You Speak Mandarin?: The Translations Thread
Hola amigos! I'm bad with foreign languages so I apologize for my attempt at a nice introduction there. But, welcome to the translations thread, your place for all those nice wonderful cross-cultural questions and discussions. Such as: <*>in Argentina, women should not give gifts to male colleagues. <*>in Thailand, never criticize members of the royal family, even in jest. <*>a popular drink in Morocco is mint tea with lots of sugar. <*>and tipping in Icelandic restaurants is not allowed. And surely, we've seen these all on House at some point. Cammy giving gifts to House, House acting like House, coffee with lots of uppers and downers, and loads of other stuff seen on the show. Including Macademia Nut Pancakes. (Speaking of, crumpets rock. Got any good recipes?) So, ask your cultural questions here peeps! And include lots of recipes. HHoW likes recipes. all tips from the book Behave Yourself by Michael Powell, (c)2005 Insiders' Guide

Oy! God Bless the Crumpet!! Sorry. You have hit upon one of my culinary weaknesses! I'll go crawl into a hole, now. And wait for that great crumpit recipe... Oh, and to stay partly OT... I just found out the other day that Sonic the Hedgehog (the Japanese Sega video character of the Nineties) was preceded by "sonic hedgehog", a name given in the seventies (or was it the eighties?) to a protein responsible for facial symetry in fetal development, as well as digital distinction and some brain functions. If there is not enough of this protein, the fetus becomes cyclopian (one eye socket for one or two eyes), and if there is too much, the fetus develops two faces. I only write this because I think it is cool that a big-time Japanese video game was named after an obscure protein, and I also love the whimsy of scientists who would name a protein "sonic hedgehog". I also think that House would love this, too. Plus, I think I had an extra martini this evening.

Thank you for this topic! I was wondering if it was going to happen. Unfortunately the Dutch cuisine doesn't have too many highlights, so I don't think I can contribute all that much on that subject. We do have some famous beer though... Translation however, is what I got my university degree in, so I will certainly look in here often.

Well, I'm making brownies right now, but I'm not sure they'll turn out. The mix is about two years old and I started sneezing when I opened it. Mom says they'll be okay, but the batter tasted horrid. And Dad wouldn't let me doctor them up from his baking stash. So, off to find a crumpet recipe. Or just go to the store and buy brownies.

Oh, a cultural thread... So, can I talk about the Brazil nuts here? To be fair I still didn't see the episode - but I read some comments in the epi thread, since I have no self control - and no, the nuts are not poisonous, unless you ate an absurd amount, like pretty much any kind of food, or if you have an allergic reaction (like any kind of nuts can also give you). Brazil nuts (it's called Castanhas do Pará) actually supplies the mineral selenium, an antixiodante, magnesium and acid graxo ômega 3, it's beneficial for the health and it's delicious! I'll reserve my comments about the 40 days of Carnaval for when I actually saw the episode... And sorry, no recipes from me...

Lully, as you shall see, the point was that the doctors were told that the patient had been eating chestnuts (castanhas) in large quantities. But, as he was actually eating Castanhas do Para, and had OD'd on selenium because he ate a HUGE number of the nuts. There are several vitamins and trace elements that have toxic levels despite the fact that they are nutritionally necessary in reasonable amounts.

I knew I should wait and watch it first... But the no self control thing, see? Ok, so he ate an absurd amount! I can see his problem: gluttony! I just had the wrong impression that they were implying that the castanhas itself are poisonous, which is not true.

Here is a question for those of you who can channel Stephen Fry or are otherwise classically schooled: What does House say in Latin in the "Don't Ever Change" episode? The phrase and its translation, please? :)

Quod Erat Demonstrandum The phrase literally means "that which was to be demonstrated" It is sometimes abbreviated as QED. The Latin is actually a translation of this ancient greek phrase: όπερ έδει δείξαι

Quod erat demonstratum, (which was to be proved) often abbreviated QED, usually used at the end of a mathematical proof to indicate that the logic of the proof has just been demonstrated: here meaning that what he's saying, about Roz IIRC, has just been proven true. (The last word is also spelled demonstrandum, no idea which is "better.")

Thanks, Sautomne, Boffle! :D

See, I read "QED" and thought of the medical abbreviations of "QID" (four times a day) and "QOD" (every other day) which are now often banned due to how easy they are to confuse and how different they really are from each other. I guess I need to go and brush up on my House a bit more.