Author: opoudjis

Did Henry Kissinger ever usurp the function of Richard Nixon, taking executive decision without assent?

By: | Post date: July 25, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Countries

I can’t recall an instance where Kissinger did, though there were plenty of instances where he undermined Nixon or disobeyed instructions. I am reading Dallek’s Nixon and Kissinger right now though, and will update if I find an instance. Haldeman came closer by routinely failing to pass on Nixon’s enraged instructions to fire everybody. In […]

How come there is only one written musical language for western music, when there are so many different spoken languages?

By: | Post date: July 22, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Music

OP, your question appears to be about musical notation (written language), not about the language of music per se. Western musical notation developed out of Mensural notation , which in turn developed out of Neumatic notation. The Byzantine Notation system is an independent development of neumatic notation, used in the Greek church, which looks nothing […]

I want to start a polyamorous/polygamous lifestyle. What are the most important things I need to know/be warned about?

By: | Post date: July 21, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture

As a monogamous individual (hello, wife!) I’m not well placed to answer; but I’ll add a tidbit of my own limited experience, to corroborate what Claire J. Vannette said at the end of her answer. In my early twenties, I hanged out with a group of poly folk. I was in a brief relationship with […]

How would you describe the dialect and accent of the languages which you can speak?

By: | Post date: July 21, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Language, Personal

Ooh! Ooh! All the good people are here! (And if not, they will be, dammit.) The languages I speak or have spoken with some degree of spontaneity: English, Greek, French, German, Italian, Latin, Esperanto, Lojban, Klingon *deep breath* English Australian English, probably General vanilla. Nothing particularly “ethnic” about my accent (the “woggy” accent of my […]

Why do we call 5th century BC Greek the Classical period?

By: | Post date: July 19, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Greece

Classics The word Classics is derived from the Latin adjective classicus, meaning “belonging to the highest class of citizens”. The word was originally used to describe the members of the highest class in ancient Rome. By the 2nd century AD the word was used in literary criticism to describe writers of the highest quality. For […]

After marriage, why do women have to change their surname?

By: | Post date: July 19, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture

Hm. Surprised at the low level of anthropology here. Lots of value judgements on both sides, but not a whole lot of history. OK. The answer is tied up with patrilocality. See for example Why did society shift to patrilocality after the Neolithic agricultural revolution? And Patrilocal residence on Wikipedia. Patrilocality is the arrangement where, […]

Zeibura undertakes some archaeology

By: | Post date: July 16, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Quora

This is not a drawing I drew. This is a drawing the most excellent Zeibura S. Kathau drew, demonstrating that just as he is no amateur linguist, he is also no amateur surrealist. As often happens with these cartoons, the artist gatecrashed banter between Quorans. The banter started here: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-Lat… Robert Todd: Jeebus. Remind me […]

What are some good memes about the coup attempt in Turkey, July 2016?

By: | Post date: July 16, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Countries

OP, asked because I saw these in my Facebook feed: Before: Under PASOK. After: Under SYRIZA. Come back! Or at least give me a call! Add me! I’ve been blocked! [Erdoğan citing a Greek pop song about Lara Novakov’s favourite holiday destination] I’m seeking asylum in Chalkidiki.Because “there’s no place like Chalkidiki.” Answered 2016-07-16 [Originally […]

Is the Holy Spirit (ruach hakodesh) the wife of God, and is the Holy Spirit the only feminine being in Heaven?

By: | Post date: July 14, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture

Depends on your theology, but mostly, no. The female personification of Wisdom in the Sapiential Books in and out of the Hebrew Scriptural canon (including Proverbs) is as close as Judaism got to a female aspect of divinity. It’s not very close. Spirit in Hebrew is the feminine noun ruach, and if Hebrew had any […]

How do Australians feel when they are mistaken for being English?

By: | Post date: July 14, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Australia

Quite a variety of answers here. I’ve gotten that from Americans, usually followed by some bizarre mélange of Bostonian English and Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins as they tried to impersonate me. As we say here: “Yeah… no.” Slightly miffed, but more at the other’s unfamiliarity with Australians than at the comparison. Normally. In […]

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