• d00ery@lemmy.worldEnglish
    64·
    2 months ago

    As a fan of both authors I’d just like to point out the quote is from Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

    I’ve never really thought about it and I don’t have the vocabulary to describe it, but they have similar humour in the way they look at humans and social interaction.

        • nyctre@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          There’s usually a long explanation for these types of things which most of the time boils down to “because that’s how people have been saying it and it’s become the norm.”

          Many linguistical mistakes have been overused to the point of them changing their meaning. Take “decimation”. It used to mean to kill 1 in every 10. Because it sounds cool and has been used in a lot of media, it now mainly means to kill or destroy a large part of something.

          • NigelFrobisher@aussie.zoneEnglish
            2·
            2 months ago

            The meaning of “siege” has gone from sitting outside a castle or town until everyone starves to just about any kind of military action involving a building. Probably partly because the Iran embassy Siege off the 80s was endlessly represented on TV by footage of the SAS breaking the siege by abseiling through the windows.

      • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        Do you guys also say Geographies? Or Histories? Do you take Arts classes? You take Physics, do you also have Chemistries and Biologies?

      • JackFrostNCola@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 months ago

        Lego is the only correct version though, it is defined by the company that created it so its not ‘open to interpretation’ imo.

  • Etterra@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    2 months ago

    We can blame beer.

    Growing beer demand using wild grain bread for the yeast source ⟩ settling permanently allowed increased agriculture ⟩ agriculture necessitated protection from thieves and raids ⟩ establishment of nobility (military) and temples (religion, math, and literacy ⟩ money is invented to facilitate the collection of taxes for protection and public works (yes, government and organized religion started as a parasitic voluntary protection racket) ⟩ life got harder, nourishment got worse, but hey, at least they had beer.