Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2007 March 25

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March 25

A casual term

A content dispute in which I'm involved in brings up this phrase "a casual term that refers to..." Somehow I think linguists would have a more formal phrase that describes such a word. Thanks. Xiner (talk, email) 02:55, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I decided on "in casual contexts" - is there a free, respectable online dictionary that shows if a noun is countable or uncountable? Xiner (talk, email) 03:46, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Colloquialism? ny156uk 21:00, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

informal?

Elves

Is Pearl an elf? In the novel, Hawthorne describes that she's an "elf-child" or "wild infant". Is she considered an elf in regards to her personality or her blood?Coffsneeze 12:27, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I assume you're talking about The Scarlet Letter. This isn't really a language question, though. —Angr 12:32, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Maybe this is just my misunderstanding, but I would have assumed English Lit style questions belonged here. Skittle 17:12, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I'd say the Humanities Desk is more appropriate, provided this isn't a homework question. The main reference desk page describes this page as being for "Spelling, Grammar, Word etymology, Linguistics & Language usage, and Requesting translations". —Angr 17:31, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree that a question about literature is a HUM question. But...We offer translations? Wow...doesn't that usually count as "doing homework"? Jfarber 17:52, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Not if it isn't a homework question. —Angr 18:37, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

As that book is concerned with humans, not mythical races, I take it the author was comparing her appearance or personaility with that of an elf, not saying she actually was an elf. StuRat 21:11, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

See Changeling for an elf-human connection. This may reflect a speculation (or wishful thinking or whatever) in the context of the social stigma associated with a child born out of wedlock in a community bound by a certain religious worldview. As this is a figurative use of a word in a classic work of fiction, I'd have to agree that the query would be better posted to the Humanities Reference Desk rather than the Language RD. -- Deborahjay 23:07, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Etymology

What is the etymology of towelhead. —Preceding unsigned comment added by LadnavEht (talk • contribs)

"towel" + "head" --Ptcamn 20:28, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

"towelhead" as a pejorative for an arab is from the perceived resemblance of the keffiyeh, part of the stereotype of Arabs, to a typical tea towel. (picture of teatowels here ). jnestorius^(talk) 20:46, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

How

How come there's no Canadian Sign Language?100110100 22:11, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Googling "canadian sign language" gives a few dozen hits. Just from perusing two or three of them, it looks like hearing-impaired persons in anglophone Canada tend to use American Sign Language. However, there is (or was) a distinct "Maritime Sign Language" (also called "Nova Scotian Sign Language"), used in the Maritime provinces. --Mathew5000 22:33, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

What would be the sign for "eh ?" StuRat 02:47, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Eh? --Anonymous, March 26, 2007, 06:53 (UTC).

Spanish

What are the past forms of ver? Viste Vitiste Vio Vimos Vieron?

I assume you mean the preterit? vi, viste, vio, vimos, visteis, vieron. Verbix can be helpful for this sort of thing. --Miskwito 23:09, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

You need to understand that there are many ways of speaking in the past in Spanish. The 'simple past' is two verb forms - preterit and imperfect. Generally (although Spanish is known for it's long list of exceptions to every rule), preterit is used for something that happened once; imperfect is used for habitual actions. --67.177.170.96 03:03, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Also, although Miskwito's answer is somewhat correct, some of those forms use accent marks. Corvus cornix 19:22, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

That's right. In Spanish there is "I saw" (vi) which is perfect and a verb form meaning "I was seeing" or "I used to see" which is imperfect. Don't know the translation, though, since I don't speak Spanish. A.Z. 05:04, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Well the imperfect form of "I was seeing" and "I used to see" is "Yo veia", I expect it helps :) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 189.164.57.189 (talk) 07:03, 26 March 2007 (UTC).

Well, veía --Miskwito 06:01, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Oh, I guess it should be vistéis, then? vio is irregular, though, in that it's written without an accent on the <o>. --Miskwito 06:00, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

It's not that there's a "long list of exceptions for every rule". It's that the supposed rules people propose do not really capture the system. In this case, aspect cannot be reduced to "one time only" or "habitual actions".mnewmanqc 12:45, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

:) =)

Quick question. What does it mean when someone writes something like :) or =) or =)P. 65.95.22.227 23:40, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Those are supposed to represent human faces (can you see two eyes and a mouth?). It is used to show the emotions of the person who is writing. Those specific ones are happy faces. A.Z. 00:14, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

For further details, see Smiley. dr.ef.tymac 00:49, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Specifically, see the section in that article on Internet use and the related article Emoticon. Note in particular that the use of ":-)" and its variants are sometimes just used to mean "I'm happy", the original and more useful meaning is "I'm joking". --Anonymous, March 26, 2007, 06:59 (UTC).

It has a lot to do with the person it is, as well. Each person uses different smiley emocticon things to mean slightly different things, specific to the person, is what I've noticed. [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 16:43, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

:), :( =-p :') :^o :3? $( :*) :p c(_8^(|)!!!! Capuchin 08:50, 28 March 2007 (UTC)