4 ms·

I dunno why they used the adjective "secret" -there's nothing secret about them. You drive by enormous buildings with their names on 'em in London, and there's

I dunno why they used the adjective "secret" -there's nothing secret about them. You drive by enormous buildings with their names on 'em in London, and there's a detailed wikipedia entry listing them all. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livery_company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livery_company or for HN https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Information_Technologists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worshipful_Company_of_Informat... It's a cool piece of deep culture that the UK has. Other European countries have such things as well (usually Catholic religious confraternities or dinner clubs), though nothing like this dense concentration.

pjc50 8y ago
Not only that, they have a big annual parade with their names all over the place. Maybe they mean "secret" in the sense of "not in the press every single week, because the press have the memory of a goldfish"? The use of charitable foundations to concentrate money and pay generous salaries while being exempt from tax is definitely a problem, but it's shared by quite a few charities in the UK, including some of the private schools.
- wallace_f 8y ago
  I would go a step further and say charity, as a Western institution, is generally misunderstood. There is an economist, Bill Easterly, who has written extensively about what much of Western aid/charity is actually accomplishing, and it's often not charity. You have the Red Cross losing half a billion in charitable donations and this kind of thing never makes front-page news(1). Now not 100% of charity is bad, but it is my opinion that if someone is aware of such things noted above, this article reads like a manipulative, deliberate hit-piece against these old-money groups, probably for some political reason. 1-https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15326335 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15326335
twic 8y ago
I only found out about German academic fencing clubs recently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Student_Corps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Student_Corps As i understand it, they function in part as social networks for the upper class, a bit like masonic lodges, or the Skull and Bones etc. I came across them because there's a social networking platform for members which has the same initials as a communication protocol i was interested in.
- npstr 8y ago
  >for the upper class Any university student can join these. They may have been somewhat elitist in the past, and many still think of themselves like that, but most of them are strapped for new members. Sure some time investment is required as well as a general cultural fit, but the vast majority of those corps and other flavors of German fraternities still remaining nowadays are open to any interested students.
  - AmericanChopper 8y ago
    A lot of those old clubs have entry requirements (gender, religion...), but if you meet them then just about anybody could join. They’ve mostly become more interested in recruiting members to maintain their traditions than they are in maintaining exclusivity.
    - baxtr 8y ago
      The best part of the deal is usually the cheap dorm room in a great part of town where otherwise you’d have to pay a small fortune as a student. Of course it mostly comes with the obligation to drink heavily... in Germnany most of them have a “Pabst” for relieving purposes during those drinking events
      - rusk 8y ago
        > most of them have a “Pabst” I just went looking this up and am none the wiser, please explain?
        twic 8y ago
        My guess is it's a big canister which, when enough people have relieved themselves into it, is shipped to the USA and distributed to hipsters in Brooklyn: https://untappd.com/b/pabst-brewing-company-pabst-blue-ribbon/3883 https://untappd.com/b/pabst-brewing-company-pabst-blue-ribbo...
        kolmogorov 8y ago
TheTruth321 8y ago
What's cool about them? Bunch of w@nkers poncing about around the River Thames, lol
dang 8y ago
They called it "secret" because "secret" titles are clickier. We've taken that out. Edit: this just gave me an idea for a bit of code to do that automatically. Thanks!
- lifeisstillgood 8y ago
  Beware the Scunthorpe problem - 10 Things FBI Secretaries know that you don't - Secretions of Billions of Insect threaten California Trees :-) (I know \b ... but I really worked on the insect secretions one so I am not losing the post) Edit - and I actually want to read the FBI article now
  - dang 8y ago
    Oh I'm talking about a much specialer case.
- zorpner 8y ago
  Heh, an old coworker of mine's last name is Secret.
  - dang 8y ago
    We're definitely not getting rid of all the secrets.
- rusk 8y ago
  > They called it "secret" because ... My understanding was that it was because they have secrets - handshakes, codes etc. - not because people don't know they exist.
jmkd 8y ago
They are secret in that you could live your life and career without encountering them if you never looked, despite them being around you and running things, should you choose to look.
cortesoft 8y ago
I think they mean "secretive", not "secret", in that we know they exist but we don't know anything about their internal affairs.
raverbashing 8y ago
So, as secret as the BT tower. (Or maybe even less secret)

pjc50 8y ago

Not only that, they have a big annual parade with their names all over the place. Maybe they mean "secret" in the sense of "not in the press every single week, because the press have the memory of a goldfish"? The use of charitable foundations to concentrate money and pay generous salaries while being exempt from tax is definitely a problem, but it's shared by quite a few charities in the UK, including some of the private schools.

wallace_f 8y ago
I would go a step further and say charity, as a Western institution, is generally misunderstood. There is an economist, Bill Easterly, who has written extensively about what much of Western aid/charity is actually accomplishing, and it's often not charity. You have the Red Cross losing half a billion in charitable donations and this kind of thing never makes front-page news(1). Now not 100% of charity is bad, but it is my opinion that if someone is aware of such things noted above, this article reads like a manipulative, deliberate hit-piece against these old-money groups, probably for some political reason. 1-https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15326335 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15326335

twic 8y ago

I only found out about German academic fencing clubs recently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Student_Corps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Student_Corps As i understand it, they function in part as social networks for the upper class, a bit like masonic lodges, or the Skull and Bones etc. I came across them because there's a social networking platform for members which has the same initials as a communication protocol i was interested in.

npstr 8y ago
>for the upper class Any university student can join these. They may have been somewhat elitist in the past, and many still think of themselves like that, but most of them are strapped for new members. Sure some time investment is required as well as a general cultural fit, but the vast majority of those corps and other flavors of German fraternities still remaining nowadays are open to any interested students.
- AmericanChopper 8y ago
  A lot of those old clubs have entry requirements (gender, religion...), but if you meet them then just about anybody could join. They’ve mostly become more interested in recruiting members to maintain their traditions than they are in maintaining exclusivity.
  - baxtr 8y ago
    The best part of the deal is usually the cheap dorm room in a great part of town where otherwise you’d have to pay a small fortune as a student. Of course it mostly comes with the obligation to drink heavily... in Germnany most of them have a “Pabst” for relieving purposes during those drinking events
    - rusk 8y ago
      > most of them have a “Pabst” I just went looking this up and am none the wiser, please explain?
      - twic 8y ago
        My guess is it's a big canister which, when enough people have relieved themselves into it, is shipped to the USA and distributed to hipsters in Brooklyn: https://untappd.com/b/pabst-brewing-company-pabst-blue-ribbon/3883 https://untappd.com/b/pabst-brewing-company-pabst-blue-ribbo...
      - kolmogorov 8y ago

TheTruth321 8y ago

What's cool about them? Bunch of w@nkers poncing about around the River Thames, lol

dang 8y ago

They called it "secret" because "secret" titles are clickier. We've taken that out. Edit: this just gave me an idea for a bit of code to do that automatically. Thanks!

lifeisstillgood 8y ago
Beware the Scunthorpe problem - 10 Things FBI Secretaries know that you don't - Secretions of Billions of Insect threaten California Trees :-) (I know \b ... but I really worked on the insect secretions one so I am not losing the post) Edit - and I actually want to read the FBI article now
- dang 8y ago
  Oh I'm talking about a much specialer case.
zorpner 8y ago
Heh, an old coworker of mine's last name is Secret.
- dang 8y ago
  We're definitely not getting rid of all the secrets.
rusk 8y ago
> They called it "secret" because ... My understanding was that it was because they have secrets - handshakes, codes etc. - not because people don't know they exist.

jmkd 8y ago

They are secret in that you could live your life and career without encountering them if you never looked, despite them being around you and running things, should you choose to look.

cortesoft 8y ago

I think they mean "secretive", not "secret", in that we know they exist but we don't know anything about their internal affairs.

raverbashing 8y ago

So, as secret as the BT tower. (Or maybe even less secret)