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Post by Stripes on Dec 1, 2008 5:28:28 GMT
I have a question, Newton. Why do people from that area call it "Holland" or "The Netherlands", but refer to themselves as "Dutch"? It took me years to figure out they were all related. Ok so it wasn't Western fault, but it is the Englishs fault. "The origins of the word Dutch go back to Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of all Germanic languages, *theudo (meaning "national/popular"); akin to Old Dutch dietsc, Old High German diutsch, Old English þeodisc and Gothic þiuda all meaning "(of) the common (Germanic) people". As the tribes among the Germanic peoples began to differentiate its meaning began to change. The Anglo-Saxons of England for example gradually stopped referring to themselves as þeodisc and instead started to use Englisc, after their tribe. On the continent *theudo evolved into two meanings: Diets (meaning "Dutch (people)" <archaic>) and Deutsch (German, meaning "German (people)"). At first the English language used (the contemporary form of) Dutch to refer to any or all of the Germanic speakers on the European mainland (e.g. the Dutch, the Flemings and the Germans). Gradually its meaning shifted to the Germanic people they had most contact with, both because their geographical proximity, but also because of the rivalry in trade and overseas territories: the people from the Dutch Republic, the Dutch." I am a Saxon. xD
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Post by Aldebaran on Dec 1, 2008 5:33:16 GMT
It took me years to figure out they were all related. I had the same problem with the "Tzar", the "Czar" and the "Zaar". Russians.
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Post by jjpor on Dec 1, 2008 22:50:41 GMT
We actually talked about this in my Culture and Mortality course. The prof asked us if we'd seen anything related to death in the previous week, and I was like... "well..." Well, see - not only an interesting story, but educational too! Glad to have been of some assistance ;D. As regards messing about with bones, I can't say I have spent a lot of time handling human remains myself, but I suspect I'd be squeamish about it if put to the test. As others have said, I'd probably be more worried about breaking/dropping it than anything. Your prof sounds brilliant - just the sort of weirdo eccentric you need to encounter so that you can say you have had the genuine university experience. Seriously, though; how cool must it be to be a world expert on Neanderthals? And I'm right with him on the Queen of England remark too. Oh, and I may regret asking this, but how exactly does one go about, er, defleshing animal remains? I don't want to know, do I?
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Post by clocketpatch on Dec 2, 2008 4:32:31 GMT
Oh, and I may regret asking this, but how exactly does one go about, er, defleshing animal remains? I don't want to know, do I? There's a certain kind of beetle that eats it off. You just put the dead thing in their terrarium and they do all the icky bits
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schrodinger
Cyberman
avatar amde by minami from deviantart
Posts: 299
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Post by schrodinger on Dec 2, 2008 4:37:38 GMT
... I know another way..... but I think it is best left off the site.
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Post by jjpor on Dec 2, 2008 21:07:43 GMT
There's a certain kind of beetle that eats it off. You just put the dead thing in their terrarium and they do all the icky bits Hmm, convenient - I'll remember that in case I ever have to unwrap any skeletons. A disappointing sequel to the first story: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7762012.stmAs Newton said above, most of the people in the theatre are probably only there to see Tennant anyway...
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