That's nobody's business but the Turks
Map Enthusiasts
For the map enthused!
Rules:
-
post relevant content: interesting, informative, and/or pretty maps
-
be nice
I saw exactly this comment under the Facebook post I mentioned in the description. And I'm afraid to ask but - is it a nationalistic thing or is it a joke I'm not getting?
It's a song reference.
An old one, but it stays in circulation for some reason even among younger folks. It's the one already linked by someone else, by they might be giants
for some reason
Because it’s a great song? Right up there with Happy Birthday
Word :)
It was in Umbrella Academy, which probably introduced it to a lot of younger folks who otherwise wouldn't have heard it
Its been in Just Dance
if LLMs behaved like this we'd say they're overtrained on the data and start over. Internet commenters are more predictable and robotic than AI now
I'm going to pretend you aren't being an asshole for your own reasons, and explain why this kind of comment is a good thing.
What you're missing is that shared cultural touchstones connect people. Comments like this aren't robotic responses to preset conditions.
They're humans reaching out to each other through screens to connect, even if it's only some tiny and essentially frivolous thing. That's a good thing. It's the entire point of being human, to connect and share and hopefully help each other get through the ugliness that life brings.
Where you see predictability and rote habits, the rest of us see a shared experience. The other people in the thread popping off the lyrics or making related jokes, we're all engaged in letting each other know that we aren't alone, that there's parts of each of our individual lived experience that can be directly related. It means we have the ability to stop seeing just words on a screen, and for just that moment see someone we've never met and likely never will, as part of our in group.
Friends in real life do this kind of thing. There's phrases, and songs, and poems and book quotes, and movie lines that can be shorthand for shared experiences. It brings joy with it. Have you never seen a group of people say something that's seemingly random and dissolve into laughter?
That's what this kind of thing is. It's strangers partaking in one of the benefits of friendship. Making each other smile or laugh a little.
If llms acted like this, they'd be one step closer to being actual artificial intelligence because it would make them part of that circle.
My homie across the screen. You stepped into that circle and tried to poop in it. Did that bring you joy? Did you smile? If it did, then great, you're one of the lucky ones that can find happiness in attempting to piss on someone's picnic. If it didn't, then what are you doing?
This. So much this.
- Settled: by 1824
- Named: 1844
- Inc.: 1845
- Named for: Paris, France [emphasis mine]
It's crazy what you find out about a city's name if you look into it.
Istanbul was Constantinople. Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople.
So if you've a date in Constantinople, she'll be waiting in Istanbul.
I hope this helps any single people.
If you have a date in Constantinople, I doubt they are still waiting unless you hurry very hard
A date in Constantinople:
Hate to be the one who breaks it to you but this is, well, beyond hurrying
Maybe, but you have to remember that even old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, I can't say.
The rest of Turkey’s a lot smaller than I expected
you beat me to it
I recently learned that Istanbul is actually a Greek based mashup word for "the city"
If you look deep enough, pretty much every city's name is actually some banale description of the location or some guy who was relevant to it's founding.
I only recently learned that Budapest was originally two separate cities on opposite sides of a river named Buda and Pest.
Examples of this in the cities of Scotland that we can actually trace the etymologies of:
- Perth: "Copse". Perth is in a forested area
- Aberdeen: "Mouth of Devona's river". Devona was an old Celtic goddess, and Aberdeen actually lies between the mouths of two rivers named for her
- Inverness: "Mouth of the roaring river". Inver- derives from the Gaelic branch of the Celtic languages, whereas Aber- comes from the Brythonic branch. It's at the mouth of the river Ness, which is one of the fastest-discharging rivers in the UK
- Glasgow: "green hollow". "Hollow" here is in the sense of a small valley. Glasgow is one of the rainiest cities in Europe and also has a remarkably temperate climate for being at the same latitude as Moscow, so it probably was very green before it became a city
The rivers here are names of colors.
Actually, it likely means "in/to/into Constantinople" (p. 240), and Constantinople itself is named after Constantine the Great.
So is Al-Madinah (literally 'The City') in KSA.
Makes me wish I could register “the pen” as a trademark or something and start selling pens under that name. I wonder if that also makes it impossible for anyone ever find this brand online.
Technically, Al-Madinah is shortened for Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, which means The Luminous City.
So maybe you could sell 'the luminous pen' instead 🤔
That would also make SEO so much easier.
I can't believe Istanbul actually is not Constantinople.
(Not that it's any of my business..)
It's Miklagard (old Norse name for the city)
"Gard"means wall/fence and is incidentally where you get gorod in Russian/Slavic languages I think.
Also where you get "yard" in English
What about Byzantium?
What's the difference between the city of Istanbul and Istanbul? Is it like a regional state with the same name that the city lies within?
Yes, from what I understood, the "Istanbul" is a state.
I was trying to find that facebook post where people explained it but Facebook just says "fuck you, you saw it, there's no way to get it back". I can't believe they went away with this "feature" ...
As a colorblind person, this is really hard to grok.
grok
Understand (something) intuitively or by empathy.
Thank you, Commander Data.
All I see is two people kissing
Constantinople looks like a nipple. I like it
Constantinipple was right there, chief
Now it's Istanipple not Constantinipple.
Its gonna get the works