Tapa Update #1 - Let's Give This Thing a Try

According to my recent poll, about 9/10 of you are interested in regular updates. So let's try that.

Don't worry, I know we're all a little busy all the time, so I'm gonna keep things short and sweet and hopefully a bit entertaining as well.

From those of you who aren't all that interested in updates - Why're you reading this?! 😭 - I'd be curious to hear why that is. Would be great if you'd let me know in the comments.

So, yeah, this whole update thing ... for the moment, the format looks something like this:

- A look behind the scenes where I give you some context around recent or not so recent videos, what I'm working on at the moment - at least if there's a way to do that which isn't spoilerific or teeth-pullingly boring to read - or general youtubey kinda thoughts about creating stuff on the internet.

- A Q&A part where I answer your questions, whatever they might be, so don't be shy and drop me a question about anything you'd like to know in the comments.

- Finally, a look at something interesting I'd like to share with you, be it books, films, or any other thing I'd like you to know of.

That's the idea so far. Alright, nuff said. Let's get this thing going.

Behind the Scenes
From Premountarl to Castleland

In the last video about the Austrian state flags, I took the names of some states like Burgenland and Salzburg and literally translated them into English. Not everyone was happy with this decision, which I totally get. It's weird to hear a place name in a translated form, when it would be so much easier to use the actual German-language name. Especially if one wants to make sure people actually understand what you're talking about.

There is, of course, a slight bit of cheekiness involved in using a version of a name that's obviously not common or even completely made up. I generally enjoy doing things like that, because it gives you a bit of a different perspective on things. Lots of names we just take for granted without considering where they came from and what they say about a place. Literally translating a name is a great tool to jolt someone into thinking about that kind of stuff. The etymology enthusiast in me is certainly excited about that.

But that's only a small part of the why.

The much bigger part is simply functional. While I am no stranger to trying to pronunce words the way they would be in a different language, I try to go either fully one or the other way. In the Austrian state flag video, I just thought about how weird it would be to talk about "Vienna" and "Lower Austria" and suddenly switch gears to the German-language "Vorarlberg". So, to make the names blend together better for an international audience, I simply translated the names of the states that don't have their own international names from German to English. International audience members wouldn't find that disruptive at all, and German-speakers might be irritated, but they'd still understand what I was actually talking about.

And despite some criticism, many people also really enjoyed my messing around with state names. I know I certainly did.

Q&A
Nuffin

Since there are no questions of yours to start with yet, and this update's running long as it is, I'll hold off on the Q&A this time. But please ask your questions under this post and I'll try my best to answer them.

Interesting Stuff
Brno's Not Quite Austrian Coat of Arms

A person on Instagram informed me of the somewhat peculiar coat of arms and flag of the Czech city of Brno. It's basically the same as Austria's, only with the slight difference of a half-width white bar on top of the red-white-red. I couldn't come up with the origin of the design with a quick internet search, but Heraldry Wiki shows coins from the Middle Ages already featuring said coat of arms. Then, some centuries later, the design got flipped, so red, not white, was on top. Again, no clue why, but it seems to be somewhat common for a coat of arms to change quite substantially through the years, what with the lack of internet and design standards back then.

Alright, then! That was update #1. Let me know if you enjoyed it. Also let me know what you'd like to see improved or included in the following ones.

That's all from me for the mo. See you next week.

Have a good one!
Tapa