incident many years ago now, over in South West Ireland pin Christmas Day. We often used to climb or hike at Christmas (and I mean 2 weeks of it, usually from a tent but in Ireland we would get a cheap holiday home). This particular Christmas day was a stunner. Freezing cold, hoar frost over everything, but blue skies and sunshine even though it never got above 0°C all day.

58077




This was from that holiday.
Anyhow right on the summit of a mountain was a lone farmer mending a fence. We were the only other people he had seen that day and him likewise for us. We stopped and had a chat, wished each other merry Christmas and generally chatted about the fabulous weather and so on. Gradually I became aware that my husband was strangely quiet.

After we parted and were out of earshot, he turned around and asked me what we had been talking about. He'd got some if it from my answers to the farmer, but most he hasn't understood. I hadn't appreciated that the farmer wasn't talking English to me.

(I'd been studying Scots Gaelic at the time, had gone to school in Germany for a term and was reasonably fluent in German still. I can understand and read most Danish, Swedish and Norwegian (I'm able to get by in Denmark & Norway by answering on German or English, remember 30 years ago English wasn't as common in Scandinavia especially with the older generations and I've been traveling through all of Scandinavia for just over 35 years now) and at one time even studied Russian (at university). Latin had been mandatory at school (3 years), as was French (7 years). In Finland I got by by using their second language, Swedish. I've only really ever got as far as asking if I could have some water and saying thank you in Finnish.)
 
Last edited:
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
After we parted and were out of earshot, he turned around and asked me what we had been talking about.
Click to expand...
We had a similar experience in the west of Ireland! We'd stopped in a little out-of-the-way bar, and we had a bite to eat. My wife went up to the bar to pay the bill while I used the restroom, and when I came back, I found her deep in conversation with two very old, very drunk men at the bar.

They'd say something completely unintelligible, she'd say, "What was that, then?" and they'd repeat it for emphasis, and she'd say, "Oh, yes, I see, could be, yes."

When we left, I asked her, "What were you talking about with those two old guys about?"

"I have no idea!"

:laugh:
 
TastyReuben said:
We had a similar experience in the west of Ireland! We'd stopped in a little out-of-the-way bar, and we had a bite to eat. My wife went up to the bar to pay the bill while I used the restroom, and when I came back, I found her deep in conversation with two very old, very drunk men at the bar.

They'd say something completely unintelligible, she'd say, "What was that, then?" and they'd repeat it for emphasis, and she'd say, "Oh, yes, I see, could be, yes."

When we left, I asked her, "What were you talking about with those two old guys about?"

"I have no idea!"

:laugh:
Click to expand...

I was driving from the Lake District down to Stratford Upon Avon, and was a bit lost, I think it was somewhere near Birmingham. I stopped at a petrol station to ask for directions. The cashier understood me, but I had no idea what she was saying to me. I went back to the car, and my wife asked me if I knew where to go now, and I just said, "No."

She was sober, too.

CD
 
caseydog said:
Spring has arrived in North Texas. Last week it was snow, now I'm getting pounded by hail. That stuff is loud! Not to mention the car alarms going off (I keep my car in my garage, so no problems there).

CD
Click to expand...

Winter (the cold dry season) appears to be over now. Current temperature (at 13:45) - 37°C. It could get hotter.
 
caseydog said:
I was driving from the Lake District down to Stratford Upon Avon, and was a bit lost, I think it was somewhere near Birmingham. I stopped at a petrol station to ask for directions. The cashier understood me, but I had no idea what she was saying to me. I went back to the car, and my wife asked me if I knew where to go now, and I just said, "No."

She was sober, too.

CD
Click to expand...
A second experience, also in Ireland:

We stopped at a pub/restaurant and sat down and eventually the waiter came over.

Part of the experience was his appearance: extremely crooked teeth, overbite, fleshy, sweaty face, uncombed hair, one good eye and one Marty Feldman eye, about twice the size of the good eye and half out of its socket, it seemed. If you were looking for an actor to play the village monster, this was your guy.

Regardless of his appearance, very friendly fellow, and he promptly said something that sounded like, "Glach lachen ooter flachen evenin', aye. Warchen aughten drink, yeah?"

:eek:

MrsT, since her stroke, is very poor at concealing her emotions, so she looked at him like he was Jack The Ripper, then looked at me like...he was Jack The Ripper.

All I got out of the whole exchange was "evening," and "drink," so I assumed he'd wished us a good evening and asked for our drink order, so that's how we answered.

Every time he came back, it was the same thing: "Hach tachen glach order, then?" or "Blachen clach floggen good, yeah?" and I just did my best to work my way through.

I will say this, it was the one time my wife didn't try to custom order something off the menu, because she was too intimidated to ask! :laugh:
 
I recall an evening in a restaurant in Killarney, which a friend and I visited after a little light (hmm, maybe not that light) drinking in a few local pubs. After an excellent meal and a couple of bottles of wine, our waiter asked if we'd like coffee. My friend, somewhat sozzled by this stage, slurred, "Good idea, I'll have a garlic coffee."

The waiter didn't bat an eyelid and replied, "I'm sure we could rustle one up, but you might prefer a Gaelic coffee."

Redface nodded in silent agreement.
 
My dad, who turns 83 in two weeks and has fairly mild dementia, has just announced that, owing to the fact that he probably doesn't have long to live, he will now eat only biscuits-and-gravy and country (meaning salt-cured) ham for every meal from now on. :laugh:
 
So I've been reconnecting with my love of deduction boardgames, and spent some time playing these at night. The two first ones are amazing, you play against Sherlock Holmes to solve crimes, it's very story driven and the stories are great. Unlock! is more puzzle driven and it's a lot of fun.
154284958_241526754284732_2949724180665414875_n.jpg
 
LissaC said:
So I've been reconnecting with my love of deduction boardgames, and spent some time playing these at night. The two first ones are amazing, you play against Sherlock Holmes to solve crimes, it's very story driven and the stories are great. Unlock! is more puzzle driven and it's a lot of fun.
View attachment 58075
Click to expand...

Do you play on your own or does it need more than one? I quite like the idea of these games.
 
Morning Glory said:
Do you play on your own or does it need more than one? I quite like the idea of these games.
Click to expand...
All these games can be played solo, which is what I usually do, or cooperatively with others.

If you like deductiom boardgames I also recommend the Exit series, one of the fun things about the Exit games is that you destroy the game components to solve the puzzles. On the downside this means you can't sell the game after you played them.
 
Geese keep popping up in this thread and they do so again now. We've just seen a sizeable skein flying over, heading in a north-westerly direction. It would appear that they are satisfied that spring is approaching.
 
Duck59 said:
Geese keep popping up in this thread and they do so again now. We've just seen a sizeable skein flying over, heading in a north-westerly direction. It would appear that they are satisfied that spring is approaching.
Click to expand...

Shortly after the hail storm the other night, I heard geese flying low over my house. It sounded like they were flying South to North. I don't know if that was a trend kind of thing, or if they were just reacting to being pelted by ice balls for about five minutes.

They hang out in the chain of ponds a few blocks South of my house in the winter.

CD
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom