Am I fluent yet?

On my old server, there was a character named ßillyßadass.

This never failed to make me laugh, because that letter is not pronounced like B. It is a sharp S. 

Д as an aesthetic A? Дon’t be a дumbass.

И as an aesthetic N? don’t be sillи.

П as another aesthetic N? stoп it.

У as an aesthetic Y? ty bad.

Ш or Щ as an aesthetic W? nope. it’s “sh” and “shch”!

Я as an aesthetic R? surprise! it’s “ya”.

Her, reading the opening sequence in a voice that implies she’s tickled pink by the cuteness of the title: Bop!! :-D :-D :-D :-D

Me: It’s actually pronounced “Vore.”

Her: …………

me: hi! so where are you guys from :D

normal people: I am from Russia/Brazil/Italy/Australia/etc :)

european: where are you from

american: i’m italian

european: omg same! da dove vieni?

american: wait what lol i don’t speak mexican i only speak english

and

european: where are you from?

“But Texas is so different from Oregon! People need to know which state I’m from because they’re all so different!” We don’t care. We are going to see you as an American, not as a Texan or a Californian or whatever, just like you’re going to see someone from Bavaria as a German, someone from Normandy as a Frenchman or someone from Piedmont as an Italian, not as a Bavarian, a Norman and a Piedmontese. European countries have regional differences too, even more than US states yet we don’t feel the need to specify that to foreigners when they ask us where we’re from unless they ask us to elaborate.

“But the US is so big! Some of our states are even bigger than your countries!”

Russia is the largest country in the world and undoubtedly more diverse than the US. If you were to ask a Russian where they’re from they would say that they’re from Russia, not Komi or Tuva unless they’re speaking to another Russian or someone they know to be familiar with Russian geography.

1.09.18 // studygram: alimastudies

the first brother and a friend paddled over the Elbe on inflatable mattresses in the middle of the night to escape the east. they got picked up by a Wessi police officer, who said something like “bit cold for swimming, ey boys?” and the brother says “not when you’re trying to leave the East.” because all East Germans were automatically citizens of the West too, they were taken into town and established themselves there. 

the second brother scoped out a particularly dark stretch of the wall. He escaped over it to the west by getting into a high building and shooting an arrow with a steel cable attached over to another building in the west. He then ziplined over. In response to his escape, the Stasi and the Wall designers built another guard tower in the middle of the stretch so no one else could pull the same stunt. 

the two brothers met up and heard that their who was still in East Germany also wanted out. So, they learnt to fly planes and disguised them as soviet planes. This was so, if the border guards saw them, they wouldn’t fire on them - they’d have to ring up the Kremlin and ascertain whether they were actual soviet planes on an organised fly-by. they flew into East Germany at dawn (recording it all on camera because you’ve got to do it for the vine even before vine exists), landed in a park where their brother was hiding in the bushes, loaded him onto one of the planes and flew out of East Germany, laughing all the way.

other great moments include - the guy who broke out of the GDR by driving a very low-slung sportscar under a barrier, the family who built two hot air balloons with their bare hands, the guy who managed to windsurf out of East Germany, the man who stole a tank (my hero), the people who removed the petrol tanks from cars so people could squeeze into the gap where the tank should have been, and of course, one of the most famous photos of the 20th century, with Eastern border guard, conrad schumann noping the fuck out of there when he was meant to be on duty guarding the wall when it was under construction in 1961

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…That the French word for ‘fox’ (renard) comes from the name of Reynard the Fox, the protagonist of a literary cycle of the same name (fr. Roman de Renart), that used to be very popular in Medieval Europe.

The fables tell the story of Reynard’s adventures, mocking West European aristocracy and clergy of the epoch (presented by other animals). Reynard, a peasant-hero and a smart trickster, fools them for his own advantage and almost always manages to avoid possible consequences of his risky actions.

The stories were written by different authors (Pierre de St. Cloud is known to have opened the cycle), and the characters appeared in many literary works of different kinds created later.

ok, so i absolutely adore all these cute words the swedes use to express… well, literally anything. just look at these. if they aren’t the coolest thing i’ve seen then i don’t know what is.

aj - ouch

aja - phew

blä - bleh

fan - dammit

fy - yuck; ew

hördu - hey you

ih - eehh

jaha - well; uh-huh

jaså - oh; really; is that so?; indeed

javisst - of course!; sure!; you bet!

jo - no (when answering a negative question)

naja - well

nja - well; uhh

njae - nooo

nä - naaah

oj - hey; aww; sorry; oops; ah; wow (literally put it anywhere and it will work)

ojdå - oops

ptro - a sound you make to stop a horse

puh - phew; ack

tja - hey; weeell (indicating doubt)

tjoho - yay; yippiee

usch - ew; yuck; ugh

va - what?; huh?

äh - huh

äsch - ack; ugh

åh - oh