Hyperreality

joined 2 years ago
[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

person from country A moves to country B. Both countries speak English. A few years later A moves home. People in country A now hear a country B accent when this person talks.

See also: Third Culture Kid and articles about how language influences personality.

When you're from country A, but move to country B, you don't feel at home in country B. But when you return to country A, you also don't feel entirely home in country A. You have a slightly different accent, have had different experiences, likely developed different cultural mannerisms, habits, etc. etc. .... You're perpetually stuck between cultures, hence Third Culture Kid(TCK). Especially true of children who move at a young age. So much so that, if they read a book about TCKs, they soon realise that what they thought were unique personality quirks, strengths or character flaws. are anything but unique among fellow TCKs. Also true for adults but to a lesser degree. Also true for people who moved larger distances within a country, changed schools a lot, etc.

A bit like returning from a holiday and finding things have subtly changed, if you stay away long enough you'll likely never feel entirely at home again. The country you knew no longer exists, you're no longer the same, you notice it's not the same, and people notice you're not the same.

Of course, in some ways nostalgia is similar. Nostalgia is homesickness for a place that existed in the past. Like waking up one morning and discovering someone rearranged all the cutlery, it can make you feel perpetually discombobulated.

Unfortunately/fortunately, there's no way to stop time, and Make the World Like it was Again. Not that populists and advertisers won't try to sell you on that lie.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I used to work at an international airport. Once, when a plane arrived they discovered that one of the passengers had likely died of natural causes before landing. They had him removed and the doctor obliged by declaring him dead on the jet bridge, rather than on the plane.

Apparently, if a passenger is declared dead on the plane, they have to do a thorough clean. This would have caused a delay. Delays cost money. Thanks to him officially having died on the jet bridge, no thorough clean was required. The cleaning staff removed the excess rubbish, and some lucky passenger unknowingly got to fly in the dead passenger's seat less than half an hour later.

I suppose I should have been more appalled, but this happened for a low cost airline. I never felt too much sympathy for passengers who paid significantly less for their flight, often a flight that could have been a train ride that didn't kill the planet, invariably treated ground staff like shit, then complained when the budget airline offered them budget service.

Not that the business class passengers were much better. Like the VIP who deliberately shoved a pregnant colleague with his trolley, but wasn't banned from BA, because he was a gold member or something stupid like that.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

He put the prostate up the bum, because some of the time he's fun.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Off the top of my head and IRC:

  • Belgium (different languages, laws, educational systems, public broadcasters per language region, taxation, etc.)

  • UK (different laws in Scotland, different laws in Northern Ireland, education policy, etc.)

  • Spain (autonomous regions with their own languages, seperate civil law in Catalunya, tax collection in the Basque country, etc.)

  • Canada (IRC Quebec has a Napoleonic inspired civil law system, whereas the rest of Canada uses common law similar to that found in the US and UK. TLDR one legal system uses precedent, the other doesn't. )

  • China (the unofficial city tier system, Xinjiang, Tibet, etc.)

  • Russia (autonomous regions in the far east, Kadyrov/Chechnya: strict alcohol prohibition and possibly years in jail, etc.)

  • India (IRC autonomous administrative divisions can make their own laws, tribe/caste based laws/tribunals, Jammu and Kashmir which until quite recently had its own seperate consitution and for example Indians from other regions weren't allowed to buy land or property there.)

The problem is that as a foreigner, you're usually ignorant about all these things. Whether it's a Brit who thinks all Americans are Yankees, an American who thinks all Brits are English, a Scotsman who thinks Spanish and Castellano are synonymous, or a Spaniard who goes to Belgium expecting to speak French everywhere.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 54 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

US is almost like 50 different countries in one.

While this is obviously true, it's important to note that the US certainly isn't unique in this regard. Non-Americans often underestimate how diverse the US is. Americans often underestimate how diverse other countries are.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Imagine for a second that you speak Chinese. You find yourself on a Chinese forum and a Chinese person explains that China is the country against which other countries measure themselves and this is why they are always attacking or criticising China.

You then ask this person if they speak anything other than Chinese, because you want to know if they're basing that opinion only on Chinese media.

But instead of answering the question, and perhaps acknowledging they live in a media bubble, they instead choose to repeatedly avoid answering it, then type out a very long and defensive rant with capital letters.

What would you think of that person?

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I'm asking because I want to know what you're basing your opinion on.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (9 children)

Do you speak languages other than English fluently?

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 5 points 2 years ago

You're reaching. Crosses are used a lot.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 7 points 2 years ago (16 children)

That’s why every embarrassment and mistake gets blasted across the international media.

Do you speak languages other than English fluently?

the standard against which other countries measure themselves

What are you basing this on?

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 27 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Cold climate?

How the fuck are you supposed to heat that thing? It's designed like a heat sync, is all open plan and windows, and looks to be insulated with corrugated iron.

Built in 1959, no surprise. Probably thought they'd be able to start phase 3 and go nuclear powered within the decade.

But hey, on the plus side there's a brook running through the foundations.

[–] Hyperreality@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago

Exactly. You need to check all the boxes online before women will take the risk. To be clear, online dating is shit for them too. A lot of those matches, are people you wouldn't want to match with once you get to know them.

Off-line? Entirely different. Join a club, get to know people, they see you're probably not going to kidnap them or that you have a nice personality and even the ugliest guy stands a chance of dating very nice women.

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