User:Zyxoas/User Talk ZyXoas

Edits to Nongqawuse

Thank you for your edit. I'm eager for people other than myself to work on the article. One thing: please sign in before editting. I'm currently reading Jeff Peires's The Dead Will Arise, so I have plans for expanding Nongqawuse, as well as Mlanjeni, Nxele, etc. UngumXhosa? Ndizo'thanda ukuthetha nawe ngaloo articles. --Taejo | Talk 15:56, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Sesotho language

I think Sesotho language is not overkill, but most languages arrange phonetic information more logically and clearly. There is also the problem that rather than use the International Phonetic Alphabet you have described the sounds (inaccurately, I'm guessing, but I don't speak Sotho) in terms of a non-standard, reasonably uncommon, dialect of English (i.e. South African). You should put the sounds in a table. You should also indicate both Lesotho and South African orthography, rather than making up your own orthography. The introduction could also be longer (perhaps something like: Southern Sotho (Sesotho) is a Bantu language spoken in Lesotho and South Africa. It has approximately x million speakers.) I'm moving it to Sotho language (in line with Zulu language, Xhosa language, etc.)

To sign in, you can use the link at the top, and then sign your name with ~~~~ --Taejo | [[User talk:Taejo|Talk]] 06:58, 16 November 2005 (UTC)

Or ~~~ if you want to add only your name (without time) or ~~~~~ if you want to only add time (without name). See Wikipedia:Signature. Cheers~ Wikipeditor 22:41, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

First off, please assume good faith - it's wikipedia policy. Second, I edit articles I know nothing about all the time, and I'm not the only wikipedian who does so - because the encyclopedia is for people who don't know, because if they did they wouldn't need to read about it, and I do know what contradiction and grammatical mistakes are, even if I don't know the subject matter.

As a student of English I know that there is such a thing as Xhosa. Look it up in an English dictionary, because this is an English encyclopedia. I assume the thing you don't like is my move to Sotho language. Do me a favor and visit Español (Spanish for Spanish) - notice it redirects to Spanish language. Same as Sesotho redirects to Sotho language - the language's name for itself redirects to the English name. Think about it, if you were editing the Xhosa wikipedia (I know you aren't a Xhosa speaker, but I don't know the Sotho word): you wouldn't write an article called , would you? is obviously the better option (BTW, it's a bad stub: when I found it, it just said "isiNgesi lulwimi oluthethwa ngabantu abaninzi." - there isn't much of a Xhosa wikipedia at all).

And please sign your comments. --대조 | Talk 09:28, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

You're welcome

I too think the name Sesotho is better than Sotho. --Revolución (talk) 21:27, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Hi, I'm trying to gather opinions about styles for African language names at Talk:African languages#Style for African language names. You've been pretty forthright at Talk:Sesotho: could I ask you to do it again at the above? Speaking personally, I'd find it useful if you had comments on my numbered points - but all's grist to the mill! Cheers, JackyR 08:25, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

Sesotho language userboxes

Your user page says your a native speaker of Sesotho, so I'm wondering if you would be interested in helping to translate from English to Sesotho to make the userboxes. If you want to do it, you don't have to create the templates, you would just have to translate.

This user is able to contribute with a basic level of Sesotho.
This user is able to contribute with an intermediate level of Sesotho.
This user is able to contribute with an advanced level of Sesotho.
This user speaks Sesotho at a near-native level.
This user is a native speaker of Sesotho.

Just bold or italicize the words basic, intermediate, advanced, near-native, and native so I'll be able to know which words to link to their appropriate categories. Whether you want to do this is completely up to you. --Revolución (talk) 21:49, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

47

Hi ZyXoas. Thanks for supporting my 47-collection. You forgot to tell me what language your translation was in, though, hehe. Please tell me, so I can add it to my list. Thank you! --N-true 15:32, 7 February 2006 (UTC) Edit: Okay, found out you wrote it in Sotho. Is it Northern or Southern Sotho? I already have both and I have different versions:

Sotho, Northern: masomennêšupa
Sotho, Southern: mashonne a supa

Can you tell me what my versions mean literally and why we do have different translations here? Could it be that supa/šupa is a loanword meaning 'seven'? --N-true 15:38, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Hello again. I'm sorry, I just neglected it, I didn't ignore your propose on purpose. Here's a list of all the Bantu translations I got so far. They're ordered by their language families and subfamilies. The names are chosen according to the Ethnologue (I know it's a very questionable source, but there needed to be something fixed for the names I can rely on). Feel free to correct them or find additional translations.

Kenyang: bɛsa bɛ́pay nsɛm tándrámɔt
Sukuma: makumiane na pungate
Swahili: arobaini na saba
Ganda: amakumi ana mu musanvu
Rwanda: mirongo ine na kalindwi
Luba-Kasai: makumi anayi ne mwanda muteketa
Nyanja: makumi anayi mphembu zisanu ndi ziwiri
Chuwabu: makumi manai na tanu
Ndebele: matjhumi amane nalikhomba
Swati: emashumi lane nakusikhombisa
Xhosa: amashumi amane anesixhenxe
Zulu: amashumi amane nesikhombisa
Sotho, Northern: masomennêšupa
Sotho, Southern: mashonne a supa
Tswana: masomenne supa
Tsonga: makumemune nkombo
Tswa: mune wa makume ni ntlhanu ni mun'we
Venda: fuiṋasumbe
Lingala: ntúku mínei na sámbó
Ngemba: nuwumnukwa nsamba
Mundani: èghem yekpì ntsɔ̀b besà̧à̧mbe

Thanks for your kind help! --N-true 14:07, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Thank you, thank you

Many, many thanks for anything you can / have added to the debate (chuck it in even if it's not edited...). There's absolutely no question of "too late": I'm deliberately moving slowly to give folk with intermittent access time to chip in - I sooooo agree with you about the illusion of "consensus" being reached by a handful of people with limited access to the countries/sources where these language names are in everyday use. (And I have an eye on future African WP editors, who will make hay of any "imposed" structure: I'm looking for structures which can grow to accommodate different editors/readers).

And thank you for the Nguni class prefixes heads-up - although I've found "seKalanga" in Setswana chat. Chatroom spelling is hardly authoratitive, of course, but do you think there are differences in use between different countries (curse of the nation-state, and all that)?

And I have a major Q to ask you, because I've had contradictory responses from Africans. When writing in English, would you write Ndebele or isiNdebele? If the latter, how would you justify making "African langs in Eng" different from "Eng in African langs" (where one would translate or "Africanize" the word English, no?). And while writing English, you yourself referred to French, Greek, rather than français, or Hellenic (or Ελληνικά)? I'm not having a pop, I just want to make sure this has been talked through. (Btw, I know exactly that kick of annoyance from seeing "my" language, town and country called something else by bloody foreigners, what would they know - except I get it on the London Underground, seeing guidebooks called Londra, Inghilterra, and Londres, Angleterre. What I haven't managed is to turn the emotional reaction into a rational complaint).

I know it'll be a while before you read this, and I really appreciate if you do spend some of your precious internet time contributing to the debate - it looks one-sided 'cos you're not there! All the best. JackyR 19:07, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

PS If it works better for you, feel free to write stuff in a Word (or something) doc and email it to me. I'll post it wherever you ask. JackyR 19:07, 17 February 2006 (UTC)

Kiribati "Gilbertese"

The name most commonly used most certainly is Kiribati, but the article title uses the name Gilbertese, even though most Kiribati people regard the name as a colonial relic. The country name was changed from Gilbert Islands to Kiribati, so why are people trying to keep the language name from changing. You can participate in a poll at Talk:Gilbertese language. --Revolución hablar ver 03:32, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Soooo cool!

Isn't modern tech wonderful! Your heading did indeed come out: add stuff there, and I'll format it if necessary! This is cool... JackyR 18:34, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

My pleasure! The only thing that really puts me off is being bitten: I'm often Wrong (tho' I didn't just admit that), but I am almost always acting in Good Faith... I say this cos I know you're gonna beat me up for what I've said above, next time you get to a decent keyboard (*eek*). Be gentle with me... JackyR 21:15, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Look at ""Thankyou, thank you" above. I tell the anti-prefix people they might be wrong, and then the pro-prefix people they might be wrong... And yes, I do have fence marks all down my bum... :-o JackyR 22:25, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

|-) ... JackyR 23:00, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Don't know nuffink

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Which in this case is not hard! :-o Will connect Taejo to your words of wisdom... JackyR 21:19, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

OK, some weirdo (other than you!) is messing with my Talk page. I'm turning in now, but will fix all tomorrow (and put up some of your scary facts) - and I'll be checking hte history in case the twonk tries again. Sleep tight! JackyR 22:04, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Hello, my South African brother. :)

I can't imagine trying to input text via telephone. It must be frustrating as hell. I'm in the middle of a couple of really pressing deadlines right now, so I can't return to the pages to which you referred me right now. But I'll take a look sometime this weekend now that I know whose posts I'm looking for. (I hope that's all right.) It's a shame you don't have Internet access -- but it's one of the major problems I have with Wikipedia, why I feel it's doomed from the start. A whole lot of brothers and sisters (even here in the States) don't have a computer of their own, let alone Internet access -- so the project is hopelessly skewed demographically (by gender, culturally, politically, ethnically/racially) from the git-go. FYI, my e-mail addy is deeceevoice@aol.com, should you choose to make use of it. I hope you do. It'd be good to have a running dialogue w/a brother in RSA about ... hey just about anything. Peace to you. And Mayibuye iAfrika. :p (I appreciate the correction.) :) deeceevoice 13:19, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Satisfactory...

Well, I thought ComputerJoe grovelled rather well! :-) Ok, I've now got over my fear at seeing so many words I don't know in the same sentence: will think more about this on weekday, when I don't have a Real Life to interfere with my Wiki-ing (!) and can concentrate. And you've solved/raised another Q for me. I used to work with folks called Kereeditse, Kealebogile, Thatayamodimo, etc. I always assumed that separate words had been run together to make these names: you're saying they're actually one word? (Assuming Sesotho and Setswana are close enough on this). Scary. So how do you parse a sentence, then? JackyR 18:13, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, didn't literally mean how do you do it every day: more how does one do it in front of one's schoolteacher. But it was a daft Q anyway: obviously one just splits up the word/sentence into, um, ... (apologies, don't know grammatical terms). Actually, sounds akin to Latin, where word order barely matters, cos the words carry their case with them (so I'm told - never did this at school, you understand).

I think "Thata" means "love": so presumably this name means "Love of God". I'd always mistranslated it as "Love (vb) God". Ya learn sumfink ev'ry day... But hey, here's a different Q entirely. Do you like phane/macimbi? Or better know the various names? The article is up for peer review, and has largely been written from academic studies into economics, which I guess are what was available on the web. I KNOW THE LANGUAGE BIT IS WRONG! It was me wot wrote it, more as a note to self to do properly under advisement... Prob turn in soon, so I'm not being rude if I don't reply tonite... (What am I saying - it's past midnight chez vous)JackyR 23:11, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

talk talk talk

on a PHONE?! insanity...

Anyway, yes I do know C/C++ as well, (just started C++ though, and been literally 2 or 3 years since coding in C )

Nice to meet ya though... janey the crazy 21:10, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Still here!

You got blocked?! What bollocks! I'll abuse my broadband and go bite him! (Mind you, I seem to have scared the pants off ComputerJoe: didn't mean to...)

Yeah, sorry about lack of contact - took my brain off the hook on Sunday - didn't do anything I had to think about. And I really have to think about your stuff - clever-clogs! At weekends I have family here, which is great but tiring (I'm a sad bastard with ME), so I'm often not back to form till Tues. What I have done (so far), is correct Moshoeshoe I per yr comment. And started web-trawling per yr suggestion for Xitsonga (I'm doing all 11 SA langs, tho, plus the other SADC ones I'm vaguely familiar with). It's grinding, but I hope that it will end up demonstrating to The Web Community (*sigh*) that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in their linguistics textbooks...

Does English (officially) only have 16 vowels? Sounds familiar, actually: but then there are the semi-vowels, ne? Going the other direction is difficult, too. Japanese, for eg, has only five vowels and three semi-vowels, but then can use these in combinations that, to the English ear sound for all the world like diphthongs - but aren't. Then again, my native Estuary English maps almost exactly to Cantonese (Guangdong-hua, to you, my friend ;-) ), glo"al stops and all... See, I have to show off my puny knowledge to try to keep up! But I had quite a good accent when I left Hong Kong - to the point where I got discounts from HK cabbies (which is like getting sympathy from Vlad the Impaler).

Should I ask where you're at Uni, etc? Or is that too conventional for words? Actually, I do know a little about you (not stalking you, honest!): when I was trying to track you down to ask about langs, I entered your anon IP into Whois, in case the IP was non-dynamic and worth replying to. So I know you were at CSIR - doing a student placement? My uncle retired from there 10 yrs ago, so we can escape the "Do you know so-and-so", but I've visited on occasion.

And I guess it's only polite to tell you who I am, so try [here]. Hint, I'm not the photographer! :-) JackyR 00:05, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

7 vowels?

Um, does that mean most 7-vowel langs have "mu" rather than "mo"? Actually, I can ask a friend who a) says she speaks "Ndebele and Setswana", and b) cooks macimbi much better than I do (mine come out chewy...).And yeh, the mopane worm article says some strange things... Again, will take it under advisement.

And mon ami, maybe you didn't speak English on your mother's knee, but I wouldn't know unless you told me... Sleep well now |-) JackyR 00:15, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Oh is that the test? Whether one can pronounce the vowel-chain slowly? Of course! I never fought' o' dat... I just know when I allow Japanese vowel-chains to slur into diphthongs, people stop understanding. JackyR 16:19, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

My incompetence

Ah, have just realised why I seemed silent for so long. Einstein here replied on her own talk page, as below (about connectivity):

That's connectivity too, surely! OK, there I am abusing the English lang again - I meant it in a non-technical sense: if much of the population can't access web-stuff easily for one reason or another, then SA's representation on-line is disproportionately low (and skewed, of course, but that's another story...). But my first ever international email was to SA - 1994 [to CSIR, in fact]. Gosh how clever it all felt then! Right, I really am off now :-) Sleep well... [11 March]

Btw, I'm so glad to hear someone else can't tell the difference between US "dad" and "dead". I once had the following alarming conversation with an American child:

child: "You know Lucy's dead?"
me: [gawps in horror]
child: "You know, Lucy's dad Mike? He gave me...."

JackyR 16:31, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Liking Sesotho

Actually, Sesotho is rather good! ;-) Very long, and still scary for the not-even-amateur linguist, but jolly good! Yeh, your sections do seem to be gettting longer...

Loving cricket

Crickets (or similar) are definitely eaten in Zimbabwe: you can buy them toasted on a stick! Only in the season, of course - and more seriously every year kids are killed on the roads while dancing round lamp-posts at night grabbing the beasties. They, and macimbi, shouldn't be a major source of protein, but its all relative to how much other food you get... JackyR 18:47, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

All good stuff...

...No, I'm really enjoying this! But don't expect me to understand it straight away... JackyR 19:48, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Nguni

Ouch, yeh the article's a bit of a mess, isn't it? Lots of people have tried hard, but... I've asked the author of the original statement of "artificial" where he got this idea (on de.wiki). Do you agree with story at Ngoni? I admit that's certainly my understanding - that Nguni is the umbrella term for the groups settled by the Zulu expansion, and for the Zulu and related peoples in SA. Am I hopelessly out? JackyR 19:13, 15 March 2006 (UTC)19:11, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Right, Humansdorpie and I may have a go at this article. (You know, if the moon's in the right phase, the wind the right direction and the supply of Round Tuits sufficiently large...) Read Talk:Nguni and guide us further? In particular, you don't happen to have an old secondary school history book, do you? Ideally BoLeSwa, but New South African would do... (The really old ones have all been turned to toilet paper now, I hope.) JackyR 22:26, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Animists

Yeh, I was about to say I've never met any - but on thinking about it, realised this wasn't true. At least, folk round Palapye, Botswana, are dedicated Christians and are guardians of the sacred hills were the ancestors hang out, and have closed ceremonies (I think involving killing a beast), when they want to undertake new buiding or activities in the affected areas. Is that animism? And what about the ceremony after my Ndebele (Zim) sister's granny passed away - which my sis wouldn't turn up to in case she was the one chosen by the... ancestor(s?), as a voice or something? I'm trying to understand the animism article - but it's largely from 1911 Britannica, that fine authority on all things African :-( And I don't advise reading it yourself unless you want a stroke - it's particularly blood-pressure raising for a Mosotho... JackyR 22:26, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Oh, hallelujah! Yes, a decent vol to beat this idea round the head with would be wonderful. So, guess what you'll be doing when you finally get ADSL... :-D My Qs would be: is animism something that used to exist in the bits of Africa you know about, but no longer; is it an external construct (Western, Eastern, whatever) that has been falsely applied to some African beliefs; or is the whole thing a bunch of dingo's kidneys? People want to know! JackyR 22:52, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Damned if we do, damned if we don't

Hah - knew someone would say it! Here's a dilemma: I'm easily categorised as non-African (not completely true, but let's say it were). So. Should I:

not write about things because a) my sources are bound to be poor, and b) I'll be propagating the ventriloquism of the last century where non-Africans claimed to speak for Africans?

Or should I:

be disgusted at the fact that the newest groovy information source still contains bog-all about the coolest continent; and do my best to plug the gaps until the real experts come along, recognising that what I'm saying may be wrong (although that's true generally!) and I'll certainly be flamed for it later...

It's enough to make you write about Hoo St Werburgh... :-) JackyR 22:52, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Bitter blockage

Yeh, I'm kinda unimpressed with Essjay. I was joking about biting him, but ended up with a bad taste in my mouth anyway. If it's the least consolation, he obviously has form: when looking for where he'd archived your comments, I came across similar incidents where he seems to have attacked others for suggesting he'd been uncivil, er... Oh well, he's just an admin: back to the real work... JackyR 23:00, 15 March 2006 (UTC) PS Don't look at the Sesotho Wiki thing as written off: just put on a back-burner... I'd go talk to Mannen av Bord myself, but how much an eg of ventriloquism would that be? Wena! Do it yourself! ;-)

Archiving

Afraid of nowt - except not being able to find your latest! Nigh' nigh' |-) JackyR 23:50, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

And Dictionary.com. I've just swallowed my tongue! Worse, they claim it's from 1996 Webster! Now I shan't sleep... JackyR 23:54, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

raw milk

nice to know about the milk :) i didn't know that, actually. i did know some people were touting it as a cure-all for allergies and such though. Although, things have been better lately because of the xolair, less meds, less everything, except attacks somehow tend to be worse (but, less common) :) thanks for the birthday greets janey the crazy 12:22, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Unworthy, wrong, etc...

I'm really sorry about the "damned" remark. I realised even before switching on today that I'd been projecting my idea - not reading what you actually said. Actually, that's why I've switched on today - to apologise. 'Fraid I shall be a bit quiet today, but will bounce back termorrer: I ain't ignoring yeh :-} JackyR 15:06, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Just to show race really is a construct, I've been called "black", "white" and "Paki" – to my face (or from a retreating car window...). JackyR 15:27, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Things one's always known

Have you ever had that experience when you don't know how to express a concept - and then learnt that not only is there a word for it in another language/culture, but "your" concept is well established in that culture? It sends shivers down your spine. That's what your piece about ancestors has just done. You're right, I must discuss this with Irene (strictly, she's L4 Setswana - which probably means she speaks it pretty well...). I've always been loathe to ask about all this, unless someone offers, because religion and beliefs seem kinda private.

This subject totally needs an article - a good one. What would the title be? I'll check what WP has that dovetails (or should be destroyed with extreme prejudice...) Wow. Now, off the hook for the w/e (tho may log on for minor, brain-dead stuff). Here's wishing you a good one, ciao JackyR 19:55, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Re your query on Bantu language adjectives

"In the Bantu_languages adjectives form a closed class. Ur-Bantu/Proto-Bantu/Kintu had only one adjective "-kulu" "big", most other qualifiers were relatives. Relatives are an open class and since relatives can be derived from verbs (as relative clauses) they are potentially infinite. How do you distinguish between the 2? Through the concords, of course!

Many Bantu languages have only a handfull of adjectives. Others, like Kiswahili, have none. As you can see, there is more to linguistics than English and this article should reflect other views. Please tell me of your responses on my talk page. User:ZyXoas. 20:04, 17 March 2006 (UTC)"

Reading your talk:page to me re closed-class words, I am sorry (and quite ashamed) to say I know nothing about this subject in Bantu/Kintu. You are obviously a speaker of the languages and know a lot about the subject, so I would suggest that you add your content, provided you can substantiate your points.

My point originally was that closed class words are words which belong to groups of words which cannot, or very rarely are added to in an evolution of a language, such as prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions, etc in English or German, the languages I do know something about.

As to your contention that there is more to linguistics than English, I am sure you are absolutely right, and it would be a pity if you didn't include the relevant points you are making in the languages you are familiar with and are expert in. That is the only way other people will ever learn about languages they are unfamiliar with. Please go ahead, be aware however, that whatever you do write about might attract other experts who will use their knowledge and comment on what you are writing. Anyway, I thank you in advance for your contributions. Dieter Simon 02:31, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Closed-class_word"

ZyXoas, you are quite right about this issue. Are you aware of the page Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias/open tasks/Linguistics? It was started exactly in order to eliminate the emphasis on English/Indo-European in our linguistic articles. In fact, Closed-class word has been on there for quite some time now. — mark ✎ 09:38, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Sesotho

Thank you for your message about Sesotho language (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) on my talk page. I'm sorry that this weekend I have little time to work on Wikipedia, and have only managed to keep a long-running dispute in check and do some simple bits and pieces. My interest in the article is as a linguist rather than from any special knowledge of Sesotho. I would be glad to discuss with you (here or on the article's talk page) about ways to improve the article. Someone with more specialist knowledge would be Mark Dingemanse, who may be able to help as well. — Gareth Hughes 11:49, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

That IP is a Tiscali one from the UK and doesn't seem to be a proxy. It's made no edits on st though, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Did you perhaps mean 213.214.155.64 instead? This is a Finnish IP which has been blanking pages. I'm going to revert those now. If there were other IPs vandalising, please let me know. Angela . 00:30, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Je reviens..

I've been asleep since about Saturday... But am slowly returning to the world. May be a bit erratic for the next few days (so what's new?), but will get to work slowly. Speak to you later, but possibly with significant delays (zzzzz) :-} JackyR 14:18, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

delphi

sorry, dunno. i'm a big fan of sharing, hence i use bittorrent. also, i turned 17, the info on my user page is correct for the most part. janey the crazy 09:23, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Test

Help has arrived

You wanted some help, here I am! How can I help you? You can ask your questions right here, and I will respond.--Commander Keane 10:23, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I seriously need help

I see dead people, walking around like regular people, all the time. But more disturbingly - I can't log in!. This is actually a problem I've had for a months. The problem could be one of:

1 I'm using a limited browser. For example, there is a "views" section at the bottom of each page containing the "History" and "+" tabs etc. This is an unlikely reason, however.
2 There's a problem with cookies on my phone. This is also not likely since I don't have a problem with cookies from other sites.
3 My connection is not secure. Although I know this for a fact I've had few difficulties submitting my password on other sites.

== not a new section. please wait ==

Continuing

Oops, I made a bad mistake above, so I can't continue that section.

4 I simply forgot my password. It's been some 2 years since I was fully active. I registered using a university e-mail address which no longer exists so I can't simply have the password sent to me.

My question therefore is: am I screwed, or is there some way I can be given a new password? (Trust me - I really am ZyXoas) I know these Linux people are obsessed with security. Could you perchance hook me up with a wiki programmer to see if there is any chance of me logging in without having to create a new user page? Thank you. User:ZyXoas 11:28, 23 March 2006 (UTC) (yes, I'm finally done!)

Have you tried emailing a new password to your email address? At the log in screen click "E-mail new password".-Commander Keane 11:35, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

E-mailing password

Yes, but as I said: the e-mail address is no longer valid since I'm no longer in that university. User:ZyXoas 12:04, 23 March 2006 (UTC) Can someone change it? Or would that be a serious security risk? User:ZyXoas 12:07, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Sorry about that, I didn't read that your email is buggered. Can't you just try every password you have ever used? Guessing is going to be the easiest way out of this situation. Other than that you would need to prove to a developer that you are who you say you are (which is going to be tricky). Maybe ask at the Help desk for more ideas. Since you don't have that many edits on the account, why not just start a new one? By the way, I was just testing the {{helpme}} before - I don't need help.--Commander Keane 13:07, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

E-mail and password.

Maybe I might go to the help desk. I have an idea what my password was and what my old e-mail address was. So I could convince a developer by giving them that info? I've tried entering the password many times but I'm afraid I may have permanently changed it when I clicked "e-mail new password" a few weeks ago... Know any developers? User:ZyXoas 13:25, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I don't know any developers. Your password can't change when you click "e-mail new password" - it will still be the same as before. Try the Help desk I guess.--Commander Keane 13:40, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Just spoke to someone reasonably high on the developer chain, on IRC. I asked: "is someone has forgetten their password and their email doesn't work, what are the chances a developer would like to give them their password?"

The reply was :"Nil. Because of the problems associated with identification of users, and of avoiding attempts to seize accounts.".--Commander Keane 13:46, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Zulu having and being

Ah okay. Yeah, all of the books I'm studying from (you kinda have to rely on books to learn Zulu in Scotland :) said that there is no 'to be' or 'to have' (with the exception of the 'fake' 'to be' of -ngu- in sentences which can't be expressed only with subject concords --> NginguAlistair). But I asked a friend of mine the other day and it turns out there is! As you say, ukuba is the infinitive of 'to be'. Although it must be used a lot less in Zulu than English for my books to get away with saying it doesn't exist. As for 'to have', I've never seen that construction (ukuba nendlu) but it makes sense :) Thanks! I don't know what kintu linguistics are, but if they come up I'll be sure to drop you a line. Thanks for the help :) Al. Joziboy 23 March 2006, 14:35 (UTC)

By the way, why do you call them Kintu languages? "izinto ezinhle", "ilanga elihle" and "imithi emihle" are all concords aren't they? But because verbs and adjectives behave the same in Zulu, they only translate as having 'is' in them when the sentence would read that way in English. "imithi emihle" means either 'the beautiful tree' or 'the tree is beautiful' neh? Joziboy 23 March 2006, 15:59 (UTC)

On a cellphone?! I'm only just figuring out how to do this all on a laptop let alone a cellphone. Very impressed :) As for not confusing me - there's no hope of that! I find Zulu grammar very confusing, but thanks all the same. I guess it just takes practice... Joziboy 23 March 2006, 17:18 (UTC)

He's gone all quiet

But is clearly still alive! I've begun to catch up on the sheer level of content you've been throwing at me - including finding your "answers" to Qs I only wrote later: freaky... or just proof I should hang more closely on your every word? :-D You're now on the list at Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias/members, ~~and I'm about to start African Traditional Religion using your content, so you might like to check it in several hours' time~~. Also, I'm up to something else, off Wiki, which I'll pass on if it gets anywhere... Catch you later JackyR 15:13, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Or not, as the case may be: Talk:African religions... JackyR 15:45, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Clearly you have to go with the Bazooka: be sure to tell our good friend SJ straight off... ;-)

No really, I got it. So to speak. :-o Just cos i'm a girl he finks I don't tell dirty jokes... Have such fun with your assignments JackyR 19:49, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

A cop-out would be just changing your CaPitalisatioN. Alternatively, (cos you're obviously not busy enough!) go ask the admins at your old Uni address to dig out your old password: unlike the WP admins, they'll kinda know who you are, esp if you rock up w your Uni card. I dunno, what sort of CompSci are you, can't even remember your 400th password...

Yeh, I kind of have permission to be out of bed, as long as I Don't Do Anything (shhh... don't tell). But my brothers will keep having birthdays, christening their babies, climbing Everest, etc, for which I have to be in good nick (OK, I'm not really involved in the last...), so the next few weeks could involve some serious hibernation. Could be worse: might have to study for a living. :-D (I still get Exam Nightmares – the ones where you're in your pyjamas, and your pen won't work, and you've never heard of the subject, and... But you're probably enjoying those right now.) Bis bald JackyR 18:27, 23 March 2006 (UTC)