ijuin

Like it or not, Greek is how we cracked the ancient Egyptian language via the Rosetta Stone.

Given the name, a lot of people probably assume that it was the French who founded it, especially since the entire Mississippi had been claimed by France and only fell under Spanish rule after France's defeat in the Seven Years' War.

"Smoke" definitely reminds me of Freakazoid here, with his wide-eyed expression and super enthusiasm. Also, extra man points to Sam for trying to protect a friend.

Are they the inventors of Argyle socks?

I don't know about you, but the neckties I wear are about five feet long . . .

Mano-a-mano means "hand-to-hand", not "man-to-man". It comes from the Latin "manus", meaning "hand", from which we get the word "manual" meaning "by hand". It can be a real recipe for heartbreak if a relationship goes on for long with one side wanting romance and the other not. If you are going to friend-zone somebody, then it's best to do so before they have their heart set on capturing yours. The three times that I can recall being in such a situation myself (as the one wanting romance while the other did not), I ended up in a suicidal bout of depression each time.

Rockapella was one of the big draws of that show.

Well, she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina She's a sticky-fingered filcher, from Berlin down to Belize She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China Tell me, where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Aww, Prince didn't even get to grow old . . .

Anybody remember when postal workers actually got decent pay and benefits?

*gives Hack a sarcasm award* But seriously, the problem isn't with Sam, it's with Society not accepting him (assuming that we are looking at the situation from a viewpoint other than "Transgender is objectively a bad thing that nobody should accept").

No, his problem is that society can't accept a discrepancy between gender-assigned-at-birth and actual gender. Anyway, now that Magic is publicly acknowledged to exist, Sam MIGHT be able to get away with faking that he was permanently altered, in which case the rest of the world is forced to acknowledge his maleness. Some people still wouldn't like it, but Sam would get more sympathy and less harassment if people thought of him as a victim ("A crazy wizard/immortal changed me") rather than somebody who wanted to be changed. And Magic is still rare/mysterious enough that almost nobody would attempt to find a Magical means of making Sam female.

Oh, does cold weather/cold moisture give you headaches?

A note on why Japan was so fanatically anti-Christian in those days: Under Shinto (the Japanese state religion up until WWII), the legitimacy of the Emperor (and the Imperial bloodline) to rule was based on the assumption that the Imperial Family were blood descendants of Amaterasu, the Shinto solar goddess. Thus, any religion that would call the Shinto gods false gods is directly undermining the legitimacy of the royal family (and by implication, anybody in government who is appointed by the royals).

I have seen way too many real life examples of people assuming "if you aren't sufficiently homophobic, then you must yourself be homosexual" (or similar for whatever the people making the statement want you to hate).