Really trivial stuff that amuses you...

[Delvo]

It is "thermo"... which is a bit odd because it's imported from Greek, and Latin already had its own words for "hot". I guess they figured that, culturally, there was some difference between a Greek hot food place and a Roman one.

[Gillianren]

Mouse got out yesterday. This morning, he was standing in the front yard, whining. Even when I came outside, he didn't come to me. He just stood there whining until I came over, picked him up, and took him inside. I suspect he's not a great hunter and was hungry.

[PetersCreek]

One of the cable channels we get has a show called "Living Alaska." It's a reality show where they show people who are wanting to move to Alaska, and the various properties they look at, and then ends with them deciding which property they're going to buy. I don't see the appeal, personally, but my wife watches it sometimes.

At any rate, the amusing thing is that we caught the end of an episode where the property which the family ended up deciding to purchase was referred to as "the Peters Creek house."

I was like, "Hey, I know that guy!"

Too funny. I'm not the biggest fan of reality TV although I did watch "Alaska State Troopers" from time to time, especially the episode focused on the wildlife troopers. Never caught "Alaska Living" and never heard a peep about them filming anything out here but then, Peters Creek is divided by a highway into what we locally refer to as mountainside, and oceanside. I'm on the former, while the more expensive homes are generally on the latter.

[grant hutchison]

My Alaska road atlas shows another Peters Creek in Alaska, west of Talkeetna, and for some reason prominently marked on the overview map on the back of the atlas. I don't know what goes on there--on Google Earth it looks like just one large building and a scatter of smaller ones.

Grant Hutchison

[PetersCreek]

My Alaska road atlas shows another Peters Creek in Alaska, west of Talkeetna, and for some reason prominently marked on the overview map on the back of the atlas. I don't know what goes on there--on Google Earth it looks like just one large building and a scatter of smaller ones.

Yes and there was also a bit of confusion about it in the early days of online map sites like MapQuest, Google Maps, et al. Back then, searching for "peters creek ak" was most likely to locate that place west of Talkeetna. Turns out "Peters Creek" is/was an alternate name for Petersville, a Census Designated Place that's very small, indeed. There's also another Peters Creek that runs by/through it. They eventually got it sorted and nowadays, the same search puts a pin in my neck of the woods and only there.

Edit to add: As for what they do there: historically, it's a mining area and I think small mining interests and individual claimholders still work the area. I also believe that both places/creeks were named for one Henry Peters, an early prospector, among other things...I think.

[PetersCreek]

It also amuses me to note that Bird Creek connects to Peters Creek...and there's another Bird Creek southeast of Anchorage that empties into Turnagain Arm. Evidently, early explorers and settlers ran out of names for all there is up here and had to recycle some.

[Noclevername]

It is "thermo"... which is a bit odd because it's imported from Greek, and Latin already had its own words for "hot". I guess they figured that, culturally, there was some difference between a Greek hot food place and a Roman one.

We have Chinese and Mexican and Italian restaurants in the US, so why not a Greek restaurant in a Roman town?

[grant hutchison]

We have Chinese and Mexican and Italian restaurants in the US, so why not a Greek restaurant in a Roman town?

I think there's a pretty close analogy with the word café in English--it's a place you can buy hot drinks and snacks, and we've adopted the name used by the French, because at some point we wanted to affect a bit of French style (even though coffee-house culture actually got to England before it started in France).
The Romans borrowed a lot of words from the Greeks, for whom they had a bit of cultural envy, but because of the way Latin works they had to tweak the endings so that they would fit into a standard Latin declension. So Greek thermopolion became Latin second-declension neuter thermopolium.

Grant Hutchison

[Jens]

Ours seems to favor responding to male voices over female. Not shocking for a Silicon Valley tech-bro product.

This is total speculation on my part, but lower tones, having a longer wavelength, tend to travel further than higher sounds. But I think you are usually fairly close to it, so that's probably not the right explanation.

[Jens]

I see what you did there.

I had missed that, but hey, it brings back memories.

[Jens]

Maybe the horse means they have a drive-thru service.

Trot-through service?

[Jens]

I think there's a pretty close analogy with the word café in English--it's a place you can buy hot drinks and snacks, and we've adopted the name used by the French, because at some point we wanted to affect a bit of French style (even though coffee-house culture actually got to England before it started in France).

And we have other restaurant types as well where we use a borrowed term: trattoria, bistro, brasserie.

Though of course, come to think of it, the term restaurant itself is a borrowed term...

[Selenite]

Trot-through service?

A concept that survives in the former Roman province of Dacia (Romania) to this day.

[grant hutchison]

But it doesn't work in Suffolk, apparently.

Grant Hutchison

[Selenite]

But it doesn't work in Suffolk, apparently.

That figures. I hear the Boudicea-burger didn't sit too well with Iceni tribe either.

[ozduck]

This discovery at Pompeii is fascinating, despite it leading to some very bad jokes on here When we were there in the 1970's I was surprised about how much of the city was yet to be uncovered - it is a huge site. There is still lots to be excavated. We can just hope for more, and possibly even more interesting, finds in the future.

[Selenite]

I remember when I was there with a Trafalgar tour group in 2002, they showed us a stone counter where the guide said the Roman equivalent of fast food was sold. However, it didn't have the lovely preserved paintings on the sides. At least not as far as I can recall. What I do recall was that there were some discarded plastic bottles and trash in those openings which I thought was rather sad.



Sorry for the poor quality of the picture, I didn't have a digital camera yet.

[The Backroad Astronomer]

Yes and there was also a bit of confusion about it in the early days of online map sites like MapQuest, Google Maps, et al. Back then, searching for "peters creek ak" was most likely to locate that place west of Talkeetna. Turns out "Peters Creek" is/was an alternate name for Petersville, a Census Designated Place that's very small, indeed. There's also another Peters Creek that runs by/through it. They eventually got it sorted and nowadays, the same search puts a pin in my neck of the woods and only there.

Edit to add: As for what they do there: historically, it's a mining area and I think small mining interests and individual claimholders still work the area. I also believe that both places/creeks were named for one Henry Peters, an early prospector, among other things...I think.

The community I live i called Mayfield, and like the Peter Creek in Alaska there is another Mayfield in NB. One year while doing the phonebook I had to get a package sent to the office so they bosses could check up on my work and to do this they had to send a courier to pick up the package, the first day the went to the other one which is an hour and half away. By the time they figured things out it was almost quitting time. The next pick up day was two days away.

[profloater]

It is "thermo"... which is a bit odd because it's imported from Greek, and Latin already had its own words for "hot". I guess they figured that, culturally, there was some difference between a Greek hot food place and a Roman one.

Perhaps T’ermopolium?

[Trebuchet]

Also, "caldarium" was already taken as a place for a hot bath!

[Noclevername]

"Hot-a-torium"

[grant hutchison]

Greek thermopolion comes from thermos, "hot", and poleo, "to sell". It's not a hot place, but a place where hot stuff is sold. For the Romans, thermopolium would have been an obvious foreign import.

Grant Hutchison

[Solfe]

This is carry over from the OTB COVID-19 Thread. I said:

My wife got the vaccine the other day. No point in asking about it. She had the first dose then worked a full day today (edit - I lost track of time, this would have been shot on Monday, work on Tuesday). As near as I can tell, work has the same side effects after the vaccine as before: tired, cranky, just wants dinner and a pony.

Separately! SEPARATELY!

No, no, no, no. Before this mess, we were planning a vacation to a Louisianan farm that offered picnic horseback riding. She wants them together, she wants to horse to join us for dinner.

When Kitty moved out of her parents house, she found a horseshoe. She told me all about her horse. During a particularly touching story about her horse Abby, her mom chimed in and said, "You know, that wasn't your horse. We just leased it for a few years." My wife cried for days. Kitty has never recovered. It's her game plan to get a farm and a stable and live in the stable with her horse.

[Noclevername]

No, no, no, no. Before this mess, we were planning a vacation to a Louisianan farm that offered picnic horseback riding. She wants them together, she wants to horse to join us for dinner.

But just to be clear, not... in the Dracula sense of "join you for dinner".

[eburacum45]

We have Chinese and Mexican and Italian restaurants in the US, so why not a Greek restaurant in a Roman town?

Pompeii was very heavily influenced by the Greeks. It was, after all, part of Magna Graecia until the Romans took over.

[Gillianren]

Last night, Irene brought her tablet to me to be charged, and I discovered that the glass had been shattered some time in the preceding 24 hours. Fortunately, it's got a two-year no-questions-asked warranty (sold as a children's item), so I just messaged Amazon to get it replaced. This in and of itself obviously does not amuse me. What does is that the adjective being used by the customer service person who handled it to describe her old tablet is "defeated."

[Noclevername]

Last night, Irene brought her tablet to me to be charged, and I discovered that the glass had been shattered some time in the preceding 24 hours. Fortunately, it's got a two-year no-questions-asked warranty (sold as a children's item), so I just messaged Amazon to get it replaced. This in and of itself obviously does not amuse me. What does is that the adjective being used by the customer service person who handled it to describe her old tablet is "defeated."

Sounds about right. Child vs device, device usually loses.

[ozduck]

This is something that could have gone into the "bugs you" thread but it amuses me how much it really bugs my wife. The day after Christmas - called Boxing Day here - fresh Hot Cross Buns and Easter Eggs appeared on Supermarket shelves. I bought some marked-down buns today partly to eat but also to tease my wife. She ate one but did indulge in some mutterings about 'out of season' foods.

[Trebuchet]

This is something that could have gone into the "bugs you" thread but it amuses me how much it really bugs my wife. The day after Christmas - called Boxing Day here - fresh Hot Cross Buns and Easter Eggs appeared on Supermarket shelves. I bought some marked-down buns today partly to eat but also to tease my wife. She ate one but did indulge in some mutterings about 'out of season' foods.

In the USA we have to get through Valentine's Day first. The big candy display appeared on Dec 26. Which is not called Boxing Day here.

We're going to leave our Christmas tree up and redecorate it for Valentine's Day, I think. The lights make me happy.

[Solfe]

But just to be clear, not... in the Dracula sense of "join you for dinner".

Ah...no. But, if I went lame and a horse went lame, one of us would be put down and it wouldn't be the horse.