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8ud662 | Why is it that people will automatically call someone “Alex” instead of “Alexander” | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"People automatically shorten names if possible. It’s just a cultural trend to use short names (like Mia) or shorten long names to nicknames Jennifer = Jen or Jenny Alexander = Alex Zacharie = Zach"
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8uoqoo | What is stochastic terrorism? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Sean really doesn't like Maxine. He wants to throw a rock at her, but he knows he will go in time out if he does. So he doesn't throw a rock at Maxine. But he really wants Maxine to get a rock thrown at her. So Sean starts telling all his friends some awful rumors about Maxine. He tells them that Maxine kills and eats puppies! Sean is lying. Eventually, the rumor gets passed around, and reaches Timmy. Sean doesn't know Timmy, and Timmy doesn't know Maxine. But Timmy is mentally retarded, and he doesn't know that Sean is lying. And Timmy loves puppies. Timmy wants to protect the puppies. So Timmy throws a rock at Maxine, because he wants to protect the puppies. Sean used Stochastic Terrorism to incite violence. He knew someone who loved puppies would eventually attack Maxine, but he wasn't sure when it would happen or who would do it. But he knew if he kept repeating the lie, a puppy-lover would eventually attack Maxine.",
"u/1x10forever has a great simple analogy there! At it's heart, stochastic terrorism is broadcasting your hateful message across media (one-on-one, social, or otherwise) to inspire another person to perform an evil act on your enemy. Your hands are (technically) clean, but your goal of frightening someone has been achieved."
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8urqdx | How do countries communicate with each other to talk about things such as trade deals or meetings | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"They have an army of staffers who talk to each other and mostly decide everything and then tell the important people when it’s happening"
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8us75x | How do soccer commentators identify players so well? | They seem to know every name and the position of every player through multiple games during live play as the ball is passed around and it's always struck me as very impressive. Is it as simple as lots of experience and a very good working memory? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It is impressive. They will normally always have a team sheet within reach. But in the same way that when you watch a tv series and get to know all the characters over time- commentators live and breathe their particular sport and get to know all players via the same method.",
"Other people have pointed out that the commentators have the lineups and the player's numbers. If you watch soccer for a long time, you can start recognizing the players automatically without having to refer to the team sheet or the numbers. Each player has certain physical features that make them stand out. Height, width, hair and skin tone are the common factors. Then you combine that with other factors such as their style of running, their stature when walking and what part of the pitch the player tends to be regardless of position. All of this information comes naturally if you watch the game for years like the commentators do. I am sure they still study the team sheets for every game, but it is much easier to recognize the players when you are already exposed to them at the depth most of these commentators are.",
"I’ll try and answer by speaking from my own personal experience (I’m a trainee journalist and huge football fan who writes match reports on his own team/ has written them for other teams) Usually members of the press are given teamsheets before the match, with all of the players on it. But to be honest, when I was writing a report from a team that wasn’t my own, I struggled to identify the players. The best way is to look at the numbers on the back of the shirt, and figure out where each player will be during the match in terms of position on the pitch. I think it’s much harder for commentators than it is for journalists writing match reports though, as you can always just ask the guy next to you if you aren’t sure!"
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8usp2w | why it’s so uncomfortable to stare into someone else’s eyes for too long? | Specifically when you’re talking to someone or you’re in the audience of someone talking to you and you feel the urge to turn away. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It depends who it's for. Alot of the time it's a show of dominant behavior or even submissive depending on the person. This can lead to people being uncomfortable. Other times for fewer people it's the start of a soul gaze, which is something most tend to avoid.",
"We are animals. There are certain animals that instinctively respond to a stare as a THREAT. \"This PREDATOR is LOOKING AT ME\" sort of thing. Humans have, for the most part, a modicum of ability to override instinctive behavior and do JUST THE OPPOSITE. I like looking into my lover's eyes and being extremely intimate at certain points in time. Both partners usually do. It can be an intense connection. That being said, a PET will also STARE at you when they WANT SOMETHING. I guess that could be considered part of a predatorial response."
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8uuxhj | What is Savory? | My girlfriend is from Ukraine and they only have words for “Salty” or “Sweet.” I have done my best to explain that Savory is this third individual descriptor, but I could only give examples of types of foods. What makes something “Savory?” | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It is often described as \"meaty\" or umami. It is a taste found in most meats, but notably also in tomatoes. It is also what MSG tastes like which is why it is a popular additive.",
"Umami was the official name associated with this flavor classification. The sort of flavor you'd associate with sharp cheeses and chicken.",
"Savoury food is food that is salty or spicy while not being sweet in taste. Similar to umami but not really. Explaining sensations always results in vague explanations from me."
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8uvj5i | Why did we stop using surnames based on our parents (like John Davidson being John, son of David)? | Why did we start using family surnames rather than basing our names on our parents? Even non-English languages switched from this style, afaik. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Because there are too many of us for it to be useful. I'm Bob Johnson. Great. Unless you know which John I'm taking about, this is useless. It's much easier to call myself Bob Carpenter. Now you know my profession even if you don't know my family.",
"\"We\" didn't completely stop, there are many places, like Russia and Iceland, that use patronymic surnames. Beyond just telling people with the same first name apart, a patronym allows a parent to pass on reputation to their children. If David was an extremely skilled carpenter, his son John wants everyone to remember that when he takes over the business, and using his father's name does exactly that. If John was only a fair carpenter, his sons might be better off linking themselves with their grandfather. after a few generations, Davidson is less about old David the carpenter, and more of a brand name associated with quality carpentry.",
"They still do that in Iceland. They are all named -don or -dottir there after their father (or mother) instead of using family named. Fixed family names make it much easier to keep track of a family over more than one generation and figure out who is related to whom. The system only survived in Iceland for so long because of the small and close population. Family names allow you to be strangers to one another and still be able to place people in context.",
"Iceland actually still does it. But otherwise we stopped so it could denote family and relations beyond just your father. So you can identify groups of people as a family, and further descendants. For both good and bad reasons EDIT: what the guy below said"
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8v76vm | Why is 1066 and the Norman Invasion so significant? | I understand that it has something to do with the start of the British royal family but because they were originally French it still kinda confuses me how different the pre-Norman England was. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"One of the most obvious changes was the language. Before the Norman Conquest, Old English was the current version of the language. English is a Germanic language, but we also have many Latin-based words, many of which came to us as a result of the Conquest by the Old French-speaking Normans (French is a Romance language, meaning it evolved from Latin origins). This began the period of the language known as Middle English, which eventually gave way to Early Modern English (the language of Shakespeare and the King James Bible) and then to Modern English later still. As you may know, Early Modern English is often very easy for English speakers today to understand. If you've ever read Shakespeare, you will probably have noticed that there are many archaic words and phrases that might lead to some confusion, but the general meaning is pretty easy to figure out. Going a step back, Middle English becomes far more difficult, even though there are a lot of words that are familiar and some sentences might be possible to interpret from context. That all changes once you get to Old English. Aside from the very different grammar, few of the words are intelligible to Modern English speakers. It would probably be easier for you to read a book in Spanish than in Old English, even if you've never studied either language and speak only Modern English. This is partly because of the enormous language shifts that were put into motion following the Conquest; as Spanish is another Romance language, our own language now shares many similarities to it.",
"The Norman French came and conquered the existing Anglo Saxon English nobility. Most were killed or forced to swear loyalty (often involving intermarrying) and they were replace with French nobles. This fundamentally changed the structure of the government, and even the English language. The influx of French words ranging from military terms like \"Lieutenant\", to cooking words like \"Beef\" and \"Pork\" and many others. The government and military changes also established the base that eventually conquered all of the British Isles. Before this there were many different kingdoms that fought with each other, sometimes uniting and sometimes splitting.",
"Surprisingly, one of the things the Norman Conquest didn't affect very much is the language, so I'm disputing /u/crummocks's post here. In fact, the effect on the language was mostly limited to adding some words for things the Normans put themselves in charge of: government, royalty, the courts, the military and so on, plus a few other random bits and pieces, such as the words for some meats (beef and pork, for example, but not chicken or lamb). It is a convenient date to put the transition from Old English to Middle English, but please dismiss from your mind any suggestion that this means there was any kind of dramatic change in the language. Like all languages, English is continually and gradually evolving and changing: there wasn't a sudden massive change, and transitions happened very slowly. The English spoken in 1065 was no different from the English spoken in 1067, but is quite different from the English spoken in 800. What really sets Middle English apart from Old English is that it's considerably more analytic. Old English was synthetic, meaning you could put the words in almost any order, but there was a complicated system of grammatical endings; an analytic language is one where you have far fewer grammatical endings, but the word order is very strict. The influence of Norman French probably helped with that process, but it likely would have happened anyhow -- you can see this process happening in modern German, for example, while in modern Dutch it's practically complete. In any case, that change didn't really get going for another couple of generations at least, which is why some language historians put the transition to Middle English closer to 1150.",
"1066 is seen as the beginning of what is modern-day England and the UK, as that was the last time the entire country was successfully conquered by a foreign power. Because of the massive influence the UK has had on the world in the last several centuries, the date has symbolic importance.",
"It marks the change in cultural focus of the country. William didn't conquer the whole island for several years after the battle of Hastings, but with the death of Herald Godwinson the culture shifted from Danish to Norman. A future Godwinson England that was more interested in a Northern European empire would have made a very different impact on Europe compared to the Norman/Angavin southern Europe empire that happened!"
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8v7g0w | Why are baker's hats shaped the way they are? | They're mushroom shaped, which seems like a waste of cloth. Is there a practical reason, or just traditional like chef hats? I've heard chef toques have something to do with " number of ways to cook an egg." | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"seems like it was just a popular sort of hat in general at the specific time french bakers got prominent so that random fashion of the time got stuck as the 'traditional\" hat of bakers. It's like how all flight attendant uniforms look vaguely 1950s because plane flight got popular enough in the 1950s to have a standard uniform and even if stuff changes it still keeps elements of what everyone thinks of when they think of what a normal uniform would look like.",
"Retired culinary pro here. The hat is called a Toque, that's a homonym for \"toke.\" (also common in the restaurant biz) It's all about the pleats in the hat, fifty of them, one each for the demonstrated mastery of the use of an egg. Traditionally worn only by the Chef de Cuisine, the boss. Low-level cooks, wouldn't wear such a thing. BTW a baker's hat isn't tall and starched like that, it's pleated but floppy."
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8v7thm | Why do europeans use a 24 hour clock (aka "Military time") while Americans use a 12 hour clock with am/pm | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Your assumption that all Europeans use military time is not accurate. Many still use the traditional 12 hour clock.",
"There is no such distinction. Many Europeans use 12 hour clock, many Americans use 24 hour clock."
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8v9vq2 | In school (the 90s, US), I learned about "Shi'ite Muslims." Now everyone talks about "Shia Muslims" and never mentions the other term. Why the change? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Shiite Muslims are followers of the Shia branch of Islam, a noun when used this way. It can be an adjective as well. Shia- all the branches of Islam who believe in Ali and the Immams being the only rightful successors to Mohammed. Shiite were mostly in Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran with other pockets elsewhere, but there are a bunch of other subgroups of Shia. Sunni is the largest Islam grouo Shia makes up about 15% Suffis are the mystic branch, but they have been highly marginalized.",
"Iirc, Shi'a is a subgroup of Islam, like Catholicism is a subgroup of Christianity. Meanwhile, a Shi'ite is an adherent to Shi'a Islam, like a Catholic is an adherent of Catholicism.",
"I'm a Shia and I can tell you with confidence that there is no difference between Shia and Shi'ite. The linguistic difference is attributed to the language of origin. Shi'ite is literally just an attempt in English to add \"-ite\" (as in Menonite or Millerite) to the Arabic. I mentioned this below: Shias aren't rivals of Islam. Shia literally means \"advocate\" or proponent. This means that Shias are advocates for Ali (pbuh) as the successor of the Prophet Muhammad. So \"Shia\" isn't a different religion. They follow the Quran and are Muslims. The only difference between Shias and Sunnis is that Shias believe the successor of the Prophet was Ali (the husband of the Prophet's only child). Sunnis think the successor was the companion of the Prophet."
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8vfq6a | why is the mona lisa famous? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"First and foremost it is a painting by one of the most important artists in history. That said, it was largely ignored and not considered an important work until it was stolen in 1911 from the Louvre. This was a huge international story (art stolen from one of the biggest/most important museums). That brought about a huge level of interest in the painting, and that kind of attention ultimately led to further interest in just how much we don't know about the painting."
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8vv1ug | How do character based written languages work? (Such as Japanese, Mandarin, etc) | Is each character a word? Do multiple characters make one word? Does each line stroke related to a sound? When you learn to read, do you just have to memorize every single character there is, or is it like learning to read English where you learn the fundamentals and then can figure out how to create other characters? When you name a child, do you create whatever character you want? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Chinese characters (hànzi) represent words, or independent bits of meaning (termed morphemes). A lot of them correspond to English words, like *apple* or *car*, and morphemes: *un-*, *anti-*, *-ness*. Also grammatical markers which don’t really exist in English. To give an example *do you like apples?* could be represented as *you like apple & amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;question marker > *, you might notice the plurality is not actually marked (in Mandarin this is implicit). The characters graphically aren’t completely arbitrary. The simplest characters historically represented exactly what they looked like, and over time they became more abstract and kind of refined. Whether or not these simplest possible units can stand by themselves as characters, they can be used to represent more complicated things and concepts. The character for person or people is 人, or as a radical you might see this variation亻. By putting the person character next to another: 从, you get the character for *to follow*. That illustrates how characters are constructed and perhaps visualised for learning and such, but it doesn’t normally tell you the pronunciation and meaning on its own (only incidentally). It’s a little bit too abstract to rely on, so people normally learn the characters by rote, for the most part. It works similarly for Japanese kanji, but with some more historical context. Actually, many characters are similar or the same - lifted from the Chinese characters. Especially simple characters often have the same meaning. Sometimes they are used differently though, and very often represent different things altogether. A substantial minority are Japanese in origin as opposed to Chinese. A big thing to note for Japanese is that they don’t use kanji exclusively. The hiragana system maps syllables to symbols, so they can be used to write how something is pronounced for instance - or more generally alongside these kanji for grammatical inflections and young children’s books (who will not have a very large inventory of kanji yet). They have a third system called katakana but this is all but completely analagous to hiragana - with a different use case. Korean has a system of symbols similar to hiragana, or our alphabet which can reasonably be used to represent pretty much anything by pronunciation. You will sometimes see Chinese characters, but not in common usage."
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8vydz7 | While in America, do non US citizens have the right to free speech? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Yes, foreign nationals still have free speech in the US. The principle is that free speech includes the spread of ideas, and the government does not have the power to regulate these regardless of who is saying them. You probably *don't* have the right to free speech with respect to immigration. For example if you just landed at the airport and you spend all your time at passport control saying \"The USA is evil, and every person in your government is going right to hell,\" you may be denied entry. This is not considered a punishment, but merely border control.",
"Actually the U.S. Constitution was written with the idea of universal sovereign application, unless the right specifically mentions \"Citizen\" or \"The people\" then it does apply to anyone who is in the US regardless of citizenship or status of presence. So yes, a non US Citizen still has the right of freedom of speech and assembly, as well as all the other rights."
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8vzwj2 | How come hats are so important in most of human history but they aren't so much anymore? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Because they don't spend as much time outdoors. A hat protected you from the sun when it was hot, kept you warm when it was cold, and kept you dry when it was rainy. That far less necessary when you spend most of your time inside in a climate controlled environment."
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8w0nsa | How come in the US, Chinese food is synonymous with takeout/fast food, while Japanese food is relatively up-scale? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"In many (or most) parts of the US, Chinese-American fast food is the only available \"Chinese food\". It is generally not very good. In places with larger Chinese populations, there are more traditional Chinese restaurants, often focused on a regional cuisine, some of which are up-scale. Some up-scale Chinese restaurants are modern/innovative takes on the traditional cuisine. In such places (I'm blessed to live near one of them), Chinese food is not synonymous with takeout/fast food.",
"why is it that Pizza is a speciality in Italy but misconsidered fast food in most of the world?",
"I think that Japanese food is known for presentation. Whether it is sushi, or ramen, or teriyaki, or donburi, or hibachi (teppanyaki), there is a specific presentation to it. Obviously people go to hibachi for the show. A lot of American Chinese foods are bowls meats or rice or stir fry, where there is no presentation. The extra time for the presentation also affects the price. Cheaper price kinda relates to the takeaway image.",
"Sushi and their special beef are the only thing I have heard being upscale. China has similar stuff, but it isn’t as popular in America.",
"I'd say there's a number of reasons. * Japanese cuisine has historically had a higher degree of emphasis on presentation than Chinese cuisine. This is true both of the plate itself, and of the entire restaurant (think: hibachi). * The Chinese migrants during the 19th and early 20th century represented a significant amount of immigration, and their cuisine then had more exposure to everyday Americans as well as more time to be assimilated into fusion foods. Japanese migration has been much less pronounced, and also was more of a recent phenomenon. It's mostly the fusion dishes that are thought of as \"fast food\" now. * The Japanese diet simply differs in ways that made the food a little more challenging to make a \"fast food\" variant of. A lot more fish and noodles, as opposed to rice and beef/pork/chicken. The things that are comparably fast, such as ramen, are culturally thought of (in America, not in Japan) as quick microwavable things for kids and poor college students, rather than as sit-down restaurant meals (which is a pity, because ramen can be quite a meal experience when done right). * The Japanese dishes that are likely the most to-go ready, like sushi, are even more-so reliant on presentation than usual (seriously, order a roll to go, and look at how much detail goes into presentation even just inside the little container) and are also typically of a higher cost here."
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8w1egm | How do "first time" adult websites find so many good-looking models? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"I think they advertise heavily in places like Craigslist, Backpage, etc. The women who respond are already either so desperate for money they will be easy to sell on the idea, or they want to make porno a career, and the only question is money."
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8w3o67 | Why has homosexuality traditionally been denounced so much by the Church compared to other sins listed in the Bible? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The Church has always had an uncomfortable relationship with homosexuality. On one hand it’s opposed to “immorality”, on the other hand The Vatican is about the gayest place on Earth. Monasteries, priests, and the male-dominated “celibate” priesthood has favored homosexuals historically. Michelangelo was gay and the Vatican Museum is basically soft gay porn. This hypocrisy has led to one thing being preached excessively while flourishing in secret. Every authoritarian society has denounced homosexuality because it threatens the patriarchy. Oddly, Jesus never said a word about homosexuality, so apart from the Book of Leviticus and the Apostle Paul, not much has been said.",
"It is denounced about as much as the other sexual sins such as fornication (sex before marriage), and adultery (sex outside of marriage when married). Some even denounce masturbation to the same degree they do homosexuality. It just seems imbalanced because the pushback from non-Christians is fairly small for those other sexual sins but is a major political movement for homosexuality. As for non-sexual sins such as gluttony, greed, etc. Those are also fairly denounced by secular society as well so the Church denunciation is not noticed.",
"Organized religions as a whole have a vested interest in controlling sexuality in any form: Sex is a universal drive and preoccupation for humanity (and many of earth's life-forms in general), making it **the** easiest and most reliable aspect of psychology one can exploit in order to obtain influence or full control. Whether you see it as 'shepherding' or as 'domination', if one can successfully convince a person that any of these basic aspects of the human mind are distorted, (say, through one's entire upbringing) wrong and unacceptable, the frustration and guilt gnawing at their minds swing the doors wide open for any who can offer 'salvation' from this dissonance. * This actually works with any form of deprivation too, such as FUD campaigns, or when you hear of cults where everyone gets nothing but gruel and water. Both physiological AND psychological deprivation negatively affects the ability to make rational decisions and renders folks 'malleable'. Now in the ancient civilizations whose own religions and traditions eventually led to the writings that would be used for the bible, notably the Greek and Roman ones, homosexuality (pederasty for the Greeks or citizen-uses-slave for the Romans) was something that was known and relatively considered acceptable. But sex is always deeply intertwined with the basic structure of society, and as such can be made vulnerable to those very same systems. Additionally, since homosexuality was common amongst the the *influential* members of society; the very people whose power will let you dominate a nation should you (more than just metaphorically) '*grab them by the balls*'. Once the only way for homosexuality to be safely practiced is by being in the upper echelons of the church or among their top donors, you've quickly got a hold on the country."
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8w4ul4 | Why are wooden boxes with locks called "CHESTS"? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The word comes from Latin “cista”, a chest or casket, which comes from a Greek word for a basket. The word “box” actually comes from “pyxos”, the box or boxwood tree."
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8w53u2 | What is the difference between an originalist interpretation and a "living document" interpretation when it comes to the U.S. Supreme Court? | I could tell you the difference in a definition sort of way but what I get lost on is application. I need a good example or something to really wrap my head around why there can be two philosophies on interpreting the same Constitution and how each side of the coin interprets it. To me they seem like a couple of fancy terms to mean that they either twist the Constitution to agree with conservatives or twist it to agree with liberals. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The idea is a debate about whether the founders wrote the thing to be specific, rigid, and amendable only through the amendment process... or whether the founders wrote the thing with deliberately looser language to take shifting societal norms into account. For example, the 8th amendment prohibits \"cruel and unusual\" punishments but neglects to define those terms. An originalist would argue that we need to research what \"cruel and unusual\" meant to the founders. A proponent of living document theory would argue that \"cruel and unusual\" is deliberately vague so that the boundaries of cruel and unusual can shift as society progresses."
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8w5kr4 | What is a "handmaiden" in the context of feminism and where did the term originate? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It's likely a reference to The Handmaid's Tale, a book my Margaret Atwood that was recently adapted to television. In the book, a handmaid is effectively a sex slave used for procreation following a great (presumed nuclear) war that rendered huge numbers of people infertile. The society depicted is oppressive particularly to women but also to anyone looking to express freedom of thought. It's a dystopia. The book title itself is a reference to the bible, where a \"handmaid\" has a man's child because his wife cannot, and by the magic of God, that child **literally is** the child of the man and his barren wife. A handmaid or handmaiden is just a name for a servant-girl tasked with taking care of another woman. Edit: I should add that my real answer to your question is \"Handmaid doesn't have a specific meaning in the context of feminism. It's likely a simple reference either to the TV show or book by Margaret Atwood, both of which contain a dystopia that merits reference by feminists.\"",
"A handmaiden is simply a female personal servant to a (high status) woman. The role might also be termed \"lady's maid\" - she'd help with all of the personal aspects of the woman's life such as dressing and toiletries. She'd also be the first point of contact for the rest of the household staff in many cases - if a woman wanted an afternoon snack, she'd send her handmaiden to inform the kitchen. In the Bible, there were two instances where women could not conceive so they had their handmaidens do so in their stead. These Biblical stories were used by Margaret Atwood as the basis for \"Handmaid's\" in her book \"The Handmaid's Tale\", where the \"Handmaids\" were just specialized child-bearers enslaved by prominent couples for that purpose. Because of the popularity of the book (and subsequent TV series), many people in the modern day think of the term \"Handmaid\" in that sense rather than the historical sense. Note that an analogue to \"Handmaids\" does exist in the real world: surrogate mothers. However, while I'm sure that surrogate mothers could be paid a premium to actually have sex with the husbands rather than have a doctor implant them with a baby, I doubt many prominent women really want to pay extra so their husbands can have sex with another woman."
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8wdwdp | the difference between the biggest Latin American music genres (bachata, merengue, son, tango, salsa, samba, bossa nova, conga, rumba, cha-cha-cha, mambo) | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Disclaimer: I'll be giving a quite brief explanation to each genre and their differences, since Latin American (and Caribbean) music contains the music from a lot of countries expanding in a gigantic geographic area, they have a rich history and are hard to relate to one another. Sorry beforehand for oversimplifying. --- To answer this question I'll have to explain some other things beforehand, bear with me, this will be a long ride. Music, regardless of the era, genres, instruments, interpreter, etc. always have these three parts: Melody, harmony, and rhythm. Melody is a succession of notes over time. Harmony is an overlaying of notes over time, and rhythm is the musical duration of each note. With these three components all music in existence has been created. Each one of the genres you've listed use a different combination of melodies, harmonies, and rhythms that separate each other but they still have enough unique themes that can be considered different from one another. Latin American (and Caribbean) music genres can be divided in two ways: By their melodies and harmonies, and by their rhythms. By their melodies and harmonies we have those that use jazz-like melodies and harmonies, based on the USA jazz-tradition from the first half of the 21st century, and those with melodies and harmonies which follow a more pop-like structure. By their rhythms, they can be divided into those using native rhythms, those using african rhythms, those using a little bit of both, and those also using more modern rhythms. Now I'll begin dissecting some of them to show what makes each one unique, since \"they all sound the same to my ears\" is just a matter of unfamiliarity, just like saying \"all asians/africans/latinamericans/etc. look the same to me\", you just aren't familiar enough and don't know what to look at to make out the differences. #Bossa Nova Bossa comes from Brazil and is heavily based on jazz tradition, they use complex harmonies (at least more complex than mainstream music) with simple melodies. The rhythm is quite loose and characteristic, take a listen: * [The Girl From Ipanema]( URL_1 ) * [Insensatez]( URL_24 ) * [Corcovado]( URL_4 ) Some things you should notice: (a) the vocals are more prominent, (b) the instruments are always acoustic (mainly guitar and piano, sometimes brass), (c) the vocals are loose and easy-going -which is quite characteristic of this genre, (d) the [guitar marks a rhythmic pattern]( URL_29 ). #Son (Cuban) Son is actually a whole family of genres but when someone says \"son\" without specifying they usually mean Cuban son. This genre uses a rhythm which will be heavily featured in other genres, the \"[clave]( URL_22 )\". That rhythm is important, so I'll link to a [video showing it isolated]( URL_25 ). Some relevant songs: * [El Carretero]( URL_13 ) * [Son de la Loma]( URL_28 ) * [Dos Gardenias]( URL_14 ) Important things to notice: (a) it is more danceable than bossa but it isn't fully dancing, more as a slow dance kind of music, (b) the guitar, piano, and percussions hold the clave rhythm, (c) the vocals are once again the main part of the song, (d) the [bass follows a *tumbao* rhythm]( URL_30 ), (e) just like bossa, it is mainly acoustic. #Tango Even though tango comes from Argentina, a Latin American country, it doesn't quite follow the same melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic patterns as other genres from the region; it is more related to the Italian and Spanish folklore and music, rather than the afro-caribbean style that gives cohesion to the Latin American music. Tango is one of the few Latin American genres which have lyric cohesion, since tangos almost always talk about the ups and downs of love, heavily relying on the downs. Some important songs: * [Mi Noche Triste]( URL_23 ) * [El Choclo]( URL_20 ) * [Volver]( URL_8 ) Things to notice: (a) heavy use of violin to accompany the voice, with a [counterpoint structure]( URL_17 ), (b) once again, the vocals are the star of the show, (c) the [rhythms are more european]( URL_12 ), compared to the afro-caribbean rhythms of the other genres, (d) mainly acoustic as well, (e) it has a dramatic-feel to it. #Salsa Salsa is one of the most prominent Latin American dancing music genres, it relies heavily on jazz tradition for their harmonies, with the use of extended chords. Salsa has two great characteristics, one is the use of [montunos]( URL_0 ), which is a particular rhythm to play a chord progression and the percussions are quite rich, [salsa orchestras have a big percussion section]( URL_31 ) (bigger than usual, at least). Some examples: * [Rubén Vlades]( URL_18 ) * [Periódico de Ayer]( URL_5 ) * [La Cita]( URL_6 ) Important things to notice: (a) as said above, classic salsa is based on montunos derived from jazz tradition but more modern salsa (like La Cita), incorporate other rhythms, (b) the main harmony is played by a piano, (c) the percussions are prominent, leaving the vocals to second row, (d) it is heavily syncopated (off-beat is emphasized), (e) [salsa is a dancing rhythm]( URL_3 ), compared to the previous genres, which are more sing-along or slow dancing, (f) salsa orchestras most of the times have a full brass section. #Cumbia Cumbia is quite similar to salsa but it's important to define the differences, one of them is the use of electric instruments, mainly the synth, which is often used to substitute a brass section or an acoustic piano. While salsa uses a montuno as its main rhythmic pattern on the harmony, [cumbia relies on the bass]( URL_7 ), with a particular way to arpeggiate (play each note of a chord). Some examples: * [Qué Bello]( URL_15 ) * [Cómo Te Voy a Olvidar]( URL_10 ) * [Que Nadie Sepa Mi Sufrir]( URL_11 ) Notice: (a) Cumbia is another dancing genre, but it's less complex than salsa since it uses less percussions and they aren't as syncopated, (b) cumbia isn't using jazz-like harmonies, it's more simplified and accessible. #Bachata Bachata is a more recent genre, derived from the Latin American and Caribbean tradition, more than jazz tradition. The most important part of bachata is the use of a guitar and [bongos, which play a basic pattern]( URL_19 ). Some examples: * [Propuesta Indecente]( URL_16 ) * [Obsesión]( URL_2 ) * [Corazón Sin Cara]( URL_9 ) Notice: (a) Guitar is used a main instrument and is in charge of playing the harmony, (b) even though bachata has several percussions, bongos lead the role, (c) it's also a dancing genre, but it's slower than salsa, faster than son, (d) the voice has a lead role. #Mambo Mambo follows the big band tradition, with a main brass section and instrumental songs for dancing. It differs from a traditional big band with its use of percussions to showcase syncopated rhythms. Some examples: * [Mambo no. 5]( URL_21 ) * [Mambo no. 8]( URL_27 ) * [El Ruletero]( URL_26 ) Notice: (a) The brass section is in charge of the melody and harmony, (b) the percussions and bass are in charge of the rhythm, (c) it is mostly instrumental even though there are some mambo songs with lyrics, (d) mambo is often associated with dancing halls due its history as an adaptation of the big band structure to a latin american culture. --- As you might have noticed by now, all these Latin American genres share some common themes and patterns but they are unique enough to consider them as separate genres. If you're interested in understanding the differences even more I recommend listening to more songs from each genre, which will let you grasp the tiny details that make up each genre. At first they might sound the same, but they're all different."
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8wggsl | Please explain all levels of degrees, bachelors, masters, etc. | Literally i have no idea why i'm not catching onto this... Please help. Literally explain like im a 5 year old cause i feel like one. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"You're 5, don't worry about it! Jk Associates - 2 year degree, the lowest form of degree Bachelors - 4 year degree, your classic college degree Master's - An add-on degree to your Bachelors, could be 1 year or several but is a specialized degree in a specific field. For example a Master's of Science in Accounting is a common degree for someone to get as part of becoming an Accountant. It takes an extra year over the 4 year bachelors. PHD/Doctorate - Also an add-on degree, this degree may also involve doing your own research in the field or is a much higher level of academic knowledge. Doctors all have a Medical Doctorate as an example.",
"You start with an associates degree (typically 2 year degree). It's basically the bare bones degree, requiring around 60 credit hours of school (an odd accounting system, assume each course you take is 3-4 credit hours). It basically consists of the \"general ed\" classes like math, english, etc, and a handful of classes devoted to your major. Having an associates degree in X topic basically puts you in \"I can talk about the topic without seems like an idiot. A bachelors degree is usually 120 credit hours (typically takes 4 years), and is everything that an associate's degree was plus a lot more classes devoted to your major. Having a bachelors degree in X topic basically puts you at the level of \"I have a thorough working knowledge of the topic\". Once you've got a bachelors degree you can apply to grad school for either a Masters or a Phd (doctorate). A master's is another 40-60 credit hours, and basically demonstrates that you have a very high degree of knowledge in your area of choosing. A Phd is usually 90 more credit hours on top of your bachelor's degree, and shows that you are an expert in your field, to a degree that you can stand on the cutting edge and expand the field. If you really want to take to 5 year old level, an associates degree says that I can talk about a topic, a bachelors degree says that I can get an entry level job focused on a topic, a master's degree says that I'm an expert on a topic, and a Phd says that I know a topic so well that I can search for new knowledge on the topic and explain it to the rest of the world.",
"Don’t confuse PhD with MD (or D.O.) A medical school Doctor, like your family doctor or your pediatrician, graduated from an MD program or a DO program. Your vet is a Doctor, too. Vet doctor, family Doctor, surgeon, etc etc... all are different from PhD.",
"A Bachelor's degree comes straight after high school. Depending on the country and subject, it can last 3 or 4 years (with exceptions for Medicine/Dentistry). A Bachelor's degree is often abbreviated BSc (sciences), BA (arts), BEd (education), etc. A Masters degree is either 1 or 2 years, can only be done after a Bachelor's degree and is more specialised. For example, if you do a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, you can do a Masters in either Clinical, Neuro, Social, etc. Usually it's a bit of coursework and more importantly a large research project for which you write a dissertation. A PhD is a Doctorate. It can last anywhere between 3 and whatever years (depending on the country). It consists of a research project and at the end you write a thesis and are awarded the title \"Doctor\" (again different from Medical Doctors). In the States and to an extent in Australia, Bachelor's degrees are non specific, and you can mostly choose your classes to \"major\" in one particular subject. In England, you must choose your subject from the get-go (Psychology / Forensic Science / Geography/ Political Science). In some countries, you can do an \"Honours\" year. In Australia, it's a 4th, separate year at the end of the Bachelor's degree. In England, it's combined as the 3 year of a 3 year degree. It awards you the title (BSc/Ba/B Hons). It consists of a shorter but substantial research project for which you write a dissertation. It fits between the Bachelors and the Masters."
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8wgk7a | What message was Nancy Sinatra trying to communicate in that song about her boots? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Thought this could help you out: [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 ) but according to Genius, the song is of a man who claims he loves her, but admits that he’s been unfaithful. The first impression is that she is going to walk away from the unfaithful relationship. Then we find she is being much more assertive. For the final verse, \"If you play with fire, you’re gonna get burned\" The saying basically warns that if you do something dangerous, you’re going to get hurt. In this case, this guy has been messing around with other girls, so she is going to be the one to hurt him – symbolized by the *box of matches* that will do the metaphorical burning. I guess Nancy basically says, don't play with me, or I'll hurt you."
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8whe4l | why is it that adult oriented thing like sex toys porn etc are denoted by a triple x? Why x? Who decided that this would be the norm? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"X rated movies (outside of the US, short for explicit) are supposed to be viewed by mature audiences only, due to extreme violence, language, or sexual content. This is equivalent to NC-17 rating in the US (no children below 17 admitted), which is a step above R rating (which children can get into if they have a parent/guardian with them). For a while, film makers were content with X. Then they wanted to get the point across that some films were raunchier than others, so they used XX. Now we're at a point where everything is XXX, which is three-explicit levels. Basically, it was a required denotation that eventually became marketing gimmick that caught on and is now a cultural icon.",
"When the modern film ratings system was created in 1968, the “X” rating was intended to denote films only suitable for adult audiences. However, since the “X” rating was not copyrighted by the MPAA, it was often self-applied by porn producers who wanted to market their films to adults only. One “X” became two “X”s and then three “X”s. One can only assume that the additional X’s were added to draw the attention of men walking past porno theaters back in the 1970s and 80s, the decades during which “X” and “XXX” became pervasive and synonymous with pornography. Finally, in 1990 the MPAA decided to replace the “X” rating with NC-17, because the “X” rating had become so linked to porn that legitimate theaters wouldn’t show “X” rated films, and newspapers wouldn’t allow advertisements for them, thereby dooming any “X” rated film to commercial failure.",
"Any correlation to the XXX on a jug of hillbilly moonshine?",
"Everyone here is obsessed with answering the 'why triple X rather than just one' portion of the question, but not the 'why X in the first place?' portion. Like OP, I'm also curious.",
"Not to go off on a tangent but why also is XOXO labeled hugs and kisses? Who comes up with this shit",
"As other have said, I'm pretty sure this comes from Amsterdam. The city was well positioned to be a place where sailors and merchants can spend their hard earned money before going home to their wives. Even in the early days the city was known for \"sinful\" activities. The official Coat of Arms of Amsterdam includes three Silver Saint Andrews Crosses. This is used as a shorthand for a logo of the city. Signs, streetlamps, and goods were stamped with 3 Xs to signify it was Amsterdam. Eventually, 3 Xs would become a shorthand for anything sinful including pornography and alcohol. URL_0",
"XXX isn't a real rating, it's just the rating in the adult industry made up to denote hardcore (visible penetration) porn. Technically, adult films are NR, not rated. The porn industry isn't part of the MPAA. X was a real rating, but it was only used once or twice, since it's essentially the kiss of death in theaters, it was replaced with NC-17, and is still avoided like the plague. It really just evolved, x ratings existed while we were deciding whether porn was legal, XXX worked as both a warning and an advertisement.",
"I remember old cartoons that had booze with 3 x's on it. Wtf. Am i drinking the lubed dildo? Is that whats under that cork?",
"The reason we use triple x for porn and sex is because of the flag of amsterdam. The flag of amsterdam has three Xs on it on a red and black background. Since amsterdam was one of the first cities in the world to make prostitution legal, it so happened that the triple x of amsterdams flag became a simbol for sexual content. Source: Tourist guide during my visit in amsterdam told this story Edit: appearantly just an urban legend. Sad, i thought this was so cool tho."
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8wilax | How is laughing universally similar amongst thousands of different languages and cultures? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Simply because that's not related to culture, but rather to the nature of humans. Specifically, how our brains process contradictions. Because we tend to laugh because we hear a joke, that is a contradiction.",
"If you are referring to how it sounds, then it's because laughing is a spontaneous physiological reaction rather than part of language. You don't actually say \"ha ha ha\": instead your body makes sounds that we represent by those words in English (or by \"ja ja ja\" in Spanish, or \"ah ah ah\" in Italian, etc).",
"I've also read that laughter could have developed as an \"all clear\" type signal to let others know there is no danger or the passing of a threat. When someone gets hurt we laugh. If they die, we dont."
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8wivkm | the sentence “a woman may very well form a friendship with a man, but for this to endure, it must be assisted by a little physical antipathy “ | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"For a man and woman to be friends long term, one needs to be fat or ugly. Bullshit but, that’s pretty much what it means",
"Basically saying that you have to really dislike the physical appearance of someone of the opposite gender if you want to maintain a lasting friendship with them. A lot of people do not think men and women can ever be \"just friends\" long term, because they will end up having sex if the woman is even a little bit attracted to the man. Edit to add: it's also insinuating that the level of attraction the man has for the woman is irrelevant in the scenario."
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8wtw3o | Why are there so many specific words for different groups of animals? Herd of cows, murder of crows. Business of ferrets, etc.. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"I've searched tha seven seas fer an answer. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [Why are there so many different words for groups of animals? Are there real differences in the way a < insert fancy name > behaves vs how < insert other fancy name > does? ]( URL_0 ) ^(_._) 1. [ELI5: Why do different groups of animals have specific names (like pod of whales or murder of crows) is this scientifically useful? ]( URL_4 ) ^(_ > 100 comments_) 1. [Why do we have different names for different groups of animals? Flock of geese, herd of cows etc. ]( URL_5 ) ^(_15 comments_) 1. [Why are there so many different names for animals in groups? Like packs, herds, prides, murders, etc ]( URL_2 ) ^(_2 comments_) 1. [ELI5: Why are there so many different words for groups of animals? ]( URL_3 ) ^(_2 comments_) 1. [ELI5:what is the difference between the names for groups of animals? (I.e. Pride, pack, murder, gaggle, school, etc) ]( URL_1 ) ^(_3 comments_)"
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8x0oxn | English vs British vs 'UKish' | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Great Britain is the island that makes up England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland is part of the island of Ireland. This is part of the British Isles, so people in Northern Ireland may call themselves British. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are countries, but they aren't sovereign states. Together they form the United Kingdom which is a sovereign state.",
"Yes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are countries, but they are *constituent* countries. They are countries that are not independent or sovereign, but together make up a sovereign state. The United Kingdom is that sovereign state. Is the UK also a country in a sense? I think it is, depending on the context. Most other places you think of as countries are sovereign states, and as the UK is the same type of thing I think it makes sense to call it a country. In other words, it's a \"country of countries\". \"British\" is a little ambiguous. Some people think it should refer strictly to people from Great Britain. But the fact is a citizen of the UK, even those from Northern Ireland are \"British citizens\". \"UKish\" isn't a word, so \"British\" is the most generally accepted word to describe something related to the UK. To further complicate matters, not everyone from Northern Ireland is a British citizen. They have the choice between British or Irish citizenship. If they choose Irish citizenship and reject British citizenship, that means they are technically not a citizen of the country they live in. However Irish citizens have fully equal rights, so it doesn't really matter. As for the republic of Ireland, maybe it is part of the \"British isles\" but it is not British. Like how Canada is in North America, but they are not Americans. Also the term \"British Isles\" is very controversial in Ireland, they generally reject it as a valid geographical term."
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8x20sl | What are the cultural and social reasons to throw a sexual bachelor/bachelorette party? | My last post was removed for not being concrete enough, so I hope this is better. I don't understand the appeal of many wedding traditions, but this one in particular seems like a major risk of infidelity at a critical point in the relationship. Not trying to judge, just to understand. Is it mostly an expectation or is there more? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Bachelor parties date back to ancient Sparta, where where men would eat and drink the night before a friend's wedding. That was all about celebrating the union, saying goodbye to the 'carefree' days before a man took on the responsibility of a family, and swearing allegiance to one another for battle and stuff. I think the same thing still stands today, minus the battle thing, and people celebrate in the same spirit in a lot of different cultures across the world. For most people I think it's about having a good time with friends and celebrating the past before you take a big step into another chapter of your life. Looking back through history, I kind of think it makes sense for bachelor parties to be sexual. For example in the 1800's (I'm generalising here) people often didn't marry for love, but rather for status/power, or because of social pressure. Marriage wasn't always a fun thing for people to do, it was sometimes pretty business-like, and it often meant the couple would take on the responsibility of children, more money with their combined finances, and more influence in their community (even if they did marry for love, that's still a lot of new responsibility). All that in mind, it makes sense that bachelor parties have a history of being rowdy and wild. I you're going into a loveless marriage to a woman who's expected to act a certain way, or if you're marrying someone you love but you'll have to uphold a certain social standard, you'd want to have fun before you did so. Again, I guess the same train of thought could be applied today in some cases.",
"Most major events in life have some kind of celebration tied with them. The Bachelor/Bachelorette party is a celebration with your close friends as you are ending the period of time that you have a massive amount of time to hang out with them and transition into one where you have less as you will be spending that time with your newly formed family. If there is risk of infidelity then you are not mature enough to be married and you really shouldn't be be doing it. Also many if not most do not include sexual component. The most recent one that I was involved with we went camping for a weekend."
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8x2ly8 | What's the stereotypical Japanese riff from? | Ever since I was a kid I always wondered what it was from and I've never been able to find an answer. It's so widespread that it goes from the start of turning Japanese to cartoons and iirc a bunch of less than PC 80s movies, but I've never been able to find any history on it. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"You're thinking of what most people call the \"Oriental Riff.\" The origins are unknown but the first known use is from the stage show \"The Grand Chinese Spectacle of Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp\" from 1847. Remember that despite being published in Arabian Nights, the original Aladdin story took place in western China."
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8x4609 | How do people like cult leaders and warlords start and keep control all by themselves? | Everyone always says "well they're charismatic" or whatever, but I don't understand how so many people can fall under that spell especially when it becomes more obvious that it is only detrimental to them. Also especially wondering how warlords in, say, Africa maintain control of armies all by themselves without getting overthrown by younger folks looking for power. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"These two videos explain it - URL_0 and the follow up - URL_1 Long story short - they convince others life is better off with them in control, and then they keep those that are likely to overtake them happy by paying them/putting them in places of power, or getting rid of them",
"1 - As you already noted, these people are *leaders*. They have a force of personality and charisma that make others want to follow them. Which segues nicely into step 2... 2 - They offer a better world for their followers. You'll notice that cults and warlords tend to be found in places of the world that, frankly, suck. If you life sucks hard and some guy shows up and says \"do what I tell you to do and I'll give you a better life\" you might just follow him. 3 - They tend to be ruthless and violent, or have people who support them who are. This is pretty self explanatory. If the leader is willing to commit horrible acts of violence on people that will silence a fair amount of opposition. Especially when the horrible murder to counter balanced by the carrot of getting perks if you obey.",
"URL_0 In the beginning it's charisma or opportunism that recruits the inner circle members. Having a degree of separation from the main mass of followers is also important. Scarcity creates value, and familiarity breeds contempt. I don't think you can overstate how important the work a leaders lieutenants do is. Once they accumulate a critical mass of followers it becomes easier for \"normal people\" to idealize the leader and accept more extreme ideas. If the leader is shrewd, they'll employ Machiavellian principles and build an empire. If you want to explore some of the depth of human credulity watch the Heaven's Gate exit interviews on YouTube. Or talk to a Trump supporter."
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8x6ti9 | Why do the chefs have so much trouble making risotto on Hell's Kitchen? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Risotto has top be tended to constantly, you cannot leave it alone at all. It's really hard to make if it's the only thing you are making let alone if you are making a full meal",
"They are just finishing the risotto on HK, it is prepped prior to service since it takes so long to make. However, it is still easy to screw up the last part. That is the whole reason that it is always on the menu, too, it is a test of technique.",
"Probably because they haven’t been taught how to do it properly. Holendaise, risotto and cooking a proper mr steak are excellent tests of a cook.",
"Risotto is so unbelievably easy to make, no it doesn't need to be constantly stirred for thirty minutes. If it takes that long to make risotto, then you're doing something wrong. Should not take more then 20 minutes to make. The key is to get the broth hot before you add to the rice. sweat an onion, toast the rice over said onion, stir rice for maybe the first three minutes, deglaze the pan, and slowly add broth and you've got risotto. It's so easy, either those cooks just suck, or the production crew makes them overcook for added elements of drama. Source: Cooked in a high volume kitchen for a few years back in the day. Didn't go to culinary school, and can make a risotto without being called a horse's ass or a donkey.",
"Risotto's trick is basically maximizing starch. You use flat rice because it has more surface area, stir it constantly to increase friction across that surface, and you only add broth to cover so as not to lubricate the rice too much. All of this causes more starch to rub off the rice and make the broth stickier. This requires a lot of physical presence to execute properly.",
"Because producers want the conflict, regardless how trivial the catalyst is. Seriously. I stopped watching that show because the episodes became insultingly formulaic."
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8xewjb | Why is it such a "Taboo" to talk about how much you get paid at your job with co-workers? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Companies don't want you to know what everyone else makes. It's harder to value your own worth when you only know what you make. When people know what others make, they might be more likely to demand more. So, by making sure only you know how much you make (whether through contract language or through it being \"frowned upon\"), the company tends to get to pay people less",
"It's not, that's something employers want you to believe. Discussing your compensation and working conditions is perfectly normal and acceptable.",
"Because if i found out the lazy and usless people i work with was on more money than me id kick of big time.",
"It's almost as if the employer doesn't want you to compare salaries with others who do the same job as you, so they could pay certain people less then others, but that can't be it right?",
"People who get paid more than you will feel guilty, people who get paid less than you will resent you, your boss wouldn't be able to get away with paying you less, and your customers/public won't let you get away with being paid more.",
"Some people might not get paid the same or as much as you and it can cause people to get mad or sad."
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8xi5vs | why do most men depicted in Ancient Greek sculptures possess such small penises? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The Greeks viewed having a large penis as being animalistic. It was seen as a mark of low intelligence, barbarism, and uncontrolled lust/weakness of will. It was an attribute that was not to be admired among the knowledge loving Greeks. So it was reserved for depictions of barbarians/uncivilized (non-greek) peoples, and specific Gods of Fertility.",
"What is deemed as attractive changes from culture to culture and from time to time. Yes, believe it or not, unnaturally big penises weren't always desirable."
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8xpid4 | Why is math in America not all taught in the same class? | I'm under the Singapore GSCE system and so I take math where areas are covered in one class or two(additional mathematics) . So I'm rather confused when my friends from the US ask me what math class I'm taking(an example would be like:calculus or trigonometry). Can anyone explain to me why does the GSCE and the US schools have such a contrasting difference? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It's important to realize that classes work very differently in the British/Singapore GCSE system and in the American system. In the GCSE system, a class is basically one subject that you study for 2 years continuously. The topics will be taught in a progressive manner; you don't get to skip around. Basically, everyone has to take normal math/s. The exam that is usually taken at 16 years old covers algebra, trigonometry, vectors and matrices, some basic stats. For those who are good at math, you can also take at the same time Additional Mathematics, which includes calculus. At 16, not 18. Basically, maths in Singapore is way more hardcore than in the US. In the US, high school works like university modules. You choose what modules you want to take each semester, so each module contains far less material suitable for 4-5 months of teaching. You switch classrooms many times a day to attend these classes. You are required to take a certain number of math modules (credits) to graduate, but if you're not mathematically inclined, you can take the lower level classes and do the minimum. And instead take a lot of history classes (each covers a different time period and/or region of the world), or whatever.",
"Trying to thoroughly cover introductory algebra, advanced algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus all in one class would be... A lot. This may vary from school to school and district to district but generally your options are... Algebra (Mandatory) Algebra II (Mandatory) Geometry (Mandatory) Statistics Pre-calc Calculus In addition to the mandatory classes, you need a certain number of math credits to graduate which basically necessitates that you take one more class. My own experience (Granted, I'm 31 so this is dated) was that trigonometry was brushed over in Algebra and we dove into more details in Geometry. Furthermore, we also had Programming and Programming II in which we dove into computer programming which counted as math credits but this was not the norm at the time. Even if you covered all of those subjects in two classes, you're basically devoting 1/3 of the time to any given subject than if you dove into them separately. Furthermore, people less adept with math that struggle with algebra and geometry are going to blow their minds with calculus. Edit: formatting",
"American here. We do a more gradual growth with math where all subjects build upon each other. Every year you have a different math class so you can grow and Conquer a mathematical subject as opposed to trying to conquer the entirety of the subject of math as math is very Broad. For instance, geometry is more advanced than algebra, but you need algebra in order to work geometry. We have our students conquer algebra first, then geometry as geometry is a higher skill, and you need all the skills that you learned in Geometry for trigonometry, and so forth. It's all about building one skill upon another. Math begins with 1+2=3. All math derives from that concept, but if you never learn that concept, then how could you possibly do advanced math like physics? Our students grow in their mathematical education. It's one of the few things in our education system that begins in kindergarten and does not end until you graduate."
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8xr4jd | What is the difference between a pun and a play on words? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"I think all puns are a play on words but not every play on words is a pun. A pun is normally a joke involving a play on words. But you can use a play on words in many different situations that are not in a joking manner.",
"A pun is a narrower category, a specific kind of wordplay, typically referring to words that sound alike."
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8xrbr2 | What does “begging the question” mean? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Many people colloquially misuse it to mean \"brings up the question\". For example if someone picks up and runs off with a statue in front of the school as a senior prank it \"begs the question\" as to why the statue wasn't firmly secured to its mount. What it *actually* means is a particular kind of logical fallacy, sometimes called \"petitio principii\". Logical arguments start with premises which are assumed to be true, and from there form a conclusion. Begging the question is assuming the conclusion in the premises of the argument. Some examples of this fallacy: > Freedom of speech is important because people should be able to speak freely. > The death penalty is wrong because killing people is immoral. > Ghosts are real because I have had experiences with them myself."
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8xsbxl | Why do people from the Philipines call themselves Filipino with an "F"? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"*Las Islas Filipinas* is the Spanish name for the Philippines, which were a colony of Spain for hundreds of years. That's where the name of the territory itself comes from (though in English we spell it \"ph\"), and the name of the ethnicity (with an \"f\", like in Spanish).",
"For the same reason Germany doesn't call itself Germany, and Japan doesn't call itself Japan. You're expecting the rest of the world to anglocise non-English words for you."
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8xtbub | How did swear words become, well, swear words? Who decided that they were "bad words"? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Historically, there were cultural taboos that meant some subjects were more distasteful than others. Genitalia, bodily functions, sexual activities, death, things like these would not be discussed in polite company, and definitely not around women. Also, being a more religious society, invocation if the deity by name or reference (\"God damn it\", \"Jesus Christ\" used an an exclamation, etc) were considered sinful, and therefore rude. When they had to be addressed, one was expected to do so as gently as possible. Scientific terms or medical terms were used, and not the blunter, franker terms associated with less genteel society and ruffians. Some words convey disrespect for social norms, specific people, and/or the status of different classes of people. Both of those were (and some would argue are still) considered very rude."
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8xtf2z | Why is a two weeks notice considered 'professional'? | I get some notice is better than none, but I also feel like 2 weeks isn't enough time having worked for multiple small businesses. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Two weeks is really the minimum/polite quantity for low level workers who are easily replaced. More important/senior roles can have a much higher notice period covering several months. Two weeks is enough to sort reallocating your work which is the immediate problem, not necessarily hire a replacement.",
"2 weeks is one paycheque for most people -- so you're essentially giving notice immediately after you get paid that you'll be leaving at the end of the next pay period. This gives them time to take all the necessary steps. Personally, I'd give as much notice as I could, which would probably end up being around 2 months. But that's at the real professional level where all my potential future employers are likely to find out how much notice I gave. This gives me time to close out or hand over all my existing projects and have a week or two for documentation and training.",
"Note that this is exclusively an American thing. In countries with sane employment laws, 2 or 3 months notice from both sides is not just considered professional, but mandatory.",
"As someone who hires a lot, it's not expected. It's appreciated. You do me a solid by doing it and I'll try to do well by you if you do it for me. Most people just ghost us.",
"It all depends on your level of responsibility. At my job where I have my own clients and caseload, 2 weeks would be disastrous for the colleagues who would be inheriting my work. Out of respect for them, I'd feel safer with 30 days notice."
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8xvuc2 | The 15(+) different logical fallacies. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"**Slippery Slope:** If we allow this to happen, it will lead to this other (loosely/hardly related) thing happening! **Hasty Generalization:** I know I'm right despite having little or biased evidence! **Post hoc ergo propter hoc:** This happened after this, so it must've caused it! **Genetic/Origins Fallacy:** This person/place/thing came from this other person/place/thing so it can't be any good! **Circular Argument:** Of course my argument is good because I argue well! **False Dilemma:** Only this or this can happen, no alternative bucko! **Ad hominem:** Sincd I cant think of counters to attack your argument with, I’m going to attack your character instead! Who’d even listen to a fortnite cheater!! **Ad populum/Bandwagon Appeal:** The good people put there will agree with me, you wannna be a good person right? **Red Herring:** What if I took your counter argument....and redirected it to an unrelated issue? **Straw Man:** What if I took your counter argument...and over simplified it to make me look better by comparison! **Moral Equivalence:** You're literally worse than Hitler when you cheated on fortnite. **Begging the Claim:** This law-abiding suspect shouldn't be convicted in this trial! **True Scotsman Fallacy:** Only true Americans vote for me....the ones who don't vote for me obviously aren't true Americans. I'm not sure which ones I'm missing, but that's the most common ones! ---donated explantions from /u/deep-rabbit-hole --- **Argument from incredulity:** it seems so impossible... it couldn't have happened that way. e.g. evolution etc. **Argument from ignorance:** I cant think of any other way this happened so it must have happened that way. **Argument from authority:** she is an expert on this so she must be right."
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8y00yr | Why is the red/black, positive/negative paradigm in math and finance have opposite meanings in the electrical world? | My assumption is that the colors are arbitrary, so if red/black already had an established meaning in one sector, why didn't the other sector just follow suit? Or are the colors not arbitrary, and it's just an unfortunate coincidence that the results are opposite in meaning? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Well red is for a \"deficit\" which means a lack of something. In finance it's a lack of money, in electricity it's a lack of current. Because charge flows from negative to positive that means positive has a \"deficit\" of charge. Same goes for black with surplus. So they both kinda match up if you think about it as deficit and surplus and not as positive negative.",
"Besides positive/negative, red can also mean “hot”, or “danger”. In many common electrical circuits, negative is ground or neutral while positive is a different (potentially dangerous) voltage. Other electrical standards fit this philosophy too. While negative voltage often equaled neutral/ground, this isn’t always true. Newer/safer equipment uses *green* for ground... green suggests “good” or “safe” but is independent from positive/negative. So this works even when the old rules of thumb (negative = safe) don’t hold up."
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8ydd3j | Why are we taught Christopher Columbus discovered America when the Vikings discovered America 400 years prior? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The point is that Columbus discovered and opened the Americas to colonization by we formerly English Europeans. Technically the native Americans discovered the area first before even the Vikings but you understood how that wasn't relevant.",
"Because history isn't so much about the bare facts, it's about the impact. Sure, Leif Erikson was in what's now Greenland and Canada around 500 years before Columbus. But the Vikings kept only a couple of smallish settlements in Greenland and didn't share the information with Western Europeans (it's not like they were all friends!), and so their impact on the continent was fairly minimal and wasn't confirmed by historians for hundreds of years after the fact. Compare that to Columbus, who not only reached the New World (what's now Hispaniola and the Bahamas), but told his benefactors back home about it, opening up the doors to large-scale exploration, settlement, and conquest, and all the good and bad that comes out of that. Within a short timeframe, all of Western Europe was involved in the New World and history for Europe and the Americas changed in a very large way. This is the fact that was remembered in history, and even now that we have a very good idea of Norse exploration, this is the fact that remains, because Columbus's discovery had the far larger historical impact.",
"Washington Iriving wrote the first English language biography of Columbus in 1828, [and made up the lie that Columbus discovered America]( URL_0 ). Then newly immigrated Italians latched onto the idea and promoted it like crazy in order to try and [prove Italians had a place in American history and reduce persecution.]( URL_1 )",
"Charles Darwin is credited with discovering natural selection only because he published first. The only reason he published first was because Wallace (the other guy who came up with natural selection) was about to publish and be considered the discoverer. If you keep your discovery a secret it doesn’t count.",
"Because it was only up in Newfoundland and it was only a short expedition that lasted for no more than two years, and the purpose of the expedition was to gather resources for their Christian mission in Greenland. It was never planned to remain in Vinland to form a colony, nor was it particularly explored other than around the immediate area of their camp or outpost. They hardly even recorded anything about their trip other than a few names and records, but not at all as much as you would expect from an explorer or cartographer. Therefore the very brief and decisive footprint they left on the north american continent, and the actual amount of exploration or discovering they did, is an absolute drop in the bucket in comparison to later european discovery and colonisation. That's probably why people usually count Columbus as the one who properly discovered America, and not Leif, because it's the first expedition or whatever that actually made a difference."
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8yfa9d | Why do some game shows like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Price Is Right, have "hosts for life" while others like Family Feud, Millionaire rotate out every couple years? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Sometimes that's just the way it is. The host enjoys the job, and he does a good job, and he or she becomes as iconic as the show itself, and the network wants to keep them, and the terms of the contract are agreeable. Sometimes the person hosting doesn't want to host a TV game show for the rest of their career so they move on.",
"Just luck of the draw. Most of the time a person in the entertainment industry won’t be able to stay in one place for a very long time or it will stagnate their career. However, some get a successful show going, hitch their wagon to that star, and stay on it for the remainder of their career. They generally sacrifice a career outside of that show though.",
"The same reason some people keep the same job for a long time and some people move from company to company. Some hosts, like Merv Griffin, actually own the show, so they get to hire themselves. The host typically doesn't get fired in that situation. Other hosts get fired. Yet other hosts get a better gig, or retire to pursue their hobbies full time. When the host leaves, sometimes the advertisers stay, and the show goes on with a new host, and sometimes they leave to other shows and the original show closes."
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8yohsk | How are plastic license plates (Europe, SEAsia, etc) secure? Can't they be easily faked? | American license plates are pressed metal and required to carry a registration sticker — while they're not impossible to fake, it'd take a bit of work and wouldn't hold up under much scrutiny. Some countries in Europe and Southeast Asia, though, just have what appear to be plastic / plexi cutout letters glued onto a white plastic / plexi rectangle. Some don't even seem to require stickers or any distinguishing marks. That seems pretty easy to duplicate. What stops people from putting fake plates on their cars and then running red lights or speeding? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The only thing that matters is the numbers/letters combo of the actual license. You can buy fake license plates online. They look real enough. Custom plates are also a thing. A license plate really is only to identify the number. If you get pulled over with a fake plate, they will know, not because of the material, but because the ID does not match their records and the vehicle. Chances are, you will almost never get pulled over for a fake license plate. It would only be discovered after you have been pulled over for speeding or some other issue. There are even some people who steal license plates off of similar make and model cars. And further steal the registration sticker off of plates to make it look current. If that car is pulled over, it will be caught even though it is a real sticker and real plate. Vehicle vin won’t match, and that plate ideally is marked stolen etc.",
"I imagine that the criminal penalty associated with using a fake plate vastly outweighs the potential upside you would get from using a fake plate."
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8yp0no | why does one's voice sounds different when speaking different languages? | My voice sounds completely different when speaking different languages (I speak Portuguese and English, if it's relevant, which I feel might be?). Why the heck is that? I also noticed the same thing happening to other people. Most recently I noticed the same with Romelu Lukaku, who speaks 6 languages. Thank you so much for any answers, and thank you for your time! ETA: ooop\* it was supposed to say "why does one's voice sound different", wasn't it? Guess my English is not that perfect lmao. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Languages use sounds which are generated by certain parts of the throat. A good example is the general Dutch language which has a lot of back-in-the-throat sounds versus the Dutch state specific Limburg dialect which is almost like singing.",
"Romelu Lukaku speaks six languages? That's sick! My friend told me a week or so ago, that when we learn other languages, our mind develops some sort of mental structure bordering on a personality for said language.",
"Because the language uses different tones and structures. The sounds of a language affect this. Hard sounds tend to be more common in louder sounding languages. Think German. It also is influenced by culture, though this is often tied in with the other examples. Language is more than words. Speed, tones, etc all can change due to culture."
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8yr55u | What does actual love feel like? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"I think it feels different for different people. But on our good days it feels like coming home. No matter what day I’m having, the best part of it is knowing that I get to come home and tell my love all about it. It’s consistent love, support, and warmth. Even on the days when he pisses me off, I know he’s my best friend and he isn’t going anywhere so we hash it out and then we’re all over each other again lol"
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8yu2w8 | Why does Japan have so many cool flavours in their snacks? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Culture. The basic of it is they have seasonal flavors (extra only out at certain times like sakura) and special flavors. Culturally it's a thing in Japan, expected. So companies always try to come up with temporary new special flavors. The all the time flavors aren't always more than, say, the us but they stand out. We might not think of the fifty chocolate variations as different but we do notice variations on something unusual. Most importantly is that people try them. Plus, producing a limited run for Japan would be different from a limited run in the US. Even just distribution wise. Though chips in the US are doing it a lot more, so.",
"Part of it is culture (flavors they’ve always desired & made) & the other part is just that Japan is a gimmicky culture. They love that shit. Hell, I love that shit. Give me those melon chips.",
"They *sound* cool, but that's about it. I've heard people get buyers remorse over things like houses and cars and shit but I've only ever had it over the occasional 200 yen bag of chips when I was feeling frisky.",
"A LOT of these flavours are actually the same as other specialty flavours and are available in other countries as well, people just don't notice thanks to package design, food colouring, and marketing. For example, different teriyaki flavoured products are the same as the onion flavours in the US, sakura flavours taste EXACTLY like strawberry instant oatmeal, and anything melon flavoured is the same as anything blue-hawaiian flavoured— one just uses green food colouring and the other uses blue.",
"After living in Japan it was amazing seeing the different flavored Kit Kats like soy sauce , fish, cherry blossoms, etc... And they even have can coffee made from people like Coca Cola and such. I had a Japanese friend who did marketing for a food brand and I asked him why such cool things aren't in Japan. I mean Nestle could easily send new flavors everywhere. He told me that in the American market when you introduce new flavors and such people believe go crazy thinking in the the end of the world and that is a bad thing. Like look when they changed the formula for Coke people were going crazy as if they devoted thier life to it and we're now saying that it was ruined and such even though barely anything changed. Whereas in the Japanese market they release it and they are more than happy to try new things and use it as a survey. TDLR: American's don't like change",
"They have *all* the flavours, including all the cool ones. But if you dig a little deeper you'll also find all of the weird flavours too. Things like seawater flavoured icecream, I mean why?",
"It doesn't. You only hear about things from Japan that are different from things that you are used to because... that's how news travels. Japan is just like the US in that there is a huge marketing industry that does everything it can to get peoples attention. You are somewhat immune to the US version of that because you are bombarded with US / English style marketing all the time. The Japanese version of it catches your attention because it wasn't designed to catch *your* attention, and thus looks even weirder to you.",
"Because there is a market for it. As in, if you make something new and interesting, people will buy it. In western countries the consumers are more whiny and don't like venturing out of their comfort zone",
"I heard their 7 eleven is amazing and filled with very good food (youtubers). We need a global one here in the states. Specifically in Illinois and by Illinois I mean Chicago.",
"Because they don't feed their children chicken tenders. They're introduced to Conplex flavors from a young age. This whole kids menu thing sucks."
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8yvols | how does the kentum/satem division work? | I have studied some very basic linguistics in high school, to learn Ancient Greek, and I just found out about this classification. Could someone explain how the involved languages developed and what the differences between them are? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It is really hard to ELI5 this one. The [wikipedia article]( URL_0 ) is very extensive. Many of the worlds languages belong to the Indo-European language family. Historical linguists believe those languages all descended from a parent language spoken around 4000-3000 BC. This reconstructed historical language is called \"Proto-Indo-European\". The \"centum\"/\"satem\" split was one of the first splits of \"Proto-Indo-European into its child language families. \"centum\" and \"satem\" are the words for \"hundred\" so it is an easy word for historians to track through history. Celtics, Italian & Germans went the 'centum' route and Balts, Slavs, Iranians and Indians when the \"satem\" route. Many many more sound changes would follow ('hundred' starts with and 'h' in Germanic langagues, French went full circle and now pronounced 'cent' with an 's' sound). It is just an early split which is studied. Are you asking how 'k' could change to 's' in the first place? That is a good question, but it happens all the time when 'c' is followed by 'i' or 'e'."
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8ywi9o | Why do names have meanings but these names aren’t words used in normal conversations? | For instance Philip means a lover of horses but you don’t say “I met a girl last night and I think we hit it off, she’s a Philip just like me!” | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"They're different languages (I believe Philip is Greek). Also words like hope and joy get name-ified, but they still get used in conversation.",
"Okay, xenophobe. What does that mean? It means: *one unduly fearful of what is foreign and especially of people of foreign origin* Why does it mean that? Where did that word come from? Xenophobe is partly based on the Greek noun xenos, meaning \"stranger, guest, foreigner\". \"Phobe\" comes from \"phobia,\" which is \"fear of.\" So, it derives (in English) from a foreign language that has adapted to an English word. Over time, it's become a word itself. A person can understand \"xenophobe\" for what it is without having to know its roots. Makes sense. \"Philippos\" is from the ancient Greek, meaning friend of horses. It combined \"philos\" roughly translated as \"friend\" and \"hippos,\" meaning horses to become \"Philippos.\" That went through many different versions throughout different countries and languages, to become Felipe, Philip, Phillip, Philippine, Philippa, Pippa, etc. The name no longer has meaning in the languages using the name. It's just a name. But we can trace it back to its origins, just like we can trace English words back to their origins even if they aren't perfect representations of those languages. Let's do another. Ecclesia. It's the Greek word for Church. That travelled and got butchered until it became the Old Norse word \"kirkja.\" That got butchered into Old English, becoming \"Kirk.\" It was a surname. That \"new trend\" of using surnames as first names? Not so new. \"Kirk\" is a given name meaning \"from the churchyard.\" Yet, it's not used in the U.S. to describe a churchyard, because it's simply derived from the original word in Ancient Greek that passed through a lot of changes to land in modern English as a name. Names have long been portmanteaus (combined words). Let's explore: In Welsh, \"Gwen\" means \"fair/white\" in Welsh. \"Sebara\" means \"phantom/magical being.\" This gives us \"Gwenhwyfar.\" The Norman French adapted it to \"Guinevere.\" The Cornish form became \"Jennifer.\" So, Jennifer means \"white\" or \"fair.\" But it's not a word anywhere that really means that. It's simply adapted from old words that made up a name that meant that. \"Alfred\" is a fun one because it survived Old English. \"Aelfraed\" was a name (modern keyboards don't allow for the combination of \"a\" and \"e\" that used to exist when this name was first used. \"aelf\" (again, the a and e are actual one letter) meant \"elf\" in Old English. \"raed\" (with that same combined letter) meant \"counsel.\" So the name roughly translates as \"wise elf.\" Clearly there's no modern English word that means that. But, the name lives on as \"Alfred\" and even \"Avery.\" So. today, Heather means the shrub. Violet and Rose mean the flowers. Pearl and Ruby mean the gems. But, what forms will these names take in 200, 300, 800, 1000. etc. years? People lament the \"modern\" unique spellings and changes to names. Guess what? *That isn't new.* That's how Guinevere became Jennifer! Maybe Heather combines with Heather Anne and Heatheran becomes a trendy name. This changes to Hatheran. Then, we change it again to Hathran. Oh! Let's add an \"i.\" By 2118, the name is now Hathrian. And it means \"shrub.\" A shrub that doesn't exist because the shrub is actually \"Heather\" and no one calls it \"Hathrian.\" But, somehow that's what the name \"means.\"",
"Ok ok, may well be in misinterpreting the question, but... Names don't have meanings: meanings have names. This is perhaps more meta thank you'd wished, but the language we use is loaded with connotation and innuendo, allusion and entendre. And the shifts are not glacial, but tectonic. Meaning: changes don't occur over time, but rather, at a specific and durable moment in time. The word Madonna in the 70s only meant the mother of Jesus; Crack was simply the sound of a bat striking a ball; Trump was a card or suit in a card game; and apps were prelude to dinner. If we look back to Homer, in his time, there was no color blue. Let that sink in... In the time of Homer, the color blue didn't exist. If only there were a vast and ever present piece of nature that were colored blue. Oh yes, the sky! Nope. No blue. Until it was named. Yes, when it was named, spreading across the globe (or \"smearing upon the trisket\" if your a moronic flatearther [but I repeat myself]) from Egypt. The meaning made to word. So, all names came from some words that meant something else. Though the origin, occupation, organism, or orientation of that word may be lost, the meaning has inhabited a name--waiting for the moment that their true intentions rise from their pathetic prose-heavy prisons of pitiless platitudes... rising like the forelegs of some dark rider's mount as it slouches toward a Jerusalem of suffering and tongueless grunting. And so, what does this Shlein mean? WTF did anything mean... Or name?",
"In most cases these are simply foreign and/or obsolete words, that stayed in use as names (because pretty, and because tradition) after being retired from other uses."
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8ywma2 | Why is the lion known as the king of the jungle when it mostly lives in the Savannah? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The English word \"jungle\" derives from the Hindi / Marathi word \"jangal\", meaning a \"forest, wasteland\" -- this in turn derives from the Sanskrit word \"jangala\", meaning \"desert, uncultivated land.\" Citation: [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 )"
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8ywoey | Why are mice associated with cheese? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Most mice prefer to feed on grains and nuts rather than cheese, but when they're hungry, they'll eat whatever they can find that is edible. Cheese tends to smell very strongly, especially when not refrigerated, and that makes it easier to find by mice, so when they're hungry, they'll go for whatever's easiest to find, i.e. cheese. Over time, this created the (incorrect) assumption that mice like cheese, and this in turn was used in cartoons and other media so often that some people assume that mice are inordinately fond of cheese.",
"Cheese is often storded for long periods of time which increase the chance of mice finding it. Cheese has been made a long time so it has has time to fester as a symbol"
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8z2onh | Why do people argue that the world is flat even though history has claimed it is round? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Mostly because they are ignorant idiots. Demonstrating the roundness of the Earth is an experiment any kid can do."
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8z5p6f | Why do so many languages have similar words for parents (mom and dad)? | For instance: mom/mama and dad/papa in English, mama and baba in Swahili, 妈妈 (mama) and 爸爸 (baba) in Chinese, ummah/mama and abee/baba in Arabic etc. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"because those sounds are easy for babies to pronounce. It takes awhile for a human child's motor control over their mouth to develop enough to make certain sounds. ma and pa are ones that are easy to make, and parents have an interest in their children being able to say their name. So ma and pa have become very common ways to refer to parents across languages.",
"Because babies mouths produce those sounds first. The consonant-vowel babble is the first intentional sound a child will make, no matter what it's native language or culture. So parents have directed those sounds to mean mother and father in whatever variation their culture and language dictates. Any combination of consonant-vowel that can be repeated ... ba-ba, ma-ma, pa-pa, da-da .. or sounds with a closing consonant .. mom-mom, pop-pop, dad-dad .. those are the first noises a baby can make and they experiment with them. When the parents associate those repetitive sounds with a person, then it becomes a feedback loop. Baby says da da da da .. and the male person comes along and expresses approval and acknowledgement and encouragement .. which provides feedback for the baby to continue using those noises to refer to that person. So whether it's mama or umma .. it's the similar sound and the cultural acknowledgement of the relationship that makes it continue."
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8z9785 | Why No in most of the languages starts from 'N' | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Because a vast number of languages are based on the old Proto-Indo-European language, where \"ne\" means \"no.\" Languages of other origins don't have this feature, for example Chinese or Japanese.",
"This is in fact only the case for a relatively small number of rather influencial European languages. Languages including English, Spanish, Russian, French etc. all derive from Proto Indo-European, a language spoken by a large population in Europe between 5 and 7 thousand years ago. The words for \"no\" in these languages have their root in the Proto Indo-European \"ne\". Europe is mostly Indo-European speaking, but if you take an example from a non Indo-European language spoken in Europe, let's say Finnish, we get \"ei\" for no. The same can of course be said for non-European, non Indo-European languages, from Navajo to Swahili to Mandarin, where the word for no will not sound like \"no\" but maybe for coincidence. I imagine it seems like all words for no start with a \"n\" sound if you've mostly heard Indo-European languages."
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8zag9k | Why do People Riot After Major Sports Victories? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"People get increasingly stupider in groups... Good decision making goes straight out the window and is replaced by just trying to fit in... on the other hand, when you are surrounded by a violent crowd, fitting in generally keeps you from sticking out... and sticking out gets you killed. Mob mentality is a thing... a scary thing.",
"There will always be a couple bad eggs in every group. The bigger the group the bigger the amount of \"bad eggs\" will be. Mix that with alcohol and a police force that is stretched to far, to have any controle, and the result will be... You guessed it... Riot"
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8zatru | How come Idubbz gets a pass for saying the N word but other people don't? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Because society is tightly knitted ball of hypocrisies and what is socially acceptable and what isn't is ever changing minefield of taboo.",
"I think it has to do with him refusing to give the word any power. He kind of explains it in his Tana Mongeau content cop (i think). Personally, when he says it, there's no malicious intent. He's not using it as an insult or thrown at anyone so idrc what he says. I just wish he'd put out more kickstarter crap."
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8zg83x | Why do countries have "official" animals, flowers, and other such things? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Why not? it's a sign of identity, tradition, mark of culture, history, it's nature and speciality. Not all things must have a clear practical purpose, and humans are nothing if not deeply in love with symbolism. We jam symbolism into everything we can, no matter how big or small. It's not exactly suprising that we invent symbols to represent our nations.",
"Those particular symbols have special meanings and particular countries conform to them such as a bear which stands for strength/healing or for example an animal like the bold eagle is found only in regions of north America like USA. It is also important for countries to have national symbols because they carry specific meaning and/or reveal the country’s morals and ideals. Like the bengal tiger for India, the tiger is known to be strong and ferocious and intelligent."
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8zgfp2 | Why is Paris the city of love? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Dammit, the etymology seems to unknown. Possibly a lot if it had to do with Napoleon's obsession with romance and celebrating it, but it also might come from a combination of it being \"The city of lights\" (thanks to its early employment of gas Street lighting for all major thoroughfares) and it being a common destination for poets and artists."
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8zmoij | To people learning new languages: How does assimilation of words from a foreign language to one's vocabulary usually go? | Do you first try to translate it to your native language before learning it's meaning or association to the word to the object? Example: "Pomme is french word for an apple, so this red fruit I know in my language as apple is called pomme" Or do you build association of the foreign word directly to the object? Like: "this red fruit is called pomme." | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"When you first start, you usually try to make word to word associations, but this will only get you so far. Words often don't mean the exact same thing from language to language, garçon is translated as boy, but it has slightly different meanings in French than boy does in English. Beyond that you have grammatic constructs and idioms that don't translate at all. Eventually, you need to stop trying to assimilate and translate, and start being able to switch your brain into a different mode. One of the biggest milestones in learning a language is being about to think in that language.",
"Depends on how much you know. So at first you go with “apple is English for pomme”, since you don’t really know how to think of it as the “fruit” and “red”. When you have the vocabulary to it, it’s more like “the red fruit” At least to me!",
"I learned English by reading. I found out pretty fast that trying to translate what I was reading was counter productive, it would break the flow of reading. So I just decided to get carried by the words. First book I read felt really fuzzy, I did get the big picture of the story, but the rest was lost to me. Book after book, I expended my vocabulary, not by looking it up and linking it to my native language (French), but by finding out the general idea of what it meant from the context. Years later, I live with an English speaking wife and there are a lot of things that I say in English that I could not translate properly I. French because of my \" gut feeling \" way to learn the language."
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8zo7g7 | Why are bakeries, and fresh non-fast food in general, more prevalent in France than the U.S? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"What other people say is generally true, but also n the specific case of French bread, because it goes stale very quickly. Breads made from soft wheat, and breads with a very open texture, go stale almost instantly. A decent baguette will be fit only for cooking by the evening if it was bought in the morning. Hence both the large number of bakeries, but also (much to the horror of the more foodie English visitors) the rise of pre-pack sliced bread.",
"Because on the US we like our food fast and quick, it’s inexpensive, convenient, and you can mass produce it. The culture is entirely different in the US in comparison to France. We value quantity over quality when it comes to fast food; it’s the opposite in France. They locally source their food. France is known for a lot of great restaurants and food in general. Sometimes people can be known to sit down for a 2 hour meal. In the US many people don’t sit down to eat with their families at the dinner table, or even sit down at all. It’s the demand our society produces. We want food fast and we want it to taste good even if it’s not that great for us. In other cultures people want to have good, quality food and they want to sit down and enjoy it slowly.",
"I would kill to have a bakery near me, It would be awesome to get some fresh bread and snacks instead of kwik trip bread...."
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8zsknx | Why is discussing pay from work a bad thing? | So I got a job as a summer internship at a fairly big company. I wanted to take this chance to learn more about how companies work, so I asked a lot of questions. The employees there were very friendly and helpful to me, and answered all of them. However, when I asked about the pay they were getting, they weren't willing to tell me, except that they were happy with it. Reddit, why is it that discussing pay/salary from work is a bad thing? Why is it a privacy that people need to protect? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It may be discouraged by management for the simple fact that people in the same positions or with similar experience are earning different wages, which if discussed openly can create problems for the company.",
"Management doesn't want employees comparing notes because it gives employees leverage in salary negotiations. If you know that Johnson down the hall is making 10% more than you for the same job, then suddenly you have a reason to go ask them for more.",
"I saw a study once about people openly talking about salaries and how it has huge benefits for employees. It would force businesses to be more competitive with salaries/benefits, increases employee morale and make everything more fair. It gives you what employees want at the expense of what the business wants -- to pay you as little as possible for the work you do.",
"Management gets extremely hostile towards people who freely exchange information. They like having a power asymmetry in negotiations, which is lessened slightly when employees have more equal information.",
"It comes down to trust. If I disclose my salary, you may feel resentment if it's higher than yours and you may feel undervalued. You may also gossip about me or disclose to others in your friend group. You may feel that I don't deserve such a salary. All of these feelings may adversely affect our working relationship. Now, this information is valuable to you! It would give you negotiating leverage. It would promote transparency and decrease the likelihood of disparity. Thisn information would assist you with future negotiations, inside and outside the company. So: there's 0 upside for me to tell you, and lots of risk of instigating resentment and gossip, and I could do without the workplace drama. But there are potentially many upsides for you. If we have trust and rapport, I'd be more willing to disclose!"
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8zuiyf | How do we know history is totally accurate? | How do we know history is totally accurate and that the information that we know hasn’t been wronged over time? For example, when playing Chinese whispers, the sentence at the beginning is completely different at the end the majority of the time. So how do we know this hasn’t happened to history over time? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"We don't and we're completely conscious of it. History is always an incomplete picture based on what we have available and is shaped by the historian who is writing about it. However, the same can be said of, say, physics. We don't *know* any of it is true, it's just our best theory to fit the evidence we have. I wouldn't go jumping off of buildings on the assumption that gravity isn't real, though.",
"Is the opposite. We know it has (and continues) to happen. History is not perfect by any measure and any responsible study of history includes understanding the biases and incomplete nature of the sources. There is a ton of interpretation in learning about history.",
"There are good chunks of history that we know are completely inaccurate but it's the best we can do, and knowing the myths/lies that the people knew is also important for understanding history If you ever learn about the early Roman Republic you'll probably also learn about the Roman Kingdom and the *Seven* Kings of Rome. We know that there would be more than seven Kings in 250 years, but all the accurate information was lost when the Gauls sacked Rome in the early Republic. But the myths of the Seven Kings of Rome lived on through the Republic and Empire and shaped their beliefs so while we know they aren't accurate, they're still historically important",
"“I shall tell you of William Wallace. There are historians that will say I am a liar. But history is written by those who have hanged heroes.” Best intro to a movie ever, and completely accurate. Imagine what sort of history has been endorsed or simply snuffed out by major religions? It’s scary to think about.",
"> How do we know history is totally accurate and that the information that we know hasn’t been wronged over time? We don't - we just have evidence that some things happend, but the strength of evidence usually decreases the further back in time you look, and the fewer people there were who cared about something. > So how do we know this hasn’t happened to history over time? By not trusting things simply because someone wrote them down. You look for independant original sources, to see whether they agree. Comparing sources from different countries talking about the same events is particularly interesting. You look for the physical original manuscripts and check whether they are the right age (carbon dating) and use period-and location-appropriate materials, and the handwriting matches other texts from the same author. You look for non-written archaeological evidence: * If records say a battle occurred in a certain place, there should be bones and weapons buried there. * If a city was destroyed by a fire, you can probably find burned rubble underneath the current buildings. * If a king was crowned in a certain year, there can be coins depciting him found in sites dated later, but not earlier. Nothing is ever completely certain, but at some point, it becomes basically impossible that someone faked all the evidence, especially when there is no obvious reason for it."
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907het | Why do other countries eat up American Entertainment and trends, but the opposite doesn't hold true for foreign entertainment in the U.S? | Things like American movies, tv shows, music, and even viral dance moves (ex. in my feelings challenge which is current right now) seem to be loved by foreign countries, but it is very rarely the other way around or at least not as prominent. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Most of the rest of the world doesn't mass produce English language entertainment. While foreigners can often understand English, or are use to having programs dubbed or subtitled, the US audience won't watch a foreign language production over their massive home media output. Those countries that do produce English language media do occasionally make traction in the US - *Wentworth* recently from Australia, *What we do in the Shadows* from New Zealand certainly has an international cult following, and of course many British shows are popular. I suspect the number of productions that make it in the US is about proportional to the size of those english speaking countries media industry.",
"I'd argue it's not that rare. We love foreign video games here in America. Many popular games in the US are from Japan, as well as quite a few from Europe. Lots of people watch BBC TV shows like Doctor Who or Sherlock. Also Japanese animation has a huge following in the US.",
"The US is the largest economy in the world. We pump a lot of that economy into entertainment. It’s natural that, with so much being made, the amount getting to other nations would be massive. It doesn’t hurt that the vast majority of US made entertainment is in English(which is the most *widely* spoken language). That’s not to say other nations entertainment doesn’t make it to the US. British pop culture is booming in the US as well as Japanese. Hell, a few years back, the biggest song was [Korean]( URL_0 ). But the massiveness of the US on the global scale just dwarfs any other nation in terms of pop culture",
"It's because The US is the entertainment capital of the world. We just make so much more of it, and at a professional level, than other countries do. That's why actors from all over the world often end up in LA.",
"There is no one answer to this- by one component I haven’t seen mentioned is the effect of the World Wars on the film industry. Europe had a lot of rebuilding and film industries that were blooming before WWI couldn’t catch up to what was being done in Hollywood. From a NYTimes article: “The great victor of World War I in cinema, as in all else, was, of course, the United States. Alone among the combatants, America emerged with its society and economy intact. One immediate consequence was Hollywood's domination of screens around the world.” Source: URL_0",
"They are big consumers of entertainment produced in english speaking countries like England and Canada.",
"Its an anecdote, but I'm American and a large percentage of my entertainment and news media come from the BBC, and most of the video games I play come from Sweden."
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90mngc | If the Hindu trinity consists of Vishnu, Brahma, and Shiva, why are the major traditions Vaishnavism and Shaivism, but none for Brahma? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Well, primarily because Brahma had one of his heads chopped off and was cursed by Shiva that he wouldn't be worshipped. Let me explain why it all went wrong for Brahma. Ok, so, Brahma's the creator of the universe, and along with the universe, Brahma created a female deity, Shatarupa: Someone who can have a hundred forms. At this point of time, Brahma was normal and had one head. But Shatarupa was hot and Brahma became infatuated with her and stared at her wherever he went. So much so that he sprouted 3 more heads to have 4 heads to look at her in all directions(I know, I know, he was a creep). And nobody likes your creator fawning over you (smells like incest). Shatarupa even jumped high in the sky to escape his sight, but he sprouted another head on top of all of them to look at her even there. Brahma was getting attached to material things and flexing his powers for the wrong goals: to manifest control over his creations. These are qualities of a lower Jiva(life form), not a divine being Shiva was having none of it. He was like five is a crowd, but four is good, and chopped off the top facing head of Brahma. And due to Brahma becoming attached to the material objects and ignoring the permanent soul, Shiva cursed Brahma that he would not be worshipped. TL; DR: Brahma was pervy. Created hot female diety and couldn't stop staring at her everywhere she went. Grew four more heads to always follow her in any direction; even in the air. Shiva punished Brahma by cutting off one head, and cursing him that he wouldn't be worshipped because he has become more materialistic than spiritual, and for lusting after his own material creation Edit: There could be other legends as to why Brahma is not allowed to be worshipped. This is the one I was taught.",
"/u/letapnamk Did a great job explaining this. I'd like to add some more. Disclaimer: I am not a Hindu, just a student of religion and philosophy. As well as the sexual misconduct of Lord Brahma, Brahma and Vishnu had a competition to prove who was the greater of the two and who should be worshiped. Brahma told a lie, and Vishnu decapitated him as well. Another things that Hindus believe is a sort of energy involving the Hindu trinity. This is more philosophy of religion. Unlike the Abrahamic God, Brahma is not omnitemporal. He does not have enough energy to last throughout time. His work in this world is done. We can look at it this way: Brahma is the beginning. But he is not infinite. He has exhausted his energy in the creation of the universe. Because of this, Brahma is often depicted as an aged man. Vishnu is the maintainer of the universe and Shiva is the destroyer. So why worship Brahma? He is already done with his stuff. He is respected, but not worshiped."
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90ngb9 | How were people in the past not incredibly dehydrated? | I read an article in *Scientific American* or some such magazine explaining that entire societies used to drink almost exclusively fluids that were alcoholic because of the relatively extremely recent onset of reliable potable-water sources. So I get that people in history were, on average, perhaps and only sometimes the littlest-bit tipsy making all the important decisions that led to today. But tl;dr did people have headaches like all the time? (Apologies in advance: This is my first post on Reddit; didn't know if I should put this on r/NoStupidQuestions or here) | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Beer today averages 4-5% abv but the beer consumed in the past (for example places where water was unsafe to drink due to contamination) was only ~0.5% abv. So you could drink it all day and probably not even catch a buzz, while also steering clear of the dehydrating effects you experience from a night of heavy drinking.",
"First off, the modern advice to \"drink even when you're not thirsty\" is now considered to be wrong, and in some cases may even be harmful (overhydration can lead to conditions like \"hyponatraemia\"). If you're reasonably healthy and not elderly, you can keep perfectly well hydrated if you let thirst be your guide -- drink when thirsty, basically. The risks of dehydration are probably overstated by drinks manufacturers. It is true that in many societies alcoholic drinks like beer were drunk regularly as a much safer alternative to water: the brewing process killed most pathogens, and the alcohol helped as a preservative (later it was discovered that hops were also a great preservative, although it meant getting used to the bitter taste). But mediaeval beer was not like a modern beer at all. It was more like liquid bread, and although the story that beer is considered a foodstuff in Germany is in fact a myth, it was genuinely a very valuable supplement to the diet. The alcohol content was much, much lower, and beer could safely be given to children. But it's not true that these societies hardly drank anything else. Human settlements were often built where there was access to reasonably clean water, especially springs and small streams; if those sources weren't around, there were places where wells could be dug to gain access to water. In those days, because people didn't try to keep their homes antiseptically clean, they developed very robust immune systems to deal with any bacteria in the water. In addition, if you eat a healthy, balanced diet, with plenty of fruit and vegetables, you can get up to about 20% of your fluid needs from your food. Finally, people in those days took precautions to guard against heat stroke, precautions that we often forget: in hot weather they would wear head coverings (hats or headscarves, for example) and seek shade; during the hottest part of the day they would avoid working at all (a tradition that exists in modern Spain in the form of a \"siesta\"), preferring to work in the mornings and evenings instead.",
"I think /r/NoStupidQuestions would be more fitting, or maybe even /r/askscience under the appropriate category, but anyway, it's pretty much a myth that humans mainly consumed alcoholic beverages instead of water. Yes it is true that beer type alcoholic beverages were very popular, and they did provide a way to drink water that prior to being brewed was dangerous, but there was plenty of fresh water available, for people and animals, and it was accessible. Another aspect of the exaggeration is that people didn't know how to purify water so they were just dying all the time until they started drinking beer, which is wrong, most of the water they had access to was already clean enough to drink, and they also knew how to identify potentially dangerous water and knew to boil it before drinking it.",
"The beer being drank at that era and for that purpose was far less alcoholic than todays beer, like < 1% alcohol percentage. It was so much lower because it was brewn from the grains which were already used once to brew beer with.",
"Beer, even modern beers which have higher alcohol content almost twice their historical counterparts strength are not enough to dehydrate you. The amount of water in the beverage is higher than the amount of water the alcohol will cause you to lose through diuretic effect. In fact you have to get into strong spirits that are 40% abv (80 proof) or more to be consuming enough alcohol that the amount of water in the drink does not compensate for the amount you would lose. Other alcoholic drinks like wine were normally watered down to be weaker than modern counterparts as well. They would only drinks strong drinks for specific celebrations, or if they were lushes and gluttons."
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90ut2u | Genocide removed, what were the principles of Nazism especially during the Hitler area | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It gained power by degrees. They started with little things like characterizing Jews, the Roma, and others as an enemy that threatened the economy, then into taking their businesses, then on to the Holocaust proper. You really can't remove genocide and get a real explanation. That was always part of the plan. It was a lot like how the KKK says they don't hate blacks or Jews, they just really love and want the best for whites. That \"the best for whites\" comes at the cost of everyone else is unspoken but known.",
"After WWI, Germany was forced to pay reparations for the war. Taxes had to rise, income plummeted, inflation went through the roof. Families were literally using money for wallpaper because you'd need a wheelbarrow full of it to buy bread. The National Socialist (NaZi) party ran on a platform of jobs and bread for every German. They'd accomplish this by making sure Germans got preferential treatment. Mistreatment and dehumanization of non-Germans, Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, the disabled, etc all flowed from this nationalistic protectionism. If memory serves, the Nazis legitimately got something like 30% of the vote before they (with Hitler at the helm) saw the opportunity and seized power by killing their opponents, expanding Hitler's power, and giving everyone jobs (at war factories) and giving everyone food (grown on land \"Lebensraum\" soon acquired from neighboring countries).",
"Hitler needed scapegoats to gain power--He blamed the gov't for surrendering w/o reason in WW I, he blamed the Jews for not fighting in WW I(a false claim, Jews fought just as much as Germans on a per capita basis)he blamed democracy for the catastrophic unemployment and economic collapse of Germany, he stated Jews could never be patriotic like the Germans since Jews were a race and only helped themselves, and were therefore traitors The Holocaust was not actually put in place until Hitler conquered Poland in Sept of 1939--Before this, increasingly systematic discrimination was put into place to encourage Jews just to leave, to get out of Germany thru emigration(about 50% did)--Once Poland was taken, widespread killing of Polish Jews commenced(Google 'Nazi Massacres 1939 to 1941')--Concentration camps were eventually set up, and German Jews were put in them also as well as other Jews from the conquered Western countries---After Hitler conquered huge areas of the Soviet Union in 1941, it was decided that since so many Jews were captured, and also that there was some concern on morale among the troops from the countless massacres against the Jews, the more efficient method of gassing of Jews commenced in early 1942--Although close to 6 million Jews were killed in the hundreds of death camps, 11 million people in total died or were killed in the camps"
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90z2v5 | why are there so many names for Germany? (Germany, Deutschland, Niemcy, Allemagne, Saksa, etc)? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Germany spent quite a long period of its history as a confederation of tribes, rather than as a singular nation. Thus, there wasn't really a single name to call the entire region until more recently. Deutschland is the Germanic word for it, and countries with Germanic languages tend to use a variation of this. Germany is from Latin Germania, which is what the Romans called the region. Many of the other names are derived from particular tribes of Germanic origin, particularly the Alemani, Saxon, and Teuton tribes. Niemcy may also come from this (from the Nemetes tribe).",
"History. The German \"Deutschland\" most likely refers to the language. 2,000 years ago, the various different tribes who lived in the area had their language in common (or rather, different varieties of the language, but this is ELI5 so let's not get bogged down in too much detail), and in the days before the modern concept of a nation state evolved, that's how people identified themselves. It appears to go back to a word meaning \"ordinary people\", so it was \"the language of the ordinary people\" -- in contrast to the pretentious Greek and Latin spoken by people who thought themselves superior. \"Deutsch\" is related to the word \"Teutonic\", and also gives us Swedish, Norwegian and Danish \"Tyskland\", as well as the Italian \"tedesco\" for the German language. It also described the language spoken in the Low Countries, as that was originally a variety of the German language -- we now consider it a separate language and call it \"Dutch\". The Dutch themselves call their language \"Nederlands\", and this confusion is why the German spoken by the Amish is called \"Pennsylvania Dutch\". Language is also the concept behind \"Niemcy\" and other similar names used by the Slavic peoples. These lived to the east of the German-speakers, and they spoke Slavic languages like Polish and Czech. \"Niemcy\" comes from an old Slavic word meaning \"mute\", as in: \"unable to speak correctly\". To them, German was just meaningless gibberish. \"Germany\" is from Latin \"Germania\". There are a few theories about that one, but the general consensus is that the Romans sucked when it came to giving names to areas. Apparently, they took the name of a tribe that lived roughly where Belgium is now, and for some reason applied it to places that tribe didn't live in. When the French crossed the Rhine into what is now south-west Germany, they found a tribe called the Alemanni, so this is how they came to call the country \"Allemagne\" -- and so did other countries that borrowed the French name like, naturally, Spanish (\"Alemania\"), and, surprisingly, Turkish (\"Almanya\"). By contrast, when the Finns crossed over into German-speaking areas in the north-east of the country, one of the tribes they encountered there was the Saxon tribe, and that resulted in the Finnish \"Saksa\". During the whole of the Middle Ages, Germany didn't exist as a single country: it was an ever-changing patchwork of territories loosely united in a confederation. It called itself the \"Holy Roman Empire\" (because it considered itself to be a continuation of the original Roman Empire), and later the \"Holy Roman Empire of German Nations\" (in German: \"Heiliges Römisches Reich deutscher Nationen\"). The *German* Empire didn't come about until 1871.",
"Deutschland is what the Germans call their own country. The other names are what foreign tribes call Germany in their own language. Most of the names for Germany come from a Germanic tribe that non German nations encountered,like Allemagne comes from a tribe called Alamani for example"
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910t44 | Who or what is Krishna? | The more I try to understand this, the more confused I become. I listened to the Bhagavad Gita for the first time yesterday. Krishna seems to be simultaneously a historical flesh and blood person, Big G GOD, and the incarnation of another God. I can't really figure out the big picture here. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Note that what you just said can also apply to Jesus, minus the \"incarnation of another god\".",
"To Vaishnava Hindus, devotees of Vishnu, of which I am one, we believe Vishnu and his avatara (incarnations) to be God. So, Vishnu and Krishna are actually one and the same. Krishna is by far one of the most popular forms of God to Hindus. What you see in the Bhagavad Gita is the earthly form (Krishna) of God/Vishnu speaking to his human friend Arjuna. At one point in the Gita, Krishna shows his cosmic/divine multi-armed form (the iconography indicates his power) to Arjuna. It's like the Transfiguration of Christ on steroids. Incidentally, there is some evidence that the events of the Mahabharata (wherein we find the Bhagavad Gita, the Song of God), and Krishna himself were historical. We believe he is God, but there may be a historical Krishna, not unlike the historical Jesus."
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910yha | Why is revealing the chest considered fine for men yet taboo and sexual for women? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Because breasts are a secondary sexual characteristic. Women develop breasts when as become sexually mature, and men are attracted to them as a sign of fertility. The same is not true about a man's chest.",
"Culture. If you go down to Brazil the culture for the indigenous is to let those titties fly",
"A lot of other countries is not like the US when it comes to nudity or sexual content. (Non Muslim) countries. So it’s more or less a US stigma on it. I really don’t know why the US is so closed minded when it comes to woman’s breasts being shown or displayed."
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912x9x | Why are MLB managers and coaches the only ones in professional sports to wear team uniforms? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It's tradition. Way back in the day, managers used to actually play on the team they managed.",
"Managers and coaches are allowed to be on the field to give instructions and to argue with umpires, which is not allowed in other sports. This, and the reason that they are also allowed to play, is why they wear uniforms."
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9176bo | How did the name "Jesus Christ" come to be equated to expressing shock and surprise? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Invoking the name of Jesus, God, or other deities is a common reaction to shock and surprise. In its original religious context you are literally calling on them to bless you and protect you in that moment, or you are calling on them to condemn or curse someone or something in that moment. As the habits became ingrained into common practice it took on the secular meaning of exclaiming shock, but many religious people still hold to the original uses and that is why you get admonitions of \"do not use the Lords name in vain\" when you use it simply to show shock.",
"It probably came out of invoking the name of Christ when people were terrified of things they assumed to be manifestations of the devil"
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9193ct | Why isn't time read literally as numbers but instead the letter O is said to represent zero? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"In English (at least American English) unless you have a bunch of zeros in a row you almost always say \"O\" for every single number, not just time.",
"\"Oh\" is one syllable and \"Zero\" is two. People are lazy. We changed the word \"Colour\" to \"Color\" or \"Honour\" to \"Honor\" because the U is silent and people were too lazy to write it."
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91b7k0 | If there is a salary cap in the NBA, how do the same teams stay strong and up the top for many years in a row? Non American here. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"I don't see the relationship here. People don't just play for money, they are also playing for prestige and fame. Not all teams might be willing or able to pay top dollar for every single player.",
"Because salaries aren't the only thing that attracts and retains top talent. Players want to play for strong teams, because it enhances the player's brand and bargaining power. A player would be wise to take a lower salary offer from a team with a shot at a championship, because being a champion is worth a huge amount of money in endorsements and future contract negotiations. Smart recruiting is also huge. Picking players who are undervalued can make a low-cost team great. Not everyone who demands a huge salary is worth the money, and there are tons of guys who are willing to take a smaller check to get a chance at proving themselves."
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91emtx | Where does antisemitism stem from? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"People just love to mistreat other people who are different, just because they are different. This has been going on for literally 100% of human history, everywhere humans have existed. Antisemitism is when the difference in question is: They are Jewish, you are not. You can't give any one exact reason for antisemitism because it, like Judaism, is quite ancient. But of all the reasons to hate someone who is different, religion is an all-time favorite. People who get a little too into their own religion reflexively look down on those of different religions - heck, not even Jews are an exception to this rule. If you are asking why antisemitism is a particularly prominent form of discrimination (this is a great debate to break up a group of friends), well, consider that the two largest religions in the world share their origins with Judaism. This is perhaps overly simplified, but Christianity and Islam are the two biggest faiths in the world right now are are both \"spin-offs\" of an origin story present in Judaism as well. Hell, the very beginnings of Christianity were rooted in persecution by, at the time, Jews unto other Jews. Similarly, Islam has been at odds with Judaism for a very, very long time (particularly since 1948...). So it isn't hard to see why there could be a tendency among particularly extreme followers of these religions to have antisemitic leanings. Again, there's absolutely no one answer to this. At the end, it boils down to people not liking people who are different."
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91g2ir | Why is there a need to share experiences that we have with others? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The root is in biology. We want to learn from other peoples mistakes (in order to avoid doing them ourselves). In return, we let other people know about stuff we did, so they can learn from our mistakes or adapt our strategies if they lead to success. Imagine finding a plant and wonder if you could eat it's fruit. Of course, you could just find out and eat the fruit, and live with the consequences, but that would be a bad strategy on an evolutionary perspective. You'd probably be happy if someone told you that he's seen somebody eating this fruit before (or preferably he's eaten the fruit before and has survived). In the end, you want to expand your knowledge by learning from other people's experience, see the example with the fruit. Assuming that you never share your experience with others, the other people probably will stop sharing their experiences with you, and you will be worse off, because you'll have to find out stuff by yourself."
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91ofes | Why do humans kiss each other? How did it begin? Are we the only animals that do it? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"> At its most basic, kissing is a mating behavior, encoded in our genes. We share the vast majority of those genes with the mammalian species, but only humans (and occasionally our close primate relatives like chimps and bonobos) kiss. > But the reason for kissing is still mostly a mystery, even to scientists who have spent decades studying the behavior. It’s not possible to say which is the overriding factor: that people kiss because of a psychological attraction, or because of a subconscious urge to mate with the chosen kiss-ee. Most likely, it’s a combination of the two. “You can’t have psychology without a biological brain,” says Rafael Wlodarski, who has devoted much of his career to philematology—the science of kissing. That was taken from [this article]( URL_0 ). The article goes into greater detail, but does not give a clear definitive answer. Go forth, young philematologist.",
"Scientific American did a piece on this and one of the findings was that ~96% of people lean their heads to the right when kissing. There was no correlation between this trend and which hand is their dominant hand, but rather between this trend and how the subjects’ mothers held them when they were being breast fed as infants. So maybe kissing reminds of that.",
"I have a bachelors in Immunology and in one of my classes I heard about mothers kissing their babies because it allows them to expose themselves to the same antigens that their babies are being exposed to, allowing them to passively immunize the child.",
"There's this vsause video that explains this really great in detail. It talks about evolutionary reasons, like mother's prechewing food for babies and using bad breath as indicators of poor mating choices, and a couple other points. I super love this guy because the videos are super informative. URL_0",
"Bonobos are known to suck on each other’s tongues... and up to 12 minutes at a time in some cases. Guess you could call it a kiss.",
"Interestingly this was/is not a universal behavior amongst humans. When Europeans initially invaded the Americas, records indicate Native Americans found the European custom of kissing strange and kind of gross (share your saliva with someone else?). Therefore, I disagree with any strictly evolutionary explanations, as it is clearly a cultural phenomenon, albeit an ancient one. From a physiological perspective, your lips have far more real-estate in your brain in terms of feeling sensations than almost anywhere else (excepting genitalia and fingertips).",
"This is completely hearsay: I had heard once that certain immune system proteins were exchanged in the saliva and humans were more attracted to other humans with immune system proteins different than their own (through evolution) because it gave their offspring a stronger overall immune system.",
"I read somewhere a long time ago that it originated as a way for men to test if their wives had been getting into the mead while they were away. Probably not true.",
"Here's a [video]( URL_0 ) of polar bears making out in the zoo of Budapest.",
"Why do humans kiss each other. - Most commonly a sign of affection, thou not all humans use it as such. How did it begin? - It is an evolved behavior Are we the only animals that do it? - My dog is pretty adamant about kissing anything with a pulse. If you mean specifically lip on lip, baboon, chimpanzees etc do it. This depends more heavily on having lips to begin with.",
"One theory is that mothers used to kiss-feed their babies before baby food was the norm. So the brain released feel good hormones when kissing. Then it evolved into normal kissing also feeling nice and the behavior reinforced. There’s a Vsaucs video on this. You should check it out URL_0",
"URL_0 TL;DR Animals find mates by smelling. Animals have a great sense of smell while humans don't. So some humans get close to each other and kiss rather than going around sniffing everyone. However most of the human population doesn't kiss but chimpanzees and other primates do.",
"I think it's got to do with smelling and being close. If I'm cuddling with or holding someone, I don't really care about their butt or their legs or their back or whatever. I want to be close to them. I want to feel them a lot, smell them, and I want to experience what they're experiencing - this leads to face to face. Now, I COULD just rub my face against theirs, or I could kiss them. Both are intimate, but it's easier to be closer to someone when kissing them. It requires less effort, and before/after the kiss, there's eye contact.",
"The Evolution of Kissing, Cliff Notes Edition: I'M GOING TO PUT MY HOLE WHERE THE FOOD GOES ON HER HOLE WHERE THE FOOD GOES. THEN I WILL PUT WHERE I PEE IN WHERE SHE PEES.",
"I once listened to and NPR broadcast (possibly This American Life) where it talked about the indigenous people of Alaska and how they would suck on the nose of their babies and toddlers to clear snot. It is thought of as the origin of the “Eskimo kiss”.",
"Kissing originated in actually a maternal bond when a child. Nowadays we have baby food and ways to mush all kinds of food into itty bitty little bits to feed to baby’s. Before this, when switching from breast milk to solid food, the grand mother or mother of the baby would take food and chew it into tiny little bits for a baby to eat. Then they would feed it to the baby by kissing it into their mouths. Some cultures continue this tradition today. It creates a strong bond between the two individuals involved. It is an innocent intimate act. This then developed to adults kissing adults for a similar feel of intimacy in their relationships. Now I am not Freud but you can see there seems to be a shadow of his concept in there. I learned this from an educational video in college from a developmental psych class. The video went on about the early stages of life."
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91zix6 | How do so many bars get away with only hiring "sexy" female staff without facing a huge backlash? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Appearance is not a legally protected class. Furthermore, a bar can make a legal case that attractiveness is actually part of the job. In some cases they can even make a legal case that being female (or being male) is a *bona fide occupational qualification,* that is, a job requirement."
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922tvk | Poe’s law | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"You ever have an elderly relative send you a link to an Onion article, thinking it is true? It is kind of like that. Poe's Law was originally an observation and criticism of young earth creationism, saying it was impossible to make a parody of their ideas, because someone would take it seriously. Or in some cases, it was already being taken seriously. The notion has spread and been applied to parodies in general.",
"The core idea of Poe's Law is that a parody of something extreme can be mistaken for the real thing, and if a real thing sounds extreme enough, it can be mistaken for a parody (all because parodies are intrinsically extreme). I prefer the Feiffer version from 1959: > Satire doesn't stand a chance against reality anymore."
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92dcau | - why is the number 23 considered special / cool? Like in basketball leagues. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Michael Jordan is considered the greatest basketball player of all time and wore 23. It was so iconic that a team he never even played for (Miami Heat) retired their #23 jersey in honour of him. LeBron James, another all-time great who wears 23, has talked about the possibility of the number being retired league-wide out of respect for what MJ achieved (although this seems extremely unlikely to ever happen.)"
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92jr8s | Why do many flags have a star or multiple stars on them? Do these stars all represent something similar? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The ones I know from my head: On the USA flag they stand for each state. On the Australian flag you have the Southern Cross constellation and the federation star. The New Zealand flag also has the Southern Cross. The Chinese flag has the communist party for the big star and the four classes for the little ones. The flag from Brazil has the various constellations visible over Rio over them. The stars in the flag of Syria is for the (ruling?) dynasty and represent Egypt and Syria. So, they more or less all mean something else based on the country you are talking about. See URL_0 for a list of all flags with stars, a quick google search will tell you what they mean for a specific one."
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92lx20 | what is head, chest and falsetto voice and how to use it effectively? | People say that head voice is when the sound resonates is your head, but whenever I sing I feel resonance only in my throat, no matter how I sing. Am I singing the wrong way? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Long answer... it has to do with vocal chords and echoes. Your chest voice is where the deeper sounds in your vocal register are produced. It uses the lower part of your vocal chords and the sound echoes about in the lower part of your throat (which is actually located in the very top of your chest. Where you neck and chest meet. Your neck pit? I digress.) Basically in that soft area right at the base of your throat. It is created there and bounces around a bit before leaving your mouth. If you put a hand over the very top of your chest and sing the lowest note you can comfortably hit at average volume you can probably feel the vibrations there. Head voice is a higher sound but where the sound is still produced by a large part of your vocal chords, but the thinner portion (which is located higher in the throat) and tends to bounce around your sinuses a smidge before leaving your head. You tend to feel the resonance or buzzing sensation near or in that sinus cavity, and sometimes in the back of your mouth. Falsetto is a falsely high part o the register where only the top little smidgen of your vocal chords is used. It tends to sound very tinny because of that. Imagine a guitar string where you are pressing down on the string way way down on the neck. That sound is being made right at the tippy top of your vocal chords and tends to come straight out your mouth. Short answer: Yeah you are probably just doing it wrong. IT has to do with breathing more than anything and how you breath. Try breathing differently. Singing advice online is hard. You might also try a vocal coach."
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92pjlt | What is kosher? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Kosher is a Hebrew word meaning \"proper\". Kosher food is food that can be eaten if you are following the Jewish dietary laws. These laws include: * Certain foods are forbidden altogether, such as pork and shellfish. * Meat must be slaughtered in a particular way and completely drained of blood. * Meat and dairy can't be mixed together. And other more specific rules."
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92u5dq | Why is Hispanic/Latino treated as a race in the media and elsewhere? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Race is largely a social construct in the country that defines it. In the US, people from Latin America and Mexico are seen to share enough biological, social, and physical characteristics to be considered a 'race'. It's important to understand that while racial categories include an element of biology, they are not solely based on biological characteristics. Countries like South Africa have very different categories of racial groups than the US, and different ways of determining who falls into said groups.",
"In English, at least American English usage, it is common utilize the definition of race that was used for centuries, dating back at least to Roman times. This definition is essentially a synonym for the word \"ethnicity\" and used to differentiate between tribal groups. Every tribe was a different race. This can be confusing because we also use the definition developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s where race is a category a tier higher than ethnicity that group many ethnicities together (White grouping all of European descent for example). Latinos are an ethnic group whose ancestry is descended from a European colonial power that spoke a Romance language. This is Spain and Portugal, but also France and Italy. Hispanics are a subset who are just the Spanish speaking portion. These terms technically apply to all of the \"parent\" nations as well as their colonies if they have kept speaking the language though they are normally reserved for the former colonies in the Americas and often reserved for only the Spanish and Portuguese colonies.",
"*Only in the USA. We just call ourselves whites, it's only when we go to America that we are told we are not white but a separate race. I've always found it to be a weird level of racism. In my opinion it's simple done to oppress us."
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92wp0n | Why is it that humans have a lot more distinct feature where you can tell one apart from another, but animals almost always look the same? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Three things: There’s a phenomenon where people have a hard time telling people of a race different than their own apart, because their brain hasn’t practiced seeing those types of faces. I would assume this is also the case with animals. Basically, we’re good at identifying human features because we see them a lot, but we don’t have practice with other animals. Second, the human brain is wired from birth to recognize human faces. Newborns will stare at vaguely face-shaped things. This implies that we have an instinctive recognition of human faces. Third, not all animals have the same diversity as we do across a small population. Most squirrels, fish, raccoons, etc. in an area look the same because they’re not as genetically diverse as people.",
"They do have distinct features but we’re just not as observant of them. Kind of like saying “all Asians or white people look the same”. You don’t start to notice differences until you’ve spent enough time with them.",
"Your premise is false. You are a human adapted to look at and recognize other humans. Humans are not particularly recognizable, you just have an innate skill for recognizing humans. For other animals adapted to recognizing their own species it is much easier to distinguish them and harder to distinguish humans. This is even observable within humans where other ethnic groups which we are inexperienced with will tend to be more difficult to distinguish. Hence the whole \"All X people look the same to me..\""
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935932 | why do TV stations still air new episodes at a set time, if it'll be on demand and streamable anyway? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The channels or stations that air new episodes have exclusive broadcast rights (that they pay the studio that makes the show) lots of money for. The channel/stations do this for advertising revenue - so for the two or three months between the show airing and when it shows up in iTunes or Netflix, the channel that broadcasts it gets to make money from the commercials they show during it. Not common, but sometimes a channel will take a loss on airing a new show to highlight their own shows that they'll put on immediately after. Like, CTV airing Game of Thrones season premiere and airing their new police procedural right after."
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93bzvp | Why don’t we just bury people in the backyard? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"A few reasons. Historically, virtually all societies have had various forms of venerating the deceased. Most people consider it abhorrent to dispose of a body as if it were just garbage to be gotten rid of. We have various rituals devoted to them, and only dispose of bodies in ways considered to be \"respectful\", usually burial and cremation (although we also bury garbage in landfills and burn it in incinerators, so it's not all that different). This brings me to the next point. When corpses are buried, we usually mark the place with a cross or headstone, so that we can return to the burial site to pay respects to the deceased. If you bury it in your backyard, you might not be able to freely return to that site to pay respects. If you move out of the house or it gets destroyed in a fire, then you'll have lost your sacred place to respect the dead. So we have specialized places called graveyards or cemeteries where all the dead are buried side by side, a place that is relatively permanent, and is also treated with reverence and respect. If you have a grave in the backyard, it might be seen as disrespectful for children to play on it, for your dog to shit on it, for workmen to dig in it to lay pipes and electrical wires and such, etc. And finally, in modern times, we have gone to great lengths to embalm dead bodies so they don't decompose as quickly (for what reason, I'll never know). Embalming fluid is incredibly toxic and can poison soil and groundwater, which is why most cities now require that wooden coffins be surrounded in a further metal container to prevent embalming fluid from leaking into the soil and groundwater. This is not something you want in your backyard.",
"Smallpox epidemics taught us to be much more conscientious about proper corpse disposal. Now there are laws about where and how deep a corpse must be buried.",
"While it depends on your local laws, you can in fact bury a loved one in your backyard. Some jurisdictions do have regulations to doing this. The things is that family cemeteries are a thing and often in larger generational estates family members were often buried on site. The fact is that it needs to be reported to start with. Since many residential homes will often house many different family in there lifespan, having someone elses buried family member in your backyard would be creepy. Additionally there are laws dictating what can be done with graves, so this would drastically hurt the value of a home."
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93du1y | Those celebrates who earn $500k to $1 million per Instagram post, who actually pays them? and how many posts a day are they allowed? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"When you see a character in your favorite cartoon drink a soda that your mom buys at home. That's an advertisment. Now these people on really any creative sharing site may it be YouTube or insta. Have companies come to them because they have a big following like that cartoon we talked about. And when they can get alot of people to view an ad for let's say, a new shirt. They will be willing to pay alot of money. Because putting an ad of television already costs a whole lot more money."
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940ync | Why do rules of engagement seem stricter for soldiers than for police officers? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Because generally speaking soldiers have higher levels of training and are using far more dangerous weapons. As such the ROEs need to be stricter and adhered a lot more strictly so major incidents don't happen.",
"This will vary across countries, of course. From a UK perspective, it's clearly not true. To start with, police officers don't routinely carry firearms (except in Northern Ireland, I think). Any fatal shooting automatically triggers an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. (Not that this stops some questionable incidents, like the police shooting a blind man or shooting a guy carrying a chair leg.)",
"The way you treat your enemy defines how they treat you (in war). That doesn't apply to civilians and police",
"It depends on the country and nature of the conflict. In Iraq the ROE where very strict, and where even criticized for being detrimental to the soldiers. This was because they where fighting an enemy that was in civilian clothing, that is hidden among civilians. This is also in a country where almost everyone owned an AK47 and people could switch sides from one day to the next. In something like WWII the enemy wore a uniform and you could kill them pretty much at will."
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9415um | [deleted by user] | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"It's the way market works. Big fish eat small fish. Most companies in the world are owned by just a handful of \"umbrella\" companies. Where there is more money, money accrues faster. To accrue money faster, competition needs to be eliminated. The best way to eliminate competition is to make it work for you. And the way to do that is to buy it out. You always, always need to move closer to becoming a monopolist. Every business decision you make must take you closer to monopoly, and monopoly is the most profitable form of business."
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94aqlu | Why were fertility rates so high in the 60-70's? | I'm doing research on developed countries and their low fertility rates but I noticed that in the 60's and 70's almost all of them had a fertility rate well over 2 children. Why so? Is there anything we can do to bring this back? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Better sex education, higher education, increasing costs of having a child are also major reasons. It's very difficult to have only one parent work these days compared to the 60's and 70's. The only way is to make it more affordable for parents to have children, and provide incentives for them to do so. Without replacement, the growing population of adults will have trouble finding taxpayers to fund government programs as they age. An alternative is increasing immigration rates, but that seems to be unpopular in many countries.",
"Why would anyone want to bring back higher birth rates when there are already 7.6 billion people on the planet? I'm not sure why birth rates were higher back then, as I'm sure there are many factors to it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's because there weren't as many forms of birth control as there are today.",
"To fully answer this we would need details as to which countries you are referring to. During the 60s-70s there was the Vietnam war as well as numerous satellite conflicts in the name of the cold war. The Islamic revolution also happened during this time frame."
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94asq7 | The differences between individual and institutional discrimination. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Individual discrimination is one person discriminating against another person. Examples include a mother who doesn't approve of her daughter dating black men, a boss who refuses to promote women because he believes that women are inherently bad at management positions, or a clerk who follows kids with punk rock style appearances around the store because he believes they all steal. It can be harmful and do damage to you, but it can also be more avoidable than institutional discrimination. Institutional discrimination is when institutions are designed to discriminate. If a school had a policy about students' hair that made it a violation to wear various styles that are common in black communities, this would be an example of institutional discrimination. This is much more difficult to deal with than individual discrimination because teachers and staff are pressured to enforce the rules even if they don't personally have discriminatory beliefs. The machine of discrimination keeps moving regardless of the personal beliefs of those who have been tasked with maintaining the institution because it's codified into the \"rules\" of the institution. That is what makes it more difficult to overcome because if you respond with \"this is discrimination!\" to the teacher who is writing you up for your dreads, the teacher responds with \"I'm just following the rules\" or something to that effect. You, the person being discriminated against, are removed from the decision-makers who are creating discriminatory policies and only get to interact with the enforcers who have the defense of having never had any input into the rules. It is also more difficult to avoid institutional discrimination. You can decide not to date women with racist moms or stop shopping at places that follow people around for looking a certain way but where you go to school is far less a choice and you have far less power to change the rules at an institution than power to avoid interacting with people who are personally bigoted."
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94b6tx | [deleted by user] | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
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"The term \"X\" is used when you don't know what to call something. Famously, X-rays were so named by their discoverer (Wilhelm Röntgen) because he considered them to be an unknown type of radiation. Douglas Coupland wrote a novel in 1991 called Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, which popularized the use of the term for the generation after the Baby Boomers. Fun fact, for a while the Millennial were called Generation Y, and currently the generation after Millennials is called Generation Z (although I'd imagine that will change)",
"Members of Generation X were children during a time of shifting societal values and as children were sometimes called the \"[latchkey]( URL_4 ) generation\", due to reduced adult supervision as children compared to previous generations, a result of increasing [divorce]( URL_0 ) rates and increased maternal participation in the workforce, prior to widespread availability of childcare options outside the home. As adolescents and young adults, they were dubbed the \"[MTV Generation]( URL_2 _Generation)\" (a reference to the [music video channel of the same name]( URL_2 )) [ URL_1 ]( URL_5 )"
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94bcb7 | [deleted by user] | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The legislatures which represent the Japanese public have not repealed these laws. In general, \"why\" questions about laws are almost never conceptual. Laws are there because the legislators in question wanted them to be laws.",
"Laws are difficult to change unless it's a high priority. This is also why you should be careful about passing new laws with the assumption that you can just change it back later if it doesn't work out."
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94fbkw | [deleted by user] | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"I can’t say how it started, but my husband believes in it. So I can talk about how it’s supposed to work. “Crystals aren’t meant to heal wounds faster than they can, or to cure cancer when the body could never do so.” Crystals, in theory, are supposed to resonate a certain way. All energy vibrates; and some vibrate in ways that are similar to others, or polar to others. They’re supposed to channel energy in certain ways. A quartz might focus energy in one way, that’s often seen as positivity, and then is seen to promote positive energy. So crystals are used to create a certain energy flow and vibration through a person. **Now, practically, there’s no evidence to support this.** I have a very hard time making an ELI5 for this. The answer, in belief, is that it’s because like energy makes like energy. If you put a drop of water on you, you’ll always be wet, and water is more likely to stick to you. In practice, science wise, there’s no good reason it should work. **ELI5** Energy likes energy like itself. It takes the path of least resistance. So wearing crystals of one kind should promote energy of that kind."
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94fu9s | [deleted by user] | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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],
"text": [
"A cage has one purpose: to trap the bird. It’s entire existence is meant to deprive the bird of its freedom. Yet, the cage may not fulfill *its* purpose without a bird. Once you build a cage, you have to find a bird. Once you build a prison, you have to find a prisoner. Beware the people who want to build the prisons."
],
"score": [
62
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
94mr09 | Why do humans need different experiences to be entertained? (Ex. Considering a certain thing "cliche") | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3m5ign",
"e3mcsh3"
],
"text": [
"Not a scientist or anything, but i believe it has to do with how Humans are animals of variety. A good example is if you eat a certain food for a couple days straight your body tends to push you away from that food towards something else. The same goes for entertainment, and again not a scientist but it could possibly be related to how all life is a an extension of the Universes Intent to increase Entropy, where doing the same thing over and over again is the opposite of Entropy. /2cents",
"Pretty much all animals with a brain need novelty in their lives sporadically, else they get mental disorders. Even mice given every other need like food, safety, and bedding start doing repetitive, often destructive tasks like chewing bald spots into their fur, walking or running back and forth obsessively, etc. Brains are there to help with survival. They are built for pattern recognition, so you can remember successful strategies to survive better next time, to locate food or predators or other dangers, and to identify and woo potential mates. Brains don't turn off when not in use. Animals wouldn't survive very well if predators could sneak up on them while their brains were \"off\" (sleep notwithstanding: sleeping brains aren't *off*, they're doing required cleanup). Deprived of patterns to look for, brains just keep going, staying ready for action. They waste no energy standing idle, so they revisit old patterns, looking for new insight. Eventually you run out of things to think about. Boredom is evolution's way of making creatures more successful by encouraging them to go look for new things: new food places, new mates, even new dangers. Without interesting stimuli, the brain just keeps going, working itself into neurosis or psychosis. Humans have lots of interesting stimuli, but we also have very powerful brains. We need a lot of interesting stuff to keep our brains occupied in a healthy way. Old patterns become boring. The same, cliche movie plot is something we already understand. We need something new. Remixing that cliche can be great, though: we get a little reward from the reward part of the brain when we successfully identify a previously known pattern, provided doing so was challenging enough. So we get a little reward when we watch a movie with cliches and it's different in ways that are still interesting."
],
"score": [
4,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
94pbm2 | Why is it there are seldom daughters named after mothers, but sons named after fathers (Jr.) are fairly common? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3mqotq"
],
"text": [
"I mean, I’m no expert here but I imagine for the same reason that women historically have taken husband’s names, sons have been more important in a family than daughters, etc... families have historically been patriarchal in much of the world. Dads and sons represented and were breadwinners of the family, while mothers and daughters took care of the dads and sons. It mattered that a son carried on the family legacy, i.e. the father’s name."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
|
94vjo9 | The Irish Civil War | I never learned about it in school and up until a few days ago learned that Ireland was two different countries and that an Irish Car Bomb Was offensive. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e3o9xtd"
],
"text": [
"Ireland had a war with the UK for independence which eventually offered Ireland a deal. The deal was Ireland would be a dominion country, like canada or australia, effectively independent but technically not. Irish members of government would have to swear loyalty to the queen and the north east would stay part of the Uk. Those that fought in the war of independence were split. For idealists it wasnt good enough, for pragmatists it was an important stepping stone. The idealists and pragmatists fought. The pragmatists won and the \"free state\" of Ireland was created with the north east staying in the uk as northern ireland. Ireland would later become a fully independent republic. Id recommend the movies \"michael collins\" and \"the wind that shakes the barley\" if you're interested."
],
"score": [
7
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
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