Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2007 April 10

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1 April 10

[edit] April 10

[edit] Looking for a word

Dear all,

Can anybody tell me the word that means: If the queen is to hand over ruling of the monarch/throne to prince Charles, what is that word please ?

From Jewels. Urgent reply would be appreciated.

Thank you. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 192.232.155.155 (talk) 05:04, 10 April 2007 (UTC).

The word you are looking for, Jewels, is Abdication. Clio the Muse 05:08, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

the answer is "abdicate"

also is there such a word in the written form as "I'd" that is accepted as gramatically correct please, anyone.

[edit] slumgullion, is there such a word.

My family,going way back, has used the word "slumgullion" meaning making a meal out of several left-overs. Is there really such a word? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.230.93.188 (talk) 05:27, 10 April 2007 (UTC).

Dictionary.com defines slumgullion as 1. a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. 2. a beverage made weak or thin, as watery tea, coffee, or the like. 3. the refuse from processing whale carcasses. 4. a reddish, muddy deposit in mining sluices. It is an Americanism, dated 1840-50, supposedly from the Hiberno-English gullion, quagmire or cesspool. So it certainly appears to be a word. Bhumiya (said/done) 05:39, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

And a Google search indicates that the first sense of the term, by far the most common, has undergone a bit of semantic drift, and now refers to a variety of beef-based stews and casseroles with varying ingredients. It is also apparently used as a general term for a combination of unlike things, like farrago. Bhumiya (said/done) 05:47, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Nappy headed hos

I have been watching the upror about Don Imus comment about the Rutgers female basketball team. What does "Nappy headed hos" mean exactely? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lievingnon (talk • contribs) 13:18, 10 April 2007 (UTC).

'Ho' is a contraction of whore. I don't know about the first part, but I imagine it is some kind of offensive reference to the women's headgear. --Richardrj ^talk ^email 13:38, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

However, "ho" doesn't mean exactly the same thing as "whore". While a "whore" is a prostitute, a "ho" is more often used to mean a woman who sleeps around, but not for money. StuRat 16:04, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

It's not a contraction, it's an eye dialect spelling for the Ebonics pronunciation of "whore". --Ptcamn 19:01, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

"Nappy" is an adjective with a negative connotation to describe afro textured hair. --Onorem 13:41, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

"Looking back on when I / was a little nappy-headed boy / then my only worry / was for Xmas what would be my toy" ---Sluzzelin talk 13:44, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

"Nappy" in British English means "diaper", but I doubt it means that here, as it seems to be US English. ScouseMouse - スカウサーUK! 15:02, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

One meaning of nap is the fuzzy ends of cut loops of yarn forming the surface of a carpet (also known as pile). Applied to hair it suggests a crewcut of frizzy hair. --Lambiam ^Talk 16:01, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

I think "nappy", in the US, means tightly knotted hair, which is generally not considered to be attractive in African hair and a sign of a lack of attention spent on the hair. It would be roughly equivalent to having "unkempt hair". StuRat 16:08, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

There are different views regarding attractivity. See also nappturality. ---Sluzzelin talk 16:25, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

...and check out Wikipedia's article on natural hair too! ---Sluzzelin talk 15:44, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Check translation

Hi all! Hope I'm posting in the right spot! ;) I would like someone to check if my translation of this page from my mother tongue (italian) is correct! You have just to check the orthography not the "meaning". Thanks in advance. ;-) --Lucas

I checked the article and made a few small changes. However, it was in very good shape in the first place. Marco polo 14:11, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, Marco! ;) --Lucas ^(talk) 00:32, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "A" or "the" majority

Just curious if anyone has any thoughts on the origin and the "appropriate" choice of the phrases "a majority" and "the majority." Which is correct. My guess is that "the majority" occurs more frequently in more recent use, with "a majority" being used more often in the past. At the same time, they may have slightly different usages (discussing "the majority" as a specific group as opposed to merely a statistical observation).

In some sense, "a majority" is less logical than "the majority", since within any group or statistical population, there can only be one majority. This would seem to be true for "plurality" as well.

Any thoughts? Thanks! --Dpr 18:08, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't understand your question. See article (grammar). Whether you should say "a majority" or "the majority" will depend on what you are trying to say. If you are referring to a specific majority you will probably want to use the definite article "the". Can you give the complete sentence so that we know your context? --Shantavira 18:28, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Whatever the difference, I doubt this is specific to majorities. Recury 20:26, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Within a population of three or more individuals there may be several different majorities. In the U.S., for example, the people who can read form a majority. So do people under 50. These two majorities do not coincide: not all people who can read are under 50, and not all people who are under 50 can read. --Lambiam ^Talk 22:53, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for responding to my question, Labiam, Shantavira, and Recury. I agree my question was not very specific...it was intended to be open-ended and really just open for people's thoughts on this matter. It struck me when observing the lack of a clear difference between "a majority" and "the majority." For instance, "In the United States, the majority of people do not know the population of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan." I was curious about stylistic usage/evolution...is there a reason one shouldn't say, "...a majority of people do not know the population of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan." I get the feeling this usage his evolved over time, or might different between US and British English....this is what I was must curious about. Thanks. --Dpr 17:03, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Who are 'They'?

It seems there must be a linguistic answer to the question, "Who are 'They'"? The 'They' who make announcements about what is good for you to eat. The "They" who say one needs to follow a fashion. The "They" who say the Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old or so. The "They" who say 'you' need a rebound boyfriend/girlfriend. So what would be the linguistic (or grammatical if the case may be)definition of what 'They' represents in this usage, or context?

If it can't be found I'm simply going to have to find a professional linguist to discover this. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.31.223.48 (talk) 18:18, 10 April 2007 (UTC).

I'm no professional, but I think there's a simple answer to this one. Isn't "they" used in these contexts just an indefinite pronoun? Like, "It is necessary to breathe"; well, who's the "it"? I think it's just a generally understood and accepted phenomenon. (Correct me if I'm wrong please). Kaiilaiqualyn 20:01, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) As a formerly professional linguist, I'd say they in these sentences is functioning as an indefinite pronoun, if that answers your question. —An gr 20:01, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

This "they" is different from the "they" used for singular referents of indeterminate gender. This "they" can generally be substituted with the word "people" and sometimes by "the authorities". In French, one would use on in place of this "they". I think that it is used when the speaker wants to back his or her statement with the authority of unspecified others. Marco polo 20:16, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Syriac alphabet

Does anyone know of any Internet site with the Serta form of the Syriac alphabet? That page includes a chart of letters in the other two forms of the alphabet, and the Syriac Wikipedia comes in one of the other two forms, but it's almost impossible to find any Serta online except for images of individual letters. Nyttend 20:17, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

For a long time, our article on the Syriac alphabet has only shown tables of Estrangela and Madnhaya versions of the alphabet (although there is an image of a manuscript written in Serto). I've been planning to simplify and update the alphabet table with Serto for a while, but your mentioning it puts it back on my mind. You will have a better chance searching for Serto on-line if you spell it with the final 'o'; that is because it's the script used for the western dialect and that pronunciation uses a final 'o' rather than the classical 'a'. You can find images of the alphabets on the Ancient Scripts website. However, that site uses the erroneous terms 'Jacobite' and 'Nestorian', which is rather insulting. Let me know if you require any further help with Syriac and Aramaic. — Gareth Hughes 14:00, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Twelfth Night

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, where Feste, the fool, quotes the following in Act 5, Scene 1:

"Why, "some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrown upon them..."

In Act 2, Scene 5, Malvolio spoke this quote when he read the fake love letter. However, Feste did not see the event where Fabian, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew hid behind a boxtree, listening to Malvolio reading the fake love letter. How was Feste able to quote part of that fake love letter? --Mayfare 20:55, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

That quote is from Shakespeare? I always that it was Oscar Wilde. —An gr 17:16, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Maria presumably told him before persuading him to take on the garb of Sir Topaz. You will find lots of these 'explanatory gaps' and 'missing links' in Shakespeare. In most cases he would leave the audience to draw their own conclusions. Clio the Muse 22:16, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sanskrit neologisms

Where can I find a list (or book) of Sanskrit neologisms (such as the ones undoubtedly used by All India Radio in their daily broadcasts)? --Śiva 23:32, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

What does 'mona vie' mean?

-FH —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.40.125.186 (talk) 23:43, 10 April 2007 (UTC).

French à mon avis means "In my opinion". AnonMoos 04:53, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

"vie" is french for life. "Mona Vie" is a brazilian drink made from acai berries that is ridiculously priced, but it supposed to increase both quality and quantity of years of life. "Mona," best I can tell, is just a name. Like the Mona Lisa.