Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2009 April 16

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April 16

Need greek translation

My professor has a tattoo and I asked him what it says and he said its ancient greek pronounced "low tie, sof tongue." Anyone knows what this means?

It sounds like γνῶθι σαυτόν (gnōthi sauton), "Know thyself". —Angr 07:13, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Russian pronunciation

I must give an oral presentation on Leo Tolstoy, and I'd like not to pronounce things as correctly as I can. If someone would be so kind as to provide correct pronunciation for Ivan Ilych (as in The Death of Ivan Ilych) and Yasnaya Polyana, I would be much obliged. seresin ( ¡? )  06:49, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

What, all Russian speakers around still asleep? Let me give it a try: Иван Ильич, IPA: ['ivaːn 'ilʲitʃ] (you mistyped the surname, because "ilych" would be a transcription of Илыч, pronounced ['ilɨtʃ]). Ясная Поляна is IPA: [jaːsnaja pɐ'lʲaːna]. Shouldn't be too difficult for an English speaker; a schwa is a good replacement for /ɐ/, while /lʲ/ is roughly as in liaison. No such user (talk) 10:48, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

['ivaːn] is impossible. Russian has no phonological vowel length, it is only one of the features indicating stress. Both Иван and Ильич are stressed on the second syllable, actually. There's a pronounced [j] in Ильич, that's why it isn't written Илич. Here's my take: [ɪˈvaːn ɪlʲˈjiːtɕ], [ˈjæːsnəjə pɐˈlʲæːnə]. — Emil J. 12:45, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

['ivaːn] is impossible. Indeed, it was a typo. Thanks for the correction. No such user (talk) 13:25, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

You'd "like not to pronounce things as correctly" as you can ? StuRat (talk) 13:03, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

I'd transcribe them as [ɪˈvan ɪˈlʲjitɕ] and [ˈjasnəjə pɐˈlʲanə] (assuming the stress others have indicates is correct). Since this includes a number of sounds difficult for non-Russians to pronounce correctly without lots of practice, the closest English approximations would probably be /ɪˈvɑːn ɪlˈjɪtʃ/ and /ˈjæsnəjə pəlˈjɑːnə/. — Ƶ§œš¹ _{[aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]} 21:49, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Never ˈjæsnəjə, always ˈjɑːsnəjə. -- JackofOz (talk) 23:46, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

• Thanks for the responses. Sorry for the misspellings and incorrect phrasings. Things you miss in a hurry :) seresin ( ¡? )  03:46, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

Computer in French

Does the word 'computer' or do the words 'com puter' mean 'rotten' or 'evil-smelling' in the French language? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.93.39.227 (talk) 08:11, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

"Computer" in French is a verb meaning "to perform calculations", and is out of use. Neither "com" nor "puter" are words in French. Equendil Talk 09:00, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

'Comme putain' could mean 'like a bitch', but slightly grammatically incorrect, without the 'un' in there.--KageTora (talk) 08:52, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Comme putains ("like bitches") is pronounced the same and is grammatically correct. (Isn't it? Or does it have to be Comme des putains?) —Angr 09:14, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

The "com" in computer is pronounced the same as "con", the French equivalent of cunt. The "puter" part (pronounced "puteur" in French) is phonetically close to pèteur (one who farts). The correct French word is "ordinateur", by the way. --Xuxl (talk) 15:42, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. But, Xuxl, does the pronunciation of 'con' and 'puter' have anything to do with the French preferring the word 'ordinateur' to computer? Are the French conscious about 'cunt' and 'one who farts' when they hear the word 'computer'?

Are you worried about being improper when you use the word "country"? Adam Bishop (talk) 14:31, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

No, the issue is that the correct word is "ordinateur", not "computer". As someone said earlier, the verb "computer" is basically obsolete in French, whereas "ordonner", from which ordinateur is derived, is very common. "Computer" was used frquently when the devices became ubiquitous in the late 1970s early 1980s, but there has since been a concerted effort within Francophone countries to promote the correct French terms for information technology. Today, ordinateur is used by basically everyone, and other terms like "software" (correct is "logiciel") are also being phased out. Any connotations such as "con pèteur" is limited to pre-teenage boys. --Xuxl (talk) 15:07, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

郵便書留

Does anybody know what a 郵便書留 is? Is it a 'Postal Order'?--KageTora (talk) 08:49, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

It's called registered mail. See ja and en for more info. Bendono (talk) 11:21, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Linguistic Board

Like the title says. I'm searching for an (semi)-scientific board (well, or sth similar) about linguistic topics. Google, Yahoo & Co. could not help me.

thx in advance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.74.16.175 (talk) 16:07, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

See LINGUIST List. -- Wavelength (talk) 16:14, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Going to the bathroom

Does anyone have insight as to how, when, and why the terms "number one" and "number two" came about as euphemisms (if that's the correct word) for urination and defecation? Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:15, 16 April 2009 (UTC))

They are both recorded in Slang and its Analogues (1890-1904) by J. S. Farmer and W. E. Henley. As to why and how I suspect some clever victorian nanny assigned totally arbitrary labels to something unmentionable and they, err, stuck. It might be related to the phrase "take care of number one" meaning to look after oneself. meltBanana 00:34, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

I have no way to back this up, but I always assumed that it was from teachers telling students to hold up different numbers of fingers to communicate different messages to them during class. That's what one of my older elementary school teachers did anyway... --Falconus^{p t c} 23:21, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

My take was always that 'number two' rhymed with a certain bodily function. And 'number one' was kinda recursive in... severity. Judging from the range of answers, any which one might be a folk etymology, mind. Seegoon (talk) 23:37, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you! I appreciate the input. Many thanks! (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 05:37, 18 April 2009 (UTC))

arabic translation

با سلام و احترام آيا مي شود حسابي را كه به ادسنس معرفي مي نماييم در هندوستان باشد و آدر س دائم در آلمان ؟ با تشكر لطفا به email adress پاسخ دهديد. mokaramirgmail.com

i saw this on a google forum what does it say? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.198.192.120 (talk) 21:55, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

It's in Persian. He/she respectfully askes whether his/her bank account (?) for AdSense can be in India while his/her permanent address is in Germany. And he/she wants the response to be sent to his/her gmail box. --Omidinist (talk) 04:40, 17 April 2009 (UTC)