Recent comments by user

When I was at California Institute of Technology, …

Comment posted on Zip Code by cherrybomb

When I was at California Institute of Technology, the school had a unique zip code, 91125, and its own system of postal boxes. You could send me mail addressed “P-107, 91125″ and it would get to me without even my name.

Recent comments by cherrybomb

Sergeant
So far, I have not seen an explanation of why a major outranks a captain, but a lieutenant general outranks a major general. It is kinda interesting, so I will try that.

Originally, there were just three officer ranks. Captain, colonel and general. The ranks were based on political connections or how many troops you could raise, not military ability. So they would each have a professional officer (lieutenant) to serve under them and make the actual decisions. Captain:lieutenant::colonel:lieutenant colonel::general:lieutenant general
In turn, each of these lieutenants would have a sergeant major (servent) to actually execute the orders. Some of the words were dropped, but originally these were sergeant [major] [captain], [sergeant] major [colonel], and [sergeant] major general. So that is why a lieutenant general outranks a major general.
Forte Pronunciation
“No holds barred” is an easy one. It is from wrestling, where some holds are illegal. In the ancient Olympic sport of pankration, I belive that only eye-gouging was disallowed.
Forte Pronunciation
“at” is as good a word as any for the symbol. It was originally used for commercial transactions as in “Sold 30 haxes @ 10 for 300 total”. Most early typewriters were used in commerce, and they had a special key for it because it was used so much. The usage died, but the key remained as a relic on keyboards until the internet revived it.
Perks
I was recently reading some Egyptian hieroglyphs and came across the word “sack.” My curiosity was aroused, and I find the same word, same meaning, same pronunciation (basically) in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, then English. I could ask my mom who is fluent in Russian, but I wanna ask you because you are more cute. Is there an analog in Slavic languages?
Burrito
What most people would call a burrito these days, I remember being calles a “zapato” (shoe). Anyone else remember that?