A2KER Game PT. 2/ The One that IS about the person above you

Kinda hard to say - we all speak similar languages Albanian is different, that's (along with Hungarian) only language that was spoken in ex Yugoslavia, but is not Slavic. I speak Croatian, Serbs speak Serbian, etc...but even on some slavic studies in the world you will find term Serbo-Croatian. That's not completely fair, because although those languages are quite alike, they are much more different then some Scandinavian language for example - and you never hear term Swedo-Danish, or Swedo-Norwegian
(Slavic nations:
Eastern Slavs: Russians, Belarussians, Ukrainians (all three languages are pretty much alike).
Southern Slavs: Croats, Serbs, Slovenes, Macedonians, Montenegrians, Bulgarians (three groups - similar languages are Serbian, Croatian and Montenegrian - Bulgarian and Macedonian - Slovene is different then both groups).
Western Slavs: Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and one very small group that I don't know to translate - "Luzicki Srbi" (Srbi is Serbs, and Luzicki is from some area in Western Europe, but I really have no clue where)


drom - cool, I'm sure nobody so far thought about me in Bordeux

Lesson in linguistics! For that I thank you very much, MOUN! Might I also ask how exactly are Serbs and Croats different? There is contention between the two from what I know. There is a 'refugee' family living next door to my parents in which the patriarch and matriarch are Croatian and Serbian. I hear this is quite unusual? You also mentioned in some thread about a clash with the Muslims and Serbs, right? Do the Muslims also clash with the Croats? Just curious.
That would explain to me why the Albanian-speaking (Muslim, I think) family I've told you aboout moved out of their duplex when the father found out the next door neighbors were Serbs.

My dear devriesj, this is going to be long post Okay...first, Serbs and Croats are two different nations, but they belong to same group of nations - South Slavic group (Yugoslavia or in local "Jugoslavija" actually means "South Slavic country" in free translation, and was consisted of South Slavic nations except for Bulgarians that never joined). Marriages between Croats and Serbs are not unusual, I am from one as well (I am actually 3/4 Serb, since my mom was Serb, and my dad is from serbo-croatian marriage). Or, at least they were not unusual, now after the war they are probably more rare, but still it's happening pretty often I guess.
Wars - When Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia decided to leave Yugoslavia, Serbia made agression on all three former yugoslav republics. In Slovenia war lasted very shortly, in Croatia it was long and terryfing, and in Bosnia was even worse then in Croatia. Most of the time in Bosnia, Croats and Muslims fought together against Serbs, however in one period, in some parts of Bosnia, Croats and Muslims clashes were pretty often. Today Bosnia is united country, but with two different parts - Croat/Muslim federation and Republic of Srpska)

Kosovo is different story. While Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia were separated republics, and later independent countries, Kosovo is part of Serbia - historic part of Serbia, only with Albanian majority.

Nicely explains local differences to the uninitiated

I agree, Margo, and I thank you kindly for the explanation, moun. It's always nice to be educated about other parts of the world.

Margo, it's winter there in Australia. Do you get snow? How cold does it get.
signed, A Curious Yankee!

Often asks interesting questions

Perhaps (certainly) snow in the Alps - but almost never in the cities (rarely in Canberra and Hobart.) Occasional light falls of snow in the mountains to the west of Sydney and the plains.

This is exactly the middle of winter (although August is often colder and windier) The weather is magnificent - courtesy of the drought - magic clear days, and coolish nights. I played tennis last night, and would have been more comfortable in a short sleeve t-shirt and shorts. I was soaked with sweat by the time I got home.

There's almost nothing you can't do in Oz because of the weather. I draw the line at surfing, in winter, but there are those that do, even without wetsuits. Winter is ideal for sailing, and you don't need wetsuits (unless you are given to falling in....) Ski-ing, of course, requires you to travel about 6 hours by road from Sydney, to the ski resorts. Not quite so far from Melbourne - and almost impossible from anywhere else.

devriesj - I'm not sure where you come from, but almost every area of Nth America has more extreme weather than anywhere in Oz, even though the countries are roughly the same size. Sydney is about the same latitude south (33 or 34 degrees) as San Diego is north, and I think we have similar weather.

Quite interesting, margo! I live in Michigan where it gets altogether too cold AND snowy for my liking in the winter. Temps below zero in January and lots and lots of snow. It's beautiful, but I hate the cold. I prefer spring and fall weather much more

Regular A2Ker

Significant to us.

Tenor sax player

Unassuming...

(Yay, Dev! I missed you. Did you get sleep over the last few days?)

Very nice of you to ask! I'm getting a bit of sleep, but I haven't got the whole thing 'sorted out' just yet. It will take time, though not too much more, I hope.
I've been a bit busy, actually. Sometimes I go into a weird sort of 'hyper-drive' when I'm sleep-deprived. I got a lot of supersillious cleaning done and I've spent time with my kids outside. It's been just gorgeous. We went to our town's minor league baseball team game with friends and had a picnic gathering just in the last few days!

Well, that's so good! It sounds like you had a lovelly time. Do many towns have minor leagues? How do they run? -- Like, there are non-pro state championships or something?

Xtra talkative

Youthful but mature.

Zealous

Affable

Bountiful

Cheery Clary