thefridayfive | The Friday Five for 11 October 2024

These questions were originally written and posted by the creator of this community,

leanasidhe.

1. If you could live in any city in the world, where would you live and why?

2. If you could speak any language fluently, what would it be?

3. When was the last time you rode a ferry and where did you go?

4. What was the longest plane ride you've ever taken?

5. If you discovered a country, what would you name it?

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From:

archersangel

https://archersangel.dreamwidth.org/386948.html

elyusion

https://elyusion.dreamwidth.org/2508.html

catness

https://catness.dreamwidth.org/572466.html

lilly_c

1. If you could live in any city in the world, where would you live and why?
Aberdeen, Scotland. It has been my home for over 15 years now and I love it here so much because the beach is in walking distance. I can walk up to Torry Battery and spot dolphins and I can get a bus out to the shire for when I want to be in the countryside. I spend most of my time at the beach or in Duthie Park, also in walking distance.

2. If you could speak any language fluently, what would it be?
Irish and Polish. My family taught me some Irish words and phrases when I was younger but I'm very rusty and I picked up some Polish words and phrases from work friends over the years.

3. When was the last time you rode a ferry and where did you go?
Last month when I went to Ireland to visit a fandom friend.

4. What was the longest plane ride you've ever taken?
Manchester to Sydney in 2022 and I think Manchester to Seattle in 2004 was quite long too.

5. If you discovered a country, what would you name it?
I wouldn't name it, I'd keep it to myself for as long as I could and then tell selected friends so they can visit it too.

scrubjayspeaks

Done!

sallymn

1. If you could live in any city in the world, where would you live and why?
I actually think I'd stay right where I am... the word that puts me off is 'city' because I have enjoyed visiting quite a lot here or in other countries, but being me I don't think I would want to live in any of them. Somewhere big simply wouldn't suit me, I am happy in my own big town/small city which is big enough to have everything I need all the time but not too big that I end up lost (well, not too often :) or cranky from crowds..

2. If you could speak any language fluently, what would it be?
Probably Japanese, I want to go to Japan one day...

3. When was the last time you rode a ferry and where did you go?
When was the last time we went to Sydney? We always take the ferry to Manly, spend some time on the beach, have fish and chips and then a hot chocolate at the specialist shop there. Not a fancy day out but we like it.

4. What was the longest plane ride you've ever taken?
I once did the trip from London to Sydney in one haul except for an hour stopover somewhere in the Middle East? - never again. That many hours without sleep (because I can't sleep on international flights) was pretty grim. We have done the same trip forward or back a few other times but always with a stopover.

5. If you discovered a country, what would you name it?
The part of me that has still never grown up insists on 'Dunroamin', partly because if I have travelled all that way to wherever it is, I will definitely feel that way, partly because yes, it's silly but will thoroughly annoy any self-important wannabe immigrants coming after me, and largely because I am happily imagining archaeologists of the future with their unquestionably altered and changed English language trying to find a serious, deep and momentous reason for the choice and what it must mean...

I do have lists of place names, both real and imaginary/prospective for writing. I'm sure I could find one - or a hundred - there that would suit whatever this country brings to mind at first glance. The one thing is that it would not be named after me or anyone I was related to or knew or any Very Important People Of My Day. Except maybe a cat :)

zefyr

1. If you could live in any city in the world, where would you live and why?
Perhaps some city in a Nordic country. My experience has been that the design of cities in the region are more human-centered and integrated with the surrounding nature rather than being lifeless concrete jungles or characterized by expansive urban sprawl. To be honest, I have quite sad memories about that part of the world, but it's truly a beautiful region.

2. If you could speak any language fluently, what would it be?
Maybe the original language of Atlantis before the catastrophe that destroyed it and dispersal of its inhabitants throughout Europe and beyond. In linguistics, I suppose it'd be called the proto-Nostratic language or something.

3. When was the last time you rode a ferry and where did you go?
The last ferry I took was in 2018 from Batumi to Odessa. I have mixed feelings about that trip, as I unfortunately became quite intoxicated while at the bar talking to various people, the only ones I remember being a guy whom I called Hawaii Mike for some reason or another and a businessman from Switzerland. I wasn't paying attention but was enjoying the opportunity to use French after years of having not used it at all. One too many screwdrivers.

4. What was the longest plane ride you've ever taken?
This is a tricky one, as I'm not sure if we're talking single trips or trips with uninterrupted connecting flights. If the former, then probably the flight between Melbourne and Bangkok, but if the latter, then definitely the four flights between Melbourne and Helsinki. I've taken so many flights in my life that I no longer remember all of them, but that was probably the longest and maybe even the most significant journey of all. I remember it well all these years later.

5. If you discovered a country, what would you name it?
If I discovered a country, I assume it'd already have inhabitants, so I'd ask them what they called their land and then come up with an appropriate form of the name in English based upon it. If we're talking about what I'd name a country of my own creation, I'm not really sure. Definitely it'd be something euphonic yet without phonemes alien to too many languages so that it can be adapted without excessive mangling.