Thinking about surnames. There seem an infinite number around the world, but in China there are only five-ish.
Another random thought. The family name Donjon is extremely rare in the United States, but it's very common in France. It's the word for a castle tower or keep. It's where we get our word dungeon. A tower and a basement are very different things, but that's how cognates sometimes work. #Genealogy
@EnochianEntropy IIRC?
@poemblaze "if I recall correctly."
@EnochianEntropy @poemblaze
Ah, these youngsters don't know the earlier acronyms π
@EnochianEntropy @poemblaze Accurate! and hilarious.
In truth, mine go back to when we were charged by our ISP for data. It was more money than time that motivated us! π
@wolfwoman That makes perfect sense. @EnochianEntropy
@wolfwoman @EnochianEntropy I'm 58. You must be really old. ππ
@poemblaze @wolfwoman While not directed at me, I am younger than 58.
I've just been online for a long, terrible time.
@EnochianEntropy You youngster. @wolfwoman
@poemblaze @EnochianEntropy
#backintheday
I printed out pages of emoticons and acronyms because it was too much work to switch to a different file ... we didn't have GUIs and browsers and tabs, so it was actually work. π
@wolfwoman Interesting! @EnochianEntropy
@EnochianEntropy @wolfwoman I was really only online a little bit at college in the 80s. Really didn't start online until about 1994 [?].
@poemblaze @wolfwoman Same. I did spend a lot of time shitting my pants during the 80s, so I wasn't online.
But for different reasons than someone who's in college.
@poemblaze @EnochianEntropy
My eldest bro took "computer science the first time it was offered at Cal State Hayward (now a CA university) in about 1966 or so. 2nd eldest got into computers in the USAF in 1972. They seemed to think I had the mind for it, and forced me into it ... the rest, as they say, is history.
@wolfwoman Forced into your career. @EnochianEntropy
@wolfwoman I remember my oldest brother learning some Cobal[?] and Fortran in high school. @EnochianEntropy
@poemblaze @EnochianEntropy
Dude! I just turned 69 and my eldest bro quipped "that number used to be used with sniggers, nods and winks. Now we're just tired."
@EnochianEntropy TY.
@poemblaze IIRC, they're about 25 years from just one in Japan or Korea.