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e7vcx5 | why do people say not to post pictures of your kids on the internet? What could somebody do with the image? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Ever hear about pedophiles being caught with terabytes of CP on their computers? I would wager a guess that a ton of those photos are taken straight from parents posting pictures of their naked children bathing or whatever on Facebook. If you post a picture online just assume that everyone in the world can see it. This includes creeps and predators."
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e8gz6q | When someone says bless you after having a sneeze. Where does that come from? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Back in the days of the plague, sneezing was an early sign of catching it. So when someone sneezed people would say '(god) bless you' to try and help the person."
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e8h87x | Why is peppermint associated with winter and christmas? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Long story short: it's a marketing ploy. Sugar sticks had long been a treat in Europe for small children. In the 1600s, a choirmaster in Cologne, Germany, began handing them out in his parish during Nativity. However, he bent them into canes first as a shepherd's crook, which wasn't standard at the time. It became a tradition. The tradition slowly spread until the late 1800s when someone in Ohio documented their use on a Christmas tree. However, up until then, the canes were solid white and only made of sugar with no added flavor. It wasn't until the turn of the century that marketers added the distinctive peppermint flavor and red dye to make them more bright and appealing."
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e8n2pf | Why does english borrow so many words from other languages? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Can you provide a source for this 80% number? I highly doubt this is correct and I think you are misinterpreting information, but I am not a linguist nor a native English speaker...",
"we're colonial down to our core--regularly beating up other languages and rifling through their pockets for loose terms"
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e8okne | How can trivial artworks sell for outrageous prices? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Because rich assholes would rather swing their dicks around and show off how rich they are to their friends than use their disgusting level of wealth to benefit society. Also a lot of modern art is sold at over inflated prices as a way to launder money.",
"Some people spend thousands of dollars for a piece of paper that someone signed their name on. How much would you pay for the declaration of independence or an original copy of the magna carta. Things have value ascribed to them based on implied value. Would you pay more for a piece of paper I painted blue or a piece of paper Bill Murray painted blue? Objects have value beyond the materials and craftsmanship. The value is determined by the buyer.",
"Because of greed and a need to show off wealth. If anything is a metaphor for the inequality of wealth and the problems it causes it's the art world.",
"Everyone here is getting this drastically wrong. This is advertising pure and simple and this question alone means it has worked for the artist. Want to be a world renowned artist but lack any kind of skill or ability BUT you're already privately wealthy? Transfer 120K to a private company you own or someone you know and then \"sell\" them an art piece for 120K in an extremely public setting (art basel). How about rigging an auction? get yourself a confederate or 5 to bid against you driving the price sky high to stun the art world with a record breaking sale. You are now famous for selling someone a fucking banana for 120K. Now that you're a household name and you can ACTUALLY sell shit heads a banana duct taped to a wall for 150K if you really want to. You could even rinse and repeat the same procedure and make it look like you've sold 3 or 4 bananas for ever higher prices! This happens all of the time with art, watches, jewelry and car auctions with value that goes well beyond expectations. The auction houses know about it, the journalists know about it and the buyers and sellers are more than likely the same person. It's well funded guerrilla advertising."
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e8pj2a | why do humans behave in an anti-darwinistic way, having less children once they become well-off (as opposed to animals which tend to reproduce more and more when they have better life conditions) ? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Natural selection doesn't necessarily break down to 'more babies good'. There's a cost involved in having children, both in terms of simple evolutionary terms and in a higher level sense. Having a child puts a massive burden on a woman's body and alters it permanently. We are also somewhat unique in the fact that we can think intellectually about the consequences of childbirth - we can _foresee_ them. Richer societies tend to be better educated about this, and also have freer and easier access to birth control.",
"Once you realize that you can focus all your work on a smaller number of children who are more likely to survive you don't go with the I'm going to produce 20 kids in the hopes that one of them makes it. When animals overproduce they end up having the population collapse. Most of us try to avoid that. If you work on a farm and most of your kids are going to die of disease then you need a lot of them, but if you're hoping to get them a college education so they could be more successful then you can't afford to send 20 of them through.",
"You could look at this as a case of people choosing to invest more in fewer offspring. That could relate to better survival rates, more opportunities for educated & skilled people (or more opportunities to *become* educated or skilled), or a range of other factors that might change the cost-benefit balance of having children in Darwinian. However I’d say that what this example does is help show the limits of “evolutionary psychology”. The way humans behave and the societies we live in are hugely complex, and reducing everything to evolutionary drives isn’t helpful. We understand pretty well why people in wealthier countries tend to have fewer children. Some key reasons: * A greater opportunity cost to having children – particularly where female employment is more common and better paid. * Stricter rules on child labour (or fewer opportunities for labour within the home) meaning children don’t bring in money. * Better child mortality rates, making it less necessary to have lots of babies for a ‘target number’ of surviving children. * Better developed social security and pension systems, meaning less need for children to support parents in their old age. * Better education and empowerment for women, helping them make decisions for themselves. * Better access to contraception and family planning. There are probably also cultural changes in the perceived value & status of children, but I don’t know enough to talk about them."
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e8rokw | What is the death of the author and what does it implie for a work? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The death of the author is the idea that the author's opinions and statements about their work are no more valid or \"true\" than any other person. For example let's say that an author writes a really popular franchise about wizards. And then later says that one of the main characters is gay. Even though there's really nothing in the text that implies that. That statement has no more weight to it than some random person on a fan forum saying they think said character is gay. It doesn't really imply anything for the work. Its just a way of looking at and analysing a work. Edit: this also counts for the authors original intentions. For example if someone writes a work that's *supposed* to be very anti-gun or something. But you think it comes off as pro-gun you aren't wrong just because you disagree with the author.",
"Basically it means you don't consider the author or their intentions when reading and evaluating the meaning of written work.",
"It means the sum total of the work is the work itself, the author's intentions are irrelevant and there opinions are no more valid than any other informed opinion. Part of this is to avoid second-guessing, and part is because sometimes authors are wrong. Sometimes they aren't fully aware of their intentions, sometimes their memories drift over time, sometimes they flat out lie, even to themselves. Note this isn't a \"rule\", it is simply one approach to literary criticism, and a relatively new one at that, as the term was only coined in the late 1960s.",
"One caveat that a lot of people overlook or don't give enough attention to, is that when doing literary analysis and criticism, the idea of death of the author is that any interpretation **that can be supported by the text** can be valid, and what the author said outside of the work is not necessarily relevant, nor their interpretation inherently more valuable. The idea being: if you can show evidence for a certain analysis, and the work led you to that conclusion by your reading it and analyzing it, unless there is a hole in the logic somewhere, your analysis is as valid (and open to debate) as anyone else's analysis."
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e96nfp | Why exactly are drugs illegal? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"'why are SOME drugs illegal' Ftfy. Caffeine, alcohol and nicotine are legal drugs (almost anywhere). The answer you get might vary depending on context, but in the US it's about money and population control.",
"To protect the people. Usually. Or for political reasons. Let's start with the obligatory \"we are talking about illegal drugs, because not all drugs are illegal\". Then move on. Heavy drugs (cocaine, morphine, amphetamine...) are highly addictive, extremely dangerous and do a lot of damage to the users. People have their reasons to decide to take drugs, but this stuff is nasty and can easily destroy your life. Add to that that usually it's used by people already on the verge of collapsing and with no help and you have a recipe for disaster. Making them illegal is a way to control it and have an instrument to remove them from market when they appear. Light drugs (cannabis and the like) have less side effects and risks, sometimes comparable to other recreational substances (alcohol, cigarettes). In these cases they are usually illegal for two reasons: 1) they still have an effect on the psyche and can cause damage. Imagine driving after a dose of mushrooms. Since you cannot control everyone, you ban the substance in order to reduce accessibility and therefore reduce consumption. You can argue that this reasoning should also involve alcohol. The problem here is that we are more accustomed to its presence and use, so much that prohibition went horribly wrong. 2) politics. For example, sources cite the ban on cannabis as a political maneuvre to strike against unwanted minorities and helping the shrinking government agencies usefulness during the Nixon era. Allegedly, the propaganda was so effective that people believe that even today There is no clear-cut answer, when you move from heavy to light drugs, however. In fact, the debate comes back regularly and there are many nations that are partialy legalizing some."
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e9csy4 | How did people figure out how to translate languages? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"You hold up things and point and say your word. The other person points at the same thing and says their word. Repeat ad infinitum with different objects.",
"If the language is alive, it's easy. Just spending time with others who speak the language can help each other learn, especially over time. Translating a dead language is much harder. You'll need something like [The Rosetta Stone]( URL_0 ) in the most extreme cases."
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ea0uxk | Where did the shape of trophies come from? | The stereotypical trophy look that looks like some plain golden vase with handles, where did this shape originate and when and why did this shape become mainstream? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Originates from a chalice or goblet. It has religious use. [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 )"
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ea3s00 | If the decisions are made by the Jury in the US court system, what is the judge for? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The judge is the referee of the trial. The judge's job is to know all the rules of how the trial should proceed and make decisions about how those rules should be enforced. & #x200B; The idea with the jury is that they are ordinary everyday people and that if someone is really truly guilty of a crime, the evidence against them should be so obvious, that a group of average people should be able to easily understand it. That said, average everyday people are not experts in how to conduct a fair trial (which can get complicated) so that's what the judge is for.",
"the judge is in essence the \"referee\" and he is responsible for ensuring the Trial goes according ot procedure by beingthe enforcer of the court and trial rules and being a defense against foul play ie: a case that is Extremely obvious that the defendant is guilty should be simple enough for a jury to see it, but its up to the judge to ensure the trial remains fair. Keep in mind tho that while the Jury are the ones deciding wether the defedant is guilty or not, it's up to the judge to issue the verdict and the sentencing according to the laws in place and any factors that might affect the decision",
"As u/EightOhms said they are sort of a referee. Also often the jury only decides guilt or innocence of charges, it is the Judge who issues the verdict choosing which punishments are assigned and if there are any mitigating factors for them."
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eaiddf | Why is it okay for politicians to lie or openly misrepresent facts to the masses, without getting in trouble? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"In the USA it’s the first amendment. Congress shall make no law....and the 14th amendment, which extended the bill of right (which incl the 1st amendment) to the states. The “punishment” you speak of is supposed to come from the voters who are supposed to punish dishonest pols by voting for their opponent, who, allegedly not being dishonest, would, as a consequence of their honesty, attract more votes.",
"Politicians need to fulfill the wishes of the rich folks and corporations who pay for their campaigns, but they need to convince the rest of us that they will work for us. The lying is practically required.",
"Most of the things politicians express are opinions and even though the evidence for climate change is pretty convincing, you can still express an opinion that humans are not the driving cause of climate change, it is a pretty stupid opinion, but politicians don't have to be intelligent.",
"In countries with better politic systems such as Finland, it's not okay. There's a law that does not allow political icons to \"fool\" the people. Same way youtube does not allow clickbait. It is simply not fair"
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ecoxs6 | When CIA did horrible thing, why they document it? Why they don't just destroy it secretly so it won't be declassified and revealed to the public in the future | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"An organization like the CIA isn't a \"mission impossible\" organization. It has an internal organization (ie there are bosses), budgets, procedures, and multi tiered objectives. Like any large group of people organized for some major purposes, it needs to coordinate and communicate internally. To do so, it has to set up procedures and documentation requirements. Many people are doing simple \"clerical\" work like making sure these are properly created, stored and documented. It is actually difficult to bypass these things (ie why we love and hate bureaucracy) since if there are no records you cannot get promoted, get bonuses etc etc (which, most employees are there for)",
"Your definition of horrible isn't the same as everyone else's definition of horrible. You've grown up in a world in which American hegemony has ensured relatively peaceful relations between countries and the global imposition of the rule of law. If you rewind time and go back to the 1950's or 1960's the world is a very different place. The Soviet Union's official foreign policy is that it will invade the west if it ever thinks that it can win, that it will militarily crush any movement that it believes to be \"capitalist\" in a country that it controls, and that it will militarily support any country that is currently waging war on a capitalist enemy. This policy has already led to: the unsuccessful invasion of Finland, successful invasion of the other Baltic states, the invasion of Eastern Poland, the occupation of Eastern and Central Europe, the communist takeover of China, the Korean War, widespread civil war in Africa and Southeast Asia, and massacres in Hungry and Czechoslovakia. Your modern experience with democracy is that countries generally become more peaceful after adopting democratic governments. A person living in the 50's or 60's experience of democracy is Adolf Hitler becoming the democratically elected leader of Germany, Benito Mussolini becoming the democratically elected leader of Italy, and the Japanese Imperial government becoming the democratically elected government of Japan. In all three of those cases governments came into power through free and fair democratic elections and then, through democratic processes, immediately turned their countries into the genocidal dictatorships that launched the largest war in human history. People in the 50's and 60's didn't have the luxury of living in the world that you do today. Surviving the Cold War meant frequently having to pick between the better of two disastrous options. So why did they document this stuff? Because they didn't think that in the future their actions would be judged by, at best, people who are blind to the context in which those actions took place; or, at worst, their political enemies.",
"You've got to keep track of things so you know it's been done. People on the other side remember and the information is very useful for the future. if it's effective and you want to remember how it worked if it's not effective then you need to know not to do that again. people also get held responsible for what's done so you don't just completely erase it."
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ed0tt9 | why do many different languages that seem to not be connected share a rolled "R" | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Rhotic R is more common than the non-rhotic equivalent; human languages share sounds as a rule, it’s the ones that are not shared that are the exception.",
"One language is going to share a sound with another language, the rolled (trilled/tapped) r is effectively just a sound. What you’re asking is no different than asking why so many languages share the sound of ‘t’ even though they may seem dissimilar to each other"
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eddxx6 | What does the 5th amendment mean? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It means that, rather than lying, you can refuse to answer a question because the answer might sound bad, regardless of whether or not you are guilty. Imagine being in a murder trial - you didn't do it. But at some point you threatened the person's life because you were angry with them. If the prosecutor brings up that moment and is asking if you were angry, blah blah blah, and then asks you what you said to the victim - you are probably well-served to plea the 5th. If you tell a jury that you said you would kill them, the prosecutor is going to cut you off before you can explain that it was an emotional outburst and the jury is going to think that you followed through on your threat. It's almost like a confession. If you plea the 5th - they'll think that something happened, but they won't be able to be certain it what it was. It's also double-jeopardy. If you are found to be innocent by a jury, you cannot be tried again for the same crime (there may be exceptions for things like new evidence, but it's probably hard to do). The 5th amendment has LOTS of protections for people regarding, mostly, legal matters.",
"In the US people have the right to remain silent when questioned by law enforcement and the courts. This right is granted by the 5th amendment to the constitution. So if questioned and they don’t want to talk about something that might reveal they have committed a crime, they can “take the 5th” and exercise their 5th amendment rights."
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ee1wz2 | why do so many cultures use onions and garlic in their cuisine? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"If you ever cook for a girl, just toss onion and garlic in a pan and the aroma alone will make her think you’re a bomb cook"
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eeyn7b | Counting cards and why it's considered cheating. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"To answer your question about the mechanics of counting, you basically keep a running count in your head which represents the probability of getting dealt a 10. 10 is the most common card in the pack (since the actual 10 plus all face cards are worth 10). So as low cards are dealt you add 1 to the count, and higher cards lose 1 from the count. Thus when the count is high, you've had a run of low cards and a few 10s are likely to be dealt soon. Most casinos run several packs of cards simultaneously at the blackjack table, so the 'true' count is diluted",
"It isn't cheating - it is just a technique that casinos won't allow. If you start cheating, and the casino finds out about it, you will be forced to return your winnings, either at the door, or in court. If you win at blackjack and the casino decides that you were counting cards, you keep your winnings, but the casino will refuse to allow you to play any more - which they are allowed to do. Blackjack is played with several decks of cards shuffled together. Cards are displayed one at a time, over some time as many hands are played. So by carefully watching and counting what cards have been played, you have some information on what cards are left to be dealt. At the start, the odds are slightly in favor of the house. If the remaining cards contain more large numbered cards than small numbered cards, the odds shift in favor of the player, allowing a player who, by counting dealt cards, knows this, to place larger bets. If the remaining cards have more smaller cards, then the odds shift further in the house's favor, allowing the knowledgable player to play small bets, or stop playing.",
"In all card games you play at a Casino, the casino itself (the house) have the edge over you, but often just by a small margin, meaning many players will win, but more players will lose over a large sample. By counting cards you can flip that edge, turning the odds in your favor, meaning you are likely to come out in top over a large sample of playing rounds. Short: You can turn the odds in your favor, which casinos don't like since they will lose money."
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ef47ti | Where did the concept of night having sinister energy originate? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"We don't like the dark as much as we like light. That's because our ape-man ancestors figured out that they were safer during the day that they were at night. Probably why I feel like a bunch of old religions had a sun god before they had a moon one.",
"Because we dont see at night. And who knows what can hide there waiting to eat you. During the day you can see it and react but during the night you stand no chance. At least that was the problem of our ancestor"
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ef96gx | why can't the Dalai Lama pick a new Panchen Lama? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"The Panchen Lama is believed to reincarnate. We have no way of knowing if the previous incarnation is dead."
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eg4z1v | how denim became so widespread and why blue became the color of choice? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Denim is so popular because it's a relatively durable material that's still pretty comfortable to wear and yet is cheap to boot, so it's pretty much the perfect material for the physical laborers that were the majority of people until very recently. Blue on the other hand is because blue dye was the cheapest, blue also doesn't show stains compared to many other colors.",
"Specifically on the color: The blue of jeans is [indigo dye]( URL_0 ). Indigo is a group of plants found throughout the tropical parts of the world. The indigo plant is a legume; that is, it's related to peas and beans. It is found mostly in the tropics. The same blue dye chemical can also be made from the [woad]( URL_1 ) plant, which is native to England and northern Europe. Woad is a brassica; that is, it's related to mustard, cabbage, and broccoli. Indigo and woad have been popular fabric dyes for literally thousands of years, long before Levi Strauss or anyone else was making blue jeans. People mostly prefer to wear dyed fabric rather than uncolored fabric, both for decoration and because uncolored fabric shows stains or wear very easily.",
"The indigotin blue dye isn’t soluble in water, and must be changed chemically before the jeans are dyed. The oxidised form (indigo blue) is insoluble in water, which helps the color stick to the jeans despite being washed hundreds of times. Other colors would fade too much.",
"I can't say why blue is the color of choice, but it grew in popularity because it is extremely tough compared to other fabrics. Until extremely recently, the majority of the population in the west was employed in extremely physical occupations, where risk of injury was high. Tough clothing both reduced the risk of injury and needed to be replaced less often Edit: did not expect my post to get this many upvotes. I kind of got extreme tunnel vision when writing it, so I'm extremely sorry for my overuse of certain adverbs Edit 2: 69 upvotes. Extremely nice Edit 3: 100 upvotes? Guys this is getting extremely out of hand.",
"Denim became popular in the US during the mining boom of the late 19th century. Until then, pants were mostly made of light-wearing materials like linen which couldn't stand up to the rigours of the industry. A tailor called Jacob Davis made a pair of denim trousers by special request and when other people found out about it, demand skyrocketed pretty quickly. Unable to keep up alone, he made a deal with Levi Strauss & Co. and together they started mass-production in San Francisco. Various mining industries continued to boom for the next hundred years or so and during this time, jeans became the staple for working men all over the States.",
"Robert Shiller's book *Narrative Economics* briefly explains how denim jeans became so popular in the 1930s. Originally considered only appropriate as work clothes, jeans began to be associated with different cultures over the decades. Following a period of mass consumerism in the 1920s, the Great Depression caused a shift in culture that looked down on consumerism and favoured frugality: Shiller calls this, 'poverty chic culture'. From there, blue jeans were associated with a number of movements and different cultures, e.g. the cowboy story culture, Rosie Riveter during World War II, high school, youthful rebellion, women's liberation, and exploded in the '50s, benefiting from the movie 'Rebel Without a Cause'. By this time, they likely lost all connection to the 'poverty chic culture' and probably stayed a fashion staple due to their cheapness, practicality, long life, ubiquity, and the fashion decisions of others. I didn't look too far into the comments to see if anyone else had covered this stuff.",
"I saw some explanations for color but nothing on the spread of Denim. In the simplest way to explain, I would say Gold. In the mid 1800s, 1850s to be precise, people found gold in Seattle, Washington. This triggered a massive gold rush that drew people from all over the United States. Before this people wore regular cotton pants at all times, these things tore regularly (especially in the pockets) and had to be replaced a lot. This was especially the case for the people who were digging all day and sifting looking for gold in the woodlands and rivers of the Pacific Northwest. Eventually some dudes named Levi Strauss and Jakob Davis rilled around and had an idea. They saw canvas and denim stuff already in existence, but they basically took heavy duty materials (Denim and Dungaree Cloth) and sewed them into heavy pants and figured out if they put rivets in the pockets corners they wouldn't tear as much. They patented the idea and tried selling some. It was a massive success. No longer did miners have to worry about their pockets ripping and having to get new pants or worry about fixing them. They told their friends, who told their friends, and the first Levis factory and store opened in Seattle. Then capitalism happened, and some advertising hapoened. Eventually it naturally spread everywhere as a symbol of the hard working, wage earning, tough as nails man. Edit: I grew up in Seattle which was where I learned this. There was a story that went around about a man who fell off a cliff, and his Levi Denim pants that he had bought the day before caught on a treebranch on the side of the cliff, where they caught and miraculously did not rip. His screaming got people to come over and they were able to save him, his story spread and so now there was a set of pants that could save your life.",
"The reason behind it's widespread popularity can simply be boiled down to Elvis Presley. With him being the first \"pop-star\" in history he transformed a garment that was normally issued and worn by prisoners because of its low manufacturing cost and durability into something that summed up his image - rebellious, outlaw, renegade, \"bad boy\" and when he wore them that trend caught on. In regards to the dye, it seems others know more about that than I. So I think their explanations are best about the dye!"
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eg5bhi | How come racism is a thing? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Insecure people have a need to feel better than and more important than others. And if they aren’t better than others, they need to fabricate reasons they are better. Race is a quick and easy method to pick a group they can feel superior than.",
"We grew up in a harsh, wild world. Just random bands of a few dozen humans scraping the barest of livings by foraging and hunting. If you came upon someone you didn't know, trusted them, and then they took your food, it could mean you and everyone in your tribe starved to death. And if you're barely scraping up enough food to live, so you and your entire family is literally a single day away from starvation, and someone brings you into their camp and shows you all the food they have, the pressure to steal from them is enormous. So, it was an evolutionary advantage to be distrustful of unknown, strange people. Back then, trusting someone didn't mean you just risked a few hundred dollars, it could literally mean your death, and it happened all the time, constantly. War itself has its origins in groups of armed people attacking other groups with the sole purpose of stealing their food and supplies. Racism is a behavioral holdover from the time when it was unsafe to trust those you didn't know"
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eg8bx0 | Why did the plague doctors in the medieval times had such "elongated" nose like masks? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"At that time, they believed that disease was caused by bad air, air containing unpleasant odours. So they attempted to protect themselves by counteracting the unpleasant odours with pleasant ones - such as those of flowers and herbs. Doctors took this to extremes by packing long masks with herbs, and breathing through those masks. When you think of it, the idea of odours causing disease wasn't far from the concept of airborne micro-organisms, and the masks would have provided reasonable protection. Especially as many herbs have antibacterial properties."
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egfe5c | why are ships logs such a wealth of historical observations? | I was reading about Krakatoa exploding and there were multiple references to ships logs stating things like “ash 3-4” in diameter landing on deck”. Why would these things even have been recorded in a ship’s log? Was there a requirement to log any and everything? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Basically, when you're facing the unknown, you try to gather and record as much information as you can in order to learn from it. From there, you write it down because it let you more easily keep it over long periods. Back at port, it is can be compared between lots of ships to get lots of information too"
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eggfaf | why are collard shirts and button downs considered to be business professional and when did it start? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Fun fact: Button-downs were invented late in the 1800's/early 1900's, and refers explicitly to the collar buttoning down onto the breast. Collared and button-up shirts have been popular for a very long time; at least since the 16th century. for several reasons, and all of them revolved around *appearing clean and higher class*. First; back in the day, even the collars and sleeves buttoned onto the breast, which meant they could be laundered separately. This is a huge advantage for the middle class, as it saved on laundering costs while still *appearing* perfectly clean. Second; it's easy to tell when a collared shirt hasn't been cleaned and pressed recently, because the collar begins to go all noodly and picks up neck sweat really easily. It's all about appearing upper class when you really aren't, something businessmen and middle-class folks have been quite fond of throughout history. The last I'll bring up is that these styles are direct descendants of old English and French styles that noblemen used to wear, which further creates the illusion that the wearer is of a higher class. Again, businessmen are all about that. Appearing wealthy and well-groomed has been shown over and over again to improve sales."
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egqx6n | if stealing from the postal service is a federal crime, then why isn't more done to arrest porch pirates, especially when video evidence is available? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"A \"federal crime\" just means it's illegal at the country level instead of the state level. Federal crimes are not automatically worse than other crimes. Many jurisdictions don't have the resources to investigate petty larceny.",
"You are asking a few questions, but the ELI5 for why aren't people in the United States charged more often with the federal crime of stealing mail: the Department of Justice is in charge of charging and prosecuting federal crimes and they don't care about small thefts like these. I did find a press release from a year ago where one guy was prosecuted by DOJ and sent to prison. I know from limited experience that some DOJ attorneys don't care at all about any USPS crimes, much less porch piracy. Something being a \"federal crime\" is not really a big deal in the US. Something being a priority for DOJ where they want to put time and money into a case is a big deal. Enforcement of the vast majority of crimes is done by local law enforcement, even if DOJ could also prosecute the crime. Any theft is a state crime, and local police will gladly arrest someone or seek a warrant for someone if they have great evidence. If they don't have evidence of who did it or can't identify the suspect they generally aren't going to put a lot of time and effort into tracking down stolen packages.",
"I know not all packages stolen are from the postal service, but many are. Why does this crime go unpunished when it's so easy to prove someone's guilt?",
"The vast majority of the time, they are stealing things delivered by non-USPS services. USPS puts stuff in the mailbox. 90+% of the time a package cannot fit in the mailbox, it is coming from FedEx or UPS. And for the small percentage of when they are taking USPS stuff, there are a lot crimes that are of a much higher priority than who boosted a box that has a retail value of $50.00.",
"First, how is someone going to be found with a brief video? This has been an issue for a long time with shoplifts and surveillance video. Second, Someone has to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If you were on a jury and the only thing you had was a brief video that looked like someone and that person testified and said ‘not me, I know that person looks like me, but it’s not me.’ Would you convict? Beyond a reasonable doubt? Cops know all this. The amount of time it takes to invest compared to the likelihood of catching and convicting someone just isn’t worth it. Stores learned this lesson with theft. You have to literally catch someone in the act, hold them until police arrive, and hand them over along with a copy of the video.",
"Priorities, for the most part. The police have limited resources, and they may not have the officers available to investigate the missing birthday card from Grandma when there were 7 shootings last night.",
"The Feds tend to investigate much higher dollar or higher impact crimes. Many US Attorney's offices have a $ threshold for cases. $100 theft will not reach that threshold. On the other hand, if there is a corresponding state or local violation, that can be pursued by the locals. Ie. Mail theft can be charged locally as theft."
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ei1d2h | Nardwuar's interviews | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"He is wonderful and some of his interviews are legendary, really. But most of the newer ones honestly feel the same to me. It very often is just some shitty rapper yelling \"OMG HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?\" and Nardwuar just responds with his classic \"You are XY, we have to know.\". It gets old after a while. Definitely watch the interviews with Tyler the Creator, Snoop Dogg, Seth Rogen, Pharrell to name a few, they are incredible.",
"He is somewhat of a legend - he and his team found out about things that nobody knew. Very personal things about the many artists that he interviews and he tries to present this in a certain way.",
"He has a really endearing attitude and loves to surprise people with knowledge most people dont have about them. Sometimes his questions are hit or miss but he makes it fun either way. The dude has been interviewing people since the 80s and has a wealth of knowledge on music history which makes him a really interesting interviewer. You can tell sometimes he has a hard time clicking with newer upcoming artists that don't really understand his style. Even if youre not into his style of interviews there's a lot to be appreciated about his dedication to the music industry."
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am00kx | Why, although I speak good English and am able to understand regular conversations, movies and album skits etc. do I struggle so much to understand lyrics in English songs? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Lots of native English speakers also have *some* trouble with song lyrics. So much of the experience of a song has to do with the melodies that perfectly understandable lyrics aren't really a priority for singers.",
"Native english speakers often have problems with the lyrics too. Back in the day, when people bought CD albums (I'm old but not that old), the lyrics were usually printed in the little booklet, so we could figure out what the eff the vocalist was saying",
"A couple of reasons. In no particular order: - sometimes it's just hard to actually gear the lyrics. - you're not getting any context. When you're speaking or reading, your brain is constantly anticipating what vocabulary is going to come up. This doesn't really work in a song which can be all over the place. - rythym and tone are all thrown off. So english like most languages has a predictable rhythm of stressed and unstressed syllables. But in singing, the rhythm of the song might be different from the normal rhythm of that sentence. Also the intonation will be different (obviously) so phrases that would have falling or rising intonation in normal speech will now have whatever the melody is. You're just not used to it. - English might be particularly hard with this because of consonant at the end of words: so a word like \"strange\" is distinguishable from \"straight\" in normal speech, but in singing we might lengthen the vowels like \"straaaaaaange\" And that \"ng\" is just kinda squeezed into the end of the phrase and you're like did he say \"straight\" or \"strain\" or \"strangle\" - unstressed and small words might be left out or not really audible, this happens in normal speech as well but it might be more so in a song",
"Probably due to the often fast tempo of some songs, along with the song being sung to music which is distracting your ear from clearly hearing the words. Also, many times words in songs are not pronounced clearly or fully in songs, so that the flow, rhythm, rhyme whatever fits better so you might not pick it up. Many native English speakers mis hear and mid quote lyrics all the time, it’s nothing unusual. [Here]( URL_0 ) is a funny take on it from comedian Peter Kay. Hopefully you don’t have trouble understanding him as he has a strong Lancashire accent, and also recognise some of the songs he references as it’s quite funny.",
"***TL;DR:*** *Music is complex and distracting and not simple white noise that we're used to screening out, lyrics are often nonsense anyway, and singing isn't the same as speaking normally because word lengths and pitches and speed are all different from normal conversation.* \\- - - When someone is speaking either to you or someone else in a conversation, in most cases, it's against a background of either relative silence or \"white noise\" - uniform buzz such as a quietly chatting crowd or the sound of waves or tree leaves blowing or traffic driving by. As long as those other sounds not too loud, there's little effort required to sort out and remove that white noise and clearly understand the words. (In movies these background sound effects are almost always staged or processed in a way that they're lower in volume than the speaker so the audience can actually hear what is being said.) However, in music, often those words are accompanied by beats or rhythms that go up and down and form a background that's often as loud as the lyrics, and often not smooth like white noise is. So you have a lot more processing to do to make out what is said. Another big reason is people are singing, not talking, and that really changes the flow of what they're sharing. When you chat with someone, your own voice isn't going up and down like it does in many songs, and you're not making some words artificially lo-o-o-o-nger or shorter than others (like how some American Idol stars take six seconds to sing the word \"love\" and their voice warbles all over the place when they do it). And all those odd word lengths and pitches and speeds and distortions all add up to a harder-to-understand mix. It doesn't help that because most of us have heard way more normal conversation than sung music back when we were learning language, so most of us aren't super-used to interpreting it, although that can be learned. It can get worse with some styles of music. Opera can be super high pitched, rap can be very fast, for example. And finally, conversations in a language we're comfortable with lead us mentally to the next thought. You hear \"I'm going to drive to the school and pick up...\", and you expect something like \"your brother\" to come next. But music lyrics often are goofy and unnatural, and one verse doesn't lead to guessing the next easily."
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am04c8 | Why is the "star shape" referred to as such? Aren't all stars just circles of light in the night sky? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The Egyptian heiroglyphic for “star” was a five-pointed figure similar to the asterisk. It got into our culture from there."
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am2ue6 | Why do Americans continually vote for Democrats and Republicans | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Because people would rather have the lesser of two evils NOW, over and over and over, than better outcomes long-term. People get scared into voting for the least bad of the two big parties because the other big party, if they get into power, will spell certain destruction for us all.",
"Each party must have a distinct identity, or it will dilute the votes & allow the 3rd opposing party to easily win. This is the inherent problem with a single choice, winner-takes-all voting system. If 2 parties support small businesses, and the 3rd party supports big business, even it 60% of the population supports small business, their vote with be divided 30% each. The 40% minority will support only the 3rd party and win. In order for a 3rd party to be successful under the current system, they must either be extremely popular, or be distinct enough from both existing parties that their votes will not suffer from dilution."
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am3qki | What does it really mean to be sister/twin cities? Is it just symbolic or do cities get something else out of it? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The Town of [Boring, Oregon]( URL_1 ), is part of *a \"League of Extraordinary Communities\" grouping [Dull]( URL_0 ), Boring and [Bland]( URL_2 ) as a means of encouraging travel, promoting all three communities.* Tourism, awareness, and merchandising. Also community building internationally; Boring is in the US, Bland is in Australia, and Dull is in Wales.",
"Sister and Twin cities are different things. Sister cities have some varying form of a partnership, mainly for tourism. My small American town had a sister city somewhere in Poland. There's no historical relation. It's just a reason for people in one to maybe visit the other. They can have multiple sister cities. Twin cities are just really close to each other. The definition and use vary from place to place",
"Sister city arrangments are mostly organized by a group called [Sister Cities International]( URL_0 ). It grew out of a desire after World War II to get citizens more involved in international diplomacy. It's largely symbolic, though the organization arranges visits and cross-cultural activities between the paired cities. URL_0"
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am6uvc | How does language translation work? | I'm trying to ask: How do we know what English words are in other languages and what words in other languages are in English? How do language systems understand each other? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"They aren't 1:1. To be a good translator you have to be very fluent in both languages - otherwise you miss subtleties, idioms, context, etc. This is why people who translate books do it professionally. You can't just plug it into a translator and have it carry the same nuanced presentation, mood, or clever word choices.",
"So there are a few things at play here. Firstly: languages are complex, and there isn't always a 1:1 translation from any language into any other language. There are concepts that exist as one word in other languages that just don't exist in English, and so many words we have are just those foreign words. Words for many things found in the new world are like this, such as \"moose\" and \"moccasin\". Secondly, translation. As someone else has said, translation is tough, and you have to be fluent in both languages, and understand the subtleties of the language to put out a good translation. Think of someone who speaks English as a second language, and how their use of idioms or slang isn't *quite* right. Like the meanings of all the words they use is correct, and the grammar structure is fine, but they don't have a mastery of the nuance of the language. This brings me to how we learn each other's languages, and it really boils down to an expedited form of the process we go through as infants where we observe our parents/other adults talking, and associate the sounds with things, concepts, or ideas. Then once we have a basic understanding of the fundamental building blocks, we work up to more advanced and abstract concepts. So for instance, if I ran into someone who didn't speak my language, and wanted to try to converse, I would start with pointing at things and saying what they were called in English, then listening as that person said what they called the thing. Once you pick up some nouns and pronouns, you can figure out verbs somewhat through miming and really simple conversation, and then you can make simple sentences. The more you both immerse yourself in the other language, the more you learn to understand."
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am87c0 | - how symbolic languages as Japanese, for example, do to represent new things that never existed before? In latin languages we just use the letters and combine that to form a new word but what about symbolic languages? | I mean this: suppose a new product is launched in a west society and called "rumpa". Will japanese and other countries using symbolic languages like korean and chinese, use the word "rumpa" or create ideograms to say that? If they use the original spelling with our letters how native people that do not know our letters will say that word? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Chinese is the only major language (or, more accurately, group of languages) that's written purely logographically, i.e. with symbols representing entire words/particles/phrases. Usually they will combine other words to make a new one, such as *diànnǎo* \"computer\" = \"electric\" + \"brain\". Korean is written completely phonetically, so there wouldn't be any issues there. Japanese has three writing systems, two phonetic and one logographic. One of the two phonetic systems, katakana, is used for loanwords for other languages, so that's what they would use.",
"> suppose a new product is launched in a west society and called \"rumpa\" Japanese will use katakana, which is phonetic, and write it: ル(ru)ン(n/m)パ(pa) = ルンパ Koreans use hangul for everything, which is also phonetic. They'd write something like: 른파 ㄹ - r/l ㅡ - u ㄴ - n/m ㅍ - p ㅏ - a",
"There are some cool older Japanese words that combine symbols in this way. For example, 電車 (densha) combines “electric” and “vehicle” to make the word “train.” 汽車 (kisha) combines “steam” and “vehicle” to distinguish a steam-powered train. 電話 (denwa), or “electric talk” is “telephone.” But mostly these days a new invention is just denoted phonetically.",
"Every logographic language eventually develops a phonetic \"read as\" part to it. The most logographic of living scripts, Chinese, actually has enough of a phonetic component to it that you can invent new symbols using a roughly phonetic method. The best example is actually the periodical table of elements. Helium=氦 This symbol is composed of two component: 气 and 亥。气 is pronounced \"chee” (but with a flat tongue) and means air or gas. 亥 is pronounced as \"hai\" and has a bunch of meanings depending how it's used. So the new symbol is also pronounced \"hai\" and the non-phonetic component refers to its meaning of a gaseous of element. The sound is actually a transliteration of \"he\" rather than helium. Even more obvious with sodium. Sodium=钠，pronounced \"na\", yes like with the symbol Na. The 钅part is the symbol to indicate a metal, and the 内 component is for sound. (It's pronounced nei on its own, but as a phonetic component, ie most characters with this part for sound is pronounced \"na\".) The periodic table of elements is probably the most serious and dedicated effort to create new symbols in recent history. Even in English, chemistry is one of the rare instances where you actually have to come up with brand new words. Most of our modern objects have names that are coined from old words. Computer, calculator, rocket, even internet aren't exactly sprouting gibberish sound and writing it down; the same logic works for these easy-to-describe objects in logographic languages too. A \"computer\" is a \"computing machine\" in Chinese.",
"I speak Japanese, not Chinese, but everything relevant on that front has already been said and I want to share this. it's based on my understanding of a language I dont actually know so I might be wrong, but anyways, In Chinese most foreign names are translated by sound, using kanji that are pronounced similarly. but Chinese fan communities are amazing and clever and come up with [their own nicknames for popular celebs that are a mixture of meanings and sounds.]( URL_0 ) that's just the first article that popped up when I googled it but it has some good examples! also most young adults in countries that use different alphabets have also learned our alphabet, since it's so common (even outside of English. many languages use it) so using the original spelling isn't as terrible an idea as it would be if we were talking about using the Chinese spelling in English lol.",
"Japanese employs a mixture of three different writing systems: two syllabary, and one is pictograms borrowed from Chinese. Most new words are borrowed from other languages, and are transliterated into Katakana, which approximates the word into the Japanese language. Less often, Kanji (pictograms) can just be combined to form new words.",
"Japanese has multiple alphabets, one is for specific words depending on context and the other/s are for sounds. If a new word came about they would just use the letters that would allow them to make a close approximation of the word. Latin languages have some sounds that japanese doesnt have which can make this a little tricky.",
"Came here to say that «rumpa» means «the butt» in norwegian. Sorry. But interesting question though.",
"Korean uses a phonetic alphabet, and so if you make up some new word, it'll just get spelled out as best it can withing the alphabet. Rumpa could get translated to something like \"룸파\" or \"럼파\", but that would largely depend upon how exactly \"rumpa\" is pronounced.",
"Chinese is a better example as it is fully logographical unlike Japanese. They just combine words to make new ones mostly. So a cell phone is 手机 which is hand-machine. An airplane is a 飞机, a fly-machine. Pretty sure that in Japanese they mostly just use the English words and form it with their own alphabet for foreign words \"katagana\".",
"If you want to see a collection of a massive body of fairly recently minted Chinese characters (all in the 20th century), see this Wikipedia entry on how Chinese handles organic chemistry nomenclature: # [Organic Nomenclature in Chinese]( URL_0 ) A committee of scientists got together and ratified newly minted characters carefully constructed using certain conventions. Pronunciations were assigned to these characters so they would somewhat correspond to the international/western names for these terms. Someone studying organic chemistry would have to specifically learn all these characters in order to even read material written about organic chemistry. In English, we can at least somewhat prounounce these terms, even if we don't know what they mean, but in Chinese, if you don't know how the character is pronounced, you'd have to resort to a labor intensive look-up of the terms. Nowadays, looking up unknown characters is made easier because computer based systems can help infer the unknown character, but prior to the use of computerized handwriting recognition or OCR, you'd have to count the strokes of a character, identify it, then look up the definition and pronunciation in a separate volume that is indexed by the one you looked up first.",
"Japanese used to do crazy mash-ups where they would import or simply mint brand new Kanji (Chinese script) characters for new terms while pronouncing the characters with a transliteration of western terms, even though the transliteration has no correspondence to the characters. Example: tobacco used to be written with the kanji 煙草, literally \"smoke-grass\" in Chinese, but these two characters together would be read and pronounced as たばこ--tabako. Nowadays people import terms and simply transliterate the term using katakana rather than doing this crazy mash-up thing. Kilometer got the freshly minted kanji 粁, which is pronounced キロメートル-- kiromehtoru. Kilogram got the freshly minted kanji 瓩, pronounced キログラム-- kiroguramu Millimeter got 粍, pronounced ミリメートル--mirimehtoru These specially minted characters were established by decree from the committees in charge of adoption of these metric standards. Their construction was not arbitrary. All the lengths, which have \"meter\" in their name, had the 米 radical on the left, pronounced \"mi\" in Chinese. The right side had a radical with a clue about the meaning. In the character for kilometer, the right radical is 千, which means thousand. In millimeter, the right side radical is 毛 , which means fur or hair, indicating small size or thinness. By the way, these Japanese-minted \"Chinese\" characters were not used in China nor by Chinese readers in general. They were only used in Japan. A similar thing happened in Chinese when the periodic table was adopted. A committee convened and agreed on new symbols for the various new elements that did not have traditional characters. (The ones that did have been known since antiquity, or at least since the age of alchemy— gold, silver, copper, carbon, mercury, oxygen, etc.) They used certain conventions, like following a template for constructing all gaseous elements, all metallic elements, etc. using radicals that had either corresponding meaning or sounds that sound like parts of the name in Western languages. For example: Neon gas got the character 氖, pronounced \"nai\". The \"cap\" radical is from the character for gas: 气 (chi /qi), the inside is 乃, which means milk, but is used as the pronunciation indicator rather than for it's meaning, since it is pronounced \"nai\". Radon got 氡, (pronounced \"dong\" with a long O), whose inside radical is 冬 (winter), pronounced \"dong\" with a long O, probably because \"ra\" was already taken or used elsewhere. The \"cap\" radical indicates that it is a gas, the inside radical indicates how it is pronounced. In all cases in modern times, newly introduced characters are established by decree by some committee governing the field into which new characters are introduced, mostly scientific fields get the most new characters. Chemistry and organic chemistry received the most newly minted characters to enable the use of new nomenclature corresponding to all the western nomenclature. These new Chinese characters weren't used in Japan, as far as I understand. In modern times, China and Japan were not on speaking terms when these new concepts were introduced from the west, and pursued language standards without consulting each other, so there are many characters which are meaningful in one language while being meaningless in the other. Korea only uses historical Chinese characters (which they call 'hanja') for disambiguation since there are a lot of homophones in Korean due to Korean having a large number of mono-syllabic Chinese word roots while not being a tonal language, but Korean hasn't been minting and importing new characters, since they switched to using their phonetic system as the default system after the end of their occupation by Japan. Prior to their independence from Japanese occupation, Korean was often written in a manner similar to Japanese: Chinese characters were used for all the terms that had Chinese word roots (which was a lot), while the Korean alphabet was used for grammatical particles and native terms with no corresponding Chinese characters. This was done for reasons similar to the reason Japanese retained the use of Kanji: there are so many homophones that having symbols for meanings really helped to disambiguate the writing. But it was abandoned because objectively speaking, the Chinese system of writing is unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming to learn to proficiency. By the way, Japanese and Korean were not the only non-Chinese languages to use Chinese characters. Vietnamese used to be written using Chinese characters, but because Vietnamese had a bunch of terms that didn't correspond to existing Chinese terms, Vietnam had an entire \"expansion pack\" of thousands of Vietnamese-minted Chinese-script characters that were only meaningful in Vietnamese, while being meaningless in Chinese. The old system of writing Vietnamese was called [Chữ Nôm]( URL_0 ). But like Chinese, it was very time consuming to learn, so even though Vietnam resented French colonialism, they adopted the alphabetic system introduced by the French."
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am9pwe | Why do Australians and Brits consider it proper grammar to say “go to hospital” and leave out the “the”? As an American I would say “go to THE hospital” but I would happily say “go to school” (no “the”) | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Difference in how the word \"hospital\" is used. Grammatically, the US treats \"hospital\" as a kind of place, where in the UK it is more as a description of a state of being.",
"You would say \"go to the school\" when thew school is just a place you were visiting. \"Go to school\" implies going there as a student. \"Go to the hospital\" is something we say when we are rendezvousing at the hospital for whatever reason. \"Go to hospital\" means we're going to one as some kind of patient.",
"Wait until you experience Yorkshire natives. They leave out the \"the\" everywhere. It's like the word doesn't exist.",
"I asked this on r/AskLinguistics once and not one person gave an answer. One person even debated whether brits really say that. Good going /r/ELI5",
"On the same hand everybody says \"Go to school\", not go to \"the\" school. It's like we already know where the hospital is and which one, just like we all do the school in reference. If I was to say the same thing to a visitor or guest who doesn't know the area, I would probably label the hospital IE: \"Go to Camden Hospital\""
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ameewo | How is Puerto Rican’s paying American taxes without voting rights not taxation without representation? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It is. The same is true for all of the other territories, and Washington DC. DC is so salty about they actually have \"Taxation Without Representation\" on their license plates. The thing is, this is exactly how it's supposed to work. Before a territory becomes a state it must fulfill certain requirements and request ascension to statehood. Puerto Rico in particular goes back and forth on the issue, and in current politics, the GOP has political incentive to block their bid if they tried, but they just haven't tried for a while. In terms of specific tax policy and Puerto Rico in particular, the current situation actually results in less taxes for Puerto Ricans.",
"Does anyone have a boatload of tea perhaps?"
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ameot7 | Why is the USA still not using the metric system? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"There's a common misunderstanding that Americans don't use the metric system. We do. We learn both in schools. The military uses metric almost exclusively as do many career fields. The imperial system is just what Americans prefer to use in their every day life. There's no reason to switch because it doesn't actually affect anything. There's no reason for the government to step in and decide not to teach imperial anymore.",
"Like you're 5: do you know that old stuffed animal you like, with the missing eye and the stuffing falling out? That's your \"imperial\" system. Sure, the new shiny transformer toy (\"metric\") is cool, but you and that stuffed animal have been through a lot together, and you can't really cuddle with a transformer. So you just play with both, but you'll always love that old stuffed animal more because you've had it forever."
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amezwm | why do People believe in star signs? If they're real how do they work? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"They're not real it's complete bullshit. There may be some truth that people born at the same time have similar attributes but that's more likely going to be because of how old they were compared to others in their school year affecting personality rather than the position of stars millions of years ago in made up shapes."
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amgh1j | Why do native speakers of languages such as Spanish and French talk quickly? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"They don't. If you were to visualize the sound waves that occur when we speak, there are very few actual gaps between words, but as it is our native language we have developed to understand where the gaps are through practice. It's something our brains do automatically. When you're presented with a foreign language you have no idea where these gaps go so it's hard to keep up. That's the basic explanation.",
"Some languages have more syllables in words than other. This creates the illusion that they're speaking faster. But when you analyze the rate of actual information that is being conveyed, all languages are pretty much the same.",
"They aren't speaking any faster than we are as native English speakers really. It's a matter of fluency and understanding language. For instance right now, you aren't trying to decipher anything I've typed consciously because you already understand the language and don't have to. If I was typing in say, mandarin chinese or something, and you only knew a few words, you'd only be able to read and comprehend ar a fraction of the speed you normally do since you don't know the language."
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an0xgl | How or when did Fedora's start getting such a bad reputation? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Around the time that people started thinking that an old-timey hat would seriously make them look extra-classy and respectable. They definitely do look cool, but only in the same way that a necktie looks cool. You can't wear it with a gamer t-shirt and expect people to treat you like Frank Sinatra.",
"Fedoras went out of style but were resurrected by folks who tend to be social misfits. Thus the association is with those social misfits.",
"Fedoras used to be pretty common in the 1950's but fell out of style. They have recently been resurrected by young men who think they are classy and wear them, thinking they look like Humphrey Bogart from the Maltese Falcon. In reality, they're usually nerdy neckbeards who look like [this]( URL_0 ). Hipsters have also [started wearing them]( URL_1 ) (possibly ironically). So basically the hat has a bad reputation because the vast majority of people who wear them are pretty socially inept or annoying or both."
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an14oq | Why is it so common to be circumsiced in the US, and not in the rest of the world? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It was popularised around 1900 by John Kellogg, the American businessman. He thought it would prevent the moral sin of masturbation.",
"It's largely because of a man named John Harvey Kellogg. Yes, the inventor of modern breakfast cereal and founder of Kellogg's, one of the largest breakfast cereal and dry foods companies. He was a real psychopath, religious nutcase, doctor, and anti-masturbation crusader. He believed that masturbation and sex were evil, and that circumcision would reduce pleasure and thus stop boys from masturbating. He used his position as a doctor to spread the idea that circumcision was the cure for just about everything, from syphilis to poor grades in school, and that it was more hygienic. His ideas caught on among other doctors and the practice spread over the generations, eventually becoming so customary that it became normal, and parents just do it to their sons now without even thinking about it. He also pushed for girls to have carbolic acid poured on their clitorises, but thankfully that never caught on. & #x200B; Oh, and he was also a huge racist and segregationist.",
"That's not true. Circumcision is much more common in most of Africa, the Middle East, Indonesia, and certain outlier nations like South Korea than in the US. Edit: URL_0",
"Circumcision was popularized in the US in large part by Kellogg, of cereal fame. He was a very well respected health advocate, and pushed circumcision as a method to prevent masturbation, which he believed caused insanity. He convinced many orphanages to perform forced circumcision on male and female children. He performed many surgeries himself because he was apparently a sadist. URL_0 URL_1",
"i'm pretty sure it has something to do with them actively asking parents in paediatrics in the US however in other countries they wait and see if the parents bring it up with their new borns don't ask people if they want it & people are less likely to consider it",
"There is often religious reasons behind genital mutilations. The US is not even the worst offenders in the world. A lot of Muslim countries have bigger issues of genital mutilation. The US tradition comes from the Jewish community but the arguments for circumcision have also convinced a lot of Christian communities to do the same.",
"I mean, USA also uses weird weight/length/degree system, and lynches anyone who speaks against tipping, so what's one more weird thing to add to the list? On a serious note, i think it originally stemmed from religious stuff, and then later just became part of \"everyone does it, so ill do it, even if nobody knows why the fuck we do it\". You can sometimes find people talking about \"benefits\" and \"changes\", but then you also find same amount of equally trustworthy people saying it's all bullcrap. So... I will go with \"just tradition\". Its how it was, and thats why its how it is."
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an5bf2 | How does banking for celebrities work? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Depends how wealthy/smart they are. The smart and very wealthy likely have a team of financial advisors who work with separate teams that all manage different financial products that could be considered to be \"savings\", such as investment funds, private equity investments (ownership stakes in private companies), stock portfolios, etc. They are very diversified. Some even set up holding companies (mostly LLCs) for themselves for tax purposes. Some have offshore accounts that also avoid US taxes. Of course, there are cases of celebrities keeping millions of dollars in cash under their mattresses. And I'm sure some just keep their money in a normal savings account like you or I do. But it's safe to say most keep their money in a diversified portfolio of investments, savings accounts, equities, etc.",
"I'd imagine they have \"premium\" banking accounts since most of them are likely in the top 1% for earnings. Yes it would be in their own name; however, they probably have an accountant and/or financial advisor who has access to the account in order to manage it."
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an6456 | - What is the story with this Spongebob/Maroon 5 controversy/joke/outrage/scandal/ordeal/blunder? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Okay. So one of the most beloved Spongebob Squarepants episodes involves the cast having to perform a song at a football game (obviously intended to be the Super Bowl) where despite having been screw ups for the entire episode, they put on an amazing performance. Recently, there was word that there was going to be some Spongebob Squarepants involvement with this year's Super Bowl halftime show, headlined by Maroon 5. Many people expected that this would entail Maroon 5 doing a cover of \"Sweet Victory\" the song performed in that episode. The actual involvement was just a short clip of Spongebob characters introducing the real performers, which disappointed the people who had hoped for there to be some substantial attempt at doing a tribute to that episode of Spongebob, especially as the series' creator died recently."
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an6koe | Crossover craze | A crossover is a vehicle shaped like an SUV that is built on a car's platform. Some popular crossovers include Honda CR-V, Toyota Highlander, and Ford Explorer. These sales have skyrocketed in the early to mid 2010's, at the expense of other forms of the automobile. Why are people obsessed with crossovers around the world? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"They offer the comfort and fuel efficiency of a sedan while offering the same amount of cargo space and passenger space in a more compact footprint, more versatile cargo space (ie. can put seats down to have larger cargo area, it's one large space vs. trunk and back seat). They offer better maneuverability in poor weather due to higher ride clearance and all-wheel drive, especially in snowy places. The higher seating postion gives a better view of the road. As baby boomers age, they often find it easier to slide into the higher seats of a crossover than having to crouch into a passenger car -- this is the thing that finally won my parents over after decades of being anti-wagon, anti-SUV, etc.",
"Probably because lots of people like driving SUV's. But full size SUV are expensive- both and purchase cost and in fuel costs. The crossovers fill a niche, giving the consumer a \"small SUV\" that isn't as expensive to purchase, and easier on the fuel bill. There's also the \"roomy family car\" aspect. The 60's through the 80's families drove station wagons. Then mini vans came along and the station wagon market dried up. Then a lot of people wanted roomy vehicles but don't want to be driving a mini van. So again, the crossovers filled that void.",
"People like SUV's because they sit higher up. They give you a better view of traffic. This is exacerbated because the more people who purchase SUV's, the worse view you get from down low, because the cars around you are all taller. Some people also find it more comfortable to get into/out of a taller car. They offer additional utility. Station wagons, minivans, and hatchbacks also offer these, but sport utility vehicles are sometimes considered \"cooler.\" Finally, most people rarely need to actually take these vehicles off road, so a lot of those features are not necessary or helpful for these people. Add it all up, and what people want is basically a raised station wagon with some SUV styling built into it."
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andff4 | When exactly did Canada become independent from Great Britain and how are they still associated with the British? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"On July 1, 1867, with passage of the British North America Act, the Dominion of Canada was officially established as a self-governing entity within the British Empire. The passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 recognized that Canada had become co-equal with the United Kingdom. However the Queen is still the head of state for Canada.",
"There wasn’t an exact date - it was a gradual process that took nearly two centuries. The provinces that would eventually join to become Canada were granted elected assemblies in the late 1700s - Nova Scotia in 1758, Upper and Lower Canada in 1791, etc. The governors and their councils were still appointed until the late 1840s, when the provinces started to be granted “responsible government” - elected governments that were in control of their own finances and were accountable to the people rather than the crown (this was partly in response to rebellions in 1837-38). The colonies of British North America were united into the Dominion of Canada in 1867, and although the new country was relatively independent, it was still under British rule, especially in its foreign policy. Canada was granted formal independence in 1931, giving it legislative independence from Britain - the full right to make its own laws and international treaties. The constitution was patriated to Canada in 1982, giving Canada the ability to amend its own constitution without legislation from Britain, which was theoretically the last step to full independence from Britain. Canada has had the British monarch as its head of state since 1763, when Britain formally took control of New France, and that hasn’t changed. The republican movement in Canada has never been particularly strong, probably because a monarch with no political power who lives thousands of miles away isn’t much of an imposition."
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ankitd | What is a Macaron and are they from a specific region? I’m from New England in the USA and I’ve never even seen, much less eaten one of these treats. I hear a lot about them, and I was wondering if anybody could explain what they are to me. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Macarons (French spelling is used so people don't get Macaroons confused with coconut macaroons, which are different) are Italian in origin (I didn't know that, looked it up because I assumed they were French), but I see them all over the place here in Nevada and California. There's a great Armenian bakery that makes them near where I work. & #x200B; Think of them like Oreo cookies, but made from meringue (egg whites). This is the modern style where you take 2 meringue cookies and put something in the middle, like jam or butter cream. Usually the cookies and the filling are the same flavor. [They look like this.]( URL_0 ) & #x200B; In that photo you'll see what looks like coffee, chocolate, raspberry, pistachio and a few others. Imagine eating a fluffy Oreo (that's not necessarily chocolate). They're very light tasting, and the filling will be a stronger flavor than the cookie outsides. I think they're amazing, but, IMO they are pricey."
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anou54 | Jacques Derrida's "Differance" | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Whether or not it is revolutionary is a matter of interpretation (Derrida owed mich to Saussure in this regard) and, as usual with Derrida, ELI5 explanations dont get us very far (his work is so complex that I'm not sure anyone understands it, only claims to!) but the basic idea is that words as concepts have meaning only through their difference to other words. A car is understood only by its difference from trucks, vans, buses etc. Blue is understood by it being different from green or purple. All concepts lack purely objective criteria for understanding. Meaning is only a combination of differences."
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anough | Why is there Men and Women's separate Chess Divisions? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"There aren't separate men's and women's chess divisions. There are chess tournaments for everyone, and chess tournaments only for women. Women are allowed to play in both. Because there aren't many women playing chess in general, and because women pretty much never win the \"for everyone\" tournaments, women-only chess tournaments are created to try to get women involved and to give them a chance to win something.",
"I only went to one chess tournament and I dont think it even remotely occurred to anyone that something like that would happen"
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anqpqf | Why are there so many countries that have the word Guinea in them and no association to Guinea Pigs? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Etymologists dispute the earliest origins of the word “Guinea”. Some trace it to a word in Tuareg, a Berber language, for black people: aginaw. Others think it originally referred to Djenné, a trading city in modern-day Mali. In the 15th century, Portuguese sailors used “Guiné” to describe an area near what is today Senegal, and by the 18th century, Europeans used “Guinea” to refer to much of the West African coastline. As colonisers carved up the continent, many European nations controlled their own Guinea. At independence, French Guinea became Guinea, Spanish Guinea became Equatorial Guinea, and Portuguese Guinea became Guinea-Bissau. The region was a major source of gold, hence the name “guinea” for the British gold coin."
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anrbdw | Why are Tech and Video Game companies, who make billions a year in sales and yet are seeing stocks drop due to "poor performance", care about their stock prices or keep trying to set impossible goals? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Couple of things to unpack here: - Companies can have their stock price drop despite generating significant revenue. This is because the price of the stock is (at a super high level) based in large part by what the expected _future_ profits of the company will be. If I think your profits will be $100M for a year, that means I am willing to pay $X per share for the stock; if it turns out that you only made $80M that year, then people are going to only be willing to pay less than $X a share, so the price drops. - Companies care about the stock price because they have to once they go public - the point of owning stock in a company is to personally profit from that ownership. Publicly traded corporations have what is called a fiduciary duty to their shareholders - they are required _by law_ to try and maximize profitability for their shareholders. If they make decisions that cause the company's stock price to drop, then in the worst case they may be breaking that promise and be open to legal liability. While that is rare, it is much more common for the shareholders to be displeased with company leadership if they are not profitable enough and instruct the board of directors (the committee that makes decisions on behalf of the shareholders) to replace the CEO with one that will make better decisiosn.",
"You and your 4buddies want to make a game but you have no money. You estimate it will cost you $10 to make the game. Your parents all chip in and give you $1 each, because you told them you'd pay them back $5 each after you sell the game. You sell the game and make $75 and pay back your investors a total of $50. You now want to make a larger game but you and your buddies only have $25 and so you go ask the investors for a total of $100 this time as you need to hire more staff, they expect the same results or better. If they put $1 in they'd get $5 out later. You repeat this cycle, but now your investors only get $3 instead of $5. You estimated the game would cost $100 to make and it did but it sold low. Your cousin shows up and is making games that are giveng investors $6 for every $1 they put in. Your parents love you, but even though your making money for them, your cousin would make them more. Game companies rarely have the money to develop a game on their own. Instead they just like the investors only get part of the return, not all of it.",
"Because their model work for decades. Nothing they do today is new, it's just the evolution of what they did for a long time. It always brought them money and make their growth their business. EA is so large because it started a bunch of sports game. It always had annual version of the game with minimal changes. Then they started to sell DLC and people bought them. Then they started to sell loot boxes and people bought them. Then they started to add more and more micro transactions and people bought them. It's normal for them to continue to do stuff that make them a profit, so they kept adding more and more. The problem is that this model started to be hated by players. At first only the hardcore gamers that saw those practices on more and more games started to voice their discontent, but the vast majority of players who play less or didn't keep up with news of the industry or share much of their opinions with other players, this wasn't really a problem yet. But today, anybody can access internet, discuss on the internet about what they like or dislike about a game, look at an article about the bad effect of micro transaction and loot boxes, or see a video on you tube about the subject. As information spread to a larger part of the consumers and that the companies started to go further than what most player were able to accept, the bubble started to blow. People started to get upset and look more closely about those issues. People started to complain more and bough less, making a PR nightmare for some companies and making their stock decrease. But that's relatively recent. EA stock was at his peak in summer 2018, Activision-Blizzard hit their peak in autumn 2018, the same for Take Two Interactive (the group holding 2K and Rockstar). Their sales are dropping, the confidence of the public in them is dropping and their stock is dropping, but the consequence of their actions of the last decade only started to show in the last 6-9 months. We only starting to see how those companies will react.",
"These companies care about their stock prices for the same reason that any company cares about their stock price. The stockholders are, ultimately, the owners of the company. They vote on the membership of the board of directors, who appoints the CEO who appoints everyone else in the company. If the shareholders aren't happy they can vote out the current board who can remove the CEO who can remove anyone else. The board and the CEO are in the business of making the shareholders happy because the shareholders are their bosses."
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ans6fc | what are we attempting to accomplish by “raising awareness” of things everyone is already aware of, such as breast cancer? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Because \"awareness\" isn't a \"one and done\" deal. Just because you're aware doesn't mean your children are going to be born aware. Someone is going to have to tell them. And unless it's something that has had an impact on your life, it's honestly probably not going to be you. Most people are probably aware of these things *because* of awareness campaigns (the exceptions being people who are directly or indirectly affected by these issues in an impact way, which is the minority of people).",
"Teach people what symptoms to look for, how to examine themselves and/or when to seek out medical exams, etc. to try and prevent and catch early. Also, by getting information out there about the prevalence, cures, etc. it can help raise money for those needing assistance with treatment, research for additional/better treatments. Using the Breast Cancer you mentioned, that means promoting regular self-exams and women getting mammograms once they reach a certain age. And by promoting the prevalence of the disease and how likely that it is something you will experience yourself, through a spouse, mother, sister, etc. then that gets you to donate to charities that research cures and help patients pay for treatment, get wigs, etc.",
"There are two answers, depending on your perspective and the particular issue. One answer is that by raising awareness, you can spur people to change their behavior or act in ways to stop the thing. For example, pretty much everyone is \"aware\" that domestic violence exists and is bad, but if people haven't personally experienced it, they may not appreciate how common it is, how severely it effects victims, or how the criminal justice system sometimes fails to address it. \"Raising awareness\" is a means of informing people of these facts, so that we as a society begin to treat it as a more serious problem. Individuals will be less likely to treat it as a private matter and turn a blind eye, and will be more willing to support or push for political or legal changes to prevent or punish abuse or help victims. The other answer is that \"raising awareness\" is a good way for an organization to market that it is doing something virtuous without actually having to achieve anything tangible. If you can persuade Nike to sell pink football jerseys, or Apple to sell red iPods, the people who buy them get to signal to the world they are socially aware, but don't actually have to give real any money or effort. Nike or Apple sells a bunch of stuff and gets great publicity for being socially conscience, and pays a licensing fee to an organization with well-paid staff whose primary job is to market more pink or red goods to \"raise awareness,\" with only a trivial amount of money actually going to research or to people in need.",
"Those campaigns tend to create a lot of warm fuzzies for participants, publicity for corporate sponsors, and fat paychecks for charity CEOs. Mail in yogurt lids? Why doesn't the company save everyone the postage and envelope waste and just send a check? See also: Susan Komen Foundation.",
"—It sounds nicer than “raising money”. —there is information people can use, like how to do a breast self examination, symptoms to look out for, etc. — it gives people with it a chance to be heard. For example, there was a woman told her missing breast bothered her coworkers and she had to wear a prosthetic. awareness campaigns should educate people about how not to be jerks to people with that condition. It can normalize it so people with it don’t feel so lonely, seeing others who are missing a breast, for instance."
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ao1clp | How come languages came into existence and how come there are more than 1000 existing languages across the world? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"How come there are over a thousand? For most of history, getting around wasn't easy. Even riding on horses is comparatively young compared to the evolution of language. So they didn't really get the chance to spread; small groups each developed their own languages instead. As for why they came into existence, we're able to speak and found out quite early on that we could communicate with each other that way. Same reason whales and dolphins have their versions of \"languages\" or how bees do an intricate dance to describe locations of nectar-bearing flowers.",
"Language is an interesting topic. Basically language didnt just “start” we cant point to a beginning because it becomes a philosophic question, when does basic communication become something more? As we became more complex, with a greater need to express concepts and organize into hunting groups, whistles and mimicking bird calls began. We can still hear this in some African tribal languages. As each group spread from the Valley of Life and genetic drift began, each group evolved the language as they needed it, added words that became commonly accepted and used by others in the same group. Latin eventually became the standard language of the west, hence most European and America’s sound somewhat similar with common base words. While countries not conquered by Rome (asian, middle eastern and slavic countries ) we see totally different language structure, with no similarities to western languages. Side note. Linguistic Scientists believe Mother and Father were the first and most universal of our human language. Most languages use the same sound for each of their vocabularies, even African and asian speakers (maw and dah) As our need to express ideas and thoughts grew, our need to communicate did as well, evolving into modern languages Edit: spelling"
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aoabox | Why do people like Fortnite? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"There's a steep learning curve for building in combat. That's what drew me in, being able to build your own cover and use it to position yourself all around your opponent. It's a unique mechanic"
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aoieid | How do cults come to be? How do they become so powerful? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"People crave belonging to something larger than themselves to try and give meaning to their existence. All religions started out as cults (still are but that's another discussion). The fear of uncertainty is a major existential pain point for some people, cults with overly charismatic and confident leaders convince wayward suggestible people that their certainty can be shared and eventually passed on.",
"Most people who have been involved in serious modern cults like that of the Jonestown cult in 1978 are typically vulnerable. They’re lost and unfortunately come into contact with the leader or member who initially says all the right things to them. They end up taking the next step and attending a meeting where the leader is the primary focus. Typically the leader is a captivating, intelligent and charismatic figure. They say a few things that hit the nail on the head and a person feels like they need to be apart of this thing. After a group is formed, it becomes a group mentality. This is my group and I want to fit in so even if things get a little weird I’m on board. Most people in cults are so devout that even people who aren’t as committed are convinced and want to participate. In Jonestown, a bunch of people drank poisoned koolaid because that was their next step. Hence the old saying “drink the koolaid” . It’s wild how people can get sucked in to these things, but these people are typically in a bad place when they join.",
"Same way churches become powerful. Promise of a better future for the cost of absolute faith."
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aomvl0 | Why are vowels (AEIOU) so special? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Without them we don't expell enough air to make coherant sounds. Try to say the previous sentance without them.",
"Because at least one is found in every single English word."
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aoxvzf | When did we start using small denominations of time (sec, min, hour), and why is it so uniform between countries? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Lets start at the front of the Question. The first clocks only hand the hour hand, you guessed the rest, circa 1600 +or-. {some should fact check the date of the earliest consumer clock, for accuracy}. By the 1700's the two hand clock appears, a bit later on the sweep\\[second hand\\]. Some clocks came with a calendar wheel, to show the date. The uniformity comes first with the railroads, and later with mass transportation. Most of the mad desire to 'know the time' comes with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, and the 'other revolutions' in progress, thereafter",
"Egyptians used a base 12 number system, possibly derived from their recognition of 12 lunar cycles in a year. Egyptian seasons were centered around the phases of the Nile, and they defined three such seasons, each with 4 months having 30 days each, with a final 5 days tacked on the end before the next year started. Egyptians made use of sundials for timekeeping during the day, utilizing their base-12 system for 12 segments of daytime hours, and at night they used a system whereby star goups rising on the horizon would mark a subdivision of the night. There were 36 such groups, and on a given night 18 of them would be visible in succession. The first and last 3 were during dusk and dawn, and the remaining 12 marked the passage of the night in roughly equal portions. About every 10 days, the Westernmost star group would fall out of visibility, now rising too early in the day to be seen, and the next group in the line of 36 would have its \"Heliacal rising\", where it would be visible just before dawn. Each of the 36 groups had a Heliacal rising each year, and certain ones marked the beginning of seasons, such as Sirius. Egypt was one of the world's earliest empires, and exerted tremendous cultural and societal influence on the ancient Near-East during its existence, thus propagating its own traditions and sciences to other cultures. Babylonia used a base-60 number system, though we still don't know exactly why, it's very possible they recognized its use as a very composite number. Given their extensive knowledge in mathematics in other regards, this is not an unlikely reason. Their astronomical observations were done in this base-60 system. Babylonia's history is closely tied to the history of Assyria and later Neo-Assyria, having been allied with or annexed by them for significant portions of time. Toward the end of the Neo-Assyrian empire, they controlled essentially the known world at the time, encompassing all of the Near-East within their territory. Babylonia's cultural and scientific developments would have been prevalent throughout the region and throughout Neo-Assyria during their existence, thus carrying on their traditions and definitions to all their peoples whom would go on to expand into later civilizations. Later, the Greeks would build on Babylonian mathematics by taking the circle and using the base-60 system to divide it into 60 portions to define latitude on the globe. Longitude was defined by subdividing into 360 degrees, with finer base-60 subdivisions so named \"minutae primae\", meaning \"first **minute**\", and \"minutae secundae\", meaning \"**second** minute\". These circular degree subdivisions of minute and second would later play a role in timekeeping when circular clocks with hands would appear, centuries later. Hours themselves were not standardized in ancient or even classical times, and summer months had longer days, while still being portioned into 12 parts, resulting in hours that were outright longer during summer than they were during winter when daytime was shorter. Since hours themselves weren't rigidly defined, there was no need for a dedicated 1/60th subdivisional unit of time. Early clocks would mark hours in quarters or twelfths, but not in 60ths until much later when the hour itself became a more standardized unit of time, separate from the length of daylight."
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ap2xgk | How do we know that languages like Sanskrit and most the European languages are descended from the same language but languages like Basque we know are completely unrelated to any known language? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"We can compare the words for different things in different languages. If the words are almost the same then it is likely that the languages are very closely related. For example Spanish and Portuguese share a lot of words and grammar. The less similar they are the longer back they separated. For example Spanish and French both share some words and most words have the same base but are pronounced and spelled differently. When you get really far back it can be hard to see how they are related but you can track some words back to their origins. For example French and German sounds very differently but if you compare each word you can find similarities. Where possible you can also go back in ancient texts and find the original common language between them. For example French and Hindu have very little in common but there are texts from the bronze age which show similarities with both of the languages. And then you have languages like Basque, Mandarin and Finish which do not have anything in common with most other languages even how hard we try to find a link.",
"This is a fascinating topic, and if you're interested in this, I highly recommend at least going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole to learn more. But, to answer your questions, there are a few ways to determine if languages are related: 1. Word similarity. Very closely related languages tend to have some, or even a lot of, similar words. Think of groups like Spanish & Italian & French, and, to give another example, Polish & Czech & Slovak. Of course, this isn't a foolproof method. Firstly, sometimes languages have many loanwords from other languages that they're *not* closely related to. For example, many technology-related words (e.g. the Internet) in many languages are loanwords from English. Also, if languages developed separately or semi-separately, the words may have changed. To use my previous example, French and Czech are members of the same language family, but modern French and modern Czech don't sound super similar, especially to the untrained ear. 2. Grammar similarity. Stuff like cases, case endings, gender (the linguistic kind), tenses, sentence structure. Some of this is easily noticeable. Coming back to my earlier example, Slavic languages (Polish, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Ukrainian, and more) have case endings that are somewhat similar to one another. In case you don't speak any languages that use cases, \"case endings\" refer to little ways words change depending on their position and role in a sentence. But again, this isn't a foolproof method. For example, English *used to* have cases, but doesn't anymore. Sentence structure is another thing to consider. Does the language do I-Eat-Cake, or I-Cake-Eat? Or some other thing? These can be similar for related languages. They don't *have* to be, but they can. 3. History. Languages change over time. In the previous points I mentioned how certain things may not seem similar *anymore*. Well, if you have old texts, books, documents, etc, and use those for research, you'll often find that things shared with other languages. And we have written documents dating back to thousands of years ago. Figuring out the pronunciation of a word in a long-lost language can be tricky, but there are ways to do that as well. & #x200B;"
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ap3302 | Why is the letter 'Y' only 'sometimes' considered a vowel? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"\"Y\" is considered a vowel when it can be used to replace \"a, e, I, o, or u\". As in \"shy\" or \"Mykonos\". \"Y\" is considered a consonant when used in words like \"yellow\" or \"yak\"."
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ap6qgn | What political power does the Queen actually have? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"No one really knows. The UK has no written constitution, everything is based on convention, and it's hard to tell what happens in closed-door meetings. All we know for sure is that the Queen never makes any decisions in public, except for decisions affecting her immediate family and her palaces, and that all political decisions that we know about are made by Parliament and the prime minister. The prime minister meets the Queen every week in private. The Queen receives updates on current issues, and supposedly she expresses her views on these issues. What the prime minister does with these views, we don't know, but chances are they get ignored. The Queen also meets with foreign heads of state and gives public speeches at various occasions, and of course she is very highly regarded in the population. So she could use these things to influence opinions, at the very least. So, based on current constitutional practice, one can say that the Queen's role is purely advisory and representational. I.e., she can't do anything if it contradicts the decisions of parliament or the prime minister. But since there is no written constitution, things could quickly change, if, say, there was a constitutional crisis caused by Brexit. If somehow parliament lost its legitimacy, it's conceivable that the Queen might become the arbiter of last resort, i.e. would make a decision about who is in power to prevent the country from going into chaos -- in a similar way as the Spanish king did after the death of dictator Franco. Whether people would accept this decision is a whole different question. In the Commonwealth nations, the situation is different, because most of those have constitutions. There is lots of precedent for Commonwealth countries abolishing monarchy, so it is clear that if the Queen tried to overstep her powers, countries like Australia would simply get rid of her."
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appkmr | How do armed services like CIA and DEA operate in other countries with firearms, and are there foreign operations doing the same in the United States? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The DEA will work in cooperation with the host government. The CIA is normally involved in covert operations and doesn't ask for the host government's permission. If there were foreign spy operations going on in the US you wouldn't know about it since they'd be covert operations.",
"The spies you see on TV and in movies are not accurate for what your average covert operatives for the CIA does. Most operatives are concerned with collecting information of which you do not need a firearm. As far as armed DEA agents doing swat style raids in other countries, that is done with the permission of the host country. Columbia for example back in the 80s and 90s had an agreement with the US government for the US to send down both law enforcement and military advisers in order to help train and take down dangerous drug dealers and FARC members. Yes there are other foreign operators that are working in the US. There have been multiple recent reports in the news about Chinese spies being caught recently. It's not uncommon for other police forces to assist in certain cases that involve international issues like Interpol does.",
"CIA agents do not usually carry guns unless it is normal for the host country. They blend in.",
"The DEA liaisons with local law enforcement. Part of this gives them permission to use weapons, make arrests, etc. They also normally also have the local law enforcement with them. The CIA are spies. What they do abroad is not legal in those countries. If they are caught they will be arrested and potentially killed. We arrest or kill spies, just like the other countries and we cooperate with law enforcement of other countries from time to time."
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apscw2 | How are major secrets in the entertainment industry (pre-release Marvel movie details, production on Beyonce's surprise album "Lemonade", etc.) kept from getting out and going viral every time? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Non disclosure agreements are pretty much it along with good security. Breaking an NDA can fuck you really badly. Not just financially, but also career wise, it would be very hard to get a job in any field where confidentiality matters if you're known to have broken an NDA before. Basically if you don't want to destroy your future you don't take the risk."
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apsr8l | Did thousands of people die trying 'food' that we now know is poisonous? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Probably. And more than a few avoided food that we know is fine. Many people in Europe in the 1400s thought fruit was slightly poisonous and shouldn't be given to young children. Many people used to think tomatoes were toxic."
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apt306 | Why events occur “at” a certain time, “on” a day, or “in” a month or year? | These phrases are all used to describe when something happens, but all use different prepositions. Why do we treat them as such different concepts, like time as a location and year as a container? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"When prepositions are used literally, they generally have specific meanings: *on* the table, *in* the drawer, *at* the station, etc. When they are used figuratively, that is, not to describe physical locations, prepositions are often arbitrary. We say \"at a loss\", for example. There's no particular reason, or at least none that is obvious, why we can't say \"in a loss\" or \"on a loss\". But there is some sense to the prepositions we use with time, probably because we tend to think of time as stretched out in a line, that is, as if it were a physical entity. \"At\" is used for a precise location (\"at the end of the street\"), and so it makes sense to use that for a precise time (\"at 4pm\"). Similarly, \"in\" is used for location within something that has physical size, such as \"in a row\", \"in a field\", \"in the room\". So it makes sense to use \"in\" for time that has a duration, as in \"in March\" (a time of 31 days' duration) or \"in 2019\" (a time of 365 days' duration). This reasoning doesn't explain \"on Tuesday\", however. Depending on whether we view a day as a point in time or a duration of 24 hours, we could say \"at Tuesday\" or \"in Tuesday\", but for some other reason, we don't."
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apv9cy | Why do songs sound weird when every note is lowered by one? Shouldn't it be the same melody, just a little lower pitched? | I never learned any music theory, but i could play a few songs on a keyboard when i was young and something that stuck with me was trying to play Frère Jacques one note lower than i was supposed to and it sounded really bad. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"You've received some complicated explanations. I'll see if I can give a more true ELI5 version. It depends what you mean by 'one note lower'. I suspect you are moving one white key lower and playing the same fingering pattern. That won't work. To transpose to a different key you have to take into account the black keys as well. Take the first three notes of Frère Jacques in C, for example. When you play C D E you are actually going up two half steps each time because there are black keys in between each white key. Now lets say you want to transpose this down to B. There's no black key between B and C. So in order for the opening sequence to sound right you'd need to to play the opening sequence as B C# D#. Because you still need to skip one keyboard key between each note played. You are correct that any song can be played in any key. But it will cause different fingering patterns because you will be using different combinations of black and white keys.",
"Not all white keys are actually \"next to eachother\": there's still the black keys there, and they are just as important as the whites! Between every key, be it a black or a white one, the note it plays jumps up \"half a note\". So if you're playing two white keys after another, and there's a black key in between, they're actually a \"full note\" apart. You probably played Frere Jaque in C (starting on the white note to the left of the two black keys), meaning the first line went C-D-E-C (D being in the middle of the two black keys and E being to the right of it). The \"distance\" between the first two notes C and D is a full note, since there's a black key in between. Now, if you shift all the notes one to the left, ignoring black keys, you would get B-C-D-B, which is not the same! There's no black note in-between B and C, so they're only \"half a note\" apart! You can shift all the notes down and have it sound the same, you just need to remember the black keys. The first line of Frere Jaque would be B-C#-D# (those are the two black keys next to eachother). I recommend experimenting on a keyboard or piano, this is a sort of thing which is better seen/heard than read, imo."
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apzk1o | Can US political candidates make campaign promises in the form of legally binding contracts? If not, why not? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"No. In order for a contract to be valid there must be \"consideration\" on both sides. You cannot be contractually bound to do something for free, there needs to be some sort of exchange of value (and additionally it needs to be \"conscionable\" so absurdly one-sided contracts can also be thrown out). Furthermore valid contracts cannot demand one party break the law, you can't enforce a contract to commit a crime. The intersection of all those factors is that a candidate trying to make a promise in exchange for a vote would be breaking the law (as it isn't legal to purchase votes) and if they were to just make the promise without the voters promising anything in exchange the contract wouldn't be valid either."
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aq6blx | How Going Vegan Will Save The Environment | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Farming animals on the scales we do uses a vast amount of resources - feed, water, electricity, fuel. Livestock also excrete a massive amount of methane.",
"Why even ask this question if you’re just going to argue with the fact based answers?",
"you can look at it simply by realizing it takes a huge amount of energy/water/greenhouse gas to create food, and then if you consume a food that requires food, all those factors are greatly multiplied.",
"As this is an Eli5, the simplest answer is efficiency. We have two options, grow plants and eat them for their calories and protein, or grow plants, feed them to animals and kill the animals to eat for calories and protein. As an animal can't transform 100% of the plants it eats into edible meat for us, it becomes inefficient to eat meat compared to just eating plants. Just imagine, if you eat a kilo of bananas, you don't instantly gain 1kg of body mass. This is the efficiency loss.",
"animals are far from 100% efficient at turning their food into meat. down to only 1% efficient. so we need up to 100x more land to produce meat over vegetables. this is almost the only reason areas get deforrestated",
"Cow are the first problem of ozon's hole. There are such as 1bln cows, and they fart a lot. No joke they are a big problem ."
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aq6yjy | why are less developed countries called the 3rd world? And is there a second world? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The second world was the Soviet Union. The third world nations are worse off than that. First, obvy, are the most developed.",
"initially it wasn't related to country economy level/development. It is a term from cold war era, when first world was US and allies (NATO), second - soviets (warsaw pact) and third world were neutral countries.",
"During the Cold War, First World countries were allied with the US, Second World were in the orbit of the USSR, and Third World were unaffiliated, and mostly too poor and isolated to be worth fighting over. During the war, Vietnam was dirt poor, but South Vietnam was a first world country, and North Vietnam (which was poorer) was second world. Second World would be Poland, Czechia, Ukraine, Russia."
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aq7ufw | Why public advocacy for consumption of tobacco and drugs has been the opposite in the last decades? | I remember in the 80s / 90s that tobacco/cigarettes were commonly used and advertised. You were able to smoke at work, in airplanes, restaurants. You saw people smoking on family movies. Nowadays that's not the case, smoking is prohibited in most areas, and even frowned upon. Different case with drugs. In the 80s / 90s there was a lot of propaganda of "Drugs are evil", "Don't do drugs", "Drugs will destroy your family". Nowadays, the position is more relaxed, and drugs aren't vilified, people consume them for medical purposes, social, and relaxation. Why the discrepancies? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"This isn’t true of all drugs. You still hear about how harmful opiates or meth are. Not all drugs cause the same amount of harm. There’s some evidence that telling horror stories about “drugs” (as if they’re all equally bad) is counterproductive in discouraging people from trying them. It’s a “boy who cried wolf” sort of thing- they see someone using marijuana and nothing terrible happens to them, so they think the stories about heroin must be exaggerations, too.",
"Smoking has since been proven to be definitively bad for you. Cigarette companies lost a number of lawsuits proving that they actively lied about the harmful effects and new laws were past limited the scope of advertising for Cigarettes and Alcohol primarily to protect children. For instance in many countries it was made illegal for Tobacco sponsorship in sporting events and banned TV + print advertising for Tobacco products. Smoking has been made illegal in Bars and many places of business. Meanwhile it has become clear that the \"War on Drugs\" started by Nixon and perpetuated throughout the 80's and 90's has been a complete failure. Drugs like Opiates, Meth, Crack Cocaine, etc are definitely bad for you and still looked down upon by law enforcement and people in general. It's Marijuana specifically that people are starting to have a more relaxed attitude towards. It has been proven that the War on Drugs was engineered by Nixon in order to make Marijuana illegal so that he could arrest Hippies and Blacks protesting the Vietnam War and the in the Civil Rights movement. The War on Drugs has become an extension of the Military Industrial Complex. The US police forces have become militarized using anti-drug funding to purchase ever larger quantities of military class hardware. The US now has the largest prison population in the world which has led to privatization of prisons which benefits a handful of corrupt individuals and companies at the expense of petty criminals and their families. Drugs and related crimes are arguably more a problem now than they have ever been. Mexican drug cartels basically run their country. Pharmaceutical companies in the US have essentially engineered an Opiate crisis. The use of locally produced Methamphetamine is on the rise. Meanwhile Marijuana legislation is being laxed because it's being proven to be a soft-drug that is less harmful than smoking. Marijuana use is remarkably prolific despite it being illegal and is heavily glamorized particularly in the Rap community which has helped it gain popularity and acceptance among a percentage of the population. Research is showing that THC is not nearly as harmful as it has been made out to be, and it can have health benefits as not only a pain reliever but can help deal with seizures and other health problems (but it's not the cure all miracle drug that some people would like you to believe) The idea of it being a 'gateway drug' is bullshit. The US Federal Government however has a vested interest in keeping Marijuana illegal. Without including marijuana use in the statistics drug use in the US is actually such a small subset of the population that it is very difficult to justify the continued expenditure on the War of Drugs. Many defense contractors, private prisons and the like have come to depend on that income and actively lobby the US Government to maintain the status quo. All this despite the drug becoming de-criminalized in many states. Canada legalized marijuana last year. Marijuana use is not really on the rise (plenty of people used marijuana illegally before the laws were passed) Tax revenue is flooding in, and the biggest and most common complaint is that legal marijuana is more expensive and lower quality than the illegal stuff. My favorite part is that despite public uproar about the risks of High drivers and the resulting investment of millions on new testing equipment over the holidays exactly 1 person was arrested for testing positive and driving high. The sky is hardly falling."
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aqbady | Why does the school bus driver get seatbelts but the students do not? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"They don't want the driver falling out of the seat, being thrown into the windshield and so on. Basically the close nature of the seats create little sub-compartments for the students \"NHTSA decided the best way to provide crash protection to passengers of large school buses is through a concept called “compartmentalization.” This requires that the interior of large buses protect children without them needing to buckle up. Through compartmentalization, children are protected from crashes by strong, closely-spaced seats that have energy-absorbing seat backs.\" Some states mandate seatbelts URL_1 URL_0",
"Upstate NY USA here, every school bus I've ever been on does have seat belts for the students, they elect to not wear them because they're uncomfortable (think airplane seatbelts that only go across your waist) and kids like to get up and move around or turn in their seat to talk to friends",
"So a lot of reasonable answers here, but incomplete to OP's question. See the article here: URL_0 . Note this article is based out of Canada and doesn't necessarily speak for other countries. The truth is that there is no viable reason not to give seatbelts to passengers on school buses. The study in 1984 claimed seat belts caused more harm than good, which is bogus with the support of the 2010 study by Transport Canada. More buses are being equipped with seatbelts in newer models and the demand is to retrofit seatbelts on existing older models. It is true that school buses are engineered to be safer than other vehicles, but the truth is seatbelts add another layer of security that can save lives and minimize injuries.",
"I get the impression that’s going to change soon in Canada in light of what happened to that hockey team out west.",
"If there is a fire the bus driver will not have time to disconnect the seat belts of every student. The students might panic and won't be able to. It's safer for the students to remain unbuckled.",
"There are plenty of kids on the planet but I've seen a few \"now hiring bus drivers\" signs that have been up for a decade.",
"some 40 years ago, they did some studies and decided no belts were safer. In reality, it was 40 years ago and god knows what the studies showed, but this was the result in any case (can I interest you in a cigarette wrapped in asbestos, while we chat about the hoax that is global warming? -70's people probably) more recent studies have disproved this notion... but the costs of retrofitting buses are not approved so a hardline stance of \"belts are safer\" is a dangerous proclamation when you know you cant afford to resolve the issue. We'll probably see belts creeping into newer fleets.",
"Hitting the back of the seat in front of you is a lot less severe than hitting the steering wheel (or being thrown though the windshield). Story time: When I was in middle school my (full) bus rear ended a tractor-trailer at pretty high speed. The students in the bus were basically fine. A few went to the hospital for X-rays but no one had an injury beyond some bumps and bruises. The bus driver on the other hand ended up needing emergency surgery and in the hospital for a few weeks because despite the seat belt she was thrown into the steering wheel hard enough to rupture her spleen (I think?).",
"The reason I don't see in this thread: the bus driver needs to stay seated in a crash because he is the only one that can stop the bus from further crashing",
"Sauce: I spoke directly with the head of our local school bus garage. He said that the reasons are many. First is because the kids would hit the back of the seat in front of them (or the pad if in front row) whereas the driver would hit glass. Second, and most importantly though, is that in the event of an evacuation even full adults were nearly 80% slower if they were buckled up when in simulations. Limited simulations were run with students and they scored a hefty 130% slower. Especially when you consider the higher likelihood of the engine catching fire than a specially trained driver getting into an accident the seatbelts prove to not only be relatively pointless but also potentially highly fatal.",
"Ever see video inside a bus during a rollover accident? Google one, then tell me with a straight face school buses don't need seatbelts.",
"Another \"I was in a bus crash story\" When I was in Middle School I was sleeping on the bus when it hit a stolen car that ran a red light, and I hit the seat in front of me and fell on the floor. I was a bit stunned picking myself up but wasn't injured, nor was anyone else on the bus.",
"the problem of seatbelts on a school bus is that you have one driver, who for the most part isn't acting in a supervisory role(so long as the children are more or less behaving, the driver isn't paying attention to them), and a couple dozen unruly children. While it might be safer to have all the children properly belted in, it's not entirely reasonable to expect that the bus driver is going to 1: get everyone into a seat and belted in, and 2: make sure everyone wears their seatbelt properly for the duration of the ride. Putting more adults on the bus to enforce seatbelts brings the problem of reducing seating capacity for children, increasing loading times as the adult checks all the seatbelts (or gets in the way trying to be present at every seat as children buckle in), and incrreased operational costs to pay their salary. The last point that should be noted that an improperly worn seatbelt can be more dangerous than going without, and the liability that a schoolbus operator (school or district) might incur if they don't have someone to make sure the kids are belted in correctly could easily outweigh any reasons to include the belts even if they were to go without having an adult enforcing their use. So far as that goes, schoolbus seats are designed to offer padding that reduces injury if an accident occurs and a child is flung into the seat in front of them.",
"The seat belt argument has been answered adequately, but I'd like to address one of the (faulty) tangential arguments. > The bus is big and heavy A school bus is **not** heavy. Compare: * A semi-trailer: two axles in the rear, four tires on each axle; two more axles in the front, four tires on each axle (which also support part of the tractor). Let's say 12 of the traditional 18 wheels support the trailer. * A school bus: ONE axle in the rear, PERIOD. Four tires support a mostly-empty box of humans, which really -aren't- that heavy. If something with -any- real mass at all hits a school bus, it's the bus that goes bouncing away into the distance.",
"If there were ever a situation in which the entire bus of children needs to evacuate, it would be a disaster with 60 potentially elementary school kids panicking being unable to get their seat belts off. The bus is big and heavy enough to protect the kids from any sort of realistic impact. Quick evacuation is most important.",
"There are lots of explanations but the most common reason is basically to save money buying and maintaining seat belts. It is much easier to justify the expense of one seat belt for the driver then tens of seat belts for the passengers where they can be subject to vandalism. Buses tend to not be involved in as many deadly accidents both due to having a professional driver and because of the weight of the bus. So seat belts on buses are not as critical as in regular cars. But the expense can be justified for a seat belt for the driver as that seat will always be occupied and because you do not want the driver to be thrown out of his seat in the case of an accident as the bus might still be controllable.",
"I'm a mechanic at a school bus company. Our company runs 113 full size buses and 80 mini buses. Every mini has seat belts for the kids. Our full size buses are being retrofitted with seat belts due to a new initiative taking the country by storm. In a few years it will be mandatory for all buses to have seat belts. Now to answer OP's question The most simple way to break it down is that the kids sit above the impact zone. The energy from the impact is supposed to transfer under the bus. The seats are also made in a way that absorb some of the impact. They are also taller (as of the early 2000's, before this kids were just screwed) so in a front or rear impact the seat acts just like an air bag. I know they don't seem like they reduce injury and I don't know for sure if they do. Seat belts will help a ton!",
"Wondering if it also has anything to do with drowning risk if bus ends up in water?",
"My school told us that seatbelts would strangle us in the event of an accident. Don't know how true that is...",
"There is also concern if the bus was to catch fire or fall into water it would take a very long time to unbuckle all the kids before getting them off the bus.",
"A lot of states require seatbelts for the students as well. I know in Tennessee they do not but they are debating it ever since the bad crash in Chattanooga Source: Dads a bus contractor/driver",
"Because even though seatbelts would make it safer for the children the addition of seatbelts would create a huge liability issue by placing responsibility on the driver to make sure every kid is wearing their seatbelt. That, and without seatbelts they can cram three kids per seat instead of two. And since public school divisions rarely get the funding they need it's necessary for them to do more with less. Source: my mother has been a teacher for 30+ years and has brought this up to the local school board before. Although her experience is only within the Alberta school system in Canada.",
"Hi there! School bus driver supervisor, here: School buses are designed like egg cartons. Each seat is compartmentalized, with the seatbacks and barriers even higher than they used to. They are designed to absorb impact forces from frontal or rear collisions, the most common and likely kinds of crashes involving school buses. Incidents involving collisions at higher speeds, such as incidents where passenger vehicles fail to notice and stop for a stopped school bus will strike and underride the bumper, where they will be downward and wedged between the [very heavy] rear of the bus and the ground. However, when large commercial vehicles strike a school bus at high speed, it results in massive deformation of the body, crushing the rear inwards by several rows of seats. Such an incident happened in Maryland a few years ago. In this situation, seatbelts would not serve passengers any better. TL;DR school bus seats are a balance of efficiency and safety, given the most common types of accidents involving school bus. Plus it's really annoying when the little bastards fling seatbelts around, smashing windows and bloodying noses."
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aqkyxm | Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"\"I have never seen an ostrich outside of a zoo. Therefore, there are no such things as wild ostriches.\" The phrase you quoted is meant to say that you can't deny something exists based on incomplete information.",
"Just because you can’t prove something, doesn’t mean it’s not true. It *could* still be true, all we really *know* is that we can’t prove it. A famous example is the existence of god. Is there anything that proves for sure that the universe was created by some greater power? No, as far as we know the universe, planet, life, etc can be explained by forces of nature without some deity causing things to be this way. But does this show for certain that there is *no* god? No, there *could* be, and things could look exactly the same. Another example— somebody is accused of murder. They claim to have been in a neighboring town when it happened, and wouldn’t have been able to kill the victim because of that. Now, there aren’t any credit card transactions, security footage, cell phone records, etc that reveal whether *or not* they were at the location of the murder. What this *does* mean is under the laws of most countries, more evidence will be needed to convict that person. However, this doesn’t prove their innocence. If their gun was proven to be the one used in the murder, etc, they can’t get out of it by saying “you can’t convict me of the murder because you can’t prove where I was!” That’s true, but not knowing where they were (lack of evidence) does not overrule other hard evidence that they were responsible.",
"We have been uncovering the history of life on Earth for several hundred years now, and only in the last 100 have we really began systematically studying fossils and building the tree of life to understand how different organisms evolved from common ancestors. Because much of this information is obtained from fossils, the types of organisms we can study must necessarily be ones that can be fossilized. For instance when a fish dies, it doesn't always sink to the floor and become preserved. And even when it does, it has hard bones that can become fossilized. What if a creature doesn't have bones though? Or what if it is so fragile that it cannot be preserved after death. It wouldn't leave much fossil evidence for it's existence. So you could argue that just because there isn't fossil evidence that there used to be a blimp sized jellyfish species, doesn't mean we can say 100% that such a thing never lived.",
"Dad: \"Son, go get my wallet from my office\" \\*Son goes and looks, comes back\\* Son: \"Your wallet is not in your office\" \\*Dad goes and looks, finds it, comes back\\* Dad: \"Just because you looked and didn't find it, doesn't mean it wasn't there\"",
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence nor is it is proof of existence. & #x200B; Remember the last part, because that is where the \"arguments from ignorance\" come from. It is always the role of the person making the positive assertion to cite evidence of their claim and not the reverse. (ie. I don't have any obligation to prove that you are wrong, you have the obligation to prove that you're right.) EDIT: don't do this to children.",
"There are no dragons. I can argue that dragons never existed because we never found proof that they did (evidence of absence). However, you can also argue that just because we never found proof doesn't mean that that proof doesn't exist, we simply didn't find it yet (absence of evidence) As you can imagine, this can be slippery slope",
"There's a flip side though: absence of evidence where we would expect to find it does constitute evidence of absence. I hypothesize that there's a dragon in this cave. I look and don't see any evidence of one (no scales on the ground, scratch marks on the walls, burnt ashes, the bones of it's victims, dragon eggs, etc.). Since, if there was a dragon in this cave, I'd expect to see something when I looked, absence of evidence does imply that there's no dragon.",
"You kind of hit the nail on the head in the title. Evidence is something. No evidence is... no evidence. The distinction lies in the word \"no\" which infers that the thing is not. If evidence for proof cannot be found, it simply means that supporting a claim to prove something is true is not going to be strong or sound. However, it does NOTHING to prove a claim is false. It simply lacks support, but it was not proven incorrect. On the other hand, if you want to prove something doesn't exist, then you have to find evidence that something doesn't exist. However, if something doesn't exist, it can't leave evidence, and you can't support the claim. That's why it's impossible to PROVE something doesn't exist. Inability to find proof does not equal proof.",
"\\-Hey, scientist, here's some money. Now, go study whatever you think is important. \\-Thanks for the money. We are going to study planets. \\-That sounds great. What about the moon? \\-We have enough data on the moon already. \\-OK. Sounds like we have got the solar system covered. \\-Well, there happens to be objects in the solar system that are not big enough to be classified as planets. \\-There's something more? \\-Yes. There are 44 000 so called centaurs, which are at least 1 km in diameter. \\-That's funny. I never heard of them. \\-So before you heard of them, were they absent? \\-You mean, when I didn't have the evidence? \\-Yes. \\-No. I guess I must have missed them. \"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.\" \\-Precisely. Just because scientists prefer to study some things over others, doesn't mean that the other things don't exist. This applies not only to objects, but to any phenomena."
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aqrks1 | what determines which side of the road a car drives on, in different countries? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Tradition and practicability mostly (and in some cases astrology). The side of the road you drive was established in many places long before automobiles were a thing and origins are hard to trace. There are stories about stuff like it originating from ideas about whether it is better to advance on strangers coming towards you with your dominant hand (which you carry your weapon in) towards or away from them. Mostly the traditions became established a long time ago. When European powers colonized the world they exported their ideas of which side to drive along with them and independent countries adopted the traditions of powers they were most influenced by. When cars travelling longer distances and traffic rules became a huge thing it became obvious that there are advantages to driving on the same side of the road as your neighbours. And much of the world standardized on right side driving to avoid trouble with only geographically isolated regions being able to hold onto the left side driving tradition. As time passed and automobiles became more frequent the process of switching over became a more and more expensive effort. for Czechoslovakia who had already committed to switching to right side driving years before, it took being invaded by Nazis to complete the switch. Sweden undertook a great project when they switched in the late 60s Changing everything on a single day. Myanmar which used to be a British colony (Burma) also switched from left to right apparently on the advise of an astrologer. Curiously enough they keep importing most of their cars from left.-side driving countries like Japan, which have the steering wheel on the wrong side for right side driving. They also seem to still run buses meant for left side driving which have the doors on the wrong way."
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aqtzsa | Why do kids begin identifying with subcultures during the middle school years in particular? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"You should look into Erikson’s stages of development. School-aged kids are in the industry vs inferiority stage, meaning they see school as a large “industry” and feel the need to “get in line.” At this stage kids are struggling with their own identity vs what they are told to do and what is expected of them. The later stages in your question falls under the “identity vs role confusion” stage; here kids are starting to figure out who they are, and testing it against what they see other kids doing. So they will completely immerse themselves into an interest or turn one interest into their entire identity.",
"A lot of it I think is pop culture and interests. There are nerdy kids and athletic kids or groups of girly girls but they aren’t usually limited to these one traits. I’ve gone to about 8 different schools and there weren’t cliques per say just groups of kids who liked similar things but not motivated to be just that one interest. A lot of the schools I’ve gone to it was common to has multiple sets of friends so that you can share in those interests with others who are keen as well."
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aqze4a | what’s the difference between rap and hip-hop? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Hip-hop is the broader culture that was originally conceived of as having four elements: MCing, DJing, Graffiti, and Breakdancing. “Rapping” refers to one of the four elements (MCing) and more broadly speaking “Rap Music” is a combination of 2 of the 4 (DJing/MCing). But that’s more of the old-head hip-hop version of things. Contemporary usage may have other connotations.",
"Rap is the vocal technique used in hip hop, which is the larger cultural phenomenon, including break dancing, graffiti, and also instrumental hip hop"
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ar3906 | Why are the English so infatuated with tea? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"During the 1600 and onward. at the growth of the English empire.... The working class needed a way to boost their production . Tea has caffeine. Caffeine wakes up the brain. caffeinated workers work better faster more. at its height of tea usage in the early .... The english spent as much of their $$$ on tea nationwide as the united states spends on oil. & #x200B; extra credits has a good video regarding the East India Trade company. & #x200B; [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 ) & #x200B; & #x200B;",
"It's a really tasty drink that warms you up (it's pretty cold over here but not as cold as we all make it out to be). Oh yeah and it goes well with biscuits!"
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ar90d1 | Why do people with Downs Syndrome seem to be far more functional in society than they were a few decades ago? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"My eldest daughter has DS and turns 19 next month so I feel i can give my opinion. A few decades ago mothers were told to give the baby up to an institution, forget about it, go home and have anther baby. Nowadays society is a lot more accepting of those that are not \"normal\". My then wife and I were advised to do the best we could for our daughter. No one will ever reach their full potential if they are kept in a corner for their whole lives. My daughter finished high school last year, she has a job one day a week, she has a full social life, goes to the pool a couple of times a week, goes to the library, buys her own lunch, loves books, movies and music. She's as best a person as I've tried to help her be. If she was born a few decades ago she may already have died from lack of care.",
"One of my friends has a younger sister with DS and is a special education teacher who works with preschool aged kids. Part of the answer is that we now do what's called \"early intervention\" for kids with various disabilities. So this includes stuff like speech therapy, finding out if the kid has hearing problems, occupational therapy to work on fine and gross motor skills, all sorts of stuff. In years past this was not a thing, and not terribly long ago people with DS were just warehoused. Early intervention is important because it helps kids get on a good track, and because stuff like DS isn't just a cognitive impairment, it's a whole syndrome. So occupational therapy helps with the tendency for low muscle tone, and speech therapy helps with communication that can be complicated by the tendency for hearing loss and enlarged tongue, and all that sort of stuff. When the kids and their families are given tools early on, they start off on more solid ground, and they aren't left behind the kid's peers. So when the kid gets to school they are more able to engage in and benefit from stuff like spending more time in regular lessons with non-impaired students.",
"Son is 3 1/2 and has DS. I’m honestly not sure if people with DS are more functional but they are being given more of a chance these days as opposed to simply sending them off to a mental institution. Also, social media allows you to share the best sides of these little bundles of joy. World Down syndrome day is on the 21st of March by the way. Please wear odd socks to support this day, it’s fun and silly, just like our loved ones. Why 21/3? There are 3 copies of the 21st chromosome. Why socks? Chromosomes look like socks on medical charts!",
"Education, acceptance, and intervention. Down syndrome is having 3 of the 21st chromosome, where as a person without DS only has 2. It causes learning difficulties, social difficulties, trouble with speech, ect. It also makes the person more prone to certain heart abnormalities, ear and throat issues, hearing problems, etc. A few decades ago when an infant was diagnosed they would be put in a home. Now, we understand DS and what to do for treatments. Speech therapy, medication, personal aides are all beneficial and are luckily now available to patients with DS. Kids with DS just need a little extra help, in all aspects. There's are also different degrees of DS. As another commenter mentioned, his daughter is 19 with a job, social life, and has graduated highschool. She is speaking, using the restroom on her own, and functional. My brother, on the other hand, is 15 and still in Pampers, non-verbal, and has an array of the health issues I mentioned above. He has a mental age of around 3-4 years old. He will never live on his own, he will never be functional, but with my family's support, his wonderful school and aides, and modern medicine he is a happy and healthy young man who loves music, puzzles, and his little sister (His mental age is very close to her physical age) I also want to say that this ok. Even though he is very low functioning doesn't mean his treatment plan isn't working, it just means that he needs more help than a higher functioning person with DS would need. Edit to add: There are also tests during prenatal that can detect DS, but they are not required and up to the family. I personally decided not to test my fetus because the results would not have made a difference to me. Women who's fetus does test positive have the option to abort, of course, but knowing ahead of time also helps plan because they can deliver at a hospital with a large NICU, they can find programs and assistance, and buy more disability friendly baby gear! Choosing to abort a fetus with DS does not and never will make you a bad person. DS is hard, and no one should be expected to continue a pregnancy and raise a child with DS if it's not something they want to do and feel they can do.",
"Prenatal testing. These days (and for the past few decades) if you have a child with DS it's almost always intentional. You knew the fetus had this defect and you were okay with that. Previously, the disability was unexpected and so the parents would sometimes abandon the child, sometimes raise it themselves but poorly. In short, the DS kids/young adults around these days have parents who almost exclusively are okay with them having DS. This plus society in general being less shitty to minorities goes a long way I think.",
"People with Down's syndrome are capable of being educated, a few decades ago this wasn't thought to be the case so they were mainly left out of the educational system and no real attempt was made to assist them in functioning in society.",
"There are also a lot more resources and knowledge. We know now that people with DS vary tremendously in their abilities and health. It is largely a spectrum with how people with DS are affected by it. Because of this, we are able to tailor their education and/or training. My mom was a case manager for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Some of them are able to hold down jobs, live largely independently, etc. Some need more round the clock care. But treating them as individuals and having the financial and social resources to do so allows them to thrive in whatever makes the most sense for them. Not too long ago many people with intellectual disabilities were just institutionalized and not able to live to their full potential. And they were marginalized and hidden from society. This is still an ongoing problem, but now many in this population are in \"regular\" schools, have jobs in the public, etc, so society is becoming more accepting.",
"I met my wife when her DS daughter was 3. She told me a story about her son - who actually was 5 at the time - asked her what it meant to have Down's. Her answer was that his sister will be able to do anything he can, it will just take her longer to learn how to do it. That was 25 years ago. What does that mean? As other posters have pointed out, there has been a 180 degree shift in philosophy with respect to people with special needs. Inclusion, therapy, tolerance, acceptance, empathy, education, awareness, and understanding are just a few reasons people with Down Syndrome are more functional in today's society. Their potential was always there. Now it's being encouraged and fostered.",
"\"We don't suffer from anything other than the way society treats us\" -Something I heard during a podcast; interviewing someone with dwarfism. I think the only reason we undervalue people with disabilities is because society hasn't even attempted to see their value to begin with. In a universe of limitless possibility, it seems that life is very rare; maybe even entirely unique to our planet. It would be a colossal waste and tragedy to limit our experiences in such a way that we only value a specific type of person. To the universe, there is very little difference between myself and someone born with downs syndrome. A few chromosomes is nothing. So we should stop looking at things in such a limited frame of reference. Think of *all human beings* as equal counterparts and look for value in the individual.",
"This is going to be a really unpopular post but they aren't higher functioning than they were. I teach and one of the DS kids got caught using this girl's really long hair to masturbate today. Like had her hair wrapped around his dick in class. We are just more accommodating and understanding of their disability these days.",
"I think abortions and screening for down syndrome have indirectly contributed. Since the option is available for abortion, that means most of the children carried to term with down syndrome, are born into families that chose to keep a child with down syndrome. Those families are probably going to be much more nurturing and supportive compared with families in the past, who had no choice in the matter and may have been devastated or grown to resent the child.",
"Why do they all look the same? Also not trying to be a dick",
"I think that there is a change in perception occurring around disabilities in general. Disability has been defined for such a long time by the Medical Model as being an issue within the individual. This is now being replaced by the Biopsychosocial (BPS) Model of disability that includes that disability is the result of societal/environtmental barriers e.g. attitudes, beliefs, physical accessibility. While it is arguably important to view disability from a medical perspective, especially when considering access to early intervention and ongoing treatment, by viewing it through a BPS lens, we can educate society and make the necessary changes so that people with any disability, whether physical, developmental, or mental health related, can lead meaningful lives and contribute to society. I have worked as an Employment Specialist for some time in Vancouver, Canada and my clients are those living with developmental disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. They have a plethora of skills and abilities to offer the workforce, and employers are really starting to see the benefits. It is noteworthy to mention that the employment we support them with finding is competitive and pays at least minimum wage. Everyone has the right to have meaningful experiences and contribute to society regardless of level of ability.",
"ADA(American with Disabilities act) helped mainstream children-gave parents the tools to get early intervention- and continued support they need to reach full potential.",
"My input/opinion is that part of it definitely has to do with the push for inclusive general education classrooms. I know a lot of schools here (Connecticut) are trying for 50/50. It’s beneficial to all children, especially with universal design being implemented. Edit: it’s very sad to see so many people scared of inclusion on here.",
"The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides free and appropriate education for students with a disability. We started creating Individual Education Plans (IEPs) and set the students up to be successful in progressing through academia in a way that is tailored to their pacing and needs. In short, instead of putting them in an institution, we began to value them as citizens.",
"Early Intervention plays a huge part in the progress people with Downs have made. In earlier decades, families were strongly encouraged to give the child up to an institution so they wouldnt \"Ruin\" the families life by being a \"Burden\", but now, in somewhat more enlightened times, families are encouraged to treat the child like a normal child and they are supported with a variety of services designed to help the child be successful. When my son was born(after all tests had been negative), we were met at the hospital by a social worker who provided a wealth of information and referrals, and who hooked us up with a public health nurse who then helped to get my son enrolled in speech therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. We also found a pediatrician who had a sister with Downs and extensive experience in Downs healthcare. We took our son home and never treated him any different from our other kids. He is immensely popular in our community and very popular in school. He is set to graduate this year and he already has a job making above minimum wage. He is funny, athletic and does really well getting along with society. Treating people like humans makes a big difference.",
"To add on what others have said, there has also been a huge push by parents and family advocacy groups in education to recognise and better treat people with Downs syndrome and other disabilities. One of my special education mentors entered the field because of an uncle she loved who has Downs. There have also been a lot of changes to education and civil laws regarding the treatment of people with disabilities since the 1970s.",
"I'm assuming it's because more people accept and understand those with disabilities. I mean women were once put in mental institutions for their monthly, migraines etc. People with any mental disabilities were locked away as not embarrass the families . But considering now, people with disabilities are understood and accepted in society and are not considered embarrassing. People know now that just because they have ds , it doesn't make them any different. Years ago they didn't know what caused It, and humans generally fear the unknown",
"Perhaps part of the issue is that there's a range of ability for those affected by DS and schools will do their best to keep everyone together for as long as possible. And the folks with DS who are out and about as adults are doing so because they're the ones who can. Edit: Just to be clear, this is pure speculation on my part. I know this is Reddit, so it's redundant to invite it, but please correct me if I'm off base.",
"Schools will accommodate children up to age 21 in the US. I work at the library and I usually have at least one student who has an independent life skills class with me. They learn to reshelve, scan, and do basic library work. When they graduate their skills can empower them to get jobs at public libraries or stores as most of the skills are transferable. Many special areas in the school can help with life skills classes which I think makes a huge difference.",
"My mom has worked with people with developmental disabilities my whole life. She is now working at a non profit that has group homes and a day program. I sent her a link to Welcome to Holland and this is what she said: \"We have noticed, even over the past year, that we are no longer getting applications for service for 35 year old people with down syndrome. Now it's mainly severe autism dual diagnose with aggressive behavior. So I suspect that this generation of people with down syndrome or people with similar deficits are just living life in the community like they always should have. :) \"",
"They have been always functional, but they're getting more opportunities now, my cousin got his first job 4 years ago, he's 37.",
"I worked with a down syndrome guy one time years ago. He basically did everything the same and as well as everyone else who worked there.",
"I’m in college for Special Education and there is a HUGE push for helping students become independent and helping them transition to life outside of school (transition planning starts at age 14). Also, students with exceptionalities are required to be in the general education classroom as much as is appropriate. Giving students a more active learning environment produces better outcomes!!",
"People are actually trying and not tossing them away as damaged goods, which I think was probably because it was so visually apparent that they have DS. Any human being would develop badly if treated like they were. Par example, our prisons lock people up and expect them to be normal after release, without any treatment, education or attempt to detect the source of the issue and find a way around it. With DS kids, we are now working to work around it and do the best, hence, better results. Now if we applied that to other places where we throw people away to rot. .... also I do understand that not everyone can be helped. So let's not even go there.",
"I'm pretty sure way back in the day parents could just dump their children at an asylum. ):",
"I always thought it was a simple as we now actually try to teach them now instead of just tossing them to the side as \"broken\". They were always capable, we just didn't try.",
"All of the long detailed replies here are great, but it can be tl;dr in two basic bullet points: * Better education tailored for their disability * They're given a chance and treated as human beings",
"American schools now a days are shifting to a co-taught inclusive classroom. Basically special education and general education is in the process of being combined to be viewed as the mainstream education. Source: inclusive teaching student",
"I work in special education and I also think we as a society have come to realize (thank god) that kids with a variety of intellectual disabilities are teachable. We teach basic math and reading to a point and then also practice functional skills. We have life skills classes and vocational programs too. In essence, we expect more out of them now.",
"There’s simply just more acceptance and better opportunities. My best friends little sister had DS. The community that she’s involved with is incredible. They are all sibling and parent led. Have had 12 years of music theater production, does gymnastics, has a bowling league, works at the local YMCA, library and beyond. Has a weekly walking/running club. After highschool, our district has an adult program that teaches the student with disabilities how to pay rent, make good real world choices, go grocery shopping etc and they have to have a job 2 days out of the week. Inclusion is so important.",
"Without reading through many of the comments, I have to believe at least part of the answer is they were mostly as functional in the past but the people around them are better educated about it today (and more accepting) so the same limitations aren't placed on them as a result of personal biases. One of the best things I ever learned when I was younger is that many people don't know they can't do something until someone tells them they can't do it. Maybe we've gotten slightly better at not placing limits on them just because they have Down syndrome.",
"I(21f) was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome when I was 5 years old. While it’s not the same as DS, I can confidently say in my case early intervention was a big part in why I can function completely normally within society. It honestly helps so much bc professionals are able to pinpoint exactly what sensory problems u may have, social and/or facial cues u don’t understand and work w/ u on them. In my case, it was life changing. I’m currently a college student and no one from my high school or college have any idea I have AS (besides bf). I shudder at the thought of what I would have turned out like without that early intervention. I honestly don’t think I would be going to parties, in a 3 yr relationship or just living like a normal college kid without it",
"As father to a 32 year old daughter with Down syndrome I can give you a two word answer: Early Intervention. We enrolled her in a monthly program that followed her until she started walking. Our state was very cooperative getting her an individual education plan until she turned 22 and aged out of public schools. She can read and write. She still has a care plan that is updated annually. She works enough hours that she gets practically nothing from SSDI every month (benefits are reduced as income increases) Time was that people like her were shoved into state hospitals as soon as they were born and warehoused until they died. Now much more is expected of them, and they've risen to the occasion. She will get Alzhiemers at some point and her life expectancy is shortened, but right now she is an asset to society and enjoys a nice life."
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araxw3 | Why would policies in much smaller countries not work in the United States? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Population density. When people are packed closer together geographically, it is far easier to implement policies like public transport, education, healthcare, etc. As an example, a hospital might only be able to serve a 10-mile radius due to emergency response time. If the city is 30-mile wide, you are going to need many Hospitals. If the city is extremely compact, you will need fewer but larger Hospitals, which tend to be more efficient than multiple smaller ones."
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arg02a | Why is Naypyidaw so empty? | In contrast with the rest of Myanmar, it has power, fast wifi, better paying jobs yet its empty? Upon googling the only thing close to an answer I found was that it was artificially and suddenly placed there but I feel like that isn't the main thing going on here? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It was artificially and suddenly placed there, and it hasn't yet become populated to anywhere near its capacity. It has 10-lane roads, which are appropriate for a metro area of several million residents, but Naypyidaw has fewer than 1 million. As a developing nation with a turbulent recent history, I would not be surprised if few people in Myanmar have the opportunity or security to move to the new capital in search of work; but still, getting to nearly 1 million residents within 10 years is very fast growth. Naypyidaw is just built for far greater capacity, which makes it feel empty."
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arjt4l | How do Experts learn to read ancient languages? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"it's like solving a puzzle you start with the easy obvious ones and keep guessing languages are all connected and close to each other at the end it's all just guessing",
"Having a rosetta stone helps. (Hyroglyphics----- > lLatin----- > English) If you cannot read whatit started as, maybe you can see if anything influenced it, or if it had influence on other languages. Are there any pictograms or reoccuring image word combinations? Most languages have a logic to them an professionals can trace origins using local historic accounts."
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arqtrg | Why do people express anger when presented with facts that contradict their current perception or what they've been told? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The premise must be that this most often happens to immature, short-tempered, or fanatic people. Also, I'm trying to give a light-hearted answer based on my personal experience of 30+ years living among humans. Don't take this as an absolute truth. That said, let's go for an extreme and impossible example. Tomorrow, you wake up with sort of a \"divine inspiration\" and you find out the meaning of life and, most importantly, you can demonstrate it with no doubt. For the sake of our example, let's say that the meaning of life is something idiotic: freely pooping on the street. It's the meaning of life, the key to happiness, and the only action needed to live a fulfilling life. And you can demonstrate it. Wars have started for less. It's the end of religion, philosophy and psychology as we know them; and also, the end of the business of toilets. Many, many people are attached to their philosophical, religious and psychological ideas. And also, I bet the toilet builders lobby would be angry. You'd make a lot of people's lives worthless. And whilst the most clever of them would adapt, the majority would fight to keep the status quo. For some it would be sheer business needs, but for most the reason would be \"if that's true, then my life is a worthless lie; if my life is a worthless lie, I'm worthless; I cannot possibly be worthless, so OP must be wrong; I can't prove him wrong no matter how hard I try so I get angry out of frustration\". Makes sense, right? Ok... To a lesser degree, this is what happens when you demonstrate (or just show proof made by others), for example, that vaccines don't cause autism. People tend to identify themselves with their thoughts, feelings and ideas. Sometimes because they embrace an ideology, sometimes just because they hate being SO UTTERLY WRONG THAT THEY LOOK STUPID, some other times they are losing money. So if you challenge a belief that is important enough to someone (and the most immature and uncultured someone is, the easiest this is), they feel like you are judging them as a person. And get angry. You say \"you're wrong\", they hear \"you're an idiot/liar/miscreant\". Just my two cents of course... Anyone feel free to correct me or add something.",
"[In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort(psychological stress) experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. This discomfort is triggered by a situation in which a person’s belief clashes with new evidence perceived by the person. When confronted with facts that contradict beliefs, ideals, and values, people will find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.[1][2] In A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (1957), Leon Festinger proposed that human beings strive for internal psychological consistency to function mentally in the real world. A person who experiences internal inconsistency tends to become psychologically uncomfortable and is motivated to reduce the cognitive dissonance, by making changes to justify the stressful behavior, either by adding new parts to the cognition causing the psychological dissonance or by avoiding circumstances and contradictory information likely to increase the magnitude of the cognitive dissonance.[1] ]( URL_0 )"
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arr10t | Why old people like bingo? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Gets you out of the house. Can be social with friends and regulars. Potential to win money. No casinos in the area."
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arr2yk | how come cantonese speakers can understand some mandarin but mandarin speakers usually cant recognize the similarities between cantonese to mandarin | cantonese with zero mandarin knowledge. mandarin with zero cantonese knowledge | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"One reason is that Mandarin has four tones. Cantonese has seven tones, making it harder to guess which word is being said due to the large number of different inflections. Likewise, there are more Mandarin speakers than Cantonese speakers. A Cantonese speaker is more likely to come across a Mandarin speaker and pick up on words through experience than vice versa."
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arv9ke | Why can't people live off the land in the wilderness? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Countless reasons: All land is owned is the biggest. There’s nothing stopping you from buying your own land and living off it, as long as you follow environmental laws, waste laws, etc. If the land isnt Privately owned, its publicly owned. Living off public land rent free, hunting without a permit, changing the landscape etc has repercussions outside your little bubble in the wild.",
"It depends on your state and county. There's building requirements. Size, features, etc that have to be met. You also can't just build to those specifications. You have to have a proper blueprint. Water collection is illegal in some areas. So collecting rain water on your property is illegal in these areas. Taxes can be due every year on land you own depending on location, so you still need some income. On top of this almost everywhere will require utility connections. Which sometimes means you can't build on land because you can't get them. In town you also have places that don't allow gardens for food, even simple to keep animals like chickens, etc.",
"The enclosure acts in the UK and similar laws in all the colonial powers set the wheels in motion for every square inch of Earth to be converted to private property. Before that, a thing called common land existed in feudal societies and the lifestyle you are describing was possible. These laws displaced many people and for a period of time after swathes of “vagrants” occupied many towns in Europe, with no money and nowhere to go.",
"I think it’s something that’s very hard to do in America because of how regulated everything is. Anything that isn’t government owned land is probably protected, either as a nature reserve or Native American land. Even that is shrinking. As another commenter also said, it is literally illegal to collect rainwater in some states. Which is bullshit, really. If you honestly want to disappear into the woods your best bet is finding a less developed country and hoofing it over there first. If you’re just one dude in a cabin it should be pretty hard to find you anyway. If you do, just be respectful. Don’t leave trash, don’t over hunt the native species, etc. Recommended Film: Alone in the Wilderness. True documentary of someone who lived alone in a cabin for years in Alaska. Good tips on how to build structures/safety around large animals/food preservation/etc."
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arxijj | the difference between pastiche and parody | These terms have come up in a couple of my women's studies courses, and the people using them always say that there's a huge difference between the two. Laymen's definitions seem to indicate that they are the same, so what's the story? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Pastiche is pure imitation. You are producing a work in another style so as to convince people that it was produced by artists in that style. A parody is also an imitation but there is usually a twist. Some sort of mockery, or perhaps just an ironic wink. You aren’t trying to convince people that it’s by artists of that style, but you are clearly referencing the style and providing your own take on it.",
"They are opposites: A parody makes fun of the original source by exaggerating elements and flipping certain conventions. A pastiche aims to replicate or imitate a previous artwork or style, sometimes in a cliched way, but doing so to celebrate rather than denigrate the source material. In other words, a parody is a joke based on something else. A pastiche is an homage to the original. Example: *Space Balls* was a parody of *Star Wars*, which itself was a *pastiche* of 1930s sci-fi serial *Flash Gordon*. Edit: Added example"
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arxv3g | . I've seen people say if the popular vote was used to determine the president only California and New York would elect who wins. But why? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Because California is the most popolous State, and New York one of the most populous states California has 39.45 million inhabitants and New York (state) has 19.85. That's almost 20% of the entire population in just 4% of states Edit: However this is wrong. If the popular vote was counted **every** single vote would be valuable. In the current system, because California is almost certainly a blue state every election, which means every single red vote in blue district is a wasted vote that is not counted and vice versa. Just like every blue vote that exceeds 51% of total votes is wasted in blue wining states. In the current system so many votes are wasted, scrapping the electoral collage and election districts would mean every single vote is counted. 3 million people more voted for hillary than trump. That's more than 2% of voters, and regardless of your political affiliation, a system where the winner of an election can lose by a non marginal amount 3 million and still win the election, is a broken and stupid system.",
"It's a gross exaggeration on their population. California has the highest population by state @ 39million, which is over twice the population on NY (19mill), so it's the 600lb hairy ass gorilla that's sitting in the kitchen, eating your GoGurt. For scale, if the state voted the same as a whole it would be ~12% of the entire US's population. NY's the oddity, and I can only assume it's in reference to NYC's population, which is the highest for any city in the country. However, NY State as a whole is pretty rural, so outside NYC you get little boosts to the state's population, unlike Texas (the second highest state population) which has Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth etc. In short, they wouldn't. The only reference I found to that claim were a few zealous right wing news outlets. That also may be why Cali & NY were listed as they tend to have Democratic party leanings when it comes to federal elections.",
"These states are highly polarized, so the difference between the votes the Democrat gets and the votes the Republican gets are very large here. Sure, there are other polarized places, like Maryland, Wyoming, and the non-state of DC, but those places have tiny populations. The Founders thoughtfully considered a popular vote for President, but they went with the Electoral college to prevent activism in a couple of states from biasing the Presidency. The US system is about 80% weighted to popular vote and 20% weighted to nationwide consensus. This is not dramatically different from a popular vote, unless the race is too tight. The Founders solution to this would probably have been to not run a bad candidate (a crime both major parties were guilty of in the last election)."
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as8h4m | Why do dancers count by 8? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"My understanding is that most music is written if 4/4 time (Four beats per bar), so the music (And more specifically, the rhytm) is separated into these 4 pulse units. Since 4 beats are rarely enough to complete a given \"step\", dancers will instead spread each movement over 8 pulses, or two bars. You'll find when practising a Waltz, instructors will count to Three, as waltz movements are quick and the rhytm is set to 3/4 time (3 beats per bar)"
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asko3g | Why are bunnies and eggs associated with Easter? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Bunnies and Eggs are symbols for fertility and procreation. In Europe Easter is in spring and probably the Easter fest was “pulled over” existing spring festivals of older cultures and the symbols were mixed up.",
"Easter pulls a lot of practices from the pagan festival of Eostre, a goddess whose symbol was a rabbit or hare. Eggs come from pagan practices around springtime. Eggs symbolize new life. The round shape symbolizes the cycles of life, seasons, etc. Additionally, the eggs also show up in the Jewish holiday of Passover, which starts on the full moon of Nissan (the Jewish lunar month, not the car company). Easter is always the Sunday following that full moon because Jesus's last supper was the Passover meal (\"seder\"). That's actually what da Vinci's painting depicts, and you can see some eggs on the table."
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aslkpl | What are “mysteries” when mentioned in the context of mythology? | Maybe I’m taking the term “mysteries” too literally, but what is a mystery in the context of mythology? I’ve read a lot of stuff about mystery cults, etc., but it seems that the writer always takes for granted the need to explain what that means. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The word mystery come from the word \"mystai\", meaning \"initiate\". Mysteries are information hidden from non-cult-members. Mystery Cults were cults who had some information such as the nature of their rituals, contents of their legends, or membership hidden from the general populace. Contrast with something like the Cult of Hercules. Ask a Cult of Hercules member what the big legends were, what they do at his temple, and who's a member, and they'd might enthusiastically explain. A mystery cult like Mithraic, wouldn't give you any of that. He definitely wouldn't show you the secret hand shake. He might not even know the whole things, because it was divided into tiers with each higher tier having secrets from the rest."
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asmcfq | Why are people in northern Europe more distant from each other than people in southern Europe? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"If you live in very harsh climates, your immediate action has very direct impact on your community. Small families and tribes have to be very disciplined because nature is harsh - the need to store food, fuel and make adequate shelter requires very close knit and small communities. Since harsh weather typically means gathering food is also difficult - this makes distrust of outsiders almost a necessity for survival. All that and relative isolation too. Warmer climates make it easier to support higher population densities. Interaction with outsiders are more common. Food and shelter are not as scarce/difficult. This is an interesting question. Is there a limit to this? What adaptation are we seeing when cities today are super dense? Are people in big cities \"colder\" than people who live in smaller communities?",
"You're conflating the issues of personal space and sociability. I don't think they're necessarily related. In Canada, for example most of us (ignoring Vancouver / Toronto for now, because I have no experience of that, I'm from a medium sized city) are just used to having more personal space because we're spread out. Our houses tend to be big and they all have yards. I feel a bit claustrophobic in places like England where everyone lives packed together - and much more so in other countries I have visited, where people will just get right up in your face so you can feel them breathing. This is particularly noticeable when queuing in some countries. If I'm joining a queue, I'll stand just under a metre behind the last person. This has gotten me weird looks in other countries I've lived in, where people line up so they're basically touching the person's back. I get wildly uncomfortable in these situations. & #x200B; I don't think we're less sociable. We're super friendly and happy to chat with strangers. We just expect you to stay at arm's length. I want to talk with you, not breathe your air.",
"Hmmm. Not sure all those facts hold true - Scots are regarded as much more welcoming and friendly than our english neighbours to the south - and our weather is pretty shit compared to theirs.",
"The further north you go, the more severe winter is. In the old days, there wasn't much you could do in winter. Windproof, waterproof, warm, and light clothing wasn't a thing back then. So you'd spend all your time indoors, in a tiny cramped cabin full of other people, hoping spring would come before the food ran out. After a few months of that, anyone who'd sit close to someone else and start talking about their day or their favourite kind of stone or the weather would be the first to get murdered and eaten when the food ran out. Being taciturn is an adaptation, evolved over millennia of harsh winters.",
"I'm interested in ancient Roman/Greek history and I made the observation that what we call \"north\" and \"south\" today corresponds vaguely to the separation between the Roman Empire (the south, roughly : the mediterranean world + France and Belgium) and the non-romanised or partly-romanised lands and populations in the north (northern Germany, the northern parts of the English islands etc). Maybe this has to do with a deep penetration of Latin/Germanic culture ? Or am I totally delusional ?",
"Got a degree in anthropology and climate is most def one of the reasons. The best I can recollect is co creation of culture to climate. That the culture in colder climates, means fewer people can be at an event, in the sense that more people are welcome or can't be avoided if you go to a public space, of which there are also many more of in the south of Europe. You can also see this on a minor scale between people who live in cities and people who live on the country side. People from cities will stand closer to each other. So even on a vertical plane around earth, you'll be able to see differences, between those from cities vs those from farms. And in general fewer people lives in the north and so the overall culture is prone to be understood on that premise. Your example from Germany, is actually a great example, because you have more in common relative to Scandinavians to Italiens. But if we weren't to look at the climate, the culture of Jante(jantelov) is a great \"*symptom*\" for why it is as it is. If you don't believe you are the most important person, other people are equally as important and deserves as much space. Hence the distance. And most fascinating when we talk about the Finnish pictures - equal amount of space. In other places, you might see an extraordinary amount of space around pregnant, old, men, or women. Which usually isn't the case in Scandinavia. Here the fundamental assumption is for equal amount of space. Though people do stand for old people in the bus. **TLDR**; Multiple reasons. Climate, amount of people pr km\\^2, cultural understanding of private space, among others.",
"I'm a foreigner who has lived in Finland for 17 years. Finns are quite warm and their personal space is not dissimilar to people in the UK when you see them at home or in the work place. In public you might see some differences. I've seen people stand 10 meters from a bus stop so they don't have to 'share it' with a stranger. Another difference is what happens when they talk about their 'national identity', or where they have to deal with foreigners and speak, e.g. English. This is where Finns will tell you that they are quiet, without realising perhaps that they are not that quiet - how do you even know? When you see foreigners, it's easy to think they are more lively, when what is different is that it's happening in another language and so you are more focused on seeing the situation as an outsider. They laugh and joke, tease, are clever with their language etc., get excited about topics or ideas, in ways that are identical to what I've seen in the UK. But around a large group of foreigners, they can lose their natural confidence and for that reason the idea of 'the silent Finn' can be a useful shield against too much scrutiny or expectation. Another setting is in 'nature', where if you say hi to another walker, you can toss a coin as to whether they will just stare at you without reacting as you walk by or acknowledge your greeting in some way. But I know Finns who find this infuriating, so not all Finns are 'rude' like this. There is an ambiguity about whether it is necessary or not. The exact same thing applies when it comes to crossing the road at a zebra crossing, where you just don't know if a driver is going to follow the highway rules and actually stop to let you cross. You take your life in your hands if you take it for granted that they will - sadly, this has cost the life of too many children too. It's like some people are polite and considerate and some aren't, but maybe it's just that there are two strong sets of expectations that live side by side here.",
"That's funny, it's like that in the US also. People from the south are generally considered much more friendly than people from New England for example.",
"I think people might actually be barking up the wrong tree by thinking about this in terms of north and south, at least if you think of it in terms of social patterns rather than physical space. People in germanic countries tend to be emotionally reserved. People in romantic countries tend to be emotionally open. Take England v France for example, similar latitude but very different culture. The French have a more emotional way of expressing themselves compared with English and Germans, who are historically from the same 'stock'. Average relationship entanglement and enmeshnent is known to be higher in romantic countries than germanic ones. I don't know why this is but I would imagine it had something to do with germanic vs romantic cultures rather than modern ones.",
"OP I hope you do realise, this is not a question with a \"correct' answer, just a thousand theories and speculations. On top of that, this is a broad generalisation too, it's not like a Scandinavian is genetically incapable of being as warm as an Italian, and vice versa. So I'm not sure what kind of answer you are expecting here.",
"I have been to a few places now in my travels and I think it really depends on the type of people and the culture within the area. I have been to many warm countries such and Sri Lanka and India where people are not as outgoing or open to speaking to strangers and this mostly due to the reserved nature of these cultures. Where as I've also been to norwary and Sweden where people are very friendly and approachable. So I don't know if climate and such factors affect a community as a whole.",
"My history teacher talked about this once. The reason for this is climate. It has partly to do with the weather because colder weather leads peaope, to be less active, waste less time on things considered unnecessary. In the southern conutries because it is hot during the day people needed to keep themselves active for them not to get tired and stay productve. It is also reason the north was open for protestantism while southern europe was more catholic since the catholic church gives people more to do . & #x200B; With todays technology though i think its mostly a cultural thing now since we are less influenced by outside conditions. & #x200B; I am not sure if this is true though.",
"How do you spot an aggressive Finn? He looks at YOUR shoes when talking to you.",
"Northern Europe is cut by a dozen different rivers that flow south to north, none of which intersect. It's largely separated from Southern Europe by mountain ranges. In contrast, the south has the Mediterranean connecting pretty much everywhere. Strangers are *stranger* in a historical context up north.",
"As a Finn, can confirm. My personal space is 10 bigger than my colleagues from Brazil. During 30-40min of standing and talking at bar counter (empty) we had moved roughly 3.5-4m, lol. I noticed that as I shifted my weight from one leg to another I also move backwards and she would follow.",
"I live in northern England and I believe it is the other way round for England. The north is much more rural and everyone in the village/town will know each other so they will speak to each other a lot and be close but if you go to a big southern city such as London everyone will avoid each other as you say",
"Personal space sphere is larger in northern countries (might be because of wast spaces who knows) so you tend to stand further from someone both when waiting for a bus or talking. Personal space also include sound and smells. Most people are easy to talk to though but you shouldn't assume that someone wants to talk just because they are standing alone, they might have a reason for it. Don't intrude. & #x200B; & #x200B; & #x200B;",
"You might be interested in Edward Hall and his work on [proxemics]( URL_0 ) .",
"I wondered this about the difference between stereotypically \"loud\" cultures like Spanish and Italian and more stereotypically reserved ones like Scandinavian. My dad (who is Scandinavian) put it nicely: When you live in Spain and you get into an argument, you can go outside to cool off! (Not so much in the Scandinavian winter).",
"I dont know really.. i think maybe, i just dont care about random people around me. I just dont. I live in denmark. Its not like i am raised to not talk to strangers and such. I just couldnt care less about people that i randomly come across. I talk to family, friends, people at social gatherings and of course co-workers. But random people? Why? I aint got time for that. Id rather spend my time with my family or something. Maybe we are more interested in how we spendnour time. I heard a lot of people in denmark for example, show up on the clock, at arranged time and so on. But this is less common in greece and whatever",
"Religion may be a factor. Catholics in Southern Europe v Lutherans in Northern Europe. In Catholicism there is more of an emphasis on the communal, whereas in Protestantism there is a larger emphasis on individualism. In Ireland, I reckon, people in, mainly Catholic, Donegal are seen as more outgoing than people in, mainly Protestant, Antrim, yet both counties are on the same latitude. In Scotland, they say something similar about Glasgow and Edinburgh, with the first of these two being the more Catholic and less stand-offish.",
"I have no proof or anything of this, only my thoughts as a Swede. Scandinavia is big on politeness. You do not inconvenience people unless you know them/know you can inconvenience them. We aren't cold for the sake of being cold, but if someone needs anything from us it's on them to initiate. I don't know about the italian/swede speaking thing, I assume that is just cultural differences, I see people moving their arms alot in conversation as riled up/angry while that is just how people from other cultures speak. If I had to choose one word to describe Scandinavian culture it would be \"Measured\" I assume less people around means you have to stay on good terms with the few thats around kn general. Or maybe it is religion, or the climate. I've no idea.",
"Why do others want to get so close to strangers? I love to hug people I know, and try to be nice and not prejudice but I don't want to be in their face.",
"I think it's not north and south but latitude. In Brazil, northerns are more expansive in relationships and the southern ones are more reserved and distant. Maybe because of colder weather or because its a rural and not a urban place",
"I‘m not sure if it’s only climate related. I lived in Ireland for a while and God it can be cold and rainy there (without a break). Irish people are still friendlier and much more social than Germans (I’m from Germany too). And in the recent years Germany had really hot endless summers. People were particularly pissed the hotter it got 😂",
"This is something I have been often asking myself all my life. I lived in Canada, Italy and now in Denmark and damn it I miss Italy in this regard. I wish people here were more spontaneous and open to meet new people. It is so damn difficult to chat up people here and to make new friends.. I do believe climate is a factor for sure. I don't blame the culture of course.",
"This is kind of relevant... I’m taking a sociology course right now all about family dynamics in Europe. This is a researched topic that we’ve covered, briefly. In one paper, the phenomenon of how close we are to our families and how it influences life events is described using the terms “strong” and “weak” family ties, and they found a pretty strong distinction between northern, central, and Southern Europe. There are so many things that influence this... one theory is a rise in individualism in north/Central Europe due to leaving home earlier for apprenticeships and servant jobs, which historically were most common in central and Northern Europe. In the southern countries you typically relied on your family, who remained home until they at least were married, and sometimes after. The rise of the welfare state and policies that support the poor, homeless, and elderly created a reliance on the state rather than private sources for help; in southern countries, families protect younger generations and often rely on them for help in older age. There’s a reason there aren’t as many nursing homes in Southern Europe. Economically, wealth is passed successionally through generations in southern countries, and in north/central it’s more often individualistic and determined by contracts. Religion, culture, history, policy, government, and economics all have a role in this, so there is a LOT of variation throughout Europe. This is only one dimension of what you’re talking about, but it’s a super interesting topic and phenomenon!"
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asmndd | When somebody sued somebody else for a large sum (hundreds of thousands) but that person doesn’t have the money to pay - what happens? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"It depends a bit on where you are in the world. Here in Belgium the person who now owes hundreds of thousands is essentially screwed for the rest of their live. All their non-essential items will be confiscated and sold by auction, their wages will be garnished down to minimum wage until the debt is paid off. Essentially the one who owes the money will never really own anything any more."
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asp2u2 | How did Somalia become stateless and has it made things more chaotic or been an improvement? | What kind of government was Somalia, how and when did it become stateless and how has it turned out? Does it look like it will continue to be stateless in the future? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"The area which is now Somalia used to be at least four different empires with strong local autonomy. So different cities had different rulers, culture, laws and ethnicity. However due to British and Italian colonialism they were forced together into one country. However in the last half of the 20th century the Italians and later British withdrew from the region leaving it up to the Somalians to fight for control. There have been periods of relative stability both with or without a central government and periods of full scale war. It may look chaotic from the outside but it is not as bad if you understand the local factions. And it have not helped that the international community have often refused to talk to local governors even though their authority over a region have been undisputed. For example the hostile actions against civilian ships traveling past the area were after several diplomatic attempts to protect the local fishing waters from foreign fishermen and polluting ships."
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aszg8o | Why is corn starch so prevalent in Chinese cuisine, but not corn itself? | I feel like corn is a huge part of American cuisine. From corn syrup to corn oil to popcorn. But in Chinese cuisine, it seems like they only use corn starch as a thickener for sauces, marinades, or to coat food prior to frying. I don’t really see the corn itself eaten in any capacity. No corn salsa, corn on the cob, or steamed corn. This is especially surprising considering how prevalent it is to steam or stir-fry veggies in some of these dishes. | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Corn starch is an import. It's a substitute for the traditional ingredient, mung bean starch. It's used in the USA because we have more corn than mung beans.",
"People do eat corn on the cob and steamed corn in China. They are just not usually considered a proper dish served on the table, that’s probably the reason you don’t see them on cooking shows. Also, steamed corn and grilled corn are very common street food.",
"It's not. Tapioca starch is the norm. If you're seeing corn starch being substituted it's probably cause tapioca starch is hard to buy outside of Asia. Side note, using tapioca starch as a thickening agent makes the sauce more runny while corn starch turns it more sticky. I personally prefer the first one.",
"Corn is a New World crop. This means it is natively from the Americas and had to be imported to the Old World. As such its incorporation into cuisine varies by culture. Even Europe which is culturally more similar to the US eats a lot less corn. The role that corn plays as a staple grain in the US is filled by rice in China and when corn was imported its use was not adopted enough to displace rice. But its use as a thickener for sauces or a coating to help crisp the surface of meats was useful enough for that to be incorporated. But it should be said that corn being eaten is on the rise in Asia. In particular there are regions of China that like eating what we call baby corn, and there is a major use of Corn in Northern Japan in a variety of dishes."
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at1vjh | How can we as a society be so staunchly against (and rightly so) pedophilia / child abuse but it also so prolific? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"I think it’s just human nature, some people are attracted to people of the opposite sex, some people the same sex, some people are attracted to giant horse dicks, some people are attracted to tiny kid butts, society wasn’t so massively against pedophilia until very recently, ancient Greeks took prostitutes like we get taxis, you got the first in the line, whether it was a young boy or an old milf, Romeo got with Juliet when she was 13, Elvis met his wife Priscilla when she was 14, for thousands of years humans have had people be attracted to minors, society has only recently got to the stage where we recognise the abuse this can lead to and the mental anguish later in life and have put measures in place to prevent child abuse and feel comfortable raising the alarm when being abused."
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at2cal | The Difference between a industry plant and a manufactured pop star | This inspired the question: [ URL_0 ]( URL_1 ) | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"I mean, if you'd just read the thread. A plant is someone whose identity is tied to being independent and underground but is actually backed by a big label and all their 'viral' success is actually a result of a big marketing budget. A manufactured pop star is presented as what they are."
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at9syb | Why does it seem as though big movies with similar plots/themes are often released at the same time? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"There was actually a good video by I think Vox that talked about this exact phenomenon. It was on YouTube."
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atdi7g | When two cities are assigned as sister cities, what does it mean? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Two cities just agree to do it. Its usually to promote tourism. I dont think they actually sign laws into place to share funding."
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atdibm | Why do courtrooms still use sketches or paintings to depict someone dealing with a court case instead of an actual picture? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"URL_0 From this, it seems like they ban cameras vecause it causes jurors to act differently when they are recorded, and judges dont like the distraction. Makes sense to me",
"It could possibly be because they are showing their *likeness* instead of an actual image to protect their privacy? Or for legal reasons. But honestly that does not stop other people from taking images.",
"In the US some states prohibit cameras to protect the dignity of the court. It's out of concern that with cameras/videos, the court will become a media circus and be less effective at delivering justice. In my state it's up to the judge to allow cameras, and generally cameras hide faces of jurors/victims/witnesses."
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atm23h | Why don’t Brits use articles (a, an, the) in front of certain words like hospital and university? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Generally, you would add the article if you're describing a specific, often physical, act, while you would omit the article if you're describing a wider act. For example, take the sentences: I am going to jail / I am going to **the** jail. The first one say you're going to be locked up in a jail, while the second one say you're physically going to a jail, but not why. You could be visiting a person in the jail or working there, for example. Similarly, \"Go to bed\" means \"Go to sleep\", while \"Go to the bed\" means \"Move towards the bed\" Americans also omit the articles when saying \"Go to school\" / \"Go on vacation\" etc."
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atwo7x | Why is Satan/Satan imagery usually associated with a goat? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"Beelzebub is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron, and later adopted by some Abrahamic religions as a major demon. The name Beelzebub is associated with the Canaanite god Baal. Baal is a horned man that resembles a steer or goat. Although not \"the devil\" Beelzebub is one of 7 Princes who've dominion over hell, and all that dwell. The most nefarious looking inflicts the most emotional trauma ergo causes believers to fall in line. Eli5: misinterpreted Biblical tellings of one of the 7 Princes in hell that resembles a goat."
],
"score": [
17
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|
au2xvr | White Nationalism? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"I'm white, and nationalist. I am British, I love my country, and am proud of it. I don't hate foreigners and support legal immigration. I support equal rights regardless of chosen gender, faith or colour (and all the rest of the long list of differences we have). White nationalists aren't evil people. White nationalists who are white supremacist, racist, violent scumbags are. I hope this helps."
],
"score": [
3
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|
au4r4n | Why do people pretend to hate puns? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Humor is one of those things that science isn't really capable of conclusively explaining, but from what we understand of it: Humor is based on subverting expectations, and was likely originally a defense mechanism. You experience something that's contrary to what you were expecting, and so you laugh. Like how a monkey will hoot and holler when something threatening unexpectedly enters its territory, so too do we laugh when the unexpected happens. We like laughing because we like not being eaten by things sneaking up on us. The problem with puns is that they're considered a very 'base' form of humor. People find them funny, but then get mad because you got a cheap laugh out of them while disrupting the conversation. But you can't get mad at what you can laugh at, so the feeling of anger ends up being fleeting."
],
"score": [
4
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|
au9qqw | Why do companies like Coke, McDonalds, and Walmart still spend money on big ads? People will buy there stuff anyways because they're so big so why? | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Brand persistence. Its not that you will see the commercial and think \"I want a Coke\" Its that the next time you are in the store and you want a sugary drink you will have a much higher chance of selecting the one that is the most familiar. It works the same for cars. Very few people see a car commercial and then go out and buy that car. But when it comes time to buy a new car they will recognise the brand and the model and feel more comfortable with it than an unknown model and brand.",
"To keep them in your thoughts. If they didn't advertise, you would only remember them if you happened to drive by a McDonald's or Walmart, or if you saw Coke cans on a shelf.",
"They are huge, and they stay huge, *because* of the ads. The constant bombardment of ads, product placement in films, catchy jingles and recurring ad campaigns, is to make their product the only one you think of. You don't think \"I want a can of cola\", you think \"I want a can of Coke.\" You don't think \"I want a burger\", you think \"I want a McDonald's.\" You don't think \"I need to go to the supermarket\", you think \"I need to go to Walmart.\" And then when you do go to buy a can of cola, you instinctively pick up a Coke, and don't even consider the cheaper brands.",
"The IT paradox. \"Everything keeps breaking down. What the hell do we pay you for?\" \"Everything is working perfectly. What the hell do we pay you for?\" Yes they have a large brand awareness already, but in order to keep that awareness up it needs to be maintained.",
"When your revenue is in the billions of dollars per year, just a 1% gain or loss in sales is a pretty big number. By staying fresh on the customers minds, you can make sure that your revenue numbers stay in check. Remember, that these big companies have to answer to shareholders.",
"With some brands, it's not just about keeping relevancy, but also they have turned advert into a kind of art form, whether it's the artistry of the film itself, the integrated message, or the campaign as a whole. Some, even manage to turn it into a bit of a tradition, like every Christmas here in England, everyone is looking forward to this year's John Lewis advert. So other brands, no matter how big, start to follow that tradition and produce their own to compete.",
"\"If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation.\" Plenty of smaller chains would *love* to change the conversation, but so long as the air waves are jammed with the status quo, the status quo won't easily change. You can look at titans of industry like Blockbuster trying this lazy strategy and letting their competitors get their message out instead. Yes, it sends obvious today that people would prefer Netflix over Blockbuster, but it was an incredible long shot. Netflix wasn't assured enough paying customers to actually have the momentum to topple Blockbuster, they had to convince them through advertisement campaigns.",
"these companies spend millions and millions and millions of dollars not just on ads themselves, but on research that tells them again and again and again that they need to keep buying ads if they want to keep their sales up or grow. That's the only reason why they do it. If their research showed that they wouldn't make any more money even though they spent money on ads, they would not spend money on ads. In other words, your premise that they are so big that sales would not be impacted if they stop advertising is not correct. keep in mind that these companies are not simply trying to maintain some level of sales, they're trying to get the most possible sales they can, at least so long as each additional sale yields additional profit.",
"Because their competitors will spend tons of money to out-expose them. It's like an arms race that never ends. If Coke stops showing ads, Pepsi will continue to show ads and eventually gain brand recognition over Coke. Same with Budweiser and Miller, Toyota and Honda, Walmart and Target, etc.",
"In addition to what others have said about brand recognition and subliminal suggestions, the big guys want you to choose them over their competitors. Coke v. Pepsi, McDonald’s v. Wendy’s, Walmart v. Target, etc. They want to steal you away from your brand loyalty. Do you remember that Mac v. PC campaign in early 2000’s? ... that.",
"Coke and Pepsi are the easiest to explain. Coke and Pepsi spend so much money on commercials but rarely do they gain market share. It is easy to think of that money as waste. However, if Coke stopped advertising, then Pepsi would probably effortlessly take that market share. In other words, people will continue buying soft drinks in the same quantities as before, just not Coke products."
],
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48,
22,
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|
augc96 | Why do scammers use iTunes gift cards | Culture | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
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"text": [
"Gift cards, any gift cards, can be resold on the secondary market through exchanges like [CardPool]( URL_0 ). Everyone knows what iTunes is, and it would seem that iTunes is a popular gift card on the secondary market where the scammers are based."
],
"score": [
7
],
"text_urls": [
[
"https://www.cardpool.com/"
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