Ucantalas Posted August 22, 2014 I would've enjoyed doing that, as I gagged at every sip I took. God who would voluntarily drink beer. Fucking gross. Random thought: beer is fucking gross. Random thought: Beer is delicious and you don't know what you're talking about. (But in all seriousness, its something that really grew on me. When I first tried it I couldn't stand it, but from various parties where it was the only beverage available or peer pressures I drank it more often, and now I actually enjoy drinking it. Plus there's such a variety!) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted August 22, 2014 Random thought: beer is literally the most repulsive drink every concocted by mankind. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ucantalas Posted August 22, 2014 Random thought: I think you have beer confused with Mocha Cola.Other Random Thought: Just because it costs less than a dollar doesn't mean I need to try it... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apelsin Posted August 22, 2014 Nah, there are a lot worse out there. Mostly other kinds of alcohol I've found that it definitely is something you get used to. I've gone from completely despising it to being able to have a pint of Staropramen every now and then. I guess I could learn to like coffee after all. Ginger Beer on the other hand is delicious! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted August 22, 2014 Random thought: I don't know what Mocha Cola is. Other random thought: The more expensive the beer, the bigger waste of money it is. Yet another random thought: I like most other types of alcohol, though. The last random thought for this post: I will concede, now that I think about it, that gin is worse than beer; it's like drinking a fucking Christmas tree. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eot Posted August 22, 2014 I don't like gin either. I had too much of it once when we dared each other to take drinking glass sized shots (teens are stupid) and now I can't even smell the damn stuff without feeling sick. As for beer, I don't mind it but I figure it's one of those things I'm better of not loving just for what it seems to do to people's bodies. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted August 23, 2014 I have never been able to stand gin, it's the only alcohol I feel that way about. I have a friend who insists that I just haven't had the right drink with it yet, and occasionally mixes me something new, or uses different brands of gin. It's all still awful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SecretAsianMan Posted August 23, 2014 Random thought: I don't know what Mocha Cola is. Other random thought: The more expensive the beer, the bigger waste of money it is. The last random thought for this post: I will concede, now that I think about it, that gin is worse than beer; it's like drinking a fucking Christmas tree. I agree with these statements. On the topic of not being able to drink beer, I have a specific reason for hating it. I believe I've told this story before on these forums but I'll repeat it. When I was a kid I saw a beer commercial. I told my father I wanted some, so he went out and bought a six pack. After drinking about half of one, I spent the next few hours puking my guts up. It's a mean trick but it fucking worked because it wasn't until college that I was able to even smell beer without immediately wanting to hurl. It took a LOT for me to learn to tolerate drinking it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ucantalas Posted August 23, 2014 Behold, Mocha Cola! It's pop, with a coffee type of flavoring... in reality it just tastes like someone tried to brew coffee by pouring Pepsi in the coffee machine instead of water. It had a little bit of fizz left, but not a lot, and I dont remember checking for a date on the can, so its possible mine was old and possibly flat? (I also got it at a dollar store, on sale. So maybe the one I had wasn't at the height of Mocha Cola quality...) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SuperBiasedMan Posted August 23, 2014 I am a disgrace to my people and just generally hate beer. I've periodically retried it at different times and with different drinks but I just cannot accept beer. Cider is my beverage of choice, but also basically anything else that's alcoholic I've tried (I haven't tried gin) has been better. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JonCole Posted August 23, 2014 Yeah, some people have bemoaned the rise of cider but it's so much more tolerable than most beer for me. I do enjoy light beers, my local brewery that distributes to nearby restaurants has Killer Whale Cream Ale which I order whenever it's on tap. I'll also buy a Blue Moon or tell a bartender "give me something kinda like a Blue Moon". Sometimes if given the choice I will just order a mixed drink or liquor which I really do prefer, but I don't really know shit about mixed drinks so I'll often just go with beer to save myself the adult humiliation of ordering a whiskey and diet coke. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clyde Posted August 24, 2014 After finding out how to say "rock, paper, scissors" in Korean, I strongly suspect that the game came from there. I always thought it was a weird combination of items, but it sounds great in Korean. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eot Posted August 24, 2014 I really want to learn Korean but I'm trying to learn Japanese and I figure doing both at the same time is recipe for failure. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blambo Posted August 24, 2014 I'm surprised that more people aren't interested in Chinese, not for the usual "business opportunities" economic paranoia reason but because it's super rich and systemic. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clyde Posted August 24, 2014 Korea looks really fun in the romantic comedies they produce. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tegan Posted August 24, 2014 After finding out how to say "rock, paper, scissors" in Korean, I strongly suspect that the game came from there. I always thought it was a weird combination of items, but it sounds great in Korean. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eot Posted August 24, 2014 I'm surprised that more people aren't interested in Chinese, not for the usual "business opportunities" economic paranoia reason but because it's super rich and systemic. I studied it (mandarin) briefly, but to my ears it's an exceptionally ugly language. Maybe that's silly (or maybe it's just the Beijing dialect), but I had a hard time being enthusiastic about it. Also, I'm not sure I'd want to visit mainland China because of the current regime. There's always Taiwan though. Do you speak it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SecretAsianMan Posted August 24, 2014 I have a very difficult time distinguishing spoken Korean and Japanese. They sound very similar to me. I do love the way they sound though. It flows so well. I can speak Chinese, in the sense that if I were stranded in China I could probably survive but I'm by no means fluent. One thing that it did make me realize though is that English is such a terribly shitty language. There are so many rules that make no sense or have stupid exceptions. I studied it (mandarin) briefly, but to my ears it's an exceptionally ugly language. Maybe that's silly (or maybe it's just the Beijing dialect), but I had a hard time being enthusiastic about it. Also, I'm not sure I'd want to visit mainland China because of the current regime. There's always Taiwan though. Actually being in China isn't all that different from being in the US or any other Western country. Obviously there's a cultural difference but in terms of the regime, in all likelihood you won't encounter much of it as a tourist. There's a ton of shit that sucks and is terrible, but it's like the US where that stuff is mostly hidden until something happens that brings it out into the public. I wouldn't want to live there though. I mainly don't like going to Taiwan because it's constantly hot and humid. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Twig Posted August 24, 2014 As someone who briefly studied Japanese (and lived in Japan for half a year), I think Korean sounds totally different. But that's to be expected. I also hate the way Korean and Chinese sound. X: LANGUAGES. FUN. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blambo Posted August 25, 2014 I studied it (mandarin) briefly, but to my ears it's an exceptionally ugly language. Maybe that's silly (or maybe it's just the Beijing dialect), but I had a hard time being enthusiastic about it. Also, I'm not sure I'd want to visit mainland China because of the current regime. There's always Taiwan though. Do you speak it? I should disclaim that I was born in China and raised in the US so I can't really speak to a modern chinese cultural experience, but I speak mandarin and can understand some conversational Hangzhou dialect. In my experience the language feels extremely functional and modular first and foremost, and the beauty lies mostly in twists of meaning rather than in the immediate aesthetic. It's cool if you can get over the initial hump of lacking essential vocabulary, and the grammar is pretty intuitive (my linguist friend says it's a manifestation of early symbolic thought and probably has ties to really primitive languages). I dunno I'm not an expert but you should give it another shot, if not for tourism reasons (but as superasianman says, the worst parts of the regime don't crop up when you visit as a tourist in a large city) but for the millennia of literature and thought that's unique to the language. In less pretentious terms you should also check it out for the mechanics of the grammar. EDIT: also there are no special forms of words that denote cases and three pronouns that can be modified to form six (we is "me plural" and them is "him/her plural"), and I think there's a special pronoun used to denote "we" excluding the person you're talking to. The flexibility and modularity is a welcome change after studying something like russian or French. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
eot Posted August 25, 2014 I dunno I'm not an expert but you should give it another shot, if not for tourism reasons (but as superasianman says, the worst parts of the regime don't crop up when you visit as a tourist in a large city) but for the millennia of literature and thought that's unique to the language. In less pretentious terms you should also check it out for the mechanics of the grammar. If only there were more hours in the day I always end up thinking "if I'd studied x language 30-60min a day since year y I'd be fluent now", so now I'm finally going to do something about it. Maybe then I'll have time to get to Chinese too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SecretAsianMan Posted August 25, 2014 If only there were more hours in the day I always end up thinking "if I'd studied x language 30-60min a day since year y I'd be fluent now", so now I'm finally going to do something about it. Maybe then I'll have time to get to Chinese too! I'm constantly bothered that there aren't more tools to learn Chinese. It's the most spoken language in the world by number of speakers and it's one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations. You'd think it would be easier to find a way to learn it. I understand time and resources being a factor but I still wish things like Duolingo offered it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
clyde Posted August 25, 2014 If only there were more hours in the day I always end up thinking "if I'd studied x language 30-60min a day since year y I'd be fluent now", so now I'm finally going to do something about it. Maybe then I'll have time to get to Chinese too! I bought one of those language records that teaches you how to speak in a foreign language while you sleep. During the night the record skipped so when I woke up all I could do was stutter in Spanish. -paraphrase of a Steven Wright joke. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SecretAsianMan Posted August 25, 2014 I bought one of those language records that teaches you how to speak in a foreign language while you sleep. During the night the record skipped so when I woke up all I could do was stutter in Spanish. -paraphrase of a Steven Wright joke. If I weren't at work I'd insert the clip from Dexter's Lab where he tries to learn French in his sleep but the record loops and all he can say the next day is "omelette du fromage". I'll probably edit this post when I get home. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites