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5:01 PM

As someone who is trying to learn Dutch you will have to insist everybody speak Dutch with you, specially if you sound like English is your native language. But once people switch to Dutch with you, most do not switch back.

I have seen that in many friends who learned Dutch as adults here.

hippietrail

yes i never took it on fully but i sometimes play with it by dutchizing german as best i can

Willeke

I now see it with several coworkers who have Spanish and Portugese as native languages and even together mostly stick to Dutch.

hippietrail

though sometimes i accidentally put in a scandinavian word by mistake

Fiksdal

@hippietrail Well, Bokmål isn't really a spoken language, it's a purely a written one, but you could say it's my native one because it's the one I was taught to read and write in school. But they also made an attempt to teach me Nynorsk. Where are you from?

hippietrail

i like the sound of dutch and the sense of humour

Willeke

5:02 PM

Not a problem, often a Scandinavian word is the same as the Dutch while the German is not.

hippietrail

i get all the words for "to speak" mixed up sometimes though the wrong one is usually understood i'm told it sometimes sounds funny

praten taler snakker and another one i think. can't remember.

@Fiksdal: i'm 5th or 6th generation australian with utterly unknown scottish ancestors. i might go reclaim the family castle later on this trip

i'll have to pick up some icelandic some day and then i'll just derive all the other germanic languages from that

Willeke

I was on Iceland last year before last and found the sound of people talking together (or on the radio) very familiar, even though I could only understand the odd word.

Written it was easier, for me at least.

And what I noticed was that the people spoke more languages on average than the Dutch and that takes some doing.

I met a few people who spoke 7 languages, natives of Iceland, so all others learned.

The one that spoke Dutch with me I had a hard time to hear Dutch was learned as an adult and not formally taught either.

Fiksdal

5:20 PM

@hippietrail That sounds good, I'll come chill with you in the castle when you have reclaimed it.

hippietrail

could be tricky as it has no floor and is built over the sea

Willeke

If you are a McLeod you will find a sign next to the door that family members are not allowed in fir free anymore.

hippietrail

fits my description better

but yeah anyway bring some beers. we'll work something out.

i might try to claim some of my castles in china on route to scotland too

Willeke

Most of the ancestral castles in Scotland look like that or will look like that in a few years, unless handed over to a national institution, (Scotish heritage or so)

hippietrail

i believe mine was destroyed in vengeance before being finished off by the elements

ooh here's a nice one in china i didn't know was mine

Fiksdal

5:31 PM

Whose vengeance?

hippietrail

Willeke

It looked like a well ruined ruin, so yes, vengance looks likely.

Fiksdal

What are these castles?

hippietrail

the Earl of Shrewsbury

the scottish ones are in Dunbar, East Lothian. the tibetan ones are in 丹巴, Sichuan

Willeke

Does/did that same earl own the Chinese ones?

Sorry Tibetan ones?

hippietrail

5:35 PM

not so far as i know but a couple of years ago in china when i told somebody my name was Dunbar he said oh there's a town in china called Danba, which sounds the same to Chinese ears, which is find because it's adapted from a strange language related to Tibetan and not really chinese

རོང་བྲག in standard tibetan

Fiksdal

Whoa, why didn't Chrome for Android render that Tibetan unicode?

hippietrail

i'm told they're called diaolou in chinese, but when you read the wikipedia article on diaolou it describes 20th century reinforced concrete structures designed to look a bit traditional whereas the ones in Danba are medieval

Fiksdal

Obv Chinese conspiracy....

hippietrail

no tibetan fonts installed is my guess

Fiksdal

guess so. Does render on desktop though

hippietrail

5:39 PM

yeah too tiny to see but identifiable just i suppose... for me

the one in scotland died several deaths

Fiksdal

How? Wars?

hippietrail

the wikipedia article is much improved since i last read it. there are even evil norsemen!

Dunbar Castle

Dunbar Castle is the remnants of one of the strongest fortresses in Scotland, situated in a prominent position overlooking the harbour of the town of Dunbar, in East Lothian. == Early history == The Votadini or Gododdin, are thought to have been the first to defend this site, the Brythonic name Dyn Barr, (the fort of the point) is still in use. By the 7th century, Dunbar Castle was a central defensive position of the Kings of Bernicia, an Anglian kingdom that took over from the British Kingdom of Bryneich. === Northumbria === During the Early Middle Ages, Dunbar Castle was held by an Ea...

Fiksdal

Oh, so basically my ancestors came and messed the place up?

hippietrail

no your ancestors came and messed stuff up before the castle was built i think

Fiksdal

ok

hippietrail

5:50 PM

but whichever way it went down the only thing that can be certain is that when next we meet a duel is in order

Fiksdal

Yeah

hippietrail

> In the 10th and early 11th century, the Norsemen made increasing inroads in Scotland and in 1005 a record exists of a Patrick de Dunbar, under Malcolm II, engaged against the Norse invaders in the north at Murthlake a town of Marr where alongside Kenneth, Thane of the Isles, and Grim, Thane of Strathearn, he was slain.

Fiksdal

What weapons should be used for the duel?

hippietrail

> first stone castle c.1070

Fiksdal

Who is this Dunbar guy?

Or "was", perhaps I should say.

hippietrail

5:52 PM

a whole series of guys going back to Gospatric

Earl of Dunbar

The title Earl of Dunbar, also called Earl of Lothian or Earl of March, was the head of a comital lordship in south-eastern Scotland between the early 12th century and the early 15th century. The first man to use the title of Earl in this earldom was Gospatric II, Earl of Lothian, son of Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria. It descended to George de Dunbar, 11th Earl of March, who was forfeited by parliament of his titles & estates in 1435, and retired into obscurity in England. His son Patrick retained a barony at Kilconquhar in Fife. The title of Earl of Dunbar was resurrected in 1605 was for George...

Fiksdal

Are you actually related to them?

hippietrail

we don't know. surnames are such a recent invention and there's some smoke and mirrors around the arrival of my ancestors into australia

Willeke

I have always learned that the title of Earl came from Jarl, which came with the Norsemen, (so the Vikings.)

hippietrail

apparently there was also a Lord or Dunbar and a Viscount of Dunbar. don't remember coming across those before

Willeke

After weeks of getting 10 to 30 points per day I now reached the cap and got more votes on that A.

Fiksdal

6:01 PM

@Willeke Haha :) Which A?

Willeke

The letters on the Czech church walls.

Fiksdal

Oh ok

You should change your username to "I'VE HIT THE CAP TODAY, PLZ BOOKMARK AND VOTE TOMORROW"

Willeke

I can only hope that people will keep voting on it tomorrow.

Fiksdal

This will probably stay in HNQ for a few days

Because the views and votes feed the HNQ algorithm and keep it there.

Willeke

But I have noticed a mistake in an other answer, I will not work on that today.

Fiksdal

6:05 PM

You'll get at least one, because I haven't voted yet

Willeke

HNQ?

Fiksdal

Hot Network Questions

It's very high on the list, that's why it's getting so many views

Willeke

Ah, I had not noticed it getting on there. Thanks

Fiksdal

From Stackoverflow and all the other sites

Willeke

I already have a silver badge for it, (as well as a bronze)

Fiksdal

6:06 PM

My second most upvoted answer is a very short, lazy answer that got upvoted because of the HNQ

Willeke

This makes me more glad of encouraging Lorenzo of promoting a comment into an answer.

Fiksdal

More will be coming.

Willeke

He gets points for that as well.

Fiksdal

If I got 45 upvotes for that stupid Virgin Trains answer (ONLY because of HNQ) then you will certainly get more for this, which features research, etc.

Willeke

Both other answers are new guys (or girls of course) and both are on 5 votes by now.

All of one line into google and reading two pages which were top results.

I had considered close voting for lack of research.

Fiksdal

6:11 PM

@Willeke Is lack of research a close reason here?

I know it's a good reason to downvote.. But close?

Willeke

It can be a close reason, but I would not close vote for something that is not well known.

Fiksdal

LOL, the effort you made is certainly more than the silly virgin train one, and that's like one of my top answers travel.stackexchange.com/a/77314/41775

Willeke

I do write nasty comments and leave it to others to close vote.

Fiksdal

If voting to close for lack of research, which option does one select from the list?

Willeke

Oh, that one, I did add into the comments, that just country code letter and post code is enough to get letters delivered.

Oh, add house number or name for some codes, street name as well for those that are city big.

I would not close vote for just 'no research done' but for one combined with 'too broad' or 'primarily opinion based' which mostly fit those questions.

Fiksdal

6:21 PM

Right

So if someone posted "I want to travel to the capital of Spain, what is the capital?"

It's not broad, and it's not opinion based. But it lacks research.

You can clearly downvote, but what would be the close reason?

Willeke

I would likely ignore that one, but as far as I understand it can be a close reason.

It will likely get an answer soon though.

Fiksdal

Right, I'm just curious what close reason we would select for questions that blatantly lack research.

Willeke

I would comment with 'you have clearly done no research' and leave it to others to start the close voting.

hippietrail

apparently "off topic" covers everything and is not just about the topic of the question or the topic of travel.SE

Fiksdal

@hippietrail OK, so blatant lack of research can in fact make something off topic?

Haha.

@hippietrail OK, so blatant lack of research can in fact make something off topic?

Haha.

4

A: Prevent questions on Hot List from being upvoted by casual visitors (only rep is from association bonus)

I pretty much agree. The way it currently works, HNQ undermines the whole way the reputation and badge system works. As a recent example, on the site at which I'm the most active, my second most upvoted answer ever is an extremely trivial, short, basic answer that I put nearly no effort into....

Gayot Fow

7:40 PM

Head Hammocks are not available in the UK. Sadness descends :(

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