Wapsi Square Forum

Catawampus wrote:

lake_wrangler wrote:Nice haircut. But why dye the grey lock? It looked good on her.

Don't worry, I'm sure that there are many more gray hairs in her future. Assuming that she doesn't simply go bald from pulling her hair.

GlytchMeister wrote:I've heard some people call French or French-speakers "frogs."

I don't know if this is derogatory/offensive, and if it is, I have no idea how severe it is, so I just avoid it.

It's generally considered rude but not terribly offensive, though a lot depends on just how and when it is used.

As has been pointed out, it's a food-based slang used by the British against people from France or Belgium or the Netherlands or that general area. Through the 18th and 19th Centuries, the British tended to often be at conflict with their neighbours across the Channel (the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the Seven Year War, the Napoleonic Wars, and so on). They called those neighbours "frog-eaters" or just "frogs" as an insult, implying that they lived in a swamp and also just had really weird culinary tastes. And the British were in turn called "roast beefs", due to the supposed or actual British obsession with that particular dish. It's pretty much the same as calling Germans "krauts".

France used to require all automobiles driving in their country to have special yellow headlights. They were very strict on that, which meant that even during joint military exercises with other nations' armies any foreign military would have to purchase the special lights for their vehicles to drive on French roads. Which greatly annoyed all of the non-French soldiers. The reason given for the special lights was that they were supposed to give better vision in foggy conditions. They were fog-lights. Thus, everybody took to calling them "frog-lights". Which greatly annoyed all of the French soldiers.

illiad wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:Aren't Geese protected by a migratory bird act or whatever? Kinda hard to sell meat of a protected species.

I think that is to protect *wild* geese.. you can find goose for eating in most places,. coming from a proper farm..

Catawampus wrote: Through the 18th and 19th Centuries, the British tended to often be at conflict with their neighbours across the Channel (the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the Seven Year War, the Napoleonic Wars, and so on).

illiad wrote: well, frogs legs are just like a small chicken.. at the 'boring' end of eclectic tastes... :E
Not tried kangaroo, horse (sold at respectable butchers all over France) , octopus or squid ?? (its called 'calamari' to not frighten some McDonalds eaters..
Haven't you had prawns , scampi, shrimp?? they are basically a smaller version of lobster...
and very prone to naming differences across the world...

Dave wrote:Many species of wild goose and duck (and others) are in a subset called "migratory game birds". These birds can be hunted, in accordance with Federal and state regulations. There are bag limits, open and closed seasons, restrictions on how and where you can hunt them, and a requirement that each hunter buy and sign and carry a "Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (Federal Duck Stamp)" which is, in effect, a Federal permit to hunt these birds.

Just Old Al wrote:

illiad wrote: well, frogs legs are just like a small chicken.. at the 'boring' end of eclectic tastes... :E
Not tried kangaroo, horse (sold at respectable butchers all over France) , octopus or squid ?? (its called 'calamari' to not frighten some McDonalds eaters..
Haven't you had prawns , scampi, shrimp?? they are basically a smaller version of lobster...
and very prone to naming differences across the world...

Ande I'll have a plate of each, and keep th iced tea coming. Talk about yer mixed grill.

Frog legs are boring unless wild-caught, horse tends to be strongly flavoured and tough.If it's got suckers deep-fry it and pass the marinara sauce. The rest of that list? Simmer it in white wine and scallions, chill and serve on a bed of rock salt.

Omnivore? Hell, yes.

Dave wrote:

illiad wrote:

GlytchMeister wrote:Aren't Geese protected by a migratory bird act or whatever? Kinda hard to sell meat of a protected species.

I think that is to protect *wild* geese.. you can find goose for eating in most places,. coming from a proper farm..

The Federal Migratory Bird Protection Act covers almost all birds found in the US (there are a few exceptions, such as feral pigeons, starlings, and other "pest" birds, and some upland game birds.) It's illegal to kill, capture, transport, or offer-for-sale such birds without a Federal permit.

Dave wrote:FreeFlier is correct - a hunter who shoots at a wild goose is required to retrieve the bird, tag, transport, and consume it (personally or in-family). Shooting at birds "for sport" and wasting the bodies is not legal. Neither is shooting it on your license and then selling it, I believe. You''re not allowed to possess a wild game bird shot by someone else unless the original shooter has tagged it properly (I believe this is to prevent hunters from shooting more than their bag limit, and then claiming that "Oh, my friend shot this one").

lake_wrangler wrote:

Dave wrote:In this case, I think "adult" is being used sort of as a verb... like "swim" or "strive" or "dig".You Anglos* are so weird...

Sgt. Howard wrote:Rattlesnake does NOT taste like chicken. It tastes like rattlesnake. Something between crab and abalone, and I'm not sure that's close enough... but it's delicious!!!

Aleister Crow wrote: Agreed. And in my experience, the only animal that actually does taste like chicken is chicken. The differences may be subtle, but they're there.

My2Cents wrote:

Catawampus wrote: Through the 18th and 19th Centuries, the British tended to often be at conflict with their neighbours across the Channel (the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the Seven Year War, the Napoleonic Wars, and so on).

More like the 9th through 20th centuries. It all started when William the Conqueror became king of England and brought his problems back home in Normandy, France, with him. WWI in many ways was the end of it with the fall of the last true monarchies.

Warrl wrote:

lake_wrangler wrote:

Dave wrote:In this case, I think "adult" is being used sort of as a verb... like "swim" or "strive" or "dig".You Anglos* are so weird...

In English you can mostly forget the notion that <word> is NOT a <part of speech>. (Well, pronouns and prepositions are rather limited, but aside from those...) "Adult" is at least a noun, verb, adjective, and adverb.

English is also really good at creating new words, by either abbreviation or construction. The question "is that even a word?" is usually answered "if it wasn't before, it is now".

AnotherFairportfan wrote:My brother was at a con somewhere in Europe - Poland, maybe - and Toni {Weisskopf, his publisher at Ben Books} had arranged a meeting with all or most of his translators.

The Frenchman, the Italian and the Spanish guy were complaining about did he know how much grief his fairly common verbing of nouns gave them.

The German guy just sat back and smiled.