May 11th, 2020 is like, the most amazing day ever! Do you realize how special it is? First of all, it will be the 162nd anniversary of Minnesota joining the Union of the United States. The land of 10,000 lakes is a very nice place. It's also the 300th anniversary of the birth of Baron Munchausen. I don't know who that is, but Wikipedia says he is a really popular fictional character in Europe! There are also other really cool things about that day that are too numerous to list here
You're really not doing him justice here. Baron Munchausen was an eighteenth century nobleman born in the Holy Roman (personal union'd up with Great Britain) electorate of Hanover who rode a cannonball, got swallowed by a giant fish while swimming laps around the Mediterranean, personally fought and won against a forty-foot crocodile, accidentally got his horse cut in half and saved it by tying it back together using a tree, personally met the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire while serving in a war against them for the Russian Empire, and travelled to the moon one-hundred-and-eighty-four years before Neil Armstrong did - in fact, the United States of America had only just won its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain eight years beforehand at the time. He was a fearless, polite, extraordinary gentleman and never told a lie. Even in death, he kayaked down the River Styx with Charon, the ferryman of the Hellenic God of death, Hades, and even worked for a newspaper publication in the Underworld. I'm not sure how exactly that's known, but it is widely acknowledged raw, unfiltered fact that this happened. Munchausen is so great, actually, that Munchausen Syndrome is even named after him! The disorder is characterised by the affected faking illness out of desire to get attention from others, and their tales of illness are exaggerated to the point where other people find their stories to be absolutely improbable. The disorder isn't a real disorder, of course - more so just a name for when people want to be in the spotlight so badly they'll say anything to be in it and will stoop so low as to say they are varying degrees of ill. I have no idea why they'd name that after him, but I'm happy he has received such a namesake that cements his name in history. Next time, think before you remark that you 'don't know' who this outstanding, amazing man is, and reduce him to the level of a 'fictional character'. Disgraceful. I can't believe what I've just read. Insulting. Use your brain next time, buckaroo.
Still a couple of things you need to improve before you're allowed into Germany: Münchhausen is with double h and a ü, and Hannover is with double n. (edit: retract that second statement, oops. )
Ackshully, the English spelling of Hannover is Hanover. Since the Electorate of Hanover/Hannover was unified with Great Britain the same way Scotland was unified with England to eventually form Great Britain, and Scotland isn't called Alba in English but is in Scots and Scottish Gaelic, I think the English spelling is allowed to take precedent... If that makes any sense Munchausen is spelt like that to differentiate him from the real life Münchhausen, a Hanoverian nobleman who served as a soldier for the Russian Empire in the Russo-Turkish War who became famous among the German aristocratic circle for telling blatant and exaggerated lies about his service. Rudolph Erich Raspe, who met him while working at Göttingen University as a professor and librarian, began writing about the character Munchausen while working as the manager of a Cornish coal mine when he fled from Hanover to England after selling the collection of the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel in Italy while he was in charge of looking after it. Since his closest audience was the one in England, and eventually Ireland (where he died after running a scam in Scotland), Munchausen also serves as an Anglicanisation of the name to make it more friendly to the English.
to me it doesn't, but I'm sure it does to you. I personally generally prefer to say most cities in the language of their country, as sometimes things can be really confusing if not done this way (it took me years to realise that Cologne = Köln... >.< - also, I hate that Lille is called Rijsel in Dutch, super confusing. Turijn = Torino... Basically, I have a strong dislike for most exonyms of cities. Ah, that explains a lot, and why I thought "but he isn't fictional" - they're two different people. I think a rule should be made, that once someone is "famous", no one with the same or almost the same name can be famous too, as it's too confusing... Sadly, I don't think many others will want to implement this...
There was a great documentary on the adventures of Baron Munchausen released 30 years ago. You should be able to find some snippets from it on YouTube.
Okay fine, I'll be the guy. It's a test of a countdown timer, not a countdown to a test. *takes Joy out behind the woodshed with a 12-gauge...*
