Step forward “Actor and Writer” James McNicholas – jmcnik on the IG – who reminds us that songs are merely words set to music. He’s done a few of these deconstructed songs as “dramatic” monologues, and they are good. But this one is the best.
You might recognise the original as being Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. A worldwide hit in 2006. Allow me to jog your memory.
But lob on some fake sideburns and a Victorian shirt and waistcoat, be the weird scientist (who experimented upon himself?), and add some pauses and some incredible eye contact, and you have something moving, compelling, intriguing and almost spellbinding.
Here’s a map of the most popular places names for countries across Europe:
And it makes for some interesting* reading.
In the UK, it’s Sutton. Sutton means “One from the Southern Homestead”, and aside from the main Sutton just south of London, there are 12 others. But a total of 13 is nothing.
Numbers 43 Steinbachs in Germany. 97 Ivanivkas in Ukraine. 101 Oktyabrsklys in Russia (it means October). And an incredible 155 Yeniköys in Turkiye. Good luck with finding the right one on Google Maps. Or indeed, any map.
New Villages Yeniköy translates as “New Village”, and a quick scoot across Eastern Europe will reveal that everything there seems to be a “New Village”. It’s the most popular place name in 8 other countries as well as Turkiye: Novo Selo (HR), Satu Nou (RO), Nova Ves (CZ), Nowa Vies (PL), Nova Selo (BiH), Nova Selle (RKS), Novo Selo (SRB) and Neo Chori (GR)
Honourable mentions: – 5 Castletowns in Ireland (1 in the Isle of Man, too). Literally a town with a castle in each case. No imagination whatsoever. – 2 places called Nes in the Faroe Islands. They’re about as big as a postage stamp! How do you manage to get 2 places with the same name somewhere that small? Why risk any confusion? It’s no wonder there are so many missed dates there:
She said she’d meet me in the pub in Nes at 7pm. But she never turned up.
– Loads of mountain-based stuff: 3 Monts in Belgium, 4 Bergs in Sweden, 3 Szolohegys in Hungary. – 8 Nogueiras in Portugal. All in the far north, because it means “Walnut Tree” and that’s where the walnut trees grow. AND… Orahovo (x3) is the most popular place name in Montenegro. It also means “Walnut Tree” and check out the latitudes of those two places.
You couldn’t make it up. And I didn’t. – Loads of Saints in Spain, France, Cyprus and Italy. Catholics, ne? – 3 Erpeldanges in Luxembourg. No idea what it means, but it’s a lovely word, almost certainly made up by Roald Dahl.
I’m now ready for whenever this info comes up in a quiz, but sadly, I also have this very strange feeling that it almost certainly won’t.
Actually, all being well, we’ll have been away for 24 hours already, but thanks to the magic of WordPress, you might not even notice. A quick pre-write of posts for yesterday, today and tomorrow has already happened (or, obviously, “is happening” in the case of this one), and so you should probably head over towards
When I heard this song on 6 Music, it did get me wondering if all of the other potential options had been considered, and if there might actually be a better, more efficient solution to this rather common problem.
As I say, I have no huge expertise in this particular field, although we did recently do A LOT of research on one potential alternative to Indo’s very specific need.
I have to be honest, men get a bad rap a lot of the time, but while it is at least occasionally deserved, there are lot of good points to men which are often overlooked. However, I really don’t think that anyone needs to put up with the difficult, high maintenance aspects of having a man, simply for a requirement as straightforward as this.
Surely a hot water bottle or one of those beanbag things you put in the microwave would be a better idea? More economical, no potential emotional attachment, plus the ability to stick it down by your feet without any danger of suffocation should you need hotter toes. Sure, it won’t be able to assist with other helpful stuff like unscrewing the top from the pickle jar or clearing the snow off the driveway, but these are very much occasional needs when compared to the requirement of keeping you warm at night, which could be a daily requirement for maybe 6 months or more.
This time last year, I was have been hesitant to recommend an electric blanket, given the issues we had with loadshedding. And this year, despite loadshedding having disappeared, I’m still hesitant to recommend an electric blanket given the price of electricity now that we’ve actually got some.
My fok, Marilize.
It does seem that there’s actually no simple answer to this (the electricity price or the keeping warm at night thing). But may I respectfully suggest some extra clothing: PJs and socks, and maybe an extra blanket from Mr Price as being the best place to start, rather than this sudden, seemingly irrational desire for a bloke?
Dumped on a narrow country lane in the Daily Challenge on Geoguessr today.
First thought was maybe Wales?
Then I turned the camera around, and… hang on…
Well, that looks very much like the Lady Isabella – the largest working waterwheel in the world – which would make it just over the other side of the valley from here:
Very helpful.
And 5,000 useful points in the bank before heading off towards Indonesia and Colombia.
