this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2026
67 points (94.7% liked)
Showerthoughts
42285 readers
683 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- No politics
- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Heh, I was thinking of Norwegian småkake. It's crazy how much Danish I can read in posts around here now that I'm learning bokmål Norwegian. Well, not that surprising with history, I guess, heh.
In German, it's diminutive, but it's not from 'cake'. I think it means little discs/plates or something, but it's been a long time.
You're thinking of German "Plätzchen" which is reserved for "special" cookies on Christmas and such. The English word "cookie" more directly corresponds to "Keks" and has at least the same origin, if it's not from "cookie".
I honestly couldn't explain the difference between "Plätzchen" and "Keks" but I know it when I see it. There's something more "refined" about Plätzchen. Might be about the ingredients? Oh no that's a rabbithole in i go been nice knowing y-
Edit: I see there's a difference in how these terms are used in the various German-speaking areas. I'm from Germany so the above is my perspective.
Edit2: okay, more of a mole hole than a rabbithole. Think of the difference between cup cakes and muffins. Plätzchen are to Kekse what cup cakes are to muffins. The term "Keks" came into German through English sailors and their very simple, long-life food supplies.
Edit3: oh also, "Plätzchen" is ultimately from Latin placenta. Yay.
Hah, nice! Thanks for the deep-dive. I only ever learnt Plätzchen when I studied German in the early 2000s in the US. At least so far as I can remember 20-something years later.
Norwegian is essentially Hick Danish
I considered learning Danish, but thought I might start with something a bit more pronounceable (I do not have faith in mastering stød or the various sounds very quickly).
Why would you even consider this kind of masochism? Danish is my native language, I recognize that it's a complete mess! Anyways, the Norwegians are nice. Some of our favourite people, I would say
Well, I went from English (a mess) to japanese (differently a mess), so there is some masochistic aspect in there.