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Cake day: June 6th, 2023

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  • Neville Chamberlain originally did try appeasement with Hitler, yes, but he did declare war when peace talks broke down. He massively scaled up the armed forces before war broke as a signalled deterrent to Hitler.

    Once it became entirely clear that the enemy could not be reasoned with, he stood down, having exhausted all the power he had to stop further escalation.

    Churchill, in contrast, was an escalator. Perhaps what the country needed at the time, but so pig-headed that he wanted to keep the war going long after support from home had dried out.












  • Not a word, but there’s a specific phrase uttered when you casually pass by someone working, stop for a chat, and then genuinely wish them well with their work as you leave.

    This phrase does not exist in English:

    • Break a leg” is close, but more reserved for some grand performance

    Nor does it exist in German:

    • Viel Spass/Glück” (Have fun, Good Luck) is also close, but has an element of sarcasm and/or success through chance.
    • (Edit) “Frohes Schaffen” (Happy ‘getting it done’) is pretty spot on.

    In Turkish, you just say “Kolay Gelsin”, meaning “May the work come easy so that you finish sooner”.

    Its such a useful unjudgemental phrase, easily uttered, that I’ve seen nowhere else. Maybe other languages have it too.