It’s mainly a question of how much someone uses i think. Currently there are many studies being done into the application of for instance psychotropic drugs (psylocybine), ketamine and mdma in the treatment of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Amphetamines have also been used to successfully treat/reduce attention deficit disorders for a number of years now.
So apparently the results are very positive for these groups under the right circumstances and dosage. As with many things, incorrect use or abuse can be really harmful, but the substances themselves can also be beneficial when used carefully…
Sometimes we take the risks and don’t care for the consequences. I’d rather die drifting in the North Sea than lying in a Covid hospital. I’d like to choose my end rather than let something else dictate.
It is a difficult one, given that as someone else observed some of the best music has been created under the influence of drugs. (maybe certain drugs rather than drugs in general - and I don’t think alcohol is one of them.
But before you cry for Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the Thai capital’s name has eight words.
But wait! You can shed a tear for the Welsh consonant enthusiasts because TaumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapIkimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu in New Zealand beat them ages ago.
It’s true, the Welsh alphabet does have an extra consonant than the English one but it also has seven vowels, two more than the English so it might be more accurate the describe the Welsh as vowel enthusiasts
Not if you’ve ever stood next to one in the pub!
Any language that can have quadruple letters is fine and funky by me.
But calling ‘w’ and ‘y’ vowels simply (it seems to me) to justify chains of letters like ‘rpwllgwyngyllg’ in a word as being pronounceable is pyshwng it a bwt I reckon.
On motorways in England it is common to see signs for services including the name of the services, e.g Newport Pagnall Services, Knutsford Services. The first time I drove into Wales I passed one called Gwasanaethau Services, and was surprised to find the next one had the same name! A few years later I moved to live in Wales, and learnt that Gwasanaethau is the Welsh word for services, and all road signs - and public documents - are required by law to be in both Welsh and English.
It does make for rather ‘busy’ road signs where they put a lot of info on a single sign - and with some place names That sound virtually tge same in both languages I do wonder why they don’t simply change the ‘English’ spelling to the Welsh, e.g. Caerffili in place of the English Caerphilly - after all, we have all got used to similar changes elsewhere, e.g. Bombay reverting to Mumbai.
Arguably of course LlanfairPG is not a word, but a concatenated description meaning St Mary’s Church in the Hollow of the White Hazel near a Rapid Whirlpool and the Church of St. Tysilio near the Red Cave… (But I am sure that the Welsh would disagree, and it’s their language so I bow to them.)
And thats how Darwin could have come up with his theory of natural selection: people who pay attention to detail die out. But no, he had to sail to the other side of the planet.
And now, almost 200 years later, we audiophiles are sailing a similar voyage (the streaming board in the Naim streamers is aptly named ‘Beagle’). It’s all natural selection.
There’s a huge difference in language and accent in the UK, for such a small island. The rest of the world don’t see it as 4 countries. Australia has a pre white language with a large amount of variation and languages. The state of NSW has many and it’s repeated in every other state. Before a Wallaby test this year the national anthem was sung in 2 languages, the local mods language and you white fellas sang in English, most people I know thought it was wonderful and should be standard.
Post white arrival there’s really only one language with some some variations from state to state, English. I know of course we’ve taken it and bastardised it but that’s what you’d expect us to do.