NonWonderDog [he/him]

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Joined 4 years ago
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Cake day: July 26th, 2020

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  • spoiler / Japanese lesson

    It’s the Q thing, but it’s pointedly not qqq.

    Numbers in Japanese are weird, and have multiple readings. There’s a native Japanese system (“koko” for 9) and a more common Chinese-derived system (“kyuu” for 9), but the number 9 actually has two Chinese-derived readings (the second one being “ku”).

    Different readings are used in different contexts. “kyuu no [thing]” is always a valid way to say 9 of something, but “ku” is used with some counting words and there are plenty of old-fashioned words and phrases using the native reading (“koko-no-tsu” is a very common way to say “9 [things]” or “9 [years old]”).

    The Japanese title is 極限脱出 9時間9人9の扉, with the subtitle pronounced “kujikan kunin kyuu no tobira”. That’s really the only natural way to write it, so you don’t notice anything weird, but it’s definitely a choice.

    The 「の」 particle basically turns the preceeding noun into an adjective, and nouns can be either plural or singular based on context. Taking those together 「9の扉」(kyuu no tobira) means “9 doors”, but it can also mean “the 9 door”. “The kyuu door.”

    In contrast, 9時間 (kujikan) and 9人 (kunin) are compound words that unambiguously mean “9 hours” and “9 people”.






  • There’s an incredibly stupid Iowa state law saying their caucus has to be at least 8 days before any primary.

    There’s a similarly stupid New Hampshire state law saying their primary has to be at least 7 days before any other primary.

    Those laws don’t actually mean anything, and doubly so because there’s actually no law saying primaries have to take place at all.

    The Democratic and Republican parties put out their own schedules of what states get to go first, and if any state breaks the rules the results don’t count.

    This year the Democratic party said South Carolina is supposed to be the first primary, but New Hampshire set theirs first anyway, and so Biden wasn’t on the ballot and the New Hampshire results don’t count.