What have you learned today?

Johnny Novgorod

Bebop Man
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Feb 9, 2012
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Proud "no sabo" here, I guess*; never heard that term, but I fit the description. My dad is from Panama, and he said he tried to teach me when I was younger, but he said I refused to learn. He said I got frustrated trying to learn other words for words I already knew. I took it in high school, however, and became functionally fluent; my senior year of high school, I took an AP course at The Ohio State University that was taught from day 1 in Spanish, but I could never hold a conversation with my dad speaking truly fluent, non-instructional Spanish. Came home one day and tried to engage my dad and his brother to show them how proud I was I could speak it, and they laughed, said I sounded like a "gringo." Went off to college and into the workforce where my Spanish atrophied almost immediately. I can still understand a lot of it, and using context can piece together intent, but speaking it, let's just say I'd need more than a few refresher courses to get back to where I once was.

*(Curious, is "no sabo kid" considered a derogatory term?)
I don't think it's inherently derogatory, if you look it up the term has been picked up affectionately by the "kids" themselves and mostly shows up in (very cringey) TikTok videos making fun of their own dichotomy. Also in a few subreddits, in the form of people wanting to learn the language and/or being insecure about their heritage.

Looking at a YouTube search right now: "What are "No Sabo Kids" and how do they speak Spanish?", "No Sabo Kids reclaiming heritage by learning Spanish", "Reportaje especial: esta es la generación No Sabo Kid", etc. And from Reddit: "Any no sabo kids reach fluency?", "No sabo kid visiting Mexico; nervous to speak Spanish", "I'm a no sabo kid and I figured out my biggest issue", etc. Looks fine to me.

Most of Latin America thinks of all US citizens as gringos anyway; "Mexican-American" equals gringo just as an "American-Japanese" would be called gaijin in Japan. Whether they can even speak the language or what's their cultural backstory doesn't really matter.

For what it's worth I don't think learning Spanish as an adult will never not sound gringo, and you shouldn't be discouraged by not nailing the diction and pronounciation of a native speaker. It's cool enough if you're interested in learning the language and can make a little progress over time.
 
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Chimpzy

Simian Abomination
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Apr 3, 2020
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I saw him do standup live once, and yeah, he wasn't good. Not terrible, but certainly one of those comedians who leans heavily into just being vulgar over actually being funny. He ended his set with a very cringeworthy and graphic description of a video he saw titled titled "two men, one horse," which if you recall the 15-minutes of fame "two girls, one cup" enjoyed several years ago, you get he gist. His demographic is largely frat boys and thick-necked gym rats, i.e.: "low-brow" his a high bar for him.
The bits I've seen are worse than that. Dude looked uninterested and bored half the time, the other half jelling like a dumber discount Kinison. Jokes that were already lazy and played out years ago, and just blatant pandering to a certain crowd. Also, and ironically, fair few stolen jokes.
 
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Gergar12

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If you get unemployed, which hopefully is just a layoff and not getting fired, do this.

Google around, and search for your state's business registration website. See if you can register as a business. Then buy the business license, and now you are self-employed. By the way, I did this in college for a year, and every time I helped someone on a project, helped someone pick classes, helped someone with homework, or anything, I would just emphasize that on my resume an impactful.

Yes, folks, they do care about employment gaps.
 
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@sailorbychoice1 2 years ago
I'm 60, but when I took a journalism (writing) coarse back in the late 70s, my teacher started by saying if he could tell what our political, religious, or any other point of view is from our lives by what is written, it isn't journalism, it's editorializing and there's a page for that, but doesn't belong anywhere else in a newspaper.
 
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Thaluikhain

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Jan 16, 2010
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Mark Twain's name wasn't Mark Twain! I've been lied to my whole life!
Samuel Clements, IIRC. You really have been lied to, since it not being his real name is a thing lots of people know but chose not to tell you.

(Also, IIRC, he wrote a book after he was died via a psychic, which has all sorts of copyright implications)
 

Bedinsis

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May 29, 2014
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Today I learned that patellae, aka "kneecaps," don't fully form until early adolescence. I feel like age 44 is a bit late in life to be learning some shit like that, man, WTF??
You learn as long as you live. and vice versa.
 
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Mark Twain's name wasn't Mark Twain! I've been lied to my whole life!

Also in case you didn’t know, Richard Bachman is a pen name of Stephen King. I always thought it was the other way around, since his real name is the cooler sounding one.
 

Drathnoxis

I love the smell of card games in the morning
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Also in case you didn’t know, Richard Bachman is a pen name of Stephen King. I always thought it was the other way around, since his real name is the cooler sounding one.
Huh, yeah, but he probably uses it when he wants to do something different and see how it does without the clout of his name.