Francis Davey

@Colin_P_A_Jones It's a question of who got what from where. It is very likely the recent English word comes from the Portuguese and similarly likely from Arabic, but whether the Arabic comes from Chinese, Greek or is essentially Semitic is debatable as are all those "likelys".

Etymology nerds/experts: I am reading a book by a highly respected scholar (not of linguistics) which asserts the English word “typhoon” comes not from the Chinese/Japanese character combination 台風(dafeng/taifu) but the Arabic “tufan” (storm), via Portuguese… What say you?

@UsmanAbidemiEsq In 1985 England, D (per Anderton v Ryan) but the House of Lords decided it could reverse itself and reversed itself the next year in R v Shivpuri. B. You can attempt the impossible.

Criminal law students should attempt this.

This reminds me that some Japanese friends are surprised by this. Here holidays get names like "Mountain Day". Whereas British holidays are given the most mundane names possible.

@brooke_schutz @blixberrie Except that not all "public holidays" are bank holidays. Christmas and Good Friday for instance (in England).

@blixberrie It took me so long to realise what UK calls bank holidays is what others call public holiday That they have nothing to do with banking

These are bank holidays

@Colin_P_A_Jones @taroinagaki025 That's the film that immediately came to mind. I have a friend from Saitama but for some reason she doesn't really like it.

群馬どんだけ危険なんだよ。

@CapelLofft I'd be impressed if he memorised the Churching of Women.

Ollie Robbins says he knows his BCP but can he recite the whole Prayer Book? I bet he just means evening prayer and communion. If knows the Commination service, prayers to be used at sea and all the psalms by heart, he should be elevated to the episcopacy immediately.

@Colin_P_A_Jones @OliverJia1014 Indeed. Argument with strangers who you would never encounter again was much rarer and subject to the constraints you mention. People could still be very rude.

I think it was more that it was simply not possible to have interactions with as many people as post internet (social media really), and to the extent most such interactions were in person the usual programming was triggered. I don’t think we are markedly ruder to each other in person than back then. Anonymity was a part of it too. The internet that possible on scale. When I first drove in Japan in the late 1980s I remember being surprised how aggressive and, well, awful some drivers were compared to how rare it seemed in in person interactions. I attributed that to (relative) anonymity….

Question for those alive during pre-internet or nascent internet days. Were people actually kinder to each other overall before social media? I've always wondered if that was actually the case or just rose-tinted nostalgia talking considering how every era has social problems.

@bunburyoudoujp Also: queuing, talking about the weather and (from the perspective of my social class/dialect) understand polite indirectness. Also also: curry.

Why the UK and Japan Are Basically the Same Country - Constitutional monarchies - Island nations - Unique food culture - Suck at foreign languages (because island nations) - Had empires - People are mad at them (because empires) - Tea

@Colin_P_A_Jones @4Ud1CCuftl19105 But, certainly at the English bar, you are also trained not to let your own view about what the law should be interfere with those arguments. You can both believe in the rule of law and argue around it.

@fjmd1 @4Ud1CCuftl19105 Yes but common law lawyers are rigorously trained to find a way through, around, under or over the law. Thomas More was a lawyer too and those words were put in his mouth as a lawyer arguing about the law the way he thought it should be…

昨日、外国人とやり取りしていて、個人的にすっごく納得できた、全部つながったと思うことがあって。 恐らく、日本人は「みんながちょっとずつ我慢すれば社会全体としては上手く機能する。だから『何をどれだけ我慢するか』を明確にするために法律やルールは大事だし、そうして社会の調和を守ることが道徳的」だと考えている。 一方、外国人は「そもそも法律はその時々で改正される以上『正しい』という保証がない。だから、法律やルールを破ることと、自分が道徳的存在かどうかは別問題で、道徳を保証するために宗教が必要」と考えている。 これもうどっちが正しいとかじゃなくて、根本から考え方が違うんだな。 ちょっと単純化したけど、そう考えると、ここ最近の宗教談義、海賊版の問題、日本での迷惑外国人の問題も大体は説明がつくと思う。

@Colin_P_A_Jones @4Ud1CCuftl19105 But I think there is an old thread - deriving from Matthew 22:21 in England that obedience to the law is deontologically right, at least if the law is not demonstrably unjust. That's why Bolt has More give the Devil the benefit of the law.

英米法的なマインドをする人々は多分、「法律が改正される」だからどうこうというより、みずから論破して法改正ができるような思考をしているでしょう。判例法はそんものです。アメリカのロースクールで「法律はこうだ」というより「この場合は法はこうあるべきだ」という議論ができるためのマインドが養成されます。

@fr_m1k @selfcomestomine I'm sure of it. The number of times random people have started talking to me in the onsen/sauna belies the claim. Even when naked, strangers talk to me. London v Liverpool is similar in the UK. Big cities encourage taciturnity.

@selfcomestomine それ日本じゃなくて東京だけでは？ 関西だと普通に知らん人と通りすがりに世間話するし、たぶん東日本でも田舎の方なら挨拶がわりに知らん人と世間話する文化はまだ残ってると思う

ニッポンにはハーイ文化がないからな。街にこれほど社会的コミュニケーションが存在しない国、世界的に見ても異常な方だと思う。 ニッポンには「すでに知り合いの人以外とは話すな（店員との業務会話は可）」という謎の規範がある。信号待ち、エレベーター、カフェで隣の席──そこで気軽に「Hi」と挨拶する文化がほぼ無い。 日本人にとって街の人とは「他人」。同じマニアック映画が好きというような強烈な共通点があったとしても、他人は他人。知らない誰かに話しかけることも、話しかけられることも基本想定していない。本当はそういう出会いを望んでいたとしても。 だから日本人は、街では誰とも目を合わせずツンとした顔で過ごす。でも知り合いに会った瞬間だけ一気に笑顔が弾ける。どれだけ緊張して街を歩いてるんだよ、って思うよ

@Colin_P_A_Jones @ProfRobAnderson It's a mistake parties to English courts make all the time. Seeking permission is much more likely to work than forgiveness. If your filing will be late, ask the court for more time in advance not afterwards etc.

@ProfRobAnderson Are you doing electrical work, is a preliminary question here.

It is better to ask for:

@Colin_P_A_Jones @shinobu_books We end up with lots of signs essentially saying "Saigosan was here". There's even an annual musical about the life of his son born here to a local woman. Big man, small town.

@shinobu_books Some might consider it a two birds with one stone thing if they brought back banishment but with mandatory accompaniment by at least one social worker.

In the Edo Era if you caused too much trouble they shipped you off to a distant island If u showed up again, you got decapitated. If you were still living with your family at the time, they had all their property seized and even your four other closest neighbors could catch heat

@yuanyi_z They probably have no idea who he was, let alone read his history of the O'Dwyer clan.

Sir Michael O'Dwyer would be amused to find out he was Anglo-Irish.

@Colin_P_A_Jones The penalty is only "being instructed" as far as I can see, so not all that terrifying. UK rules are pretty much the same, though as strictly adhered to as in Japan.

It would be funny if they also started enforcing the law which says pedestrians must walk on the right side if the street has no sidewalk.

@lion_tender @AdsoOfBelk Exactly and that version - which was in my Latin textbook - "the die is cast" is more natural and really does work both ways.

@AdsoOfBelk Wow -- today I learned that Caesar is attested to have said this in Greek, not Latin, and that what he said is translated most directly as "let the die be cast" versus the meaning of "Alea iacta est". Thanks, I had no idea about this.

Just came across someone on Reddit who thought Caesar’s “let the die be cast” was referring to the process of pouring molten metal into a mould. Really an incredible misinterpretation

@AdsoOfBelk It's very common. The phrase "the die is cast" is not usually associated with Caesar, and it is a reasonable interpretation of the English phrase - a translation of "alea iacta est" - less so with your version I agree.

@Colin_P_A_Jones In English law they were important in a case about whether refusal of a blood transfusion by a victim broke the chain of causation in murder. In Europe, they were important in a data protection "joint controller" case. A great service to jurisprudence.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have generated a disproportionate amount of influential jurisprudence on religious freedom in Japan. The most famous case involved refusal to participate in school kendo classes that were mandatory credits for graduation. More recently a group of believers have brought suit challenging recent changes to government guidelines defining child abuse. After Abe’s assassination brought attention to alleged abuses by the Unification Church, the guidelines were changed to include various behaviors that could be considered as parents “forcing” religion on their children. This is what is being challenged.

@Colin_P_A_Jones I still can't parse it.

Winner, most confusing headline of the week.

@Colin_P_A_Jones I had no idea that US citizens got such personal service from VPOTUS. As a UK citizen I have to rely mostly on princes living in former colonies.

In my mailbox today. Say what you will, it is going to take a long time before AI can generate scam spam with this level of quality. From The Desk of Mr James David Vance The White House (Official Residence of the President of the US) 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington DC 20500 USA Good Day Funds Winner, Greetings in the precious name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, believing all is well with you. Please, kindly pardon me for any inconvenience this letter may cost you because I know it may come to you as a surprise as we have no previous correspondence. I am Mr James David Vance, Vice President of the United States of America, I was sworn in as the 49th U.S. vice president on January 31, 2023, by U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Mr. Sonia Sotomayor. I want to inform you that i went to Canada for an official meeting assignment with the Mr. Mark Carney Prime Minister of Canada I am really happy to inform you that after an official meeting held I found your file lying in the Desk of the Prime Minister. By my assessment, The file lying is a lottery won by your e-mail address via an online active email address selected from the sponsor of the Coca Cola Company award. It was registered with your email address and your name on the official document from the Royal Bank Of Canada where the file was tagged. I asked Mr. Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada- what happened, that you have not received your funds for 2 years now, and he said that you refused to pay the fee to get the fund to you. I' m contacting you this morning from Canada because Mr. David I McKay the President and CEO Royal Bank Of Canada said that they will divert your US$12,000,000,000.00 Twelve Billion United State Dollars to the Government Treasury just because that you cannot pay for the service fee of your fund according to them. However, due to humanitarian ground and sympathy. I immediately called up the President Mr. Donald J. Trump and explain your matter to him as regards to your payment and he personally called Mr. Mark Carney Prime Minister of Canada and Mr. David I McKay to reduce the payment to  $100  USD only in order to help you afford the shipping fee to receive your US$12,000,000,000.00 through (1- ATM Visa Card) (2-Bank Cheque Draft) (3 consignment boxes). ( 4 Bank to Bank transfer) You are required to choose one option and send the  100 USD through Steam Wallet card or Apple Gift card for immediate effect of your Fund process to you. However, even if you don't have the $100 USD try to borrow it and send it immediately because this is your life opportunity. So you are seriously advised to get back to me with your home address and also the payment Apple card or Steam Wallet card today. My primary objectives are to help the less privileged and to put smiles on the faces of people all over the world. All I wanted as the Vice President of the United States is to put a smile on your face and make sure you have a good recommendation from this government. Your quick attention is needed as soon as you read this email and you should avoid anything that will make you lose this fund. Thanks, and God bless. Mr. James David Vance, Emil: Vice President of the United States of America