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Things one may have thought were universal...

MustafaOuz526752

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by MustafaOuz526752 »

lama.03 wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 4:24 pm

In Syria we use this "÷" for division and this “x” for multiplication.
But when I came to Germany I noticed that they use this “:” for division and this “•” for multiplication.

So now I’m curious about what other countries use.

Interesting. Here in Turkey, ÷ and × are used in elementary mathematics, whereas : and · are used in higher-level mathematics (But this goes for numeral multiplication of course. For vector multiplication, both the vector product × and the scalar product · are used.).

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Stasia
Poland

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Stasia »

ElmerRamone wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 3:23 am

In the US, the ground floor is considered the first floor, unlike in the UK, where the first floor is up one flight. Who knew?

Poland and France are the same as the UK. The ground floor is floor zero.

Native: :poland:; Fluent: :es:, :us:; Getting there: Image; Intermediate: :fr:; Beginner: :ukraine:

water_color

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by water_color »

lama.03 wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 4:24 pm
Stasia wrote: Mon Aug 01, 2022 2:16 pm

In some countries you use a decimal comma, in others you use a period:

Six and a half = 6.5 = 6,5

You’ve just reminded me of something similar.

In Syria we use this "÷" for division and this “x” for multiplication.
But when I came to Germany I noticed that they use this “:” for division and this “•” for multiplication.

So now I’m curious about what other countries use.

In Russia it is usually ":" and "•" but "÷" and "×" are understood and can be used too. But actually "×" and "•" are 2 different things when you work with matrices in maths (I suppose that's international).

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LICA98
Finland

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by LICA98 »

Stasia wrote: Sat Sep 03, 2022 6:04 pm
ElmerRamone wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 3:23 am

In the US, the ground floor is considered the first floor, unlike in the UK, where the first floor is up one flight. Who knew?

Poland and France are the same as the UK. The ground floor is floor zero.

in Finland it can be both :lol: I currently live in a building where the first floor is the ground floor but I've also lived in one where it wasn't 😬

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LICA98
Finland

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by LICA98 »

btw I was in Poland recently and one thing that stood out was that all the outlets have pins in them so there's only 1 way to insert the plug 🤔
Image
in Finland I don't remember ever seeing that, ours look like this and you can insert the plug both ways
Image

Last edited by LICA98 on Tue Sep 27, 2022 9:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Jacko079
United States of America

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Jacko079 »

[mention]LICA98[/mention], that is really interesting about the outlets. In the US, the outlet plugs look like this:

Image

Learning: Italian and Arabic.

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Explorer
Portugal

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Explorer »

If you travel often, it may be worth getting one of these adapters. It costs about $10 in Walmart.

Image

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Jacko079
United States of America

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Jacko079 »

Explorer wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 3:05 pm

Image

Just wondering, what’s the little Duome image at the bottom of one of the adapters?

Learning: Italian and Arabic.

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Dana_Dany Danuta
Poland

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Dana_Dany Danuta »

The most popular types of electrical outlets in different countries

https://blog.swiatbaterii.pl/wp-content ... rajach.jpg

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Explorer
Portugal

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Explorer »

Jacko079 wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 3:37 pm

Just wondering, what’s the little Duome image at the bottom of one of the adapters?

There was the original logo of the brand. I've changed it for the forum logo to avoid advertising, as I cannot recommend a product I haven't personally tested. Besides, I think it looks cool :mrgreen:

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LICA98
Finland

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by LICA98 »

my point was that the outlets' design was different even tho the same plug fits into both

I'm aware that in America and Europe the outlets are different (in fact at home I use adapters for most of my devices as they were bought in the US) 😬

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Corinnebelle

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Corinnebelle »

Dana_Dany Danuta wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 4:01 pm

The most popular types of electrical outlets in different countries

https://blog.swiatbaterii.pl/wp-content ... rajach.jpg

How does the Italian one work? Is that 3 prongs for 1 item? It is radically different from the rest.

Don't forget all the different voltages used on the earth.

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Languages without borders, languages bridging gaps, the Red Cross are my heroes.

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Dana_Dany Danuta
Poland

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Dana_Dany Danuta »

Corinnebelle wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 7:35 pm
Dana_Dany Danuta wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 4:01 pm

The most popular types of electrical outlets in different countries

https://blog.swiatbaterii.pl/wp-content ... rajach.jpg

How does the Italian one work? Is that 3 prongs for 1 item? It is radically different from the rest.

Don't forget all the different voltages used on the earth.

This socket is for a plug with three pins. & Do tego gniazdka wkłada się wtyczkę z trzema bolcami. :)

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DCh ... hd6BAgBEE4

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Manex

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Manex »

lama.03 wrote: Sat Jul 30, 2022 11:44 am
Davey944676 wrote: Sat Jul 30, 2022 11:36 am

For example, I recently found that the "bishop" in chess is called "goniec" (messenger) in Polish, and it's called "слон" (elephant) in Russian and Ukrainian....those might feasibly be handy to know for online chess.

Well in Arabic it’s called “Fil” (elephant) too and in German “Läufer” (runner).

Davey944676 wrote: Sat Jul 30, 2022 11:36 am

Does anybody have other examples like that? Any completely different terms for exactly the same thing in another language? Anything that made you go, "Well, I didn't know that..." ?, or even "How on earth did I not already know that?" :)

I was actually surprised to know that the numbers which are used in English and many other languages (1,2,3,4….) are Arabic and the numbers used in Arabic (١،٢،٣،٤….) are Indian. 😅

In Spanish "bishop" in chess is "alfil". I didn't know that word comes from Arabic and it means "the elephant". Curious.

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Cifi

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Cifi »

Manex wrote: Wed Sep 28, 2022 9:50 am

In Spanish "bishop" in chess is "alfil". I didn't know that word comes from Arabic and it means "the elephant". Curious.

Interesting, that probably gives a hint how old chess actually is and how it came to Spain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chess

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus

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(If there are errors in what I'm writing in either language, please do correct me - I'll never take it as offense or something like that.)

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Davey944676
Great Britain

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Davey944676 »

Corinnebelle wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 7:35 pm

Don't forget all the different voltages used on the earth.

And also different frequencies (e.g. UK=50Hz - US=60Hz). I've read or heard tales obout musicians, for example, travelling between the UK and US - they've had the proper plug adaptors/transformers and whatnot for their equipment/instruments, but they still played all weird andl wrong because the frequency was still different.

And I've just now read that the difference in frequency in different countries can make some types of clock/timer and various other things go a bit wonky, too. That could explain a few strange anomalies, in retrospect! :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_ele ... by_country

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Corinnebelle

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Corinnebelle »

[mention]Davey944676[/mention] Just shows how we're all different!

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Dana_Dany Danuta
Poland

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Dana_Dany Danuta »

Those who like to travel the world should get acquainted with these important information contained on this page:

https://www.worldstandards.eu/electrici ... y-country/

..... is a full overview of all countries of the world and their respective plugs/outlets and voltages/frequencies used for domestic appliances ....

Cheers! ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

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Chrisinom
Germany

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Chrisinom »

I wonder if it is a universal fact that hairdressers have their day off on Monday.

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Davey944676
Great Britain

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Davey944676 »

Chrisinom wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:30 pm

I wonder if it is a universal fact that hairdressers have their day off on Monday.

Don't know, but probably brilliant if you're a hairdresser who likes to spend their day off in beautiful places without crowds. :)

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Corinnebelle

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Corinnebelle »

[mention]Davey944676[/mention] Looks like some of those sockets are always childproof. Maybe the cord doesn't come out easy either because it looks like it locks in.

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Davey944676
Great Britain

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Davey944676 »

Corinnebelle wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 9:28 pm

@Davey944676 Looks like some of those sockets are always childproof. Maybe the cord doesn't come out easy either because it looks like it locks in.

Most (or all now?) modern UK 3-pin wall sockets also have a simple but clever safety trick - the earth pin on a plug is slightly longer, and has to be pushed in first, which mechanically opens the holes for the other two (live/dangerous) pins to slot into. (i.e. a kid couldn't poke something into the live bits, because there isn't a hole there until a plug is pushed in!) :)

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Meli578588
Italy

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Meli578588 »

Chrisinom wrote: Thu Sep 29, 2022 1:30 pm

I wonder if it is a universal fact that hairdressers have their day off on Monday.

I believe it is ! 🙂 In my experience, it has been.

[mention]Davey944676[/mention] , You sound like a mechanical engineer ! 😊 Figuring out , the way things work. I bet you are excellent in math , too !

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Davey944676
Great Britain

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Davey944676 »

Looking at another thread where people were talking about food got me thinking about "dinner" (and made me want to try out more Mexican food! :)))

Around the U.K. generally, "breakfast, lunch and dinner" seems to be the "standard" way to describe the three main meals of the day.

However, in many U.K. places, "breakfast, dinner and tea" would still be the more usual way to describe those three meals - with "tea" being the main evening meal, unless the evening meal was e.g. in a restaurant (going out to dinner) or something a bit special (holding a dinner party).

And of course "school dinners" are the traditional way to describe cooked school lunches.

Anyway, I was idly wondering if this is just a U.K. thing, or do any other English speaking countries sometimes call the midday meal "dinner"? :)

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LICA98
Finland

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by LICA98 »

Davey944676 wrote: Sat Oct 15, 2022 12:29 am

Looking at another thread where people were talking about food got me thinking about "dinner" (and made me want to try out more Mexican food! :)))

Around the U.K. generally, "breakfast, lunch and dinner" seems to be the "standard" way to describe the three main meals of the day.

However, in many U.K. places, "breakfast, dinner and tea" would still be the more usual way to describe those three meals - with "tea" being the main evening meal, unless the evening meal was e.g. in a restaurant (going out to dinner) or something a bit special (holding a dinner party).

And of course "school dinners" are the traditional way to describe cooked school lunches.

Anyway, I was idly wondering if this is just a U.K. thing, or do any other English speaking countries sometimes call the midday meal "dinner"? :)

I remember that in the duolingo Polish course they used to translate obiad by default as both lunch and dinner but that caused so much confusion they had to remove dinner and keep just lunch as the default (tho dinner is still accepted it's just not the default translation)

https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/1225 ... d=23349372

We used to star both 'breakfast/lunch/dinner' and 'breakfast/dinner/supper', as we in Poland are more used to the second version, but unfortunately it caused mostly confusion and chaos, it didn't help like we thought. So we decided to go with the American version, as Duolingo is an American company, after all.

https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/1503 ... d=20661149

It's been at least 30 years that most people in UK say "breakfast lunch and dinner" and before they said "breakfast dinner and tea" and maybe "supper" in certain regions. Anyway, it is such an outdated way of speaking that most people in UK below 60 won't use dinner to refer to the noon-time meal as dinner.

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Meli578588
Italy

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Meli578588 »

We have breakfast lunch and dinner or supper. I noticed they used supper in the MidWest when I lived there.

We also have Brunch. ( if you skip breakfast you can have a 11:00 am to noon 12:00 brunch - breakfast and lunch together.

[mention]Davey944676[/mention] - You are not kidding about “ tea.” A couple of years ago very good friends of my folks came for a visit from England. Mom bought tons of tea and they wouldn’t go out until they had their tea. ( She told me )

Another mid break for tea ☕️! You guys don’t miss a tea meal !

I am a tea person , too .. 🙂

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Davey944676
Great Britain

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Davey944676 »

[mention]Meli578588[/mention] , we also have brunch in the UK, but, to me at least, it still feels a little new and odd to use the term "brunch".

...on the other hand, "elevenses" might still be used somewhere in the UK as a term for a mid-morning snack, but that would sound very old-fashioned to me.

Actually, I'm not sure what I would call "brunch", really. I'd probably just say something like, "I'm going to the cafe for a bacon toastie. Anybody coming?" :)

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Chrisinom
Germany

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Chrisinom »

Brunch is a word that is also used in German. It's exactly what [mention]Meli578588[/mention] described. There are also restaurants that offer brunch, although it is a bit less fashionable than 10 years ago.

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Davey944676
Great Britain

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Davey944676 »

[mention]Dana_Dany Danuta[/mention] , Thank you, my dear schoolmistress! That was interesting.

Is that "wycztałam" a real word or a typo? I can't find it anywhere. Did you mean "wyczytałam" ?

Are you testing me, teacher? hehe :geek:

edit..Eek! your post disappeared while I was typing a reply! :o

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Dana_Dany Danuta
Poland

Re: Things one may have thought were universal...

Post by Dana_Dany Danuta »

Hi, @Davey944676!

Tak, usunęłam ten post, bo miałam to zrobić - po Twoim przeczytaniu ( bo był napisany po polsku ), ale mogę Ci go przywrócić!
Teraz myślę, że może ktoś się pokusi na naukę mojego języka, bo jakoś ludzie bardzo się go boją, a on nie gryzie i nie jest taki straszny! :o

.... a to słowo "wycztałam" - to była pułapka, ale jesteś bystrym i spostrzegawczym uczniem, hehe! :lol:

☆☺☽♡❊☆☺☽♡❊☆☺☽♡❊☆☺☽ ☆☺☽♡❊☆☺☽♡❊☆☺☽♡❊☆☺☽

Sunday Polish lesson, hehe! ;)

Davey, ja wyczytałam, że:

Brunch ( jego początki sięgają XIX wieku), choć nie od razu spotkał się z uznaniem, dziś stanowi jedną z najpopularniejszych form spotkań w kameralnym gronie.
Ze względu na porę i naturę takiego przyjęcia brunch odbywa się zwykle w dni wolne od pracy, a zwłaszcza niedziele, choć w przypadku spotkań biznesowych dopuszczalne jest urządzenie go w tygodniu.

Godziny serwowania tego typu potraw to zazwyczaj 10:00-11:30, jednak za brunch można uznać również spotkania odbywające się we wczesnych godzinach popołudniowych.

Brunchowe menu zawiera zarówno klasyczne dania śniadaniowe (np. tartinki, pieczywo na słodko z marmoladą lub innymi dodatkami), jak i potrawy podawane na ciepło oraz mięsne przekąski. Towarzyszą im przede wszystkim gorące napoje, takie jak kawa i herbata, jednak na późniejszym etapie przyjęcia na stole mogą pojawić się również inne trunki – warto przy tym podkreślić, że ich spożywanie ma charakter bardziej degustacyjny i towarzyski, ponieważ brunch kończy się stosunkowo wcześnie.

Brunch odbywa się zazwyczaj w kameralnym gronie, którego liczebność nie przekracza kilkudziesięciu osób. Spotkanie może mieć formalny lub bardziej swobodny przebieg, zawsze jednak zachowuje uroczysty i radosny charakter. Zależnie od charakteru spotkania zaproszonych gości może obowiązywać strój wizytowy lub ubiór w nieco luźniejszym stylu smart-casual.

Klasyczny brunch niedzielny to doskonała alternatywa dla tradycyjnych wieczornych przyjęć towarzyszących rodzinnym uroczystościom. W tej formie coraz częściej wyprawiane są chrzciny, komunie, urodziny czy imieniny, a także wszelkiego rodzaju poprawiny.

Brunche stwarzają doskonałe warunki do rozmów, dzięki czemu sprzyjają nawiązywaniu i zacieśnianiu więzi – zarówno w relacjach rodzinnych, jak i zawodowych. Dlatego taka forma spotkania jest często wybierana także w sytuacjach biznesowych.

Myślę, że to są świetne spotkania i warto je kultywować! :)

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