On 03/01/2022 09:46, Ace wrote:
> On 2 Jan 2022 17:28:56 GMT, Paul Carmichael <wibbleypants@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I remember chatting with a German visitor.
>>
>> He was amazed that Spanish sentences often don't have pronouns. You walk
>> in a pub carrying a brolly - "¿Llueve?", you're asked. Yup. A one word
>> sentence. In German you can't say "Ich brauche Bier" without the ich. And
>> of course, as in English, "is *it* raining?", in German the dummy pronoun
>> is necessary "es regnet". I think so, anyway. You may know better, living
>> with the language.
>
> Yes, German, and French, follow the same sort of logic as English in
> both if those cases, The pronoun thing is similar in Italian and
> possibly other languages close to Latin, which I think is the same in
> that regard.

Latin isn't the same - pronouns are implicit. Adding -ne to a verb end
makes it a question, so "Pluitne" = "Is it raining?".

El Mon, 03 Jan 2022 13:01:17 +0000, Mike Fleming escribió:

> On 03/01/2022 09:46, Ace wrote:
>> On 2 Jan 2022 17:28:56 GMT, Paul Carmichael <wibbleypants@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I remember chatting with a German visitor.
>>>
>>> He was amazed that Spanish sentences often don't have pronouns. You
>>> walk in a pub carrying a brolly - "¿Llueve?", you're asked. Yup. A one
>>> word sentence. In German you can't say "Ich brauche Bier" without the
>>> ich. And of course, as in English, "is *it* raining?", in German the
>>> dummy pronoun is necessary "es regnet". I think so, anyway. You may
>>> know better, living with the language.
>>
>> Yes, German, and French, follow the same sort of logic as English in
>> both if those cases, The pronoun thing is similar in Italian and
>> possibly other languages close to Latin, which I think is the same in
>> that regard.
>
> Latin isn't the same - pronouns are implicit. Adding -ne to a verb end
> makes it a question, so "Pluitne" = "Is it raining?".

And prepositions.

"Tusculo Romam it".

(He/she/it) goes from Tusculum to Rome.

I suppose adding that enclitic ne would make it a yes/no question.

The ablative of using the toilet and forgetting to flush it.

--
Paul.

https://paulc.es/elpatio

On Mon, 3 Jan 2022 10:16:53 +0000, "ChrisND @UKRM"
<chrisnd@privacy.net> wrote:

>On 02/01/2022 19:35, Turby wrote:

>> A trick I learned when traveling in furrin places:
>> Rather than learning entire conjugations of verbs, you only need to know
>> the infinitive, and combine it with, I want to, I need to, I should,
>> etc. Then you only need to learn those few.
>Preceeded by "Hey baby..." presumably?
>:-)

Depends on the decade
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

I don't know, but I been told
You never slow down, you never grow old

On Sat, 1 Jan 2022 09:14:09 -0800 (PST), Ben Blaney
<benblaney@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Thursday, December 30, 2021 at 11:52:30 AM UTC-5, Champ wrote:
>> On Mon, 27 Dec 2021 15:09:19 -0800 (PST), Ben Blaney
>> <benb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> >On Saturday, December 25, 2021 at 10:22:38 AM UTC, Champ wrote:
>> >> In TOGs absence, I'll try to keep the tradition going
>>
>> >West Ham socks, a bag of mini eggs, and a visit from a valued old mate. Great to see you, pal! Thanks for stopping by.
>> Aww. It was fantastic to see you and K (who is still looking
>> gorgeous, btw). Really glad our timing and locations meant we could
>> meet up

>Brilliant to meet V. She is terrific.

She really is

>Think it's fair to say that both of us are punching above our weight...and long may it continue.

Absolutely!
--
Champ
neal at champ dot org dot uk

I don't know, but I been told
You never slow down, you never grow old

On 03/01/2022 14:54, Champ wrote:
> On Mon, 3 Jan 2022 10:16:53 +0000, "ChrisND @UKRM"
> <chrisnd@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>> On 02/01/2022 19:35, Turby wrote:
>
>>> A trick I learned when traveling in furrin places:
>>> Rather than learning entire conjugations of verbs, you only need to know
>>> the infinitive, and combine it with, I want to, I need to, I should,
>>> etc. Then you only need to learn those few.
>
>> Preceeded by "Hey baby..." presumably?
>> :-)
>
> Depends on the decade

Turby has a lot to choose from.

--
/Simon

siwilson wrote:

> On 31/12/2021 20:11, Turby wrote:
> > On 12/31/2021 9:25 AM, ogden wrote:
> > >
> > > > > I've now ordered two Russian-for-beginners books, but I can
> > > > > see the film is on iplayer, which might be easier.
> > > >
> > Good luck. I've got a whole shelf of them. Russian is as obtuse as
> > English. Lots of irregular verbs, idioms, etc. Professor Stotzky
> > spent a whole hour teaching 6 of us how to pronounce the
> > infinitive of "to be." "Buit" with a soft t.
> >
> > > > Learning Russian, eh? I tried that, prior to a trip in 2005.
> > > > It's not easy! But I can still remember "2 beers, please"
> > >
> > > Something along the lines of 'dva piva prosim'? I learned much
> > > the same before we went to Brno, except there were three of us, 
> > > and I never made it to three in Czech.
> >
> > Close enough. "Prosim" means "I beg you." Please would be
> > "pozhalsta," but more difficult to pronounce. Three is simply
> > "tree."
> >
> >
>
> Funny how we still want to translate the pleases and thankyous and
> yet often in other languages they don't use 'em. (No idea about
> Russian).

Or the 'please' as used when giving somebody something which doesn't
really exist in English. It can be quite amusing watching foreigners
thrashing about searching for an English word which doesn't really
exist (or never gets used). German and Dutch waiters usually settle for
"here you are". Personally, the new-fangled "enjoy" makes me cringe.

--
Geoff

Turby wrote:

> On 12/31/2021 1:28 PM, siwilson wrote:
> > On 31/12/2021 20:11, Turby wrote:
> > > On 12/31/2021 9:25 AM, ogden wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > > I've now ordered two Russian-for-beginners books, but I can
> > > > > > see the film is on iplayer, which might be easier.
> > > > >
> > > Good luck. I've got a whole shelf of them. Russian is as obtuse
> > > as English. Lots of irregular verbs, idioms, etc. Professor
> > > Stotzky spent a whole hour teaching 6 of us how to pronounce the
> > > infinitive of "to be." "Buit" with a soft t.
> > >
> > > > > Learning Russian, eh? I tried that, prior to a trip in 2005.
> > > > > It's not easy! But I can still remember "2 beers, please"
> > > >
> > > > Something along the lines of 'dva piva prosim'? I learned much
> > > > the same before we went to Brno, except there were three of
> > > > us,  and I never made it to three in Czech.
> > >
> > > Close enough. "Prosim" means "I beg you." Please would be
> > > "pozhalsta," but more difficult to pronounce. Three is simply
> > > "tree."
> >
> > Funny how we still want to translate the pleases and thankyous and
> > yet often in other languages they don't use 'em. (No idea about
> > Russian).
> >
> Strikingly so in Israel. I rarely heard the words spoken. They were
> just assumed, I guess. Russian is more like English. You hear
> "spasibo" (thanks) a lot.

Could be just that Israelis are blunt to the point of fucking rudeness
:-)

--
Geoff

On 1/3/2022 7:04 AM, siwilson wrote:
> On 03/01/2022 14:54, Champ wrote:
>> On Mon, 3 Jan 2022 10:16:53 +0000, "ChrisND @UKRM"
>> <chrisnd@privacy.net> wrote:
>>
>>> On 02/01/2022 19:35, Turby wrote:
>>
>>>> A trick I learned when traveling in furrin places:
>>>> Rather than learning entire conjugations of verbs, you only need to
>>>> know
>>>> the infinitive, and combine it with, I want to, I need to, I should,
>>>> etc. Then you only need to learn those few.
>>> Preceeded by "Hey baby..." presumably?
>>> :-)
>>
>> Depends on the decade
>
> Turby has a lot to choose from.
>
Shirley I'm not alone among this group. Am I?

--
The erstwhile Thomas
FJR1300, R1200GS, ST1100 (in memoriam)

Turby <xsurf@xmail.com> wrote:
> On 1/3/2022 7:04 AM, siwilson wrote:
>> On 03/01/2022 14:54, Champ wrote:
>>> On Mon, 3 Jan 2022 10:16:53 +0000, "ChrisND @UKRM"
>>> <chrisnd@privacy.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 02/01/2022 19:35, Turby wrote:
>>>
>>>>> A trick I learned when traveling in furrin places:
>>>>> Rather than learning entire conjugations of verbs, you only need to
>>>>> know
>>>>> the infinitive, and combine it with, I want to, I need to, I should,
>>>>> etc. Then you only need to learn those few.
>>>> Preceeded by "Hey baby..." presumably?
>>>> :-)
>>>
>>> Depends on the decade
>>
>> Turby has a lot to choose from.
>>
> Shirley I'm not alone among this group. Am I?

Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here? Not me for sure.

We've had some hints. I've got 3 in mind to choose from, that post
somewhat regularly.

--
FJR1300A, GL1000, KLR650A6F, EX250J9A, DR200SE, Vespa Ciao

Mark Olson <olsonm@tiny.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>> Shirley I'm not alone among this group. Am I?
>
> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here? Not me for sure.
>
> We've had some hints. I've got 3 in mind to choose from, that post
> somewhat regularly.

Probably a candidate at 77.

--
http://www.netunix.com/

<crn@nospam.com> wrote:
> Mark Olson <olsonm@tiny.invalid> wrote:
>>>>
>>> Shirley I'm not alone among this group. Am I?
>>
>> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here? Not me for sure.
>>
>> We've had some hints. I've got 3 in mind to choose from, that post
>> somewhat regularly.
>
> Probably a candidate at 77.
>

Narrator: He’s actually 43.

On 04/01/2022 02:00, crn@nospam.com wrote:
> Mark Olson <olsonm@tiny.invalid> wrote:
>>>>
>>> Shirley I'm not alone among this group. Am I?
>>
>> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here? Not me for sure.
>>
>> We've had some hints. I've got 3 in mind to choose from, that post
>> somewhat regularly.
>
> Probably a candidate at 77.
>

<Folds>

--
Moto Morini 2C/375, Moto Morini 2C/350
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
1937 Sunbeam Model 14 250 Sports
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

Mark Olson wrote:

> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here?

It would probably be more instructive to discover who is the youngest -
and what their age is.

My (educated) guess is in their 40s.

What makes it amusing is TOG took the name "The Older Gentleman" at 42
- when he was one of the oldies.

--
Simon

On 04/01/2022 07:39, sweller wrote:
> Mark Olson wrote:
>
>> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here?
>
> It would probably be more instructive to discover who is the youngest -
> and what their age is.
>
> My (educated) guess is in their 40s.
>
> What makes it amusing is TOG took the name "The Older Gentleman" at 42
> - when he was one of the oldies.
>

Are you suggesting that only old fossils are still using Usenet?

Certainly seems that way when running the gauntlet of the Twittersphere.

Still, various UKRM acronyms allow one to insult while keeping within
the 280 characters.

--
Moto Morini 2C/375, Moto Morini 2C/350
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401
Svartpilen
1937 Sunbeam Model 14 250 Sports
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"

On Mon, 3 Jan 2022 18:43:21 -0000 (UTC), "geoffC" <me@home.nl> wrote:

>siwilson wrote:

>> Funny how we still want to translate the pleases and thankyous and
>> yet often in other languages they don't use 'em. (No idea about
>> Russian).
>
>Or the 'please' as used when giving somebody something which doesn't
>really exist in English.

I'm sure I do the same when speaking French, although perhaps not for
such simple things. But there are a couple of things I often struggle
with due to conceptual differences, like the verb Manquer, for
something that I'm missing, except that it;s the object missing me in
French, so the whole sentence may need to be turned around.

>It can be quite amusing watching foreigners
>thrashing about searching for an English word which doesn't really
>exist (or never gets used). German and Dutch waiters usually settle for
>"here you are". Personally, the new-fangled "enjoy" makes me cringe.

TBH if a waiter is speaking my language in their own country I'm not
going to be picky about how well they do so, and in fact it can reveal
quite a lot about local customs and practices that one might not
notice otherwise.

But yes, it can be amusing, for sure. We always used to laugh to
ourselves anout one waiter in a favourite restaurant of ours in
Engelberg who would always, after we'd finished the meal, ask us how
it was, by saying "It was delicious", clearly with a questioning tone,
and clearly not aware that both the construction and the actual words
were not really appropriate in English.

--
Ace
http://www.chaletbeauroc.com/

"sweller" <sweller@mztech.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in news:j3ibtdFlub3U1
@mid.individual.net:

> Mark Olson wrote:
>
>> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here?
>
> It would probably be more instructive to discover who is the youngest -
> and what their age is.
>
> My (educated) guess is in their 40s.
>
> What makes it amusing is TOG took the name "The Older Gentleman" at 42
> - when he was one of the oldies.
>

cat probably youngest semi-regular poster now. SeanH & BGN are only in the
other place.

wessie wrote:
> "sweller" wrote:
> > Mark Olson wrote:
> >> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here?
> >
> > It would probably be more instructive to discover who is the youngest -
> > and what their age is.
> > My (educated) guess is in their 40s.
> >
> cat probably youngest semi-regular poster now. SeanH & BGN are only in the
> other place.

Cat was the only one I saw likely to be younger than me when I looked down the year-end stats.

I'm nudging 45. Dunno about her.

On 04/01/2022 11:20, wessie wrote:
> "sweller" <sweller@mztech.fsnet.co.uk> wrote in news:j3ibtdFlub3U1
> @mid.individual.net:
>
>> Mark Olson wrote:
>>
>>> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here?
>>
>> It would probably be more instructive to discover who is the youngest -
>> and what their age is.
>>
>> My (educated) guess is in their 40s.
>>
>> What makes it amusing is TOG took the name "The Older Gentleman" at 42
>> - when he was one of the oldies.
>>
>
> cat probably youngest semi-regular poster now. SeanH & BGN are only in the
> other place.

Horse? Though he doesn't post very often.

--
/Simon

On Saturday, December 25, 2021 at 10:22:38 AM UTC, Champ wrote:
> In TOGs absence, I'll try to keep the tradition going
>
> Wotcha got then?
>
> Not opened mine yet, but I confidently expect my present to myself,
> Motorcourse, to be the best of the haul

Some tyres for the bongo, I bought some nice alloy wheels via eBay for it, but the fitted rubber was the wrong size.

Joint pressie from the parents which was nice. Didn't expect owt else, and wasn't disappointed.

On Tue, 4 Jan 2022 02:00:56 -0000 (UTC), crn@nospam.com wrote:

>Mark Olson <olsonm@tiny.invalid> wrote:
>>>>
>>> Shirley I'm not alone among this group. Am I?
>>
>> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here? Not me for sure.
>>
>> We've had some hints. I've got 3 in mind to choose from, that post
>> somewhat regularly.
>
>Probably a candidate at 77.

Happy birthday, attention seeker!
--
Salad Dodger
1690 FLHTK;GL1800D
Previously ...
CB1300SA8;GL1800A6;GL1500SEV;CBR1100XXX;
CBR1000FL;CBX1000Z;GPz750R;Z750E1;Z650C2;
KH500A8;KH250B3;TS250c;TS185c.

On 1/4/2022 1:55 AM, Ace wrote:
>
>
> TBH if a waiter is speaking my language in their own country I'm not
> going to be picky about how well they do so, and in fact it can reveal
> quite a lot about local customs and practices that one might not
> notice otherwise.
>
And here, where so many people are hispanic, I hear the accent, but I'm
not sure I could tell you any differences in usage.

--
The erstwhile Thomas
FJR1300, R1200GS, ST1100 (in memoriam)

On 1/3/2022 11:08 PM, Pete Fisher wrote:
> On 04/01/2022 02:00, crn@nospam.com wrote:
>> Mark Olson <olsonm@tiny.invalid> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>> Shirley I'm not alone among this group. Am I?
>>>
>>> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here? Not me for sure.
>>>
>>> We've had some hints. I've got 3 in mind to choose from, that post
>>> somewhat regularly.
>>
>> Probably a candidate at 77.
>>
>
> <Folds>
>
+1

--
The erstwhile Thomas
FJR1300, R1200GS, ST1100 (in memoriam)

On 1/4/2022 12:27 AM, Pete Fisher wrote:
> On 04/01/2022 07:39, sweller wrote:
>> Mark Olson wrote:
>>
>>> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here?
>>
>> It would probably be more instructive to discover who is the youngest -
>> and what their age is.
>>
>> My (educated) guess is in their 40s.
>>
>> What makes it amusing is TOG took the name "The Older Gentleman" at 42
>> - when he was one of the oldies.
>>
>
> Are you suggesting that only old fossils are still using Usenet?
>
> Certainly seems that way when running the gauntlet of the Twittersphere.
>
I've had a couple of interactions over the fence with my neighbor's
daughter lately. It got me thinking that she's the only person under 25
that I know. I'm really tempted to interview her about her world - has
she ever read newspapers, what did they teach her in school, etc. Might
need a chaperone, though.

--
The erstwhile Thomas
FJR1300, R1200GS, ST1100 (in memoriam)

On 04/01/2022 16:20, Turby wrote:
> On 1/3/2022 11:08 PM, Pete Fisher wrote:
>> On 04/01/2022 02:00, crn@nospam.com wrote:
>>> Mark Olson <olsonm@tiny.invalid> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>> Shirley I'm not alone among this group. Am I?
>>>>
>>>> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here? Not me for sure.
>>>>
>>>> We've had some hints. I've got 3 in mind to choose from, that post
>>>> somewhat regularly.
>>>
>>> Probably a candidate at 77.
>>>
>>
>> <Folds>
>>
> +1
>
Have we started a dead pool yet?

--
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

On 1/4/2022 9:10 AM, YTC#1 wrote:
> On 04/01/2022 16:20, Turby wrote:
>> On 1/3/2022 11:08 PM, Pete Fisher wrote:
>>> On 04/01/2022 02:00, crn@nospam.com wrote:
>>>> Mark Olson <olsonm@tiny.invalid> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Shirley I'm not alone among this group. Am I?
>>>>>
>>>>> Got me thinking- who is the oldest geezer here? Not me for sure.
>>>>>
>>>>> We've had some hints. I've got 3 in mind to choose from, that post
>>>>> somewhat regularly.
>>>>
>>>> Probably a candidate at 77.
>>>>
>>>
>>> <Folds>
>>>
>> +1
>>
> Have we started a dead pool yet?
>
The average for white males is 78, I think. I doubt I'll make that. The
oldest person alive now is 116. I cannot image living another 42 years.

--
The erstwhile Thomas
FJR1300, R1200GS, ST1100 (in memoriam)