@si_fuller@aus.social
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

si_fuller

@si_fuller@aus.social

I'm a middle-aged single dad living on the Atherton Tablelands, Australia. I work in Aged Care. Hobbies include tabletop roleplaying games, casual computer gaming, short hikes, and wincing in pain. Take it as read that I believe in all the usual left-wing, egalitarian stuff, but I rarely post about any of it.

I talk about Sweden way too much for someone who isn't in any way Swedish. Sometimes I even try writing in Svensk.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

mrundkvist, to Stockholm Swedish
@mrundkvist@archaeo.social avatar

Mask from the portal at Stora Nygatan 2 in the new 17th century precinct of 's Old Town.

si_fuller,
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

@mrundkvist Nya Gamla, eh?

si_fuller, to random
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

I keep telling people that a vanilla soy latte is technically a three bean soup, but nobody understands. They just nod and smile like I'm the crazy one.

si_fuller, to PetBirds
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

My son found a bowerbird bower a few blocks from home. I think it's a Great Bowerbird (that's its name, not my opinion).

This is not a nest. It is a Tinder profile that uses Instagram filters. The male builds this tunnel, and carefully arranges pale grey bits and pieces in an exact pattern, bigger at the front, smaller near the tunnel, shiny out the back. Then he stands in it. The foreshortening makes him look huge and sexy.

The bower from the other side. An amazing collection of nature, plastic and glass, carefully arranged by the bird. Move a single item, and the bird will in time move it back to its proper place.
The bower from above, exposing the illusion that the bird has created. Note that the area around the bower has been flattened and cleared.

si_fuller, to random
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

Happy NAIDOC.

mrundkvist, to books Swedish
@mrundkvist@archaeo.social avatar

makes a lot of knowing winks to philologists in his fiction. In a letter he confesses, for instance, that the dragon Smaug's name is "a low philological jest". It is the past tense form of the old Germanic verb smugan, 'to creep, crawl'.

Swedish still has this verb, att smyga. And it is the etymological background to the name of a fishing village and resort town on the country's SW coast. Smaug should thus be named SMÖGEN in Swedish translation.

si_fuller,
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

@mrundkvist Don't tell me you overlooked the name Smeagol. It seems old JRR was fond of that particular joke.

mrundkvist, to random Swedish
@mrundkvist@archaeo.social avatar

Did you know that Drogheda means "druggy heath" in Swedish?

si_fuller,
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

@mrundkvist Speaking of, does "storlek" (size) literally mean "big play"?

si_fuller, to random
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

There's a bit of a culture clash going on between my cup and coaster.

si_fuller, to animals
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

I have stacked my pets for optimum storage.

mrundkvist, to science Swedish
@mrundkvist@archaeo.social avatar

Table salt container boasts of less sodium. To anyone with a bit of middle-school , this means "not table salt".

si_fuller,
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

@mrundkvist So? As it is, what we table salt is mostly ground up wisdom teeth and sand.

mrundkvist, to random Swedish
@mrundkvist@archaeo.social avatar

Oxenstierna is one of Sweden's oldest and most illustrious noble families. The name originally meant "forehead of ox" and described their coat of arms. Now it strikes me that this is the same name as that of one of the bad guys in Scott's "Ivanhoe": Reginald Front de Boeuf.

si_fuller,
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

@mrundkvist And Alexander's horse, Bucephalus. Maybe they're all related.

titania2468, to art

According to Norwegian folklore, trolls don't like the smell of Christians. They can smell Christians from far away, and the odour makes them furious. Trolls are known to have serious anger management issues, so Christians would be well advised to stay far away from them.

by Norwegian fairy tale illustrator Theodor Kittelsen (c. 1900)



@folklore

si_fuller,
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

@titania2468 @folklore I love the idea. Just thinking about how, roughly a thousand years ago, trolls suddenly started smelling something bad, and then before they could figure out where the stench was coming from, all the humans started to smell like that.

titania2468, to art

What cats do when they're home alone

by Margaryta Yermolayeva

si_fuller,
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

@titania2468 But every time a message starts, one of the cats knocks the planchette on the floor or sits on the board.

titania2468, (edited ) to art

According to Norwegian folklore, mare twigs ('marekvister') are structures that appear on a birch tree because a mare has been riding it. It was believed that hanging mare twigs in the bedroom would keep the nightmare inducing mares at bay. These structures are actually caused by the fungus Taphrina betulina.

by Johan Egerkrans


si_fuller,
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

@titania2468 oh yeah, I saw them in Sweden, and I didn't even know where to start asking about what they were.

si_fuller,
@si_fuller@aus.social avatar

@titania2468 They looked like tree fists to me. I still don't know what they are.

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