Happy Winter Solstice Day!

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message
...
"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
Winter solstice (Dec 21 or 22) is the shortest day of the year. At
least
it is in English, German, and Russian.

In French, Spanish, and Italian it is the longest night of the year.

What does that mean? "in English, German, and Russian". In what
English-language-specific way is the Winter solstice the shortest day
of
the
year and at the same time *not* also the longest night of the year?

Glass half-full, glass half-empty?

At least that's how I looked at it.

That's not the question I'm asking. I understand the difference between
looking at the solstice as the longest day or night versus the shortest
night or day, respectively.

The question is, what is it that Jim claims causes the Winter solstice to
be
"the shortest day of the year" in English? It's just as much the longest
night of the year in English as it is the shortest day.

His post implies there's some optimism in English, German, and Russian and
some pessimism in French, Spanish, and Italian, but completely fails to
explain where or how this optimism or pessimism is represented.
Personally,
I doubt there's any basis to his claim at all, but since his post isn't
even
clear about what his claim is it's kind of hard to say.

Pete


For many of us, it's interesting trivia; while for others, just trivia.
For a very few, it could be very usefull; or not.
YMMV

Peter

so what? it's redundant to say it's the longest night after saying it's the
shortest day.
Is the longest night =before= or =after= the shortest day?

Jose
--
"There are 3 secrets to the perfect landing. Unfortunately, nobody knows
what they are." - (mike).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
The question is, what is it that Jim claims causes the Winter solstice to
be
"the shortest day of the year" in English? It's just as much the longest
night of the year in English as it is the shortest day.

so what? it's redundant to say it's the longest night after saying it's
the
shortest day.

Who says I've done so AFTER saying it's the shortest day? What if I say
it's the longest night first?

Okay, you are clearly just not understanding any of this thread. Let me try
a different approach:

I claim that in English, the Winter solstice is the longest night of the
year.

Can you refute that claim?

"Peter Dohm" wrote in message
...
For many of us, it's interesting trivia; while for others, just trivia.
For a very few, it could be very usefull; or not.
YMMV

WHAT TRIVIA?

The statement Jim made is meaningless. It's not trivia at all. It's
semantically empty words.

It means NOTHING to say that "in English, the Winter solstice is the
shortest day of the year but in some other language the Winter solstice is
the longest night of the year". In English it is both, and in any other
language it is also both.

There is nothing about the English language that forces one to consider the
Winter solstice as the shortest day of the year rather than the longest
night.

If you think it's trivia, useful or not, then how about explaining WHAT THE
FRIGGIN' STATEMENT MEANS.

Thank you.

You must be the stupidest asshole on the face of the earth. Or perhaps
asexual.

In the first place, I stated that it was my college German professor's
assertion, not mine, but that I found it interesting.

In the second place, you will note that the three languages mentioned
(English, German, and Russian) are somewhat north and would be most
interested in how much daylight was available during winter for heat.

In the third place, you will note that the three languages mentioned
(French, Spanish, and Italian) are both somewhat south AND probably more
interested in what goes on at night than you, you dork.

Jim





The statement Jim made is meaningless. It's not trivia at all. It's
semantically empty words.

In article ,
Jose wrote:

so what? it's redundant to say it's the longest night after saying it's the
shortest day.
Is the longest night =before= or =after= the shortest day?

yes.

:-)

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

In article ,
"Peter Duniho" wrote:

Okay, you are clearly just not understanding any of this thread. Let me try
a different approach:

or, I do understand it, and r e a l l y d o n ' t c a r e.

do you understand?

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

"Bob Noel" wrote in message
...
Okay, you are clearly just not understanding any of this thread. Let me
try
a different approach:

or, I do understand it, and r e a l l y d o n ' t c a r e.

No. You obviously don't have a clue about what my posts are talking about.

I also believe you don't care. That's unfortunately quite typical, for you
and Usenet generally..."I don't understand, so it obviously isn't something
I should care about". But you definitely don't understand.

"RST Engineering" wrote in message
...
You must be the stupidest asshole on the face of the earth. Or perhaps
asexual.

You have proven time and again that you hold that title. You have no method
of communication except to write stupid things or call people names.

In the first place, I stated that it was my college German professor's
assertion, not mine, but that I found it interesting.

Of course you would. You don't have the slightest idea that the assertion
means *nothing*. It's an empty statement.

In the second place, you will note that the three languages mentioned
(English, German, and Russian) are somewhat north and would be most
interested in how much daylight was available during winter for heat.

But there's nothing about English, German, or Russian that describes the
Winter solstice as the shortest day of the year. The Winter solstice is
just that, in any language: the solstice that occurs in the Winter. Nothing
about any language specifically describes the solstice as EITHER the
shortest day of the year, nor the longest night.

In the third place, you will note that the three languages mentioned
(French, Spanish, and Italian) are both somewhat south AND probably more
interested in what goes on at night than you, you dork.

See above. Ironic that you see a need to resort to name-calling, even as
the names you use appear to apply most appropriately to yourself.

Pete

In article ,
"Peter Duniho" wrote:

No. You obviously don't have a clue about what my posts are talking about.
[snip]

cripes, you are particularly grumpy.

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate