A plague of blackflies? Sounds about right for bloodsucking, disease-carrying pests. *carefully avoids the obvious mention of politicians*
Today I learned...
- Thread starter Louanne Learning
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Some book or other I read ages ago had the snarky narrator encountering "a giggle of schoolgirls."
The best collective noun I ever invented is "a cacophony of Harleys." I also like "a piddle of puppies," and no, I'm not misspelling "puddle."
Louanne Learning
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I just read (just now!) that a flock of flamingos is called a flamboyance!
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Today I learned about something called “phatic” communication - from the Greek verb meaning “to speak out loud.”
It’s like the verbal equivalent of primate grooming behavior - a way for people to provide and experience connection and companionship.
For example - “Thank God it’s Friday.” “It’s hot outside.” “How’s it goin’?” “Can you believe this rain?”
The internet produces phatic communication, especially with young people. One of the latest ones is “six seven.”
I’ve heard the kids in my family say it, and happened today to come across an article about that very phrase.
“Six seven” originated online, but is not used online - it's something you say in person, out loud, in a group, in unison – an example of phatic communication.
Kids call it "brain rot." The author of the article recounts a conversation she had with her son:
“What is ‘six seven,’ anyway?” I asked him, not long ago.
“It’s brain rot,” he said, confidently.
I followed up: “What’s brain rot?”
“It’s random stuff from the internet that fills up your brain,” he said.
It’s like the verbal equivalent of primate grooming behavior - a way for people to provide and experience connection and companionship.
For example - “Thank God it’s Friday.” “It’s hot outside.” “How’s it goin’?” “Can you believe this rain?”
The internet produces phatic communication, especially with young people. One of the latest ones is “six seven.”
I’ve heard the kids in my family say it, and happened today to come across an article about that very phrase.
“Six seven” originated online, but is not used online - it's something you say in person, out loud, in a group, in unison – an example of phatic communication.
Kids call it "brain rot." The author of the article recounts a conversation she had with her son:
“What is ‘six seven,’ anyway?” I asked him, not long ago.
“It’s brain rot,” he said, confidently.
I followed up: “What’s brain rot?”
“It’s random stuff from the internet that fills up your brain,” he said.
But why is "brain rot" called "six seven"? Is there some fascinating origin story, or are the kids simply misremembering the old expression "At sixes and sevens"? 
Inquiring etymology-type minds have to know!
Inquiring etymology-type minds have to know!
Louanne Learning
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No, "six seven" is quoted as example of brain rot.
Oxford named "brain rot" their 2024 Word of the Year:
The article I linked took the position that what we might call brain rot actually has a function as phatic communication - that not everything said to make connections between individuals must have meaning - a connection can still be made
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Louanne Learning
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Today I learned that Queen Victoria commissioned the quiet and intimate “secret portrait” of herself below as a present to her husband Prince Albert for his 24th birthday. The artist was Franz Xaver Winterhalter.
Albert hung it – it was his favourite painting - in his private writing room at Windsor.
news.artnet.com
Albert hung it – it was his favourite painting - in his private writing room at Windsor.
Art Bites: The Story Behind This Queen Victoria Thirst Trap
The reputation of Queen Victoria as stern and socially conservative is overstated, as her gifts to Prince Albert reveal.
Victoria expected the world to accompany her into permanent mourning. Since she controlled a good part of the world, that meant a lot of constrained people.
Louanne Learning
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Victoria may have been a little more randy before Albert’s death. Below is the painting Florinda (by the same artist) that she placed facing their writing desks in the sitting room of Osborne House, their seaside retreat on the Isle of Wight.
Oh, my dear, Victoria was The Queen. It was only the poor women who were expected to lie back and think of England.
I remember, back the day, about "a chuffle of Volkswagens." That was more appropriate in the days of the air-cooled beetles and buses.
I try to attend a gathering of VW bus aficionados held every year in Arizona. When the event is over and everybody is leaving, it sounds like departure time at a World War II airfield.
The book for my British history intro class had a portrait of Queen Victoria on it. In my youthful insouciance, I drew sunglasses, a goatee, and a cigarette in her mouth on the cover. My professor, who ended up being my thesis advisor and mentor, saw it while she was walking by and practically yelled, "What do you have against Queen Victoria?" I said her grandsons were a bunch of ass-clowns. It was the start of a fruitful relationship
Don't think about. Do you remember the logic bomb that could have destroyed the Borg in Star Trek? That's the six-seven thing. Just walk away and be glad you don't have children.But why is "brain rot" called "six seven"? Is there some fascinating origin story, or are the kids simply misremembering the old expression "At sixes and sevens"?
Inquiring etymology-type minds have to know!
Louanne Learning
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Some trace the origin to the song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by the rapper Skrilla, which came out last year. He may have been referencing Sixty-seventh Street in Philadelphia.
And inagaddavida, baby.
My first car was a 1969 VW bug bought second hand in 1975. I replaced it with a 1973 Mercedes about 1997, but kept the bug until 2005 when I sold it to my son's best bud. I put three engines in that bug, drove it all over hell and gone, and found out exactly how steep a slope it would take before threatening to roll. Snow, sand, mud- nothing stopped it until the original transmission finally collapsed when it was almost 40 years old.
Now I'm on my third Toyota Camry, and I sold my bike several years ago. Sigh. The glamour of the road is gone.
However, we are still driving two of the Camrys and would still have the third except for a speeding pickup truck that decided to not stop for the stop sign where Camry One was peacefully waiting for traffic to pass.
My first car was a 1969 VW bug bought second hand in 1975. I replaced it with a 1973 Mercedes about 1997, but kept the bug until 2005 when I sold it to my son's best bud. I put three engines in that bug, drove it all over hell and gone, and found out exactly how steep a slope it would take before threatening to roll. Snow, sand, mud- nothing stopped it until the original transmission finally collapsed when it was almost 40 years old.
Now I'm on my third Toyota Camry, and I sold my bike several years ago. Sigh. The glamour of the road is gone.
However, we are still driving two of the Camrys and would still have the third except for a speeding pickup truck that decided to not stop for the stop sign where Camry One was peacefully waiting for traffic to pass.
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