Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 January 9

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January 9

Use of Chopsticks in the world

I'm curious about how widespread is the use of chopsticks in the world in terms of the percentage of people that use them as their main utensil when eating. Is there any estimate for this percentage?

Roughly 25%, counting China, the Koreas, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Overseas Chinese East Asian population (about 1.7 billion people in total).DOR (HK) (talk) 02:49, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Trophy awarded to NHL winners 1918—1920

Hi all. Is the following statement right: No trophy had been awarded to the NHL winners in seasons 1917-18, 1918-19 and 1919-20 because the championship was still considered a temporary measure against Eddie Livingstone, which is why Montreal Canadiens were allowed to keep hold of the O'Brien Trophy (awarded to them in the last year of NHA play) during the period?

I'm only looking for the name of the trophy given to the NHL winners in these three seasons, if there ever was one. The upper statement merely serves as an organized collection of links to kixtart the research. Splićanin (talk) 06:39, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Marijuana

Why are people not allowed to smoke marijuana and which countries or places it is allowed or illegal to smoke it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.246.52.15 (talk) 07:54, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

For the first question, see Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities#Why is marijuana illegal?. The discussion there is still ongoing so please don't duplicate it here.

For the second question, see Legality of cannabis. --65.94.50.4 (talk) 08:29, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

International Directory of Company Histories

Dear Wikipedia,

what's the price of the International Directory of Company Histories volumes from Gale? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.162.67.2 (talk) 11:33, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

There are details of the December 2014 issue on this page, but you have to register an account to see price information. But the page also says "If you do not wish to register, please call your Sales Representative at 1-800-877-4253 or e-mail gale.galeord@cengage.com.". Gandalf61 (talk) 12:25, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

"Au"?

I have noticed very many place names in Central Europe, particularly in Austria and nearbly Slovakia and Bavaria of Germany, have "Au" somewhere in their names. What is this "Au"? Does it have some meaning or is it just some sort of tradition in naming? JIP | Talk 18:36, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

See the second item listed in our article on German toponymy:

"-au, -aue (related to rivers or water), see German words Au or Aue. This meaning of -au (earlier spelling ow, owe, ouwe) describes settlements by streams and rivers. Example: Passau, the town Aue, rivers named Aue."

German Wiktionary's entry on the suffix -au has a bit more. ---Sluzzelin talk 19:55, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Aha, we even have a whole article on Aach (toponymy)! (As an aside: the Shire in Tolkien's Middle Earth got translated "Auenland" in German (not "Gau", see here). ---Sluzzelin talk 20:18, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Tolkien, per his letters, was not at all happy with translations made without his input, and was particularly unhappy with Baggins > Beutlin as if he were a shopping bag. μηδείς (talk) 20:32, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

Are the compact discs (CDs) of "Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion" delivered worldwide by Microsoft or individual computer importers?

I want to know about "are the compact discs (CDs) of Age of Empires II: The Conquerors delivered worldwide by Microsoft or individual computer importers/enthusiasts". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kiel457 (talk • contribs) 19:56, 9 January 2015 (UTC)

The game is no longer available from Microsoft, so any current distribution is by individual enthusiasts. I've not been able to find out whether it was originally sold directly by Microsoft or by Ensemble Studios. Tevildo (talk) 22:33, 11 January 2015 (UTC)