Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 February 20

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February 20

Wellbeing (services)

In Finland the country has been, of late, divided into "national health areas" that are called, in English, wellbeing services counties. Since asking for opinions is not allowed, I'm not asking whether the 3-word concoction sounds bad or ungood to a native speaker of English, but I'm rather interested in the word "wellbeing" itself. Doesn't it mainly encompass mental health and support, at least in the UK? You only mend broken hearts but do not replace broken heart valves at the wellbeing councellor's. --Pxos (talk) 08:32, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Yes I would say wellbeing would be understood to be about mental health first and foremost in the UK (1,2) Fgf10 (talk) 09:28, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Although in in this case, the British NHS uses "wellbeing" to mean all-round healthiness. Alansplodge (talk) 11:32, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

I would actually disagree with that interpretation, as it specifically says psychical health wellbeing. I would interpret that as meaning the mental health benefits of exercise. In other words, I read it as "(physical health) and wellbeing", and you're reading it as "physical (health and wellbeing)". But I agree, it's ambiguous. Fgf10 (talk) 15:17, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

For greater clarity: the NHS page says "physical health and wellbeing". I'm guessing that Fgf's spelling-checker guessed wrong. And I, being North American, would have guessed (before reading the comments here) that "wellbeing" was an incorrect translation. --184.144.97.125 (talk) 05:26, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Does healthiness bear the same relation to health as Stephen Colbert's truthiness to truth? —Tamfang (talk) 01:56, 24 February 2022 (UTC)

And "welfare" on the other hand would point the reader to unemployment benefits and financial support, would it not? And "wellfeeling" is meant only for people who wear flowers in their hair when going to San Francisco... --Pxos (talk) 10:27, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

We actually have a whole article discussing the term. --T*U (talk) 11:39, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

The article does not tell what comes readily to people's mind upon hearing the word. I understand the concept of love even without looking it up in a dictionary, but if I walk past a "Love Service", I might be a bit confused. That's why I put the question here, in the Lang. Sect. If an American doesn't have a clue what "wellbeing services" are, and the British think the concept refers mainly to mental health, then it seems the translation is for people who speak English as a worst language. --Pxos (talk) 12:21, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Maybe a Finnish parallel to Wasei eigo? There are certain words (such as "Informatics") which seem to be used more by non-native speakers of English than by native speakers... AnonMoos (talk) 17:51, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Well the whole term is a mixture of Newspeak, adminis... advertisement language and a political compromise (choosing a word that is equally semi-acceptable for the Left, Right and Center). The Finnish word (hyvinvointialue) can ill-literally be translated as "Well-Feeling Area", which really ought to be a nice Japanese spa (all inclusive). The national health system is not called "wellbeing" in Finland, there are no "wellbeing stations", no "wellbeing professionals" and indeed no "wellbeing services" anywhere, but in the name of the new counties. When the various government orgs of the world come up with translations like "a place for restoring goodness in the male non-juveniles" (i.e. a prison for men), it is nice to know how they sound in the ears of people whose language is being used without just compensation. --Pxos (talk) 01:13, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Could this be wellbeing? --T*U (talk) 10:04, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Understanding a Hebrew mascot

This sign contains some incomprehensible words in Hebrew letters. Can anyone explain what's written? Probably has to do with Jewish mysticism. Gil_mo (talk) 16:00, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Which words specifically are you wondering about? Is the text in Hebrew or Yiddish? ± Wakuran (talk) 16:35, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

The text is part Hebrew part what seems to be gibberish, or some sort of acronyms, starting at line 4. Gil_mo (talk) 16:41, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

I thought it could perhaps facilitate if you had the corresponding text typed down. Although I cannot read Hebrew, personally... ± Wakuran (talk) 16:50, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Gil_mo -- Once you get beyond the first line of text below the curlicue divider, the final form of the letter mem is not used, while in the first (rightmost) word of the third line of text from the bottom, the final form of the letter kaf is not used. Not sure what to make of that... AnonMoos (talk) 17:51, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Nice catch! That most certainly means these words are actually acronyms. But of what? Gil_mo (talk) 21:34, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

If they are, they're quite long, and not marked with primes or "gershayim" (the way some words on the line directly above the curlicue divider, are). The only other things I can easily notice are that he-vav-yod-he (an anagram of the tetragrammaton?) occurs both as a separate word, and also as a prefix to other words (to most of the longest words), and also that there are an implausible number of zayin-zayin letter sequences for Hebrew. Is there any Jewish language for which zayin-zayin is a customary digraph in the spelling? AnonMoos (talk) 01:08, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

he-vav-yod-he is probably given as the anagram of the holy name of God - yod-he-vav-he. And what seems like zayin-zayin is actually a single chet letter in that specific font. Gil_mo (talk) 09:50, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

That would be quite bizarre (why should the top horizontal stroke of this one letter be interrupted, something which I've never seen before?), but you may be right, since single zayin letters have the annoying pseudo-tagim, while what I've been interpreting as double zayin letters don't... AnonMoos (talk) 12:31, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

P.S. He-yod-vav-he occurs in the middle of the penultimate word of the third line of text down from the curlicue divider (the second of two consecutive lines where he-yod-vav-he occurs as a separate word at the end). If you could solidly nail down the meaning of HYVH, then you would probably be halfway there... AnonMoos (talk) 12:37, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Some more: the penultimate line is composed of acronyms to the mystic poem Ana beChoach. The last word is probably an acronym for - ובא לציון גואל במהרה בימינו אמן Gil_mo (talk) 17:29, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

One of the very long words does have a final mem, but it's in the middle of the "word". It's the third word in the fourth line after the dividing line. --Amble (talk) 19:03, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Welsh question, probably

I found this sentence in a recent Donald Duck pocket book:

Cymerwch y stryd gynta i'r chwith!

Is this Welsh? What does it mean? JIP | Talk 22:31, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

According to Google Translate it is Welsh for "Take the first street to the left!" DuncanHill (talk) 22:33, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Is Donald perhaps training to take his Prawf gyrru? Martinevans123 (talk) 22:40, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

It's hard enough to understand Donald when he's talking in English. --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:05, 21 February 2022 (UTC)