Random Facts Thread

[Bragatyr]

Icelandic is one of the most conservative languages in the world, with modern speakers being able to read 1,000-year old texts with relative ease.

[Holeypaladin]

Arabic is the same way. Due to its religious significance, the written form of Arabic is spelled and pronounced the same as it was in 600 AD, though many different spoken dialects exist.

Another significant religious language, Latin, is not pronounced even remotely similar to the way the Romans pronounced it, though the spelling and grammar are the same. Classical Latin is, however, a much older language than Ecclesiastical Latin.

[DannyPhantom]

There's actually a town called Fucking, Austria Don't believe me? Here's the Wikipedia page:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucking,_Austria

[HoneyHeart]

In no other known written lang


In no other known written language is the pronoun 'I' always capitalized

[Holeypaladin]

In the German language, however, the polite form of You is always capitalized.

[Cfavano]

slang is 'short language'

so slang, is slang, for slang

[SirCookie]

A bolt of lightning has enough energy to make 100,000 slices of toast

That's a lot of toast

[Leanna]

* The idea that green is the Irish colour and the shamrock is the Irish symbol is actually more American. The historic colour of the Irish has always been St. Patrick’s blue and their symbol is the Celtic Harp.

* Dublin is not an Irish name, but the name given this place by the invading Vikings (dubh linn - or ‘black pool’). The Celtic name for the capital of Ireland is actually Baile Átha Cliath (translates directly from Gaelic as ‘city on the crooked ford’). You see the name Baile Átha Cliath (and the harp symbol) everyyyyywhere here.

* However, red hair is *not* everywhere here - nor is it ethnically Celtic. Pale skin, black or brown hair, and blue eyes is. The red hair is ethnically Scandinavian, and came to Scotland and Ireland with the Vikings, too.

tl;dr
Green, shamrock, red hair = inaccurate Irish caricature.

[Cfavano]

in celtic mythology several mythological peoples ruled over ireland before humans came in. these include the Tuatha de Dannan, which is the inspiration for the modern elf. one of them anyway

[Leanna]

Surprised I didn’t know that. I guess prehistoric Celts had to explain the world, somehow.

* About a 30 minutes from Dublin, there is an old tomb that dates back to before the pyramids, called Newgrange (historically called Brú na Bóinne, or ‘Bend on the Boyne [river]’). It has been heavily explored by archaeologists in recent history.

It is made of mountain rock and is a dome-like shape. Inside, human bones were found, as well as Neolithic art, and it has secret passageways and rooms. What’s even cooler is the way it was built to perfectly align with the solstices and equinoxes, and is believed to have also been used as a tool for telling seasons / crop planting and harvesting.

If you stand in the core of the dome on December 21, the sun light perfectly hits the door at sunrise, flooding the inside chamber with light, showing that the days will begin to lengthen.