Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2017 June 11

Language desk
< June 10	<< May | June | Jul >>	June 12 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

June 11

Tagalog translation please

What are some words to describe.. soggy, saggy, droppy, full, wet in Tagalog? Thanks! --Dinnerio Polajjsy (talk) 07:49, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

"Droppy" ? Did you mean "drippy" ? StuRat (talk) 08:16, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

or droopy? —Tamfang (talk) 08:33, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

droopy. typo. --Dinnerio Polajjsy (talk) 17:38, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

soggy: babad, babad na babad, pigta, lunod, basang-basa, namamasa at mabigat, tigmak, maulan

saggy, droopy: laylay, unsyami

full: puno, ganap, lubos, puspos, lipos, lubusan, busog, tigib, batbat, singkad, liyeno

wet: basa, maulan, matubig, may tubig, tag-ulang —Stephen (talk) 05:21, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Animal terms that mean insults

Why do animal terms mean insults? In English, there is asshole. In Chinese, there is 猪头, which means "fool" and literally translates to "pig head"? Can 猪头 be used as a translation for asshole? Are there other words of a similar nature? 50.4.236.254 (talk) 11:35, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

Asshole is an interesting case study waiting to happen (or more likely someone has done it, but I don't know who). In California, it usually means a mean, nasty person, someone who will mow you down without a thought if he can gain some advantage thereby. There seems to be another meaning in much of the United States, where it refers to a stupid or incompetent person. Penn Jillette recently wrote a book that detailed, among other things, how he had lost 100 pounds or so. He was sensitive to the risk that people would take it as some sort of model to follow. So very early in the book, he made sure to write If you take any lifestyle or medical advice from a juggler—you're an asshole!

I would be interested to know whether this difference follows any clear geographic lines, maybe like the soda–pop one, for which people have come up with detailed maps. --Trovatore (talk) 21:16, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

"Ass" in this case doesn't mean "donkey". It is how the Americans spell (and pronounce) the English word "arse", which means "buttocks". Similarly "cock" has nothing to do with "rooster". --TammyMoet (talk) 11:38, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

Yes, the animal word comes from Old English assa wheareas the buttocks word comes from Old English ærs, sometimes spelt ears. Shakespeare played on the similarity of the three words in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Dbfirs 20:38, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

Though in England it is an insult to call someone as ass (= donkey), meaning they are stupid. Wymspen (talk) 20:30, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

I used to work with a nice girl from the Thames Gateway who used to call people she thought lacked intelligence a "donkey's head". Alansplodge (talk) 22:32, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

See Animal epithet. Rojomoke (talk) 12:06, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

I used to live in central Africa - where the worst insult was to call someone a monkey (in the local language, as English was not used there). Wymspen (talk) 20:30, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

 

Original research — of the twelve creatures that make up the Chinese zodiac, four are unambiguous insults in English (rat, snake, dog, pig). Six are usually negative but could be intended positively in limited contexts (ox, rabbit, goat, monkey, rooster, dragon). "Horse" could go either way. Only "tiger" is an unambiguous compliment.

I personally am a tiger, so this seems entirely just and proper to me. --Trovatore (talk) 20:49, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

Me too. A tiger with a scorpion on its back. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:24, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

"Dog" can mean friend, too, in black English. "Rooster" may be neutral, but if somebody calls you a cock, it's almost never a compliment. Snakes are sneaky and cunning, but do it with a certain respectable coolness, unlike those hairy hot-blooded weasels. InedibleHulk (talk) 23:26, 11 June 2017 (UTC)

Since when is "dragon" usually negative? Clarityfiend (talk) 00:40, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

I was going to put it in a category of "not usually used to describe humans, so not really relevant". But then I thought of "dragon lady", which is pretty negative. --Trovatore (talk) 03:41, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Since they started feuding with white knights, pure maidens and pure white sheep. Tenth century or so. Even before then, the one in Revelation might (still) rub people the wrong way, with its seven blasphemous heads and whatnot. Falkor, Polkaroo and Game of Thrones have helped the Western dragon image a good deal, but they're still far from lucky and our fairies already fill that niche. InedibleHulk (talk) 01:08, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

That said, as just a quick insult, calling someone a dragon probably won't get the evil point across. Even if it does, English folks these days subscribe to relatively complicated moral relativisms and could just shrug it off. If you yell it to someone who lives underground, breathing magic smoke, rolling bones and dreaming of flying, you even risk healing them a few points. Best to save "You damned dirty dragon!" for true Warriors of Light and focus on attacking the undead's cat-like taste in music instead. InedibleHulk (talk) 03:36, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

In British English it is an insult used against a woman who is perceived as unnecessarily strict or fierce, for example a headmistress or librarian. Could be in the form "she's a right dragon". Itsmejudith (talk) 11:10, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Margaret Thatcher was called "Attila the Hen", among other choice epithets. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 22:19, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Here she is rocking the horns of a goat, the teeth of a viper, the skin of a goldfish, the fist of a sasquatch and the eyes of a political chimera. InedibleHulk (talk) 00:45, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

bačičobi

What language has a word for 'right (turn)' that sounds like bačičobi? —Tamfang (talk) 18:34, 11 June 2017 (UTC)