Things one may have thought were universal... Topic is solved

[John238922]

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning tea, afternoon tea, supper, brunch, it's quite a maze, moving around over time and differing on social class.

As a child, we had breakfast, lunch and tea. If friends were specially invited for the evening meal, it became dinner. But we would go to our grandparents for 'Sunday dinner' at midday.

In between meals, there was morning tea and afternoon tea, usually accompanied by biscuits or cake, or my mother might invite other ladies around for a 'coffee morning'.

We might have supper, perhaps coffee and a snack later in the evening, particularly if out at a public funcion.

We read about 'elevenses', apparently consisting of 'hunny' in books about Pooh Bear, and we also read about English people having boiled eggs for [afternoon] tea, and a thing called a 'meat tea' (as distinct from 'beef tea), meaning a substantial meal at the afternoon tea hour. If you were of a class that took a substantial tea, then you didn't follow that with 'dinner', you waited a while then perhaps, had supper. You very likely had had your dinner at midday, and thought lunch was for posh people.

Modernly, I think brunch, is an occasion, at home with guests, or at a cafe, with a somewhat more elaborate menu than what you would usually have for breakfast.

So, do cultures other than English have this sort of proliferation of meal-words? Is it particularly caused by the introduction of 'tea'?

[Corinnebelle]

Some people don't eat breakfast. I remember reading about missionaries in Africa, where the natives thought the missionaries was rather strange to eat at that hour. They had their first meal at lunch time. Apparently Maltese people are the same.

[LICA98]

one thing that is universal in Finland (that I haven't seen elsewhere) is a cabinet to dry the dishes

https://www.today.com/shop/what-astiank ... ed-t118613

The concept is simple: it’s a regular kitchen cabinet on the outside, but instead of solid shelves, it has slotted dish racks. So, you can put wet dishes in the cabinet and let them drip dry directly into the sink. Brilliant!

and if you lazy like me you can just store your tableware there without putting it into the normal cupboards

[Corinnebelle]

What about miles, kilometers, stones, pounds and kilograms. Acres, hectares, arpents [1/4 hectare], ars [1 square decameter, 100 meter square]. What other measures are there?

[Davey944676]

What about miles, kilometers, stones, pounds and kilograms. Acres, hectares, arpents [1/4 hectare], ars [1 square decameter, 100 meter square]. What other measures are there?

A "quart" (quarter of a gallon) seems to be used as a measurement for all sorts of things in the U.S.. A "Cup" too, which I've just learnt is half a pint.

Even though there is a similar British "quart", I don't think I've ever heard anybody use the term "quart" in everyday life here in Britain. I think most people here would just say "two pints".

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

[MoniqueMaRie]

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 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

Same for me in Germany: though the official term in Germany is "Erdgeschoss " for ground floor, I learned as a child that I live on the first floor (erster Stock) when living on the ground floor.

[Steve579062]

This is like a game off Top Trumps.

I learn so much everyday ! Sadly my memory wipes every night.
The only benefit is that I am constantly amazed by life.

Just imagine how amazing it would be to know everything or at least everything that we know at the moment.

[Corinnebelle]

@Davey944676 Imperial quarts are bigger than US quarts.

https://www.checkyourmath.com/convert/v ... quarts.php

[Jade.S.Exner]

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

And if you look at the wiktionary page (and the picture) of the Russian version of the Polish word for messenger, that "гоне́ц" ties in nicely with the German "Läufer".

Sweet!

Lush!

[Corinnebelle]

What about housing layouts? I know there is the Spanish layout with an atrium. The enclosed house that a lot of Europeans and others live in. Are there others? Some people in Nepal live in a vertical house. First story animals, second story living room, third story bedroom and so on up.

[Davey944676]

What about housing layouts?

Like you say about Nepal, it's obviously a practical thing to be close to, but above, your pooing natural providers! - to generally keep an eye on them or prevent them getting robbed.

I know (historically) lots of British/Scottish/Welsh whatevever farmers used to herd their crucial animals indoors locked in overnight on the ground floor, mainly to stop them getting robbed, and the humans would sleep upstairs.

[Corinnebelle]

@Davey944676 It's also for heat. The Nepal houses are probably made that way so that the bedrooms are the warmest because heat rises.

[dxtoeppe]

What about housing layouts?

Like you say about Nepal, it's obviously a practical thing to be close to, but above, your pooing natural providers! - to generally keep an eye on them or prevent them getting robbed.

I know (historically) lots of British/Scottish/Welsh whatevever farmers used to herd their crucial animals indoors locked in overnight on the ground floor, mainly to stop them getting robbed, and the humans would sleep upstairs.

Cannot imagine the smell. And I used to work in a microbiology lab and volunteer at our zoo.

[Jade.S.Exner]

Most animals, domesticated or not, provided they are in their natural environment or anything closely resembling it, smell really nice - if you are receptive to those smells...
Horses or cattle come immediately to mind, they have a very sweet breath ( maybe because they are vegetarians). If you force any being whether human or animal into confined, unnatural environments where they cannot keep themselves clean in the way they instintively do or want to, you have only yourself to blame for the "smelly" results...

[Davey944676]

Most animals...smell really nice...Horses or cattle come immediately to mind, they have a very sweet breath ( maybe because they are vegetarians)...

Yep - there is often something harmless and indeed wholesome/healthy about certain farmyard/countryside smells!

[Jade.S.Exner]

Some people don't eat breakfast. I remember reading about missionaries in Africa, where the natives thought the missionaries was rather strange to eat at that hour. They had their first meal at lunch time. Apparently Maltese people are the same.

Seem to remember the Greeks were particularly non-bothered about breaking their fasting in the mornings, prefering a tiny cup of espresso, sorry GREEK coffee, and a glass of water and a sickeningly sweet and syrupy snack called balacklava (or something like that), which I tended to avoid.....

[Jade.S.Exner]

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning tea, afternoon tea, supper, brunch, it's quite a maze, moving around over time and differing on social class.

We read about 'elevenses', apparently consisting of 'hunny' in books about Pooh Bear, and we also read about English people having boiled eggs for [afternoon] tea, and a thing called a 'meat tea' (as distinct from 'beef tea), meaning a substantial meal at the afternoon tea hour. If you were of a class that took a substantial tea, then you didn't follow that with 'dinner', you waited a while then perhaps, had supper. You very likely had had your dinner at midday, and thought lunch was for posh people.

Modernly, I think brunch, is an occasion, at home with guests, or at a cafe, with a somewhat more elaborate menu than what you would usually have for breakfast.

Used to enjoy a cup of tea and a biccie just before going to bed, relaxing in the cozy lounge in front of the telly watching Hercule Poirot or some other light hearted stuff with my in laws in the South East of England, happy days.... Can't remember now what this lovely family tradition was called - it seems lightyears ago now.....

[Davey944676]

Back to housing layouts...is there anywhere where roof gardens are a common thing? In the UK you only really see them occasionally on hotels and other large public buildings.

I was thinking how much I'd like a roof garden, when I was dangling from a rope fixing something on the roof (it's a great view from up there), but both the house and the garage have sloping rooves. There are plenty of flat-topped garages going to waste hereabouts though - I'd definitely be growing tasty fruit/veg on top if they were mine.

[Jade.S.Exner]

Yes, and it's Greece again, or more precisely Αθινα (Athens) where I remember 3 of my favourite tavernas/restaurants and loads of apartment buildings, hotels, hostels etc having roof gardens. It makes sense with the climate being what it is, especially on islands like Crete, you couldn't really get much closer to the North Coast of the African coast still being in Europe. Some spectacular summer thunderstorms carrying Sahara sand and dust make for some eerie colours and unforgettable battles with unbelievable downpours which soon got the windscreenwipers of a not exactly the latest model of a hired FIAT panda struggling as I was trying to thread my way precariously through Chania and down or up a higher than expected mountain track, last used by the Mongolians and their horses presumably, wondering whether I'd make it back to the local car hire place with or without the car and the hapless passenger with a strange hue of green around his nose....
Ah well, we don't have to wait that long, I reckon, before we can have roof terraces in the Cairngorms or Scottish Highlands for similarly chilled out experiences for the ultimate adrenalin junkies. Don't even mention insurance matters and see what happens....

[Jade.S.Exner]

What about miles, kilometers, stones, pounds and kilograms. Acres, hectares, arpents [1/4 hectare], ars [1 square decameter, 100 meter square]. What other measures are there?

This is a minefield. Just think of a billion dollars and eine Milliarde Euro. Or imperial pound and stones. Inches and decimeters, millimeters and gallons....Stick to what you know or grew up with and don't do any online banking, goverment online formfilling in and other lazy ways of loosing your hardearned cash to online fraudsters, bitcoin gamblers and other shady characters hiding behind robots to do their filthy ripping off the unaware and taking them to the cleaner's.....

[EranBarLev]

Seem to remember the Greeks were particularly non-bothered about breaking their fasting in the mornings, prefering a tiny cup of espresso, sorry GREEK coffee, and a glass of water and a sickeningly sweet and syrupy snack called balacklava (or something like that), which I tended to avoid.....

Baqlawa! We have it too, but not for breakfast. There'll be more left for me then...

[Jade.S.Exner]

Prefer the more retro café au lait and croissant any time in any streetcaff, doesn't always have to be Paris.....

[Davey944676]

Croissants are tasty enough, but some form of fried food in a sandwich/toastie is still the default mid-morning snack for many UK cafe customers.

Marmite toast and coffee is my default breakfast at home. It's that automatic I reckon I'm still sometimes asleep when I'm making it, just finding myself in the living room with it and flicking through the TV news with no idea how I got downstairs.

In fact, the toaster had died one morning, and I must have been stood there staring blankly at it for a while wondering what to do next - like a robot coming upon a situation it hadn't been programmed for..

[Enzfj2]

Electrical sockets
in Continental Europe there are basically three types of sockets:
— small flat for 2 pins (flattened hexagon), used for lower power consumption devices, like TV, shavers and other small appliances, most types of chargers;
— German type Schuko, round with two round holes and two side grounding contacts;
— and French type, also round for 2 round pins and a projected earth pin offset from the center.
The flat type can be plugged into 2 other sockets, but not always vice versa, because German and French standards have thicker pins.
Most European plugs can be plugged into both German and French sockets, either they have a hole to adopt the French ground pin and side contacts, or (rarely) just cutouts.
Before my trip to Brazil I checked the socket type in the Internet and it said 'European type", but upon arrival I discovered that it was only the first, small type, while my laptop requiered 'big' German/french socket with thicker pins, so I had to buy an adaptor.

British type plug is usually triangular with two thick flat horizontal pins and a flat perpendicular earth pin. The holes in the socket are blocked with a plastic schield that opens by the grounding pin, which is longer than the polar pins, so normally you cannot plug a continental plug into a British socket. But you can hack the system pushing the shield in the earth hole with a key tip or similar tool.

I don't know what sockets Italians have in their houses now, but Italian hotels have universal sockets suited for both local and generic European plugs.

[Basler Biker]

Electrical sockets...

The Universal Euro plug/socket (as used in a.o. BE and NL) has both the earthpin as well as the schuko contact on the side. But beware, such plug does not fit into the German (only) Schuko socket (= Schutz Kontakt by the way in German), as this one has no hole for the Euro earthpin

The "plastic" inside protection (which is there to prevent children pushing something in 1 of the holes) is ONLY unlocked by inserting the plug nicely centered. Only if the force is symmetrical on both pins, will the plastic piece shift away. Although it's good for protection of children, it's more a real nuisance and for sure it's the most stupid of the European norms. It prevents also adults from often plugging out/in the plugs, regularly, when needed. Since the plastic piece gets worn out, and when not "smooth" anymore, it won't shift away whatever you try pushing onto it. So in the end, since our children have gone, I just drilled through that piece of plastic. So gone is safety, but easy of use is back !

And of course, the Swiss, not being "EU" have their own format. An image will describe it better than I can. An extra hole for the earth pin, no plastic protection, no SchuKo, and it's small like the flattened hexagon mentioned earlier, and 3 of them fit in a standard wall plate, taking very little space. 3 plugs fit easily one next to the other...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_441011

[Jade.S.Exner]

Croissants are tasty enough, but some form of fried food in a sandwich/toastie is still the default mid-morning snack for many UK cafe customers.

Marmite toast and coffee is my default breakfast at home. It's that automatic I reckon I'm still sometimes asleep when I'm making it, just finding myself in the living room with it and flicking through the TV news with no idea how I got downstairs.

In fact, the toaster had died one morning, and I must have been stood there staring blankly at it for a while wondering what to do next - like a robot coming upon a situation it hadn't been programmed for..

Oh no, I totally forgot about that. I'm the same really, I'd rather have no breakfast than a breakfast without marmite on toast.....,

[Enzfj2]

The Universal Euro plug/socket (as used in a.o. BE and NL) has both the earthpin as well as the schuko contact on the side. But beware, such plug does not fit into the German (only) Schuko socket (= Schutz Kontakt by the way in German), as this one has no hole for the Euro earthpin

I was too lazy to attach pictures from Wiki...
Here are German Schuko plug and socket

The plug doesn't have an earth pin, earthing is prowided by top and bottom clips (2), it can be inserted also into round non-earthed sockets, but not into a French one with the protruding grounding pin
,
and the round French plug with the hole for the earth pin

cannot be inserted into a German socket because of its side notches 4.
So the universal European plug

has both notches and side earth contacts for Schuko sockets and a hole for the French earthing pin, so it can be inserted into both types, as well as the small/flat europlug

The "plastic" inside protection (which is there to prevent children pushing something in 1 of the holes) is ONLY unlocked by inserting the plug nicely centered. Only if the force is symmetrical on both pins, will the plastic piece shift away.

I don't remember seeing protective shutters in any type of European wall sockets, only in some multisocket extensions.
I wrote about British sockets

Normally you cannot insert your European charger into it, but you can disengage the plastic protection schield pressing a key tip or similar narrow hard object into the vertical slot. It doesn't damage the socket because europlug pins are thinner than the British ones, and doesn't create any safety risk, because chargers are never earthed (even the British ones, with that huge 3-pin plug)

And I really liked the Swiss 3-way socket

[Corinnebelle]

@Basler Biker How many different ways can you plug the cord into the swiss socket?

[Jade.S.Exner]

The Universal Euro plug/socket (as used in a.o. BE and NL) has both the earthpin as well as the schuko contact on the side. But beware, such plug does not fit into the German (only) Schuko socket (= Schutz Kontakt by the way in German), as this one has no hole for the Euro earthpin

I was too lazy to attach pictures from Wiki...
Here are German Schuko plug and socket

The plug doesn't have an earth pin, earthing is prowided by top and bottom clips (2), it can be inserted also into round non-earthed sockets, but not into a French one with the protruding grounding pin
,
and the round French plug with the hole for the earth pin

cannot be inserted into a German socket because of its side notches 4.
So the universal European plug

has both notches and side earth contacts for Schuko sockets and a hole for the French earthing pin, so it can be inserted into both types, as well as the small/flat europlug

The "plastic" inside protection (which is there to prevent children pushing something in 1 of the holes) is ONLY unlocked by inserting the plug nicely centered. Only if the force is symmetrical on both pins, will the plastic piece shift away.

I don't remember seeing protective shutters in any type of European wall sockets, only in some multisocket extensions.
I wrote about British sockets

Normally you cannot insert your European charger into it, but you can disengage the plastic protection schield pressing a key tip or similar narrow hard object into the vertical slot. It doesn't damage the socket because europlug pins are thinner than the British ones, and doesn't create any safety risk, because chargers are never earthed (even the British ones, with that huge 3-pin plug)

And I really liked the Swiss 3-way socket

Komisch, warum fällt mir jetzt gerade "Are friends electric" by Tubeway Army oder so ein?
The mind boggles....

[uralicnomad]

All these plugs scare me.. also the fact there are people in this world that do not have power on/off on their sockets..

The Australian standard