Dumb Questions Thread

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Hartlepudlians would disagree.

If they could read through their webbed eyes. Or access the internet. Or had electricity.
Good thing I edited my post then. Sheesh. Give us a minute.
 
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Well people from NSW call us Victorians "Mexicans" whilst we call Tasmanians "Taswegiens"
 
I did a lesson not on demonyms but on country adjectives not too long ago. There usually is a pattern for things in English (and not the usual trite arguemnt of ENGLISH IS SO RANDOM LOL) but this is a rare case where there quite simply isn't one. There are just lots of irregular words you need to remember.

By comparison, Slovak is very logical in terms of its pattern:

Country - Adjective
Slovensko - slovensky
Madarsko - madarsky
Taliansko - taliansky

Whereas English is not:

Country - Adjective
Germany - German
Hungary - Hungarian
The Netherlands - Dutch
Greece - Greek
Estonia - Estonian
Slovakia - Slovak
France - French
Spain - Spanish (Why drop the i? Spainish is too weird?)
Japan - Japanese
Portugal - Portuguese
Brazil - Brazilian
--
Luxembourg - Luxembourgian (if you're of a French persuasion)
Luxemburg - Luxemburgish (if you're of a German persuasion)

So many different endings. And plenty where two countries do have the same suffix but different adjectives; Czechia (yes, correct) and Slovakia drop the -ia for Czech and Slovak but Romania and Lithuania add n for -ian as in Romanian and Lithuanian.

There often are historical reasons why some of them are how they are, like the Netherlands being "Dutch" instead of Netherlandish, but that doesn't change how highly irregular it is in English.
 
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The one that got me was Cheltonians for people from Cheltenham, but what is the name for people from the city of Gloucester? Gloucesterers? Glevums?
 
The New Zealander commenter with zero sense of humour appears to be extremely on-brand.

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For Arkansas: the demonym creates an accent change to Arkansasan (are-CAN-zen).

For Alabama: Alabamian (al-a-BAIM-e-un), 3rd vowel becomes a long-A.

Now you know.
 
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A lot of people think that someone from Missouri is a Missourian. This is based on a mispronunciation of Missouri. If you're pronouncing it correctly, it becomes apparent that someone from Missouri should be referred to as Missourable.
 
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Belgium - Belgian :dopey:

Not to interrupt this important - ian conversation but I have another dumb question.

The latest youtube clip from Chris Harris that I saw, testing the new 992 GT3 he says that the engine had to run in the engine and it took 1,000 miles to do so but over here in Europe (mainland) we say that it takes 1,000 km to run in an engine.
But 1,000 miles is around 1,600 km and not 1,000 km. That is a 600 km difference.
Which one is correct?

I think your question was off-topic, as it wasn't a "dumb" question. You should be banned. :dopey:
A question asked by a dumb person is always a dumb question, therefor I'm allowed to stay. :D
 
1,000mi
1,000km

It's arbitrary but both are reasonably close to each other. Don't overthink it.
 
Which one is correct?

With most modern cars it probably doesn't really matter that much since many engines and/or cars undergo a "break-in" procedure during manufacturing. Some high-performance engines probably need some sort of break-in period, but it's probably not that much. There are also better tolerances with new engines too so you're likely not going to throw something off that much.

If you build an engine in your garage though, you definitely need to break it in properly.
 
A car engine tuner said that the development of engines is so precise that it probably isn't necessary to run in an engine but if it is required what would be correct, 1000 miles or 1000 Km?
 
A car engine tuner said that the development of engines is so precise that it probably isn't necessary to run in an engine but if it is required what would be correct, 1000 miles or 1000 Km?

Probably less than both. It's just an arbitrary number the manufacturer decides on and they probably figure 1,000-something is the easiest thing to say.
 
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