Hacker News: phikappa

New comment by phikappa in "Forestiere Underground Gardens"

phikappa — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 08:11:25 +0000

I wouldn't call it so much a false friend as forest/foreign (and forfeit and I'm sure a bunch of other words) all coming from the same Latin "foris" root and being semantically related.

In Italian, outside is just "fuori".

You're a foreigner to what you've forfeited in the forest.

New comment by phikappa in "Forestiere Underground Gardens"

phikappa — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 07:01:45 +0000

Interesting case of double-layered false nominative determinism. Although foresta in Italian means "forest" and thus the surname would seem eminently plant-based, it actually means "foreigner", which I guess he also ended up being as Italian immigrant in the US. The etymology of forest and foreigner is closely related and means basically just "(from the) outside".

New comment by phikappa in "The future of work when work is meaningless"

phikappa — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 10:54:08 +0000

what is it about it that you hate and that makes you associate it with linkedin? I don't hate it, but I feel the linkedin comparison. maybe because of the many linebreaks?

New comment by phikappa in "China intimidated UK university to ditch human rights research, documents show"

phikappa — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:55:03 +0000

tell me you're a chinese propaganda account without telling me you're a chinese propaganda account