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Marie Curie (mander.xyz)
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[-] skisnow@lemmy.ca 95 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Posts like this always make me wonder how many people are telling stories of deadpan jokes I made in their presence, that they didn’t realize were jokes.

[-] cuerdo@lemmy.world 18 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Just yesterday I asked some guy where he was from, he said

"Between South Africa and England"

I said

"That was a long birth"

He looked at me as if I eat marbles and walked away.

[-] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 43 minutes ago

You did have marbles in your mouth th, did you?

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 41 points 17 hours ago

Same. Like 80% of what comes out of my mouth is sarcastically saying dumb shit because it's funny to me. Every now and then I get a response from someone that makes me wonder who else isn't getting that I'm joking.

[-] Randelung@lemmy.world 15 points 16 hours ago

I have a colleague who knows and told me she doesn't get sarcasm. The first few weeks were brutal.

[-] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 22 points 19 hours ago

I had a teacher who asked me in front of the class if I would mind if he shared with the class a big accolade I had achieved. He was teasing me, as he took away my choice to say no in that moment. I was immensely proud and excited for that to be shared with the class, but also chose to take a jab back at him. I stated flatly "no, I don't want that shared with the class." Before I could say "just joking" or whatever, the awkward silence I had created made me panic and shut down. And after a few more awkward moments we moved on to something else. 20 years later my stomach still churns.

[-] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 14 points 19 hours ago

It was high school physics and I had aced the final exam, which was the same exam used in the equivalent college course.

[-] skisnow@lemmy.ca 13 points 19 hours ago

If it’s any consolation I can guarantee that nobody will remember that.

[-] ruuster13@lemmy.zip 10 points 19 hours ago

I kind of hope they do remember. There's still a 20 year reunion to find one of them and ask if they remember. I'm able to mostly just laugh now. But my god, the torture of being a teenager.

[-] Randelung@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I'm pretty sure some girls I only met once at the end of high school think I took performance enhancing drugs to pass so easily. I was interrupted after I made the joke, so I never got the chance to explain to their shocked expressions.

[-] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 63 points 22 hours ago

I don't know if she kept her polish last name after marriage but in Poland it's always Maria Skłodowska-Curie. I think it's some kind of Polish curse that the most famous poles are not known by polish names so people don't realize they were Polish. Curie, Chopin, Copernicus, John Paul II. Or, even worse, they are known by polish name by no one can pronounce it. The highest peak in Australia is Mt Kościuszko but Australians don't know it's named after polish General because they can't even say it.

[-] sqgl@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

The highest peak in Australia is Mt Kościuszko but Australians don't know it's named after polish General because they can't even say it.

They pronounce it their own way and they do know it is a pole. Are you suggesting they think it is an Anglo-Saxon name? Like Jonno Kościuszko?

[-] gnutrino@programming.dev 27 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Good ol' Mt Cozy Costco. To be fair, no one forced the Poles to make their language unpronounceable by anyone without a lifetime's practice or severe sinus issues.

[-] _skj@lemmy.world 15 points 19 hours ago

Looks like she continued to use her maiden name throughout her life. American schools seem to always use her French name, including using Marie instead of Maria. Partially because Americans can't pronounce Polish names. And likely a significant cultural bias towards associating scientific advancement with Western Europe.

[-] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 12 points 16 hours ago

I've never seen a "Maria Skłodowska-Curie street" outside of Poland. It's always Marie Curie. It's definitely not just USA, it's the same in Europe.

[-] betanumerus@lemmy.ca 7 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

She became famous while in France, married to a Curie, having daughters named Curie, winning Nobel prizes with her husband while there, and spending the rest of her life there. I don't think it's about a Polish curse, it's about which name was more practical and natural for her to use, and being famous well beyond Poland. Curie is indeed easier to pronounce and more memorable in both French and English, and it's common for famous people to go by their easiest name by choice (Bill vs William, John vs Jonathan, etc.). This in no way reduces her original name. Famous actors even look to have a stage (public) name to help them be more famous. She just got one naturally.

My Polish aunt took her husband's Canadian name only because it was people did back then.

As for John Paul II, "Karol" just happens to rhyme with feminine name "Carol(e)" in English and French. He possibly wanted to avoid that himself.

Also, Norm MacDonald's Polish joke is worth a listen. Look it up!

[-] rockerface@lemmy.cafe 2 points 18 hours ago

I think in Ukraine she's also more known under the full name, from what I can remember from my school years

[-] BenchpressMuyDebil@szmer.info 97 points 1 day ago

⚠️ 🇵🇱 You have alerted the horde

[-] whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works 1 points 39 minutes ago

I thought that we were talking about the french woman Marie Curie? 🇲🇫

[-] shneancy@lemmy.world 87 points 23 hours ago

hi hello it's me, part of the horde, a polish person has been mentioned so we need to do the ritual:

POLSKA MOUNTAIN RAAAAA 🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱🦅🔥

(also folks, don't forget to include her Polish surname there as well! It's Maria Skłodowska-Curie. when she was alive Poland wasn't recognised as a nation, it wasn't even on the maps for most of her life, so her choice to keep her polish name after marriage is a deliberate action to honour her Polish heritage and keep the national spirit of Poland strong despite there being no official country Poles could call home at the time)

[-] RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 4 points 19 hours ago

TORILLE 🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮

no wait

[-] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 38 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

🎶 All I want for Christmas is uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuranium baby🎶

[-] nectar45@lemmy.zip 10 points 19 hours ago

I mean she has a point

[-] alexcleac@szmer.info 34 points 1 day ago

If only she new how Maria Skłodowska-Curie died, she wouldn't be as happy for the resemblance...

[-] sepiroth154@feddit.nl 112 points 1 day ago

If she knows she has 2 Nobel prizes I think she might know how she died

[-] miss_demeanour@piefed.ca 33 points 1 day ago

I don't have a computer, so I'm guessing she fell on them?

[-] Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 65 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Worse, she was choking and tried to get the attention of an associate in the other room by banging them together. Unfortunately they made a hollow thud sound. Her last thought before she died was "I wish I had won the Yesbell prize..."

[-] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 23 hours ago
[-] miss_demeanour@piefed.ca 15 points 1 day ago

+4 informative.

[-] moriquende@lemmy.world 5 points 21 hours ago

Something about this seems odd. There's no way they could know what her last thought was!

[-] sepiroth154@feddit.nl 5 points 23 hours ago

Wikipedia has a mobile site.

[-] ZkhqrD5o@lemmy.world 8 points 20 hours ago

Both of them spread cancer in different ways.

[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 4 points 19 hours ago

Like butter.

[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago

Marie Curie could also hit that A12.

[-] Prontomomo@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

Lotta non-memes on here lately

this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2025
884 points (100.0% liked)

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