4 ms·

ah! I've fallen for Copernicus as well. it's funny it's not like I ever had a debate or read about his nationality, until the topic came up with some Pole whil

ah! I've fallen for Copernicus as well. it's funny it's not like I ever had a debate or read about his nationality, until the topic came up with some Pole while talking about Chopin he also went and you know who else? Marie Curie and Copernicus and then it struck me we always call him "Nicola Copernico" in the school curricula (at least we used to in the nineties) and I just assumed it was Italian by name association alone, without even inquiring about his origins until much later in life, as the topic dropped. I think a lot of these kind of factoid form into people mind for "absence of correction" more than active research on the topic.

p_l 6y ago
I don't know if it was intentional, but Copernicus and Marie Curie-Skłodowska in an "who else" sentence like that sounds like partial setup for a well-known polish joke/meme from the movie "Sexmission", where few men wake up from cold sleep far in the future after war, to find a society composed of only women. Treated like curios, there happens a dialogue that essentially goes: (man, defending the idea that men could have produced exceptional works): M1: "For example Copernicus" W: "Liar, Copernicus was a woman!" M1: "And Einstein?" W: "was a woman too!" M1: "And maybe Marie Curie-Skłodowska too!?" M2: "uh, that was not the best example" M1: "they confused me..." I'd say a pretty obvious test for "nationality" of Copernicus would be the fact that he fought on polish side in the wars in Prussia, as the royal prussian protectorate didn't exist at the time. But if you look using a later map, you might get confused on that. As for naming, at least in some circles it used to be the norm to use local language forms of names - this for example led to such "polonized" names like "William Szekspir" = William Shakespeare "George Waszyngton" = George Washington, etc. Chopin ends up a curious case since he is written and spoken the french way, without any mangling.
- LoSboccacc 6y ago
  I heard of that film but I can't seem to find good subtitles for that particular movie. I've seen precious few actually, among which of course "How I started world war II"

p_l 6y ago

I don't know if it was intentional, but Copernicus and Marie Curie-Skłodowska in an "who else" sentence like that sounds like partial setup for a well-known polish joke/meme from the movie "Sexmission", where few men wake up from cold sleep far in the future after war, to find a society composed of only women. Treated like curios, there happens a dialogue that essentially goes: (man, defending the idea that men could have produced exceptional works): M1: "For example Copernicus" W: "Liar, Copernicus was a woman!" M1: "And Einstein?" W: "was a woman too!" M1: "And maybe Marie Curie-Skłodowska too!?" M2: "uh, that was not the best example" M1: "they confused me..." I'd say a pretty obvious test for "nationality" of Copernicus would be the fact that he fought on polish side in the wars in Prussia, as the royal prussian protectorate didn't exist at the time. But if you look using a later map, you might get confused on that. As for naming, at least in some circles it used to be the norm to use local language forms of names - this for example led to such "polonized" names like "William Szekspir" = William Shakespeare "George Waszyngton" = George Washington, etc. Chopin ends up a curious case since he is written and spoken the french way, without any mangling.

LoSboccacc 6y ago
I heard of that film but I can't seem to find good subtitles for that particular movie. I've seen precious few actually, among which of course "How I started world war II"