[HN Gopher] I Can Eat Glass
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I Can Eat Glass
Author : vector_spaces
Score : 186 points
Date : 2023-08-27 15:33 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
| NoZebra120vClip wrote:
| How interesting to use a comma splice in a phrase that's purpose-
| built for translations. I wonder if that was a deliberate choice.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma_splice
| abdullahkhalids wrote:
| Surprised this article doesn't mention "The king is dead, long
| live the king!"
| NoZebra120vClip wrote:
| It is strange that Wikipedia claims that this became a meme, yet
| knowyourmeme.com is completely unaware of its memeness. That
| website is typically a solid source for the dankest and/or most
| obscure memes you ever met.
| hunson_abadeer wrote:
| I Can Eat Glass was definitely a thing, but in the late 1990s
| or perhaps very early 2000s. Sites such as knowyourmeme.com
| don't go nearly as far back.
| [deleted]
| NoZebra120vClip wrote:
| The website was first picked up on the Internet Archive in
| 1999. I had no trouble finding memes from 1994-1996 on KYM,
| such as "Dancing Baby", "Ate My Balls", and "Goodtimes
| Virus".
|
| In fact, clicking that "year:1994" turns up 108 results, so
| they're pretty comprehensive, although they only cover Web-
| based memes, usually with images, and not Usenet.
| themaninthedark wrote:
| The Everything2 entry is dated April 12 2000.
| mherdeg wrote:
| Knowyourmeme is very late to the meme game. Entire
| civilizations of memes flourished and decayed on 4chan, fark,
| Slashdot, YTMND, and the bare metal internet long ago.
|
| Bonsai Kitten is lost to the ravages of time.
| jj999 wrote:
| What is the bare metal internet? Is it a series of tubes?
| yellowapple wrote:
| An information superhighway, if you will.
| falcor84 wrote:
| Is that what it was like before it was (re-)made of cats?
|
| https://youtu.be/zi8VTeDHjcM?si=ZSQ7tFjidj0BlZhf
| NoZebra120vClip wrote:
| I suppose if by "lost" you mean "extremely well documented
| with 457 thousand views" then yes, Bonsai Kittens are lost
| forever?
| Tao3300 wrote:
| > Entire civilizations of memes flourished and decayed
|
| Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
|
| And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
|
| Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
|
| Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
|
| The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
|
| And on the pedestal these words appear:
|
| "ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US"
| bowsamic wrote:
| > Bonsai Kitten is lost to the ravages of time.
|
| https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bonsai-kittens
| thih9 wrote:
| Some external links in that article were mildly disturbing
| to me, bonsai babies in particular, I do not recommend
| clicking randomly.
| ModernMech wrote:
| I liked it better when the internet was made of cats. Now
| there are too many dogs and it's not as fun.
| Tijdreiziger wrote:
| http://i0.kym-
| cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/007/447/yes...
| ooterness wrote:
| "Ah, you think dankness is your ally. But you merely adopted
| the dank; I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the
| memes until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me
| but BLINDING!" -Fark, probably
| Maken wrote:
| You can help to complete the archives.
| hamolton wrote:
| KYM is super biased in what ends up there, as it leans heavily
| towards 4chan and Reddit content, with heavy amounts of Twitch
| and certain genres in YouTube. It's missing a lot of memes
| popular among girls, especially from Tumblr. Similarly, it
| doesn't have a lot of TikTok trends & tropes that I'd consider
| to be memes.
| techload wrote:
| Once I met a young man who was able to eat glass, literally. I
| saw, right in front of me, him break a glass with his teeth, chew
| the pieces until they were very fine, and swallow everything. To
| prove that he wasn't hiding the pieces in his mouth, he made a
| point of opening his mouth wide and showing that he had indeed
| swallowed them.
| kemayo wrote:
| Given that you don't mention seeing blood, this was almost
| certainly just someone playing a prank by eating sugar glass.
| It's slightly thickened melted sugar that you've let set into a
| thin pane. Looks just like glass, but it's really rock candy
| and so you can break it up and chew it.
|
| https://www.inthekitchenwithmatt.com/edible-sugar-glass
| techload wrote:
| No. It was a glass from the bar, and a thick walled one.
| There was no blood. He did this thing several times. He did
| not die, as I met him several years after. It is a glass like
| this one, common in Brazilian bars:
|
| https://youtu.be/xwrn2h8iAdw
| kadoban wrote:
| I'd still think it's more likely it was a magic trick or
| scam.
| [deleted]
| techload wrote:
| There are a lot of people who do this, amazing and
| unbelievable as it may seem.
|
| https://youtu.be/WUuMybRysjE
|
| https://youtu.be/O8ifaTHbMTo
|
| https://youtu.be/JFnGsGnlkAI
|
| https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5OdkhtMEqMo?feature=share
| kemayo wrote:
| With only minor collusion with the bartender, you can just
| arrange to be given a glass _made_ of sugar-glass.
|
| https://www.makeyourownmolds.com/how-to-sugar-glass-mold/
| augusto-moura wrote:
| You probably mean a Copo Americano (American Glass) [1].
| Also note, that eating glass is also a common magic trick,
| David Blaine is famous for doing it [2], I'm not sure how
| real is the glass though
|
| [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copo_americano
|
| [2]: https://youtu.be/MewROa1EU_o?si=Vysz1UfyWV44AEd_&t=83
| NikolaNovak wrote:
| I have seen enough amazing sleight of hand and trickery that I
| just always assume there's something I'm not seeing. One would
| be hard pressed to prove to me alone that they are eating real
| broken proper glass.
|
| If,say, Penn & Teller were in the room with me witnessing the
| effect yp close and said "actually I think that's legit" then,
| maybe. I'd give it some benefit of doubt. But I've learned my
| humility when it comes to limits of my observational
| capabilities and knowledge of magic tricks / what to look for.
|
| So why I 100% believe that's what you saw, I approximately 0%
| believe that's what happened :-/
|
| (that being said, if they chewed it very very very well, then..
| Maybe? But basically I'd need external verification for
| anything that's susceptible to sleight of hand and other
| trickery, especially street performances where I know I'm
| massively out gunned :-)
| CharlesW wrote:
| "Eat Lightbulbs Without Getting Hurt":
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbpCw5ZnP5o
| [deleted]
| vanviegen wrote:
| Swallowing ground glass is not actually all that dangerous. [1]
| The trick would be in chewing carefully, without your mouth
| becoming a bloody mess. Seems doable, maybe, though I don't
| feel any urge to try it any time soon. :-)
|
| [1]: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ground-glass-deadly/
| russellpekala wrote:
| I love this. My coworkers and I call ourselves glasseaters since
| we're all so scrappy.
|
| The guy who started this translation project (per the wikipedia)
| was himself a startup founder
| https://www.linkedin.com/in/emollick/.
| janalsncm wrote:
| The Mandarin translation is incorrect. The he chose close
| homophones of the right words, but they have the wrong tones. You
| can verify this by translating the image back to English.
| Tao3300 wrote:
| What are you translating with? Google seems to get the right
| result by translating "Wo Neng Tun Xia Bo Li Er Bu Shang Shen
| Ti " as "I can swallow glass without hurting myself"
|
| Of course, that doesn't mean Google is correct.
| EGreg wrote:
| When I was in Julliard pre-college music school, there was a girl
| I had a crush on. She was from South Africa and I wanted to
| impress her. But being 14 years old, I didn't want to say
| something cheesy. So I asked my Dutch friends how to say this (it
| is the same in Afrikaans)...
|
| Beware of the giant chicken! It will eat your hair.
| [deleted]
| ftxbro wrote:
| For anyone who doesn't know, the student who made the 'I Can Eat
| Glass' project is Ethan Mollick. He's now a professor at Wharton
| and in my opinion he is the best public LLM whisperer!
| dr_dshiv wrote:
| He is the best
| dr_dshiv wrote:
| "Mi hermano esta enfermo pero mis pantalones son rojos."
|
| This was my favorite bombastic phrase in Spanish--for the same
| purpose: to be "viewed as an insane native, and treated with
| dignity and respect"
| yellow_lead wrote:
| > Saying "I can eat glass, it does not hurt me", however, ensures
| that the speaker "will be viewed as an insane native, and treated
| with dignity and respect".
|
| Since context is such an important part of many languages, this
| almost guarantees no one will understand you unless you have
| perfect pronunciation
| [deleted]
| pluijzer wrote:
| The nuance of the Dutch translation is slightly wrong, possibly
| implying eating glass in general doesn't hurt. Just a heads-up
| for those going to the old archived website in search of medical
| advice.
| gattilorenz wrote:
| If you go by reported pronunciation it says "hij", doesn't it?
| Just don't text/write it and it will be ok.
| mabbo wrote:
| I asked chatgpt the following: Please translate
| the sentence "I can eat glass, it does not hurt me" into 50
| different languages. Include a pronunciation guide for English
| speakers for each.
|
| And was not disappointed at all.
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| LoveMortuus wrote:
| I read the title as grass and got excited...
| loxias wrote:
| Awesome. I remember this from the early internet. I think from
| everything2. An older code, but it checks out.
| carabiner wrote:
| insane -> dignity, respect
|
| ?
| inopinatus wrote:
| Enoch Root wants to borrow your bicycle.
| jj999 wrote:
| Dignity and respect result from fear. Who would you fear most
| between the tourist and the insane?
| saghm wrote:
| Well, yeah, that's the joke; it's not actually supposed to be a
| useful resource, but something fun and silly
| [deleted]
| wonger_ wrote:
| One of the external links is a page that uses translations of the
| phrase as a UTF-8 rendering test. It has 150 translations,
| including some weird ones like Old Norse: ek get eti th gler mn
| thess ath ve rtha sar and Inuktitut: alicoq niriyaraangakko
| soranngittonnaqtonga
|
| http://www.columbia.edu/~fdc/utf8.html#glass
| codezero wrote:
| I used to play online games at an hour when a lot of Japanese
| players were online, I asked my sister who was studying Japanese
| for some phrases to say and this was one of them. Now I know
| where she got it from! I also used this phrase when I was
| visiting Australia and met two Japanese guys at a bar, they
| thought it was hilarious.
| Semaphor wrote:
| 2019, 84 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21121982
|
| Mainly anecdotes about fun language confusions ;)
| vic-traill wrote:
| >Saying "I can eat glass, it does not hurt me", however, ensures
| that the speaker "will be viewed as an insane native, and treated
| with dignity and respect".
|
| Well, I'm not sure where Michel Lotito [0] (aka Monsieur
| Mangetout) fits w/ this ...
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Michel_Lotito
| Akronymus wrote:
| huh, seems as if there slipped an addition / in there. Which
| broke my redirection, but still worked. Which makes me curious
| as how that happened in the first place.
| emodendroket wrote:
| I was just thinking about this the other day; how strange to see
| that others remember and were thinking the same.
| jandrese wrote:
| > Saying "I can eat glass, it does not hurt me", however, ensures
| that the speaker "will be viewed as an insane native, and treated
| with dignity and respect".
|
| If there is anything rambling insane people get it is dignity and
| respect.
| kadoban wrote:
| Given the context, the probability of that being tongue-in-
| cheek has to be quite high.
| NoZebra120vClip wrote:
| On second thought, keep your tongue away from your cheeks
| whilst eating glass, lest it get shredded up.
| [deleted]
| lo_zamoyski wrote:
| I think this assumes people are more respectful to their own,
| at least overtly, than to guests, but this is an incomplete
| view. In cultures where hospitality is high, guests are treated
| with a hospitality and patience that is not extended to the
| locals. Furthermore, foreigners are more likely to be viewed as
| people unfamiliar with the conventions and customs of the
| region, and therefore some reasonable patience is shown,
| whereas locals are expected to be on top of such things.
|
| What insane people get isn't dignity and true respect, but
| avoidance!
| version_five wrote:
| Obviously tongue in cheek but also largely true. Tourists are
| targets for all kinds of scams. Less so local crazies.
|
| Nobody is actually going to belive an obvious foreigner
| shouting a crazy phrase in accented local language is actually
| a local, but they still may steer clear and scam someone else
| (if this was meant to be taken seriously, it obviously isn't).
|
| There's that "real Ghostbusters" cartoon where the street
| toughs ask Egon what he's doing and he said something about
| ectoplasm or whatever, and one of the toughs asks the leader
| why he left him alone and he says 'I don't mess with anyone
| weirder than me"
| twism wrote:
| I had tons of friends who could do this literally in primary
| school (Nigeria) .. and it was normal. It's funny the things you
| pick up as a kid in Nigeria that people look at you in amazement
| when you do it. For instance, the awes I get when I crack open a
| beer bottle with my teeth. Granted every kid in Nigeria could do
| this (soda bottles) since they were 6.
| twism wrote:
| Come to think of it I'm now curious how this is possible. With
| cracking open bottle tops, it is all leverage (not strength,
| power, or some physical gift) but I would think chewing glass
| has got to be some special type of skill or physical ability. I
| didn't have a curious mind for it then since I didn't think it
| was a special skill although I did not dare try it as it seemed
| to me as dangerous as it sounded
| throw1234651234 wrote:
| All fun and games until a piece lodges in your throat. A lot of
| professional performers mostly count on things sitting right,
| and then die when they don't. E.g.:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirin_Dajo
| NoZebra120vClip wrote:
| Then again, there's Stevie Starr, who's passed the ripe old
| age of 60, and still going strong with swallowing and
| regurgitating all manner of crazy stuff:
| https://youtu.be/WVVLyZKtIbI?si=sFDuCGXpdO-CbP8K
| MaKey wrote:
| > For instance, the awes I get when I crack open a beer bottle
| with my teeth.
|
| People might be in awe because they are thinking about what it
| does to your teeth.
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| thenewwazoo wrote:
| What synchronicity! My work slack status is currently this
| phrase, in Swahili, translated by a recent hire with whom I
| connected over love of language.
|
| The one time I have been able to bust out my knowledge of Swedish
| (limited to this one phrase) in order to try and flirt, the focus
| of my attentions was... not impressed. I couldn't tell if it was
| because I was not impressive, or just a cultural mismatch. In any
| case, it didn't discourage me from continuing to learn.
| asabla wrote:
| It could also be that ice cream is very close to glass in
| Swedish. Matter in fact ice cream in Swedish is actually
| spelled the same as glass.
|
| So depending on how well you pronounced it, you may just have
| said: I can eat ice cream, it doesn't hurt
|
| edit: added a missing word
| hnarn wrote:
| For those wondering, single consonant means slow vowel,
| double consonant means fast vowel, just like "floss". So:
|
| glass (swe) -> glass (ice cream)
|
| glas (swe) -> glaas (glass)
|
| To make it even easier these two words also have different
| A-sounds, the first quick one has the one in english "tan",
| the second has the one in "car".
| OJFord wrote:
| I haven't come across this one before, a similar project is
| https://omniglot.com/language/phrases/hovercraft.htm ('my
| hovercraft is full of eels' from Monty Python's Flying Circus)
| szatkus wrote:
| There's even PIE and Sumerian, hilarious.
| [deleted]
| dctoedt wrote:
| And the very first cold-open sketch on the very first episode
| of _Saturday Night Live_ , in October 1975: John Belushi
| learning to say, "I would like to feed your fingertips to the
| wolverines."
|
| https://www.openculture.com/2021/03/saturday-night-lives-ver...
| lafar6503 wrote:
| Where are your howitzers?
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(page generated 2023-08-27 23:00 UTC)