Germany's discounters (ie, nearly all grocery stores) have long been hyper-efficient about checkouts. There is exactly one lane open until the line gets too long, then they open another. When the number of customers subsides, the second lane closes and the employee goes back to other tasks.
Only in recent years have self-checkouts started appearing in any significant number, and the formula hasn't changed. I guess theoretically stores might be able to cut back on employees, but it would be literally one or two people at most.
Good work with this, and the linked "special register groups" post.
I find myself intermittently fascinated with the origin and spread of certain ideas, which can often be hard to track. It's probably a bit simpler when it's a very specifically wrong idea.
I think despite having lived through it, it's easy to miss just how transformative smartphones and social media have been to human society.
There's been an absolute explosion in communication. In the early years of the internet it was pretty exciting and novel to be able to talk to people from other countries. Now it's completely unremarkable.
All this of course has a huge effect on how language develops and is used, and really we're still in the early years of it all (I guess The Smartphone Era starts around 2010 or so).
i've been on my phone/social/media/etc through the entire trend and this is the only time i've ever read the word 'delulu'; I had to look it up.
Might I suggest that tribe matters a lot in this context?
I don't listen to k-pop, I don't watch machinima, and I only knew 'tradwife' from the bullshit politics associated with the concept..
I think Cambridge called these too early. Maybe i'm old, and maybe i'm sheltered, but I never hear these words used in real life aside from a young nephew who was into the toilet thing, and he didn't so much use the word as just scream SKIBIDI while dancing around the room.
I'm fine with being old. Some trends you prefer to see sail away from you.
Delulu made it to Hansard*, the official government record of a G20 five eyes nation.
As an example, the Cambridge University Press cited a 2025 speech in parliament where Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used the phrase "delulu with no solulu" during the last sitting week before the election.
> the only time i've ever read the word 'delulu'; I had to look it up.
I'm going to be honest, I fully expect dictionaries to contain the definition of words I have to look up. What would be the point of a dictionary (or really any reference book) that only contains things I already know?
counterpoint:
I’m surprised “delulu” wasn’t already in OED and certainly would not consider it “cutting edge” slang in 2025 (quite the opposite). Just because one person hasn’t heard certain words doesn’t mean they don’t belong in what is meant to be a comprehensive dictionary. In fact, if you needed to know the meaning of every word that is added to the dictionary, then you would have no need for a dictionary!
Never having heard a word has nothing to do with whether OED “called it too early.” To make that judgment one would want to find external evidence.
I've definitely heard "delulu" years ago, probably floating around Twitter. There's a Wikipedia article on the word for some reason, and it supports this.
Writing code is very very often a big part of understanding any new problem. It's just that you should be quite comfortable discarding that code. Refactor mercilessly and all that.
Had a fun experience the other day asking "make a graph of [X] vs [Y]" (some chemistry calculations), and the response was blah blah blah explain explain "let me know if you want a graph of this!" Yeah ok thanks for offering.
Agreed, that's the real dream of open world RPGs: dynamic worlds. Perhaps modern AI techniques can help in that a bit, but what you really need is an incredibly intricate simulation.
Ternus generally comes across well - technically knowledgeable and a good speaker - but also he is literally the only notable Apple executive who is significantly younger than Cook.
Apple is extremely not the type of company to recruit a CEO from outside, so if Cook is doing any kind of succession planning I have to imagine it's Ternus.
There's no Anmeldung system in America. Actually voter registration is the closest thing you have to an official current address, and it's a lot easier to do (no appointment required).
Yes I know, which is strange, and I know many Americans are proud of it (no snooping state etc.) but overall I think there are more downsides to it. I feel this is an artifact from times without phone lines and computers with many small towns hundreds of miles apart (also see electorial college) and was a necessity but is now kept b/c of identity and tradition.
RedLetterMedia Phantom Menace review. A remarkably unique mix of comedy and genuine insight.
I feel like the Star Wars prequels were largely ignored culturally for years, but after the Plinkett review they keep coming up. There are even weirdos who insist they're good now.
Only in recent years have self-checkouts started appearing in any significant number, and the formula hasn't changed. I guess theoretically stores might be able to cut back on employees, but it would be literally one or two people at most.