Non political memes: !memes@sopuli.xyz
Heads up to anyone that might not know, but you shouldn't say "the Congo", because referring to it that was is a remnant of colonialism. Instead, just say Congo. E.g. "there's a war in Congo".
I realise that I'm being peak buzzkill politically correct leftie here, but I only learned this relatively recently, and I want to help out others like me. It still sounds weird to me to say "Congo" rather than "the Congo", but that's part of why it feels important to make the effort to change
Is this why it's referred to as Ukraine now and not "the Ukraine"?
Yep, same idea.
Similar for The Ukraine which means “the frontier” in Russian and evokes the history of Muscovite imperialism over their frontier states
For those wondering, Xinjiang, the province controlled by China where the Uyghurs are is named similarly. It literally means “new frontier” in Mandarin.
Many Uyghurs prefer the name East Turkestan. (But ofc thats heavily repressed by the CCP).
The word "Ukraine" itself doesn't mean anything in russian nor ukrainian, it's just a name for a state
The Ukrainian embassy says that The Ukraine is both grammatically and politically incorrect. 🤷🏻♀️
but of course. I never said otherwise. it's your words about it meaning "frontier" in russian is what i was debating, please read my comment again.
There's no such thing as "The" in both Russian and Ukrainian, but what I've seen happen is pro-russian people intentionally saying "on (the) Ukraine" (as if "on the edge") instead of "in Ukraine" to piss people off.
Huh. TIL Slavic languages don’t have a definite article.
So it’s this grammatical mess of Germanic definite articles attached to a Slavic word and the outcome is politically fraught
I can't speak to all Slavic languages but in mine it's concatenated to the subject rather than being its own word
The official name of the country is "Republic of the Congo." It is fine to shorten that to "The Congo."
No. The war is going on in the DRC. Democratic republic of the congo.
The republic of Congo is on the other side of the Congo and Ubangi river.
(Yes there are two Congos).
My bad, I've never seen someone call the DRC "the Congo" and I missed the broader context there.
Someone has already replied to you clarifying that the war is in DR Congo, so I'm going to take a different angle in my reply.
It is true that the full names of the countries include the word "the", for both the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo. However, this doesn't mean that including "the" when shortening it is inoffensive. Context is a part of how words carry meaning, and connotations are a part of that.
For many, "the Congo" evokes the period when it was a Belgian colony, where the Congolese faced horrific treatment, even compared to other colonialist regimes of the past. Arguably, it's still suffering from the effects of colonialism, given that there are many powers extracting the country's abundant natural resources, leading to ongoing economic exploitation of the Congolese.
To put it simply, "the Congo" has bad vibes attached to it, in a way that "Democratic Republic of Congo" doesn't. This is just how language works. Taking a phrase and adding new words to it doesn't just modify the meaning of the existing phrase; it can create an entirely new phrase that is able to exist independently of its starting point (especially if it goes on to be used regularly in a particular context, such as with a country's official name). Meaning being built up like this also means that shortening a phrase may require more than just straightforwardly chopping it up into parts. It wouldn't make sense to short the "United Kingdom" to just "Kingdom", because that's not one of the accepted shortened names for that country.
I stopped using "the Congo" when a Congolese person told me that just "Congo" was preferred. Obviously they don't speak for the entirety of their country, but I didn't see any purpose in digging my heels in against a reasonable preference from the only Congolese person I've met— certainly their word weighs more than my habits. Since then, I've seen it mentioned a few times "Congo" is the preferred term for the shortened country name. Convention can take a while to solidify when a country is enduring war and various kinds of economic exploitation, so this isn't universal yet. However, if we're able to recognise which way the wind is blowing in this respect, then we have the opportunity to be courteous and respect people's self determination.
Firstly, I assumed we were talking about the Republic of the Congo because I've never seen someone refer to the DRC as "the Congo." So my bad for that. If people from either Congo consider "the Congo" problematic, then fair enough, I understand what you're saying and I can try to change. I had always thought it was different from Ukraine in that "the" was intentionally left in the official name, similarly to the Gambia - which is also named after a river.
Which one though?
i personally say:
The Congo/Congo/Congo Republic 🇨🇬
DRC/The DRC/Democratic Congo 🇨🇩
I'd really rather not search for 'Bill Clinton oral sex' on my computer.
WTF is going on that I missed?
Epstein and brother Epstein had an email exchange talking about how Donnie gave Bubba a blowjob and Putin has the tape. Trump has a nickname of Donnie and Clinton has the nickname Bubba.
I manned up and searched the details.
Now I need a full body wash with lye and a new computer.
Trump blew Arnold Palmer who at times went by Bubba like Bill Clinton. The search you should make is "Trump Arnold Palmer"
Don't sully Arnie's name like that.
"This is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough, and I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, 'Oh my God, that's unbelievable.'" - Donald Trump, October 20 2024.
I've used this analogy before.
Trying to follow all of Trump's stupid, insane, and/or disgusting statements is like trying to read s physics text while listening to a calculus lecture and watching Avengers Endgame while riding a roller coaster in the rain.
OK. This is the 5th time I see Watchmen this week.
I have so many books to read, but I guess I'll read Watchmen again
If you haven't seen it, watch the follow-up series with Jean Smart.
...is Bill Murray around?..
Ehh how often isn’t there a war in Congo?
It's not war "in" Congo. It's war, colonialism, etc. against Congo.
"Seriously" tho... Any new theories on this? I saw a theory that it was more likely Roy Cohn... I dunno.
In fairness, the odds of there being a war in the Congo are pretty good for any year. It's not exactly the most stable place in the world.
Theres a war in Kongo
Isnt it like that, that theres basically always war in Kongo (thanks to warlords, resources and the UN being to much of a pussy to prosecute war criminals)?
Here its actually the Rwandan government (Which is supported by much of the world and the UN) funding militias that are arguably commiting genocide in East Congo.
Ah than like that. My knowledge about the kongonis in fact quite limited.
No no, it's Wakanda forever.
This posts should go into the 2025 post of the year awards.