Zompist Bboard Again

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Thu Nov 13, 2025 12:50 am I finally got to see an aurora in my lifetime.

That's amazing!

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Thu Nov 13, 2025 12:50 am I finally got to see an aurora in my lifetime. They're a lot more visible in camera, sadly.
But I could still faintly see them with the naked eye, enough to know that they're there.

Congrats!

I myself have never gotten to see an aurora either, unfortunately.

Ahzoh wrote: ↑Thu Nov 13, 2025 12:50 am I finally got to see an aurora in my lifetime. They're a lot more visible in camera, sadly.
But I could still faintly see them with the naked eye, enough to know that they're there.

Congratulations!

I believe I may have seen the same one! here from Wyoming it was much less visible and more of a green glow, but it was still quite amazing.

I am pretty happy with how the photos turned out.

I've just discovered that cats can help with weeding the lawn! Our cat's been nibbling away at the couch grass. While it's good for their digestion (some other types get vomited, and I'd heard of them being used as an emetic), it's a bad grass to have in the lawn.

It seems that this year is particularly intense for the Northern Lights;
my daughter saw them in Norway near the pole in green and pink,
and even here, near the Mediterranean, they have been spotted...
but not by me...

xxx wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 2:52 am It seems that this year is particularly intense for the Northern Lights;
my daughter saw them in Norway near the pole in green and pink,
and even here, near the Mediterranean, they have been spotted...
but not by me...

Correct: there’s been a geomagnetic storm over the past few days.

Richard W wrote: ↑Thu Nov 13, 2025 11:07 pm I've just discovered that cats can help with weeding the lawn! Our cat's been nibbling away at the couch grass. While it's good for their digestion (some other types get vomited, and I'd heard of them being used as an emetic), it's a bad grass to have in the lawn.

Glad to hear things are working out well that way.

Richard W wrote: ↑Thu Nov 13, 2025 11:07 pm I've just discovered that cats can help with weeding the lawn! Our cat's been nibbling away at the couch grass. While it's good for their digestion (some other types get vomited, and I'd heard of them being used as an emetic), it's a bad grass to have in the lawn.

Glad to hear of a cat making herself(*) useful for once!


(*)Oh, say, as a kid, I learned a cat is a 'she' by default in English. Is that true, or dated, or just plain wrong?

Ares Land wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 7:54 am(*)Oh, say, as a kid, I learned a cat is a 'she' by default in English. Is that true, or dated, or just plain wrong?

Not really sure to be honest. Many people use "it" for animals unless they know for sure. That said, it seems like cats are stereotypically feminine while dogs are stereotypically masculine.

Well, in German, "die Katze" means both a cat in general, and specifically a female cat, while a male cat is "der Kater".

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:20 am Well, in German, "die Katze" means both a cat in general, and specifically a female cat, while a male cat is "der Kater".

In English a sexually-mature male cat can be referred to as a tomcat or simply a tom, the default is to refer to all cats as simply cats (unless they are juvenile, where then they are kittens).

BTW, is Kater under either Low German or Latinate influence, as I see it hasn't undergone the High German consonant shift unlike Katze?

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:20 amWell, in German, "die Katze" means both a cat in general, and specifically a female cat, while a male cat is "der Kater".

Interesting, so rather the opposite of how nouns are often masculine by default and take explicit feminine suffixes (god -> goddess and so forth).

malloc wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:26 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:20 amWell, in German, "die Katze" means both a cat in general, and specifically a female cat, while a male cat is "der Kater".

Interesting, so rather the opposite of how nouns are often masculine by default and take explicit feminine suffixes (god -> goddess and so forth).

I haven't heard of StG -in being used with non-human nouns myself...

Travis B. wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:24 am
BTW, is Kater under either Low German or Latinate influence, as I see it hasn't undergone the High German consonant shift unlike Katze?

No idea.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:27 am

malloc wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:26 am

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:20 amWell, in German, "die Katze" means both a cat in general, and specifically a female cat, while a male cat is "der Kater".

Interesting, so rather the opposite of how nouns are often masculine by default and take explicit feminine suffixes (god -> goddess and so forth).

I haven't heard of StG -in being used with non-human nouns myself...

Well, sometimes people might use "Hündin" for a female dog, I think.

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:33 am

Travis B. wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:27 am

malloc wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:26 am Interesting, so rather the opposite of how nouns are often masculine by default and take explicit feminine suffixes (god -> goddess and so forth).

I haven't heard of StG -in being used with non-human nouns myself...

Well, sometimes people might use "Hündin" for a female dog, I think.

Of course dogs are an archetypical example of 'higher animals', so that is not entirely surprising.

Not sure if it counts, but there's also "Bienenkönigin" "queen bee" and the counterparts for other types of eusocial insects.

A cat is un chat, masculine, in French. A female cat is of course une chatte, except that also means 'pussy', so well, it's usually best to avoid that. I think English has the same problem with female dogs. (Incidentally, chienne means 'bitch' in that sense too, though it's much less common as an insult in French and the 'female dog' meaning is still the most common one I think).

In a neat case of language accidentally matching biology, names of social hymenoptera are all feminine, except for bumblebees (un bourdon) . Termite is masculine, though at least in my case it's one of those words where you're not quite sure of gender.

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:51 am Not sure if it counts, but there's also "Bienenkönigin" "queen bee" and the counterparts for other types of eusocial insects.

Of course, though, that word is derived from Königin, so it makes sense it would have -in.

Raphael wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:33 am

Travis B. wrote: ↑Fri Nov 14, 2025 8:24 am
BTW, is Kater under either Low German or Latinate influence, as I see it hasn't undergone the High German consonant shift unlike Katze?

No idea.

Wiktionary says it goes back to PWGmc *kataʀō via MHG katere and OHG kataro, which makes this a strange example of a non-LG Germanic word that resisted the High German consonant shift in StG.