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= March 6 =

==What is fucken going on?==
Odd question, but I daresay an important one for our troubled times.  

If I had to transcribe the speech of someone who was swearing, it might include things like ''I hate that '''fuckin'''' asshole''.  Yet, when people write the word online, as often as not it's spelt as '''fucken''', and that spelling seems to have become entrenched in the pop culture world up to a point - see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=fucken&fulltext=Search+Wikipedia&fulltext=Search].  

Do people genuinely not know that it's an abbreviation for '''fucking''', or is it something else now?  I can understand (if never forgive) that certain strata of people don't use apostrophes much anymore, but I'd still expect to see them writing '''fuckin''', not '''fucken'''.  Do they think it's a verb, like ''strengthen, liken'', etc. (that's assuming they have the faintest idea of what a verb is ...)? 

What is fucken going on here?  --  [[User:JackofOz|<span style="font-family:Papyrus;">Jack of Oz</span>]] [[User talk:JackofOz#top|<span style="font-size:85%; font-family:Verdana;"><sup>[pleasantries]</sup></span>]] 02:39, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
:Of all the abuses of the written word wrought upon humanity through online communication, this little bugbear is the first on your list?  --[[User:Jayron32|<span style="color:#000099;">Jayron</span>]]'''''[[User talk:Jayron32|<span style="color:#009900;">32</span>]]''''' 02:52, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
::To be fair, we don't know whom else has been asked to answer for the mistakes of humanity... {{P|grin}} (Also, he's not a n00b) [[User:Cyphoidbomb|Cyphoidbomb]] ([[User talk:Cyphoidbomb|talk]]) 03:06, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
:: Jayron, the questions I happen to ask here do not represent the matters of monumental moment with which I wrestle during my frequent dark nights of the soul. Well, not necessarily.  :)  --  [[User:JackofOz|<span style="font-family:Papyrus;">Jack of Oz</span>]] [[User talk:JackofOz#top|<span style="font-size:85%; font-family:Verdana;"><sup>[pleasantries]</sup></span>]] 04:13, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:{{u|JackofOz}} My guess is laziness or idiocy is likely to blame. When I was a kid, the less linguistically adept children would say "fuckin' egg" instead of "fuckin' A". The youths today are more apt to write "I'm homeeeeeee", (which makes absolutely zero sense to me, as the E is silent) instead of "I'm hooooooome!" My guess is that they didn't grow up reading comics, or that the former is some kind of deliberate joke that's become a meme. I doubt even the Wikipedia Reference Desk have the proper tools to account for what the kids are doing today. (And yet I eagerly await proof to the contrary!) My hypothesis is that kids are spending less time ensconced in the written word, or at least the grammatically correct written word, so they're not picking up on the nuances of language, and/or not making the intellectual connection between the verbal language and the written language and/or maybe they don't (yet) have the tools to articulate properly. Not much of an answer, I suppose, but fucken 'ell wot you want, innit?!  [[User:Cyphoidbomb|Cyphoidbomb]] ([[User talk:Cyphoidbomb|talk]]) 03:06, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

: Analogy with ''strengthen, liken'' is less likely than with ''driven, taken''. —[[User:Tamfang|Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 04:29, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

"Fucken" looks less like "fucking" than "fuckin'", so perhaps appeals more to those who don't want to be really seen to be swearing in public? [[User:HiLo48|HiLo48]] ([[User talk:HiLo48|talk]]) 06:40, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
:Don't worry, Jack. The world will only collapse when they start hypercorrecting and writing things like "Kentucky Fried Chicking". <span style="text-shadow:#BBBBBB 0.2em 0.2em 0.1em; class=texhtml"><span style="color: blue; font-family: MV Boli;">[[User:KageTora|<span style="color: blue;">KägeTorä - (影虎)</span>]] ([[User talk:KageTora|<span style="color: blue;">TALK</span>]])</span></span> 08:25, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
:::I knew a guy name Kentucky who tried fricking. [[User:Medeis|μηδείς]] ([[User talk:Medeis|talk]]) 20:31, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
:: [[Stan Freberg]] was way ahead of you there, KageTora: From the PC version of ''<s>Old</s> Elderly Man River'': [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLlTlYfqQV4" He doesn't plant potatoes, He doesn't plant cotting, And those that plant them, Are soon forgotting ..."].  --  [[User:JackofOz|<span style="font-family:Papyrus;">Jack of Oz</span>]] [[User talk:JackofOz#top|<span style="font-size:85%; font-family:Verdana;"><sup>[pleasantries]</sup></span>]] 08:53, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
:Y tink it'z un [[Padonkaffsky jargon|olbaneezzum]] en Inglesh. [http://vorchuchelo.com/wp-content/gallery/voenshhina/gramar-partisans.gif Tha Gramer partizanz] yousiolley vrite lak dhet.--[[User:Любослов Езыкин|Lüboslóv Yęzýkin]] ([[User talk:Любослов Езыкин|talk]]) 14:24, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:My guess is that as long as they're rebelling against conventional taste, which they may see as prissy, they might as well also rebel against conventional spelling, which they may see as pedantic.
:Next: <i>bitchen</i> or <i>bitchin'</i>? &mdash;[[User:JerryFriedman|JerryFriedman]]  [[User talk:JerryFriedman|(Talk)]] 14:50, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:It seems to me that ''fucking'', when used descriptively, can be a [[participle]] (it's listed http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fucking as an adjective and adverb though), so ''fucken'' is its past participle if used correctly, thus the fucken written writing of it isn't completely useless. [Thus, it's just another adjective like "fallen".] That's to my ear, and I've been told I've got pixie ears too...  --[[User:Modocc|Modocc]] ([[User talk:Modocc|talk]]) 15:48, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

::''[[Father Ted]]'' introduced "feck" to the rest of the British Isles, which falls into the same category I believe. Americans have "freakin'" too. [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 16:53, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:::Given that ''Fucken'' and ''Fuckin'' have the exact same root, there really isn't any reason why one is less vulgar or preferable to the other than if one needs to convey tense or they just don't care. --[[User:Modocc|Modocc]] ([[User talk:Modocc|talk]]) 19:51, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:::<small>So, until then, they were feckless? [[User:Clarityfiend|Clarityfiend]] ([[User talk:Clarityfiend|talk]]) 20:25, 6 March 2014 (UTC)</small>
 
*Last Halloween, my parents' neighbors had their grandson visiting with his sisters.  He was dressed as Captain Hook with a patch and a parrot and a black tricorner.  His little sisters were dressed as his henchmen.  The neighbors don't live too close, and my mom's friend wanted her to see them, so the daughter drove them over, but the girls were already alseep in the car.  The boy came up and rang the bell, held out his bag, and said, "Trick or treat."  My mother said, "Oh, how cute!"  "But where are your buccaneers?"  Annoyed, the boy answered, "Under my buccan hat!" 20:28, 6 March 2014 (UTC) <small><span class="autosigned">—&nbsp;Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[User:Medeis|Medeis]] ([[User talk:Medeis|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/Medeis|contribs]]) </span></small><!-- Template:Unsigned -->
::Boom! Boom! [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 22:38, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
:::Or "[[Badump bump]]!" if you prefer. Thanks for pointing that out [[User:Medeis|Medeis]] - I refer you to [[Basil Brush]] but it has its roots in the [[music hall]] tradition.[http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=781999]  [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 09:15, 7 March 2014 (UTC)
:I believe it's an attempt to appear fresh while giving a taste of the pronunciation. When people talk about being "fucken angry" they usually don't pronounce the eng (hence the dropping of the "g") and they also tend to alter the vowel sound as well. Kind of like writers who use phrases such as "the hell?", to illustrate how speakers sometimes omit, or don't speak as loudly, the "What..." portion. See also: gummint, prolly, etc. [[User:Matt Deres|Matt Deres]] ([[User talk:Matt Deres|talk]]) 17:39, 7 March 2014 (UTC)
::That's what I'd guess as well.  In "fuckin'", the reduced vowel can be anywhere in the [ɪ ~ ə ~ ɛ] range in my American accent, and more careful pronunciations feel like they're right in the middle of cardinal /ə ɛ/.  [[User:Lsfreak|Lsfreak]] ([[User talk:Lsfreak|talk]]) 20:43, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fucken Urban Dictionary] says: “Easy way to identify you're chatting with an illiterate &/or child.”  Good enough for me.  Thanks to all who chimed in.  --  [[User:JackofOz|<span style="font-family:Papyrus;">Jack of Oz</span>]] [[User talk:JackofOz#top|<span style="font-size:85%; font-family:Verdana;"><sup>[pleasantries]</sup></span>]] 23:30, 7 March 2014 (UTC)
{{resolved}}

== future of media & media's future ==

Hi! When I read an article about Internet news stories, I came across a sentence which quite confused me: "If social is the future of media, then optimistic stories might be media's future." I can't figure out the difference between "the future of media" and "media's future". Would any friend enlighten me on the point? Thank you!  <span style="font-size: smaller;" class="autosigned">— Preceding [[Wikipedia:Signatures|unsigned]] comment added by [[Special:Contributions/114.249.239.155|114.249.239.155]] ([[User talk:114.249.239.155|talk]]) 03:30, 6 March 2014 (UTC)</span><!-- Template:Unsigned IP --> <!--Autosigned by SineBot-->

:I think they mean the same thing here (wordsmithing requires that you avoid repeated words or phrases).  However, I prefer "The future of media" as it doesn't personify the media in the way that "media's future" does.  I would have written "If social is the future of media, then expect more optimistic stories." [[User:StuRat|StuRat]] ([[User talk:StuRat|talk]]) 03:48, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

: I think (or suspect) the first means ''what the media are destined to become'' and the second means ''what will keep media alive''. —[[User:Tamfang|Tamfang]] ([[User talk:Tamfang|talk]]) 08:42, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

== Suprematism ==

'The term ''suprematism'' refers to an abstract art based upon “the '''supremacy''' of pure artistic feeling”' ..[[Suprematism|here]]. What is the Russian word or root from which this term is derived? Thanks. [[User:Omidinist|Omidinist]] ([[User talk:Omidinist|talk]]) 06:19, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:From [[:ru:Супрематизм]]: '''Супремати́зм''' (от лат. ''supremus'' — наивысший). 
:From http://synonym-dictionary.info/Словарь_синонимов/167756/Супрематия: '''супрематия''': верховенство, главенство, господство, первенство, превосходство. [[User:No such user|No such user]] ([[User talk:No such user|talk]]) 08:20, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
::Thank you very much. [[User:Omidinist|Omidinist]] ([[User talk:Omidinist|talk]]) 08:58, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

==UN and varieties of English==
It looks like a similar question was asked in the past, but the answerer referred to [[United Nations#Languages]], which doesn't exist anymore, and I wasn't able to find an answer at [[Official languages of the United Nations]] either. Does the UN use or prefer a specific variety of English? As it oversees the [[United Nations Environment Programme]] and the [[World Health Organization]], does it use [[Oxford spelling]]? --[[User:BDD|BDD]] ([[User talk:BDD|talk]]) 21:14, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
:They use Oxford.  Go [http://www.un.org/depts/OHRM/sds/lcp/English/resources_un.html here] and click on the editorial manual, which takes you [http://dd.dgacm.org/editorialcontrol/index.htm here], and the "spelling" link takes you [http://dd.dgacm.org/editorialcontrol/ed-guidelines/style/spelling.htm here].  [[User:Nyttend|Nyttend]] ([[User talk:Nyttend|talk]]) 23:27, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
Thanks! --[[User:BDD|BDD]] ([[User talk:BDD|talk]]) 23:55, 6 March 2014 (UTC)
{{resolved|text=Answered}}

== Polecat ==

Does the word [[Polecat]] originate from 'Polish cat'? Just to clear something up. A quick Google search would suggest that this is a possibility. --[[User:Kurt Shaped Box|Kurt Shaped Box]] ([[User talk:Kurt Shaped Box|talk]]) 22:38, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

:"...the first element is perhaps Anglo-French ''pol'', from Old French ''poule'', "fowl, hen" (see pullet (n.)); so called because it preys on poultry." [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=polecat Online Etymology Dictionary - polecat (n.)] [[User:Alansplodge|Alansplodge]] ([[User talk:Alansplodge|talk]]) 22:42, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

::The OED concurs that "pol" is one possible origin, but casts doubt on the likelihood, saying ''" a premodifying compound would be a very unusual word-formation type in French"'' ... ''"Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element may be related to Anglo-Norman pulent , pullent  and Old French, Middle French pullent  stinking, disgusting, dirty"'', citing the regional (non-standard) French ''"chat putois"'' (stinking cat).  I think the word is too old to derive from "Polish", but no-one knows for sure.  The French Wiktionary gives no etymology for [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/putois the French name putois].  [[User:Dbfirs|''<span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="color:blue;">D</span><span style="color:#00ccff;">b</span><span style="color:#44ffcc;">f</span><span style="color:#66ff66;">i</span><span style="color:#44ee44;">r</span><span style="color:#44aa44;">s</span></span>'']] 09:41, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

:::Thanks very much! --[[User:Kurt Shaped Box|Kurt Shaped Box]] ([[User talk:Kurt Shaped Box|talk]]) 17:29, 7 March 2014 (UTC)