Europe - The Official Thread

Liquid
I suppose it can also depend whether you're used to a phrase or not. We're all desensitised to "Oh my god!" or "Jesus Christ" or "Bloody hell" these days. It's not really my god, I'm an atheist, but it's just something you say. I speak German but was surprised that in Austria almost everyone says hello with Grüß Gott! or Grüzi! (Salutations to god). It took me a while to realise that I'm not trapped in a cult, that it's not literally true and then I remembered "Oh my god!" in English.

If you speak Arabic, you'd probably hear Allahu Akbar a lot. I'm sure a lot of nice people say it and a lot of :censored:s say it too.
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I had a friend in university who was from Egypt, and he explained to me that Allahu Akbar is often times used as just a friendly greeting, the same way that two Christian’s might greed each other with “God is good”.

The other similar phrase used Arabic a lot is As-salāmu ʿalaykum

From Wikipedia
(Arabic: السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ‬ [æs.sæˈlæːmu ʕæˈlæjkʊm]) is a greeting in Arabic that means "Peace be upon you". The greeting is a religious salutation among Muslimswhen greeting. [1] The typical response to the greeting is wa ʿalaykumu s-salām (وَعَلَيْكُمُ السَّلَام‬ [wæ ʕæˈlæjkʊmu s.sæˈlæm]) "And peace be upon you too".
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Now, “God is good” and “Peace be upon you” are not very common in modern English language, but I’d say that’s because the role of the Christianity in English speaking countries is severely diminished from what it used to be, and certainly not on the level of Islam in many Arabic countries counties. If I got to mass with my grandma though, I still hear people greeting each other with these very religious phrases.
 
TenEightyOne
I'm confused, what are you guys translating it as? The literal translation is "God is greater". Maybe that's a British translation... referring to something as greater (or the greater) is perfectly normal.
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We should be careful with the concept of "literal" when the target language introduce nuances that the original doesn't have.

For exemple, if someone try to translate "How are you?" in French, the translator has to decide whether it will be "Comment vas-tu ?" or "Comment allez-vous ?" which should depends of the relation(ship) between who speaks to whom.
This, by the way, broke an old Simpsons episode, which was a parody of Dallas as the last episode of the season ended with Mr Burns being shot by a shooter to be reveal in the following season, despite we heard Mr Burns spoke to him/her. The french translation absolutely excluded it could be a child, which it turn out it was.
 
French police uses Russian Gorka-3 suits? Hmm...

-bZVJWGnbQc.jpg


P.S. This suit is also used by Russian special forces (Spetsnaz), and was spotted on some rebels in Eastern Ukraine...
Shhh...
 
Rage Racer
Shhh...
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What?
You posted a blurry picture of a single policeman, taken we don't know where, in civil gear, wearing a parka looking like a Russian suit, then mentioned Ukraine (where Russian soldiers have been spotted, along with a Russian missile launcher that destroyed a civilian aircraft).
I'm afraid i missed the explicit narrative going next.
 
Rage Racer
French police uses Russian Gorka-3 suits? Hmm...

-bZVJWGnbQc.jpg


P.S. This suit is also used by Russian special forces (Spetsnaz), and was spotted on some rebels in Eastern Ukraine...
Shhh...
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I've made a quick google search and none of the Gorka-3 models look like the parka like coat the french is using. Can you share the model, link or picture of the suit you're talking about?

None of these suits from the store looks like the one in the picture you posted. Aside from color...
 
zzz_pt
I've made a quick google search and none of the Gorka-3 models look like the parka like coat the french is using. Can you share the model, link or picture of the suit you're talking about?

None of these suits from the store looks like the one in the picture you posted. Aside from color...
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A guy in the comment section of where I found this pic noted that it's rather Gorka 4:
g4-sm.jpg

Note the dark areas on the shoulders (where they connect on the back) and elbows.

Also... looks like the French police forces also use Russian guns (or clones of those?).
These look like Vepr or Saiga shotguns:
Y11iUgB4ox4.jpg
dpNq64OzCp0.jpg

Interesting. Never knew...
 
Rage Racer
A guy in the comment section of where I found this pic noted that it's rather Gorka 4:
g4-sm.jpg

Note the dark areas on the shoulders (where they connect on the back) and elbows.

Also... looks like the French police forces also use Russian guns (or clones of those?).
These look like Vepr or Saiga shotguns:
Y11iUgB4ox4.jpg
dpNq64OzCp0.jpg

Interesting. Never knew...
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~

Plenty of normal coats and winter coats/parkas have a different color on the shouler or upper half of the body/back.
It's not the same mix of colors or materials around the arms though (the Gorka one is mostly dark green, the french one is not). Also the french policeman's coat has different type of collar.

I'm not an expert on this but I'm good at spotting differences in general.
 
Milouse
This is GIPN, a SWAT-like type of unit. Unlike army which got standardized weapons bought in high volume, it seems that, based on my quick search, GIPN, like RAID, uses a wide range of weapons depending of the situation, no matter where they come from. (here is a non exhaustive list of weapons used)
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So there are both Saiga and Vepr, I see.
Pretty much like the Russian special forces operating foreign guns like HK417 and Steyr SSG 69.

zzz_pt
~

Plenty of normal coats and winter coats/parkas have a different color on the shouler or upper half of the body/back.
It's not the same mix of colors or materials around the arms though (the Gorka one is mostly dark green, the french one is not). Also the french policeman's coat has different type of collar.

I'm not an expert on this but I'm good at spotting differences in general.
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I’d say the stripes on the sleeves is a pretty visible mark. The color tone may look a bit different because of lighting.

Milouse
What?
You posted a blurry picture of a single policeman, taken we don't know where, in civil gear, wearing a parka looking like a Russian suit, then mentioned Ukraine (where Russian soldiers have been spotted, along with a Russian missile launcher that destroyed a civilian aircraft).
I'm afraid i missed the explicit narrative going next.
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Alright, alright :sly:

Whether it’s Gorka or not, it doesn’t make much difference, the Gorka is a warm and comfortable suit for combat use, and it’s commercially available so anyone in the world can buy and own one, including a French police officer.
I didn’t lie anywhere though, it’s used by Russian special forces and Russian-backed rebels as well (as for the ‘Russian missile launcher’ and MH17, it’s in the different thread if you want to discuss it).

I just wanted to see what people here think when they see it. Because in the comments under this pic, the users were speculating about conspiracy theories about Russian involvement in the French protests. Some journalists of British media (particularly BBC) are looking for Kremlin’s hand in the yellow vests, too.
 
Dotini
Odd "constructivist" magazine cover stirs things up in old France.
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The potential to draw a Hitler comparison is quite evident, I'm not surprised they apologised. Admittedly the cover said "Failure of Marxism" to others, something which I can see. The font is unfortunate despite being the normal Le Monde titre font, its Gothic nature adds to the Nazi feel of the whole thing.
 
BobK
Okay, stay unemployed, then. Enjoy.
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Relevance of this comment, knowing that I have just questioned the link between Trump politic and the state of the US employment? I do not think I've given my views about economy...
 
It's probably safe to ignore what intellectuals say, but here it is:

A satirical float features the Polish and Hungarian politicians Jarosław Kaczyński and Viktor Orbán during a parade in Dusseldorf, Germany. Photograph: Lukas Schulze/Getty Images


Liberal values in Europe face a challenge “not seen since the 1930s”, leading intellectuals from 21 countries have said, as the UK lurches towards Brexitand nationalists look set to make sweeping gains in EU parliamentary elections.

The group of 30 writers, historians and Nobel laureates declared in a manifesto published in several newspapers, including the Guardian, that Europe as an idea was “coming apart before our eyes”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...part-before-our-eyes-say-30-top-intellectuals
 
Dotini
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Orbán and Communist Sickle? Totally incompatible. :odd: What makes some people think that if a governemnt is not liberal there is clearly dictature in a country?



Also, anothing I would like to ask from you guys.


Is it true that in France you can't say 'mother' or 'father' anymore? Can't really find out if it's true from Hungarian sources. :rolleyes:
 
TheNuvolari
Is it true that in France you can't say 'mother' or 'father' anymore?
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Non, c'est pas vrai. Schools are being given the option to have "Parent 1" and "Parent 2" on data forms rather than the traditional "Mother" and "Father". This is being spun into the story that you are presumably referencing above. In modern times when we accept that gay couples can have children it seems a perfectly sensible thing to do, and lots of organisations across Europe already do it by simply omitting gender nouns from the forms. In the UK where Parental Consent can be held by more than two people the forms often have four boxes to name the holders.
 

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