A thread for nothing

[Shhon]

rate my setup

[Marie Monday]

rate my setup

no but actually that would be the dream, egyptian tombs have amazing atmosphere.

I could live in here

[jimmy jazz]

Any of you guys aware of the Feeding Steven Instagram page?

Some guy who has made friends with a seagull who visits his loft bedroom and gets fed. He eats like a king too. Sometimes gets fresh salmon and gulps it down in one, fat fuck.

Love it. Sometimes he brings his friends along (other seagulls) and they eat too.

He's recently started to try and hold Steven and it's going well.

Love shit like this.

@Marie Monday @Guybrush @Hope

[Guybrush]

Any of you guys aware of the Feeding Steven Instagram page?

Some guy who has made friends with a seagull who visits his loft bedroom and gets fed. He eats like a king too. Sometimes gets fresh salmon and gulps it down in one, fat fuck.

Love it. Sometimes he brings his friends along (other seagulls) and they eat too.

He's recently started to try and hold Steven and it's going well.

Love shit like this.

@Marie Monday @Guybrush @Hope

Nice! Checked it out and it looks fun and wholesome 😄 Subscribed!

Thanks for the tip, Big J 👌❤️

[Hope]

I don't mind the washer's manic spin cycle. Being terrified of my household appliances makes me feel alive.

[Marie Monday]

American states ranked by their names.
Because this occurred to me when planning my US travels, obviously. Place names are very important and Proust was very right to be obsessed with them and I relate to everything he says on the subject. Here we go:

Ohio - as if someone condensed as much beauty into as short a word as possible. The japanese word for good morning is about identical; the sound is a universal delight across cultural and linguistic barriers
Oklahoma - delightful rhythm and cadence punctuated by a beautiful vowel sequence, rolls of the tongue delightfully, almost has the word 'home' in it.
Mississippi - speaks for itself really. Funnest word ever.
Colorado - also great sound and rhythm and I suspect I'm partial to words that make good use of the o and a vowels. Has the word color in it.
Alaska - a smooth beautiful sound with a perfect staccato ending to set it off. Contains the word alas.
Arizona - another sequence of beautiful vowel sound spiced up by the z in the middle
Minnesota - not quite as fun as Mississippi, but more varied.
Virginia - great name, it sounds beautiful and I associate it with Virginia Woolf. Why they gave some states women's names I don't know but I'm a fan.
Louisiana - like someone took the name louis/Louise and decided to make it swing
Idaho - very satisfying rhythm for such a short word, mainly thanks to the way it ends in ho which is brilliant
Nebraska - not as beautiful as Alaska, but the r gives it extra spice in a similar way to Arizona
Montana - sounds like mountain, but beautiful
Pennsylvania - sound like a mix between pencil and Transylvania, which is great. Is it derived from the Latin word for wood? If not, the association is still there.
Wyoming - great sequence of sounds and very fun to say.
Kentucky - sounds ticklish and fresh
Alabama - like someone took the principle of the word Mississippi and made a version that's optimally suited to a southern accent
Nevada - a pretty word like Nebraska, but a bit plainer
North Dakota - Dakota is a gorgeous word and this would have been near the top if it weren't for the north bit.
South Dakota - the word north combines better here
Georgia - Great name but not quite Virginia
West Virginia - like north/south Dakota
Florida - the most beautiful state name according to Elizabeth Bishop. It is beautiful and the flower association is great too, but it's not quite up there for me
Texas - the vowels are plain, the consonants are brilliant
Maryland - sounds a bit silly to just call a place that, but for reasons relating to my own name I'm a fan
California - great word but not a standout
Massachusetts - like Mississippi except for the vowels so it doesn't quite have the same charm
Indiana - also pretty sounding but not a standout
Michigan - good rhythm but not the prettiest of state names
Iowa - just not quite Ohio
Missouri - it's a very good name really, but a bit disappointing after Mississippi
Hawaii - fun but too cutesy and slight
Tennessee - good word but sounds like tennis
Wisconsin - a solid word that doesn't stand out
Arkansas - not the best sound but fun to say and gets bonus points for the weird pronunciation
Oregon - sounds a bit like a name tolkien would come up with but it lacks the beauty of most other state names
Illinois - fun to say and has the word ill in it. Looks like a french word and I'm tempted to pronounce it that way.
Utah - a nice name I guess
North Carolina - the last charming women's name among the states
South Carolina - see south Dakota
Connecticut - sounds a bit awkward like a tongue twister but it has some charm to it
Kansas - just sounds like canvas
Vermont - for some reason I associate it with the name Vernon which doesn't work in it's favour
Maine - a bit plain innit
Washington - I don't like that a state is named after a president but it is objectively a good word and contains the word washing
Delaware - eh
New Mexico - come up with a new name. Highest ranked among the unoriginal names because Mexico is a fantastic word
New York - I'm also a fan of the word York because it's so silly
New Hampshire - whatever
Rhode Island - whatever X2
New Jersey - sounds like a new clothing item. Ridiculous.

[Janszoon]

@Marie Monday Nice list.

For the record, Pennsylvania is named after the state's founder, William Penn. The name means "Penn's woods".

[Marie Monday]

nice, yesterday I also learned (by complete coincidence actually) that the Rhode in Rhode island is just an Anglification of the Dutch word for red (rood, the Dutch oo is as the o in bone) in the stupidest way imaginable. It sounds like a four year old child's idea of translating something, I'm glad I put it so low on the list 

[grindy]

nice, yesterday I also learned (by complete coincidence actually) that the Rhode in Rhode island is just an Anglification of the Dutch word for red (rood, the Dutch oo is as the o in bone) in the stupidest way imaginable. It sounds like a four year old child's idea of translating something, I'm glad I put it so low on the list 

That's one of the possibilities but not an undisputed etymology.

[Lexi Darling]

Pardon my less-than-original idea, but, inspired by Marie's post and the many wonderful names in my home state that non-Wisconsinites have a hard time pronouncing, I am pleased to present...

The Official Lexi Darling Wisconsin City Names Top 10 List!

10. Manitowoc
No complaints here, though nothing I'd call truly exceptional by the metric of Wisconsinocity.

9. Wauwatosa
A very solid name, Wisconsin through and through, but a little too easy to guess the pronunciation.

8. Prarie du Chien
My mom moved to Wisconsin from New York City in 1969 and as a fluent French speaker, she was in for a rude surprise when she discovered that this city's name was not pronunced as the French would. Delightfully devilish.

7. Sheboygan
Easily the most fun name on the list to say, though it loses points for the pronunciation being probably more self-explanatory.

6. Muskego
I love how nasty this one sounds just to say. I like it more than the similarly named Muskegon, Michigan, because somehow the N makes it feel more like a more common, pedestrian place name.

5. Waukesha
There was a popular rap song a few years ago called "Wockesha" which is pronounced completely differently than the city, which I'd imagine has made this even more confusing. My stepmom is from here, so bonus points.

4. Menomonie
Underrated one, major points for being able to be sung to the tune of "Mahna Mahna".

3. Weyauwega
I dig this one; it almost feels a bit too silly on my tongue, but of all of these it's second only to my number 1 on amount of people I've seen mispronounce it throughout my life. And that deserves respect.

2. Oconomowoc
The most aesthetically pleasing name of a city in my great home state. Five Os, all equidistant from each other. Perfectly balanced and one of the most confusing ones to tourists to boot.

1. Ashwaubenon
Perfect, chef's kiss, 10/10 Wisconsin name. That this is (IIRC) the smallest town on the list is a travesty. The more people in my life have reason to say 'Ashwaubenon' more frequently, the better.

[Marie Monday]

^no that's great, the more the better (including dissenting state name opinions). Those are some fantastic names. The fact that there exists a place that's basically named Wow Kesha is making my day.

I wonder if you Americans realise how blessed you are with your place names. In Holland everything is just called something like Gorinchem (pronounced Gorkum with the harsh throaty g) and all English towns are called Upper Snodsbury or such nonsense

That's one of the possibilities but not an undisputed etymology.

ooh the internet has deceived me then

[Lexi Darling]

^no that's great, the more the better (including dissenting state name opinions). Those are some fantastic names. The fact that there exists a place that's basically named Wow Kesha is making my day.

I wonder if you Americans realise how blessed you are with your place names. In Holland everything is just called something like Gorinchem (pronounced Gorkum with the harsh throaty g) and all English towns are called Upper Snodsbury or such nonsenseooh the internet has deceived me then

Thanks! Next time I talk to my stepmom about her hometown I'm absolutely going to call it "Wow Kesha", I love that so much haha.

[Guybrush]

In Norway, place names are mostly old-timey words for just topographic features. A large part of my old town is called Sanden (the sand) because it was so sandy. Back in the 1800s, a locally famous historical character started an initiative to plant pine to hold the sand down, so that forest is called Furulunden (pine grove). The other side of the river is called Malmø - iron ore island - I assume due to the color of some ancient sand.

Our street is called Wide Marsh (or bog? Swamp?) Hill.

Norwegians haven't been particularly creative 🙂

[Janszoon]

Pardon my less-than-original idea, but, inspired by Marie's post and the many wonderful names in my home state that non-Wisconsinites have a hard time pronouncing, I am pleased to present...

The Official Lexi Darling Wisconsin City Names Top 10 List!

I'm personally a big fan of Fond du Lac and Minocqua as well. They're both just fun to say.

[Janszoon]

In Norway, place names are mostly old-timey words for just topographic features. A large part of my old town is called Sanden (the sand) because it was so sandy. Back in the 1800s, a locally famous historical character started an initiative to plant pine to hold the sand down, so that forest is called Furulunden (pine grove). The other side of the river is called Malmø - iron ore island - I assume due to the color of some ancient sand.

Our street is called Wide Marsh (or bog? Swamp?) Hill.

Norwegians haven't been particularly creative 🙂

The names in the US aren't particularly creative either. Some are just transplanted names of places in Europe, like New York, and some of the native names are just descriptive, like Chicago, which is the English interpretation of the French interpretation of a local Algonquian word meaning "place of the wild onion", because apparently back in the day there were a lot of wild onions to be found in what is now the city of Chicago.