12 ms·
Kindles have long had a history of gaolbreaks. I've scarcely seen a scene as dedicated as the folks over on the MobileRead Forums (https://www.mobileread.com/fo
by OuterVale 2y ago
Kindles have long had a history of gaolbreaks. I've scarcely seen a scene as dedicated as the folks over on the MobileRead Forums (https://www.mobileread.com/forums https://www.mobileread.com/forums). I notice many of the names associated with this new break as people who were associated with hacking early Kindles back in the early 2010s.
For context, it's been a little while since we've had a fresh gaolbreak for new Kindles. Last one was LanguageBreak, which came out back in 2023 and required firmware 5.16.2.1.1 or lower.
- cadamsdotcom 2y agoMate, I’m Australian and even I think a gaol is just a dyslexic watching soccer.
- ggm 2y agoOnly Americans (to the extent I know) differentiate jail and gaol. Jail and prison. I first read gaol in a 1960s kids book by Randolph Snow. An Australian as it happens. https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1496448 https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1496448
- thaumasiotes 2y ago> Only Americans (to the extent I know) differentiate jail and gaol. Jail and prison. You inhabit a very different reality than everybody else. Americans do not differentiate jail and gaol; Americans don't use the word "gaol" under any circumstances, ever. It is not a part of American English.
- ggm 2y agoI apologise for mixing terms. Jail and Prison? Do you disagree this is a point of difference? Americans also don't seem to talk about being on remand. In police custody is unwieldy, I agree.
- int_19h 2y ago"jail" and "prison" are the American English words in question. Although that distinction is rarely relevant in casual conversation in practice. People say "jail" and mean "prison" all the time.
- thaumasiotes 2y agoAs int_19h notes, there are people (in the US) who believe that there is a difference between the meaning of the word "jail" and the meaning of the word "prison". And as int_19h also notes, those people are wrong; Americans will just be confused if you try to use the words differently. It's similar to the insistence of a group with near-perfect overlap that crimes for which jail time isn't a possible punishment can't be correctly referred to as "crimes".
- LordKeren 2y agoWhile they are often used interchangeably, it is not uncommon for people to make the distinction between jail and prison in the US. It can definitely come across as a “Frankenstein’s monster” type of pedantic correction, but they truly do mean two different ideas in the US
- RajT88 2y agoAmerican here. Never seen the word written before.
- gabeio 2y agoSame had to actually look it up and at least Merriam-Webster lists the word as “chiefly British spellings of JAIL, JAILER”. Which at least hints that the dictionary writers thought it is less common out side of Britain.
- shiroiushi 2y agoObviously, you haven't visited any colonial American sites. It used to be the normal spelling.
- Cthulhu_ 2y agoIt's a common spelling in fantasy video games and books, but it feels kind of performative. These same games will have voice actors pronounce "ye" as it's written, unaware that the y is a typographic substitute for Þ. "ye olde" is pronounced "the old". But likewise, there's some VAs that clearly only ever read a word, like in the newer God of War games where a character mangles "prescient".
- throaway89 2y agoIt's the traditional spelling. You'll see it in the British Isles, and on some old buildings here in Canada.
- PostOnce 2y agoI dropped out in the first semester of 9th grade and even I know the word gaol, because I read books written before last year.
- otteromkram 2y agoYes, but how often do you use it in your vernacular? Since that's the topic being discussed, then first portion of your statement wasn't necessary.
- t-3 2y agoIt's the same word, just an alternate spelling which is now defunct.
- recursive 2y agoI graduated from high school and even got a bachelor's degree. I've read several books written before last year, and have talked to dozens of people. I've never heard or seen the word gaol. And if I had, I'd probably assume it was "goal" misspelled. I make no assertions of being particularly smart or literate, but only typical.
- beowulfey 2y agoKnowing the word exists is a different thing than using it in daily speech. I, and I'm sure most people, would be very surprised to hear there are populations of the USA where "gaol" is used regularly.
- donohoe 2y agoAmerican here (another) but also Irish (moved here in my 20s)… Americans never use ‘gaol’. It’s rarely used in Ireland but definitely a term there.
- mahoho 2y agoThat's not true. Plenty of ill-behaved FFXI players (myself included) once served time in Mordion Gaol. https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Mordion_Gaol https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Mordion_Gaol
- yellowapple 2y agoI'm an American and I don't differentiate between jail and gaol; I just assumed the latter to just be a funny European spelling of the former. But yes, we do differentiate between jail and prison - the former usually being for those with short sentences or for those awaiting trial, and the latter being for those with long sentences. Interesting that other countries don't maintain that distinction - but I guess most countries don't have such a sprawling prison-industrial complex to warrant separate short-term v. long-term detention classifications.
- pyuser583 2y agoThe American distinction is jail v prison. In practice, the distinction is overblown. Jails do hold long term prisoners, and prisons get pre-trial prisoners too. There’s literally a market for jail beds. So prisoners are often sent where there’s an open spot, with little distinction between “short term” and “long term”. A better distinction is that jails are run by a law enforcement agency, while prisons are not.
- otteromkram 2y agoDictionary essay of the difference between the two words: https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/jail-vs-prison-difference https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/jail-vs-prison-diffe...
- t-3 2y agoYour distinction is probably a better one, but the one I've heard is lockups hold temporarily from hours-days, jails hold prisoners for sentences up to a year, prisons for over a year. People might end up in a jail for much longer, but normally they don't.
- eloisant 2y agoFrance also has the same distinction. "maison d'arret" = jail, "centre de detention" = prison. the word "prison" however (that also exist in French) is a generic term for both.
- 2y ago
- polshaw 2y agoThere's a confusion here. Gaol is simply a rarely used (I would say archaic) spelling of jail. It does not mean prison. British English also differentiates jail and prison, by extension I assume that's universal.
- d1sxeyes 2y agoBritish English as a language might, British people do not, and the physical facilities are the same. We say someone is “held on remand” if they are incarcerated pre-trial, and the part of the prison which holds prisoners pretrial is often referred to as the “remand wing”.
- Andrex 2y agoI feel like I've read, well not a lot, but a pretty decent amount. More than my average peer, probably. I don't think I've ever once encountered "gaol" before today. Reading the parent comment, I believed it was a non-English language loanword, and probably a recent one at that, until I read the comments. It's not like I avoid archaic works, either. It's possible I did come across the word at some point, but it was a one-off and without any repetition it faded quickly from my memory. Am I a one-off?
- theonemind 2y agoI got like 740 on the verbal SAT and I’ve never seen it
- diana-404 2y agoI'm new to kindle, I've been into this since 2021 so im not so aware of kindle's jailbreaking history. Can you tell me what gaolbreak is?
- shasheene 2y agoGaol is an archaic spelling of jail, that retains the same pronunciation and meaning as jail :)
- dgfitz 2y agoSo “gaol” is supposedly an alternative way to spell “jail” that I first encountered in a video game. I keep seeing “tyre” on here too. I guess hn is hipster for alternative spellings.
- richiebful1 2y ago"tyre" is just UK English
- ggm 2y agoAs is gaol
- petesergeant 2y agoWhich dictionary are you using that doesn’t mark it as an archaic form in British English?
- FabHK 2y agoMerriam-Webster has it as "chiefly British spelling" of jail, and Oxford English Dictionary has it as a "variant". https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaol https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaol https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?q=gaol https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?q=gaol