Random Thoughts

[webny99]

Never, ever, ask someone in Mexico if a certain road goes to a certain place.  The answer will always be yes, even if the road doesn't go there.

To be fair, the road can almost certainly be used to get to that place, even if other roads are also used.

[thspfc]

Never, ever, ask someone in Mexico if a certain road goes to a certain place.  The answer will always be yes, even if the road doesn't go there.

To be fair, the road can almost certainly be used to get to that place, even if other roads are also used.

"Does I-90 go to Miami?"

"Yes absolutely!"


How can you come up with a charitable interpretation of that? Unless this is just a language barrier issue.

[JayhawkCO]

Never, ever, ask someone in Mexico if a certain road goes to a certain place.  The answer will always be yes, even if the road doesn't go there.

To be fair, the road can almost certainly be used to get to that place, even if other roads are also used.

"Does I-90 go to Miami?"

"Yes absolutely!"


How can you come up with a charitable interpretation of that? Unless this is just a language barrier issue.

I mean, if you're in Seattle, the quickest way to Miami is to take I-90 for 1,500 miles or so and then turn off.

[webny99]

Unless this is just a language barrier issue.

I suspect it is.

I can easily see "Does this road go to this place?" being translated as "Is this road used to go to this place?"

Or even more broadly "Should I use this road to get to this place?" - to which, from a given starting point, the answer is almost always yes.

[ZLoth]

I mean, if you're in Seattle, the quickest way to Miami is to take I-90 for 1,500 miles or so and then turn off.

Going by Google Maps, the starting portion would be on I-90, and the ending portion would be on I-95. For the recommended route, you would be on I-90 to Sioux Falls, SD for about 1,533 miles. It would be one heck of a road trip, but I wouldn't do it if the end destination would be a cruise going out of Miami.

[kphoger]

I did once pick up a hitchhiker on NB I-135 in Wichita who was flying a sign that said [SEATTLE]...

[CNGL-Leudimin]

This was wrong:

Happy Gemerton's Day everyone!

Gemerton's Day can never be before August 26 (found by adding 157 days to the earliest possible Easter date of March 22). It happened 13 days after 1 posted this, on September 4.

[hotdogPi]

This was wrong:

Happy Gemerton's Day everyone!

Gemerton's Day can never be before August 26 (found by adding 157 days to the earliest possible Easter date of March 22). It happened 13 days after 1 posted this, on September 4.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=32280.msg2906746#msg2906746

43 days after July 10 is August 22, is it not?

[CNGL-Leudimin]

It is. But then we also have this: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=32280.msg2904827#msg2904827. This is how I arrived to September 4 for 2024, and September 24 for 2025.

[kkt]

I mean, if you're in Seattle, the quickest way to Miami is to take I-90 for 1,500 miles or so and then turn off.

Going by Google Maps, the starting portion would be on I-90, and the ending portion would be on I-95. For the recommended route, you would be on I-90 to Sioux Falls, SD for about 1,533 miles. It would be one heck of a road trip, but I wouldn't do it if the end destination would be a cruise going out of Miami.

My thought would be to take I-90 to I-82 to I-84 to Salt Lake City area then I-80 east until you can pick up I-24.  Lots of heading SE instead of purely east then purely south.

[ZLoth]

My thought would be to take I-90 to I-82 to I-84 to Salt Lake City area then I-80 east until you can pick up I-24.  Lots of heading SE instead of purely east then purely south.

The most direct route, per Google Maps, have you going off I-90 near Crow Agency, then taking US-212 to pick up I-90 at Whitewood again. I cheated a little by making sure you stayed on I-90.

As you have noted, there are multiple routes between Seattle and Miami. We're talking about at least 48 hours of continuous driving not including stops for fuel, food, and other necessities. Miani and Fort Lauderdale are departure points for cruises, so I would rather fly than drive from Seattle, arrive a day early, and get home as quickly as possible. Likewise, Seattle is a departure point for Alaskan cruises (although Vancouver, BC is better due to the Jones Act), but driving there from Miami doesn't sound like fun. I am aware of some people driving to the cruise points and flying, but that is usually a day's drive, not a week.

[JayhawkCO]

I mean, if you're in Seattle, the quickest way to Miami is to take I-90 for 1,500 miles or so and then turn off.

Going by Google Maps, the starting portion would be on I-90, and the ending portion would be on I-95. For the recommended route, you would be on I-90 to Sioux Falls, SD for about 1,533 miles. It would be one heck of a road trip, but I wouldn't do it if the end destination would be a cruise going out of Miami.

My thought would be to take I-90 to I-82 to I-84 to Salt Lake City area then I-80 east until you can pick up I-24.  Lots of heading SE instead of purely east then purely south.

I-90 from Billings to Rapid City is almost "as southeast" as I-82/I-84 and then I-29 is a little bit southeasterly as well.

[kphoger]

Tips to help you pronounce Spanish words a little less wrong


Vowels are usually shorter than in English, by which I mean you spend less time pronouncing them.

a — Pronounced as in father.  Always.

e — Pronounced as in pen.  In an open syllable, elongated slightly with a slight /ey/ tinge.

i — Pronounced as in Audi.  Always.

o — Pronounced as in polo.  Always.

u — Pronounced as in Hindu.  Always.

y — Prounced just like i when used as a vowel.  Always.

The schwa (unstressed /uh/ as common in English) basically does not exist.

Example 1:  In Sonora, both instances of the letter o are prounced the same:  the first one is not a schwa.  The final a is not a schwa either.

Example 2:  In México, the é is prounced like the English expression of indifference meh, not like the name of the fifth month.

Example 3:  In José, the é is lengthened a bit and has a tinge of /ey/.  But the last syllable is still not prounced like the English word say.


Some consonants let a little more breath through than in English, especially in the middle of a word, and more especially between two vowels.

b — Lips don't always close completely.  Can sound a little like English v because of that.

d — Tongue doesn't always completely contact the roof of your mouth.  Can sound a little like th as in they because of that.

g — Tongue doesn't always completely contact the back of your throat.  Can sound almost silent because of that.

v — Pronounced exactly like b.  It's been this way for 500 years.  Don't let anyone try and tell you otherwise.

Example 1:  In Veracruz, the first letter sounds like a b but, in the middle of a phrase, the lips don't close all the way.

Example 2:  In Ensenada, the ad is pronounced almost as the ath in Father.

Example 3:  In the middle of a phrase, the first letter of Guadalajara is almost silent, so the u is basically a /w/ sound.

Example 4:  The words bello and vello are homophones.


Some consonants have the tip of your tongue farther forward than in English.

d — Even when not pronounced as English voiced th, the tip of your tongue still touches your front teeth.

l — Never swallowed as in grill, even at the end of a word.  The tip of your tongue always touches your teeth.

n — The tip of your tongue touches your front teeth, not the roof of your mouth.

t — The tip of your tongue touches your front teeth, not the roof of your mouth.


In Mexico and many other countries, z and soft c are pronounced just like s.  In Spain, they are pronounced like th as in think instead.

Example 1:  In Mexico, the final letter of Veracruz and Chiapas are pronounced the same.

Example 2:  In Spain, the ce in Aracena and the se in Sevilla are not prounced the same.

Example 3:  In Mexico, ciento and siento are homophones.  In Spain, they are not.


h — Never pronounced except as part of ch.  Otherwise, the letter h does not affect pronunciation in any way, nor has it for hundreds of years.  Don't let anyone try and convince you otherwise.  And no, it does not affect syllabification either.

Example 1:  In Chihuahua, both instances of hu are pronounced as /w/ because only the u is pronounced and ua is a diphthong.

Example 2:  If ahúmo were written as aúmo instead, then it would be pronounced exactly the same.


j — Like English h, but with phlegm.

x — Thoroughly confusing, as it depends not only the surrounding letters, but also the etymology of the word.  For example, the x in the Mexican cities of Xalapa and Tuxpan and Ixtapa are all pronounced differently, and none of them is the same as in the Spanish region of Extremadura.  Not worth worrying about unless you're really trying to learn the language.

y — When used as a consonant, it's just more forceful/fricative than in English.  No biggie.

ll — In Mexico, this is just like the letter y.  In some other places, it's more like /ly/.  In Argentina, it's famously like /zh/ or /dzh/.


The letter r is usually a single tap of the tongue, like the dd in ladder or the tt in latter or gotta.  At the beginning of a phrase especially, it might be trilled a couple of times, which some people find difficult.  When doubled, rr, it's always trilled a couple of times.

Example 1:  If you say the d in cada as you would in English, then a Spanish-speaker will hear cara instead.

Example 2:  The first four letters of Mérida are pronounced like the name Meddy, but the last two letters are more like /tha/ (with a voiced th).


If a letter has an accent mark, then that's the one your stress.  Pretty simple.

If there is no accent mark in a word, then...

(1) The general rule is to stress the final syllable.  This sounds easy to remember, except that...

(2) If the word ends with n or s or a vowel, then you stress the second-to-last syllable instead.  A whole lot of words end with n or s or a vowel.  Like, a LOT.


Obviously this was not exhaustive.  It's just the stuff I could think of off the top of my head.

[webny99]

Obviously this was not exhaustive.  It's just the stuff I could think of off the top of my head.

Wow. This should be a required signature on all super-long posts. 

[mgk920]

Lately, when someone tells me to "Have a nice day!", it almost always comes across as being snotty and condescending.

Mike

[kphoger]

I've been hearing the phrase "Have a good rest of your day (night)" and it irks me whenever I hear it.

Maybe it's the flow and the way it rolls, but it just sounds clunky versus "Enjoy the rest of your day" or even more simply "Have a good day (night)".

Lately, when someone tells me to "Have a nice day!", it almost always comes across as being snotty and condescending.

Geez, maybe we should all just stop saying things.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Geez, maybe we should all just stop saying things.

Someone on another board once complained that he didn't like customers at his job addressing him by his first name. Another poster retorted that maybe we should just address each other with profanity.

[Scott5114]

h — Never pronounced except as part of ch.  Otherwise, the letter h does not affect pronunciation in any way, nor has it for hundreds of years.  Don't let anyone try and convince you otherwise.  And no, it does not affect syllabification either.

Apparently I've been pronouncing Hacienda wrong!

[Max Rockatansky]

I bought an adjustable ladder (called a Little Giant) at Costco on Monday since it was selling for a promo price of $159.99.  Apparently, it can reach 12 feet in A-frame form and 18 feet overall in extension form.  The adjustable legs came in handy on the uneven terrain of my yard since my week project was to clear out the gutters on the house. 

[kphoger]

Tips to help you pronounce Spanish words a little less wrong

I forgot...

gue — the gu form a hard /g/ sound.
gui — the gu form a hard /g/ sound.

que — the qu form a /k/ sound.
qui — the qu form a /k/ sound.

This is why the first two letters of Guerrero and Guatemala are not pronounced the same.

In cases of /gwe/ or /gwi/ sounds, a diaeresis is used on the u.

Examples:  vergüenza, pingüino, lingüística, desagüé

[1995hoo]

My brother sent the following to me this afternoon. Then he got annoyed when I dropped a 1990s song reference to quibble with the word "attempted" (although it proved I got the joke).

[Max Rockatansky]

One of the most divisive topics of discussion I've encountered lately off forum is whether or not Jenny is the villain of Forest Gump.

[JayhawkCO]

One of the most divisive topics of discussion I've encountered lately off forum is whether or not Jenny is the villain of Forest Gump.

She's kind of a c-bag.

[Max Rockatansky]

One of the most divisive topics of discussion I've encountered lately off forum is whether or not Jenny is the villain of Forest Gump.

She's kind of a c-bag.

To which I agree.  I was surprised to find though that there is hardly a consensus opinion though. 

[SEWIGuy]

One of the most divisive topics of discussion I've encountered lately off forum is whether or not Jenny is the villain of Forest Gump.

She's kind of a c-bag.

To which I agree.  I was surprised to find though that there is hardly a consensus opinion though. 

I get it. But she clearly didn't have a great childhood, and the protaganist loved her, so I think most give her a pass. Well and because she's pretty too.

Most guys probably have a Jenny in their past as well.