Slashdot Mirror
If You're Fat, Broke, and Smoking, Blame Language
First time accepted submitter derekmead writes "A Yale researcher says that culture differences how much money we save, how well we take care of ourselves, and other behavior indicative of taking the long view, are all based on language. His study argues that the way a language's syntax refers to the future (PDF) affects how its speakers perceive the future. For example, English and Greek make strong distinctions between the present and the future, while German doesn't, while English and Greek speakers are statistically poorer and in worse health than Germans. (The study includes a broader swath of languages/nationalities, but that's a start.)"
The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or the Americans. On the other hand, the French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or the Americans.
The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or the Americans. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or the Americans.
Conclusion: Eat and drink what you like. It’s speaking English that kills you
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Gesundheit.
In German that word is unnecessary; submitter is just trying lose weight, get rich, and live healthier.
Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and stupid comments are intentional.
Yes, you knew it was coming and here it is: http://xkcd.com/552/
I expected this to be about programming languages. I've known a lot of fat, broke, chain-smoking COBOL programmers.
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
Five. The answer is five.
I do blame language. Ruby and Python developers do look a little bit more chubby.
enfeebled
I think the word you were looking for is de-embiggened.
The CB App. What's your 20?