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April 19

Help from Hungarian speaker

Is this article's sourcing enough to establish notablity, ie in-depth coverage in reliable sources? Thanks --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 14:50, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Where are the References? The References establish notability. Robert McClenon (talk) 13:02, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

Hi Robert McClenon. There are four External Links. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 13:11, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

Strategic walking

The article Capital Ring defines the subject as a "a strategic walking route". I can't see anything that indicates the path in question has any military strategic value. Is "strategic walking" a thing? What does "strategic walking route" mean? --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 15:00, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

It originated with this IP edit. I'd say it's nonsense corporatespeak, but there are quite a lot of hits for [1] so it seems to have caught on, to an extent. Judging by this, it originated with London Rambling or (more likely IMHO) Transport for London. That may be WP:OR but I know which of the two of them I'd bet came up with the term. Personally, I'd get rid of it, or link it to a new article about those seven routes. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 15:08, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, that explains the odd language.

Strategy is not just for military, right? Many big cities have strategies and plans for city transit. Compare USA DOT [2] and Seattle's [3] statements of transportation strategy. I did not read this as formal term, rather a simply descriptive term. I would have assumed that it was a good route for walking, strategic insofar as it minimises unsafe crossings, has good pavement, maybe utilizes pedestrian bridges, and other things like that. WP:OR when planning my walking and cycling routes around my city (that is terribly unsafe for anyone not in a 2-ton vehicle), I do tons of strategic planning for my route :) SemanticMantis (talk) 16:08, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Sure, I can say "I plan to be strategic about it when I go to the all-you-can-eat buffet tonight" too. But "strategic" sounds to me like there needs to be a goal in mind. A "strategic walking route" can make sense if the reader bears an urban planning context in mind, or if the reader can be assumed to have a goal in mind, but I'm not sure this applies in the opening sentence of that article. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 17:07, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

It also happens to be official designation in some places.

“ Strategic Roads, which are those roads in the borough designated by the previous Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) as part of London’s Strategic Road Network and are intended to carry the main traffic flows and longer distance movements. They include the previous Trunk Roads...[etc.] ”

[4]. The same document also talks about the "Cross London Partnership for Strategic Walking Routes in London." It seems that strategic walking routes are meant to be understood in analogy to the strategic roads. It looks to me that "strategic walking route" is the official terminology for that route, and the article usage is correct, even if the state-sponsored terminology is a little odd. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:39, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

It's a walking route that is strategic, not a route for strategic walking. DuncanHill (talk) 20:10, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

I don't think the acontextual usage is correct. It could say "X is a walking path located in ..., and is one of several routes designated as a "strategic walking route" by Y", for example, which would be clear. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 22:25, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

If you think of it as a walking route of strategic importance or significance, you'll get the meaning, but its use as an adjective for the route itself is a little strange. Akld guy (talk) 22:53, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Rajita

What does rajita mean in Spanish? Has it something to do with drugs? --2.37.228.109 (talk) 18:52, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

According to googletranslate, it means "slice". Don't know if it also has a slang meaning. Loraof (talk) 19:10, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Urban dictionary says it might be a pet name [5]. WP:OR: In my experience, it a term can be used to talk about drugs, it will have a relevant entry on Urban Dictionary. SemanticMantis (talk) 20:08, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

In the paper dictionary that I have handy, raja (of which rajita is diminutive) is translated ‘crack, split; splinter, chip; slice’. Perhaps it's used for crack? —Tamfang (talk) 10:10, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

• "Buttcrack" according to my informant, although I would have understood it in context, I have never heard it. μηδείς (talk) 23:07, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

The usage very much reminds me of the line

"With sweat drippin' down your little back"

From the song Spaceship buy Puddle of Mudd. μηδείς (talk) 23:18, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

I should also clarify that I have no evidence it doesn't have a drug meaning, my informant in Caribbean, and Spanish vocabulary is notoriously variable by region. μηδείς (talk) 00:21, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

One possibility, snorted drugs like cocaine are often separated into lines with a razor blade. I could see how each line might be called a slice. StuRat (talk) 04:30, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

I don't disagree with your speculation, but we really need a context or source text, and although my contact is an unpublished source, we really need a source. Drug jargon changes fast, but so does urban dictionary. μηδείς (talk) 19:55, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

April 20

Essay

Hello Reference Desk. I am a student that is currently working on his last writing our assignment. Please take note that I have read and understand WP:HOMEWORK and do not believe this violates it. I have two requests: one, may I past my writing assignment in a user subpage of mine for others to view and two, may I request that people here give input and/or corrections? If so, I will put the assignment at User:Fritzmann2002/Essay. If not, thank you for your help. Fritzmann2002 18:30, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Yes, and you could also put it here with a collapse box around it. Of course, if it's long you may not find many willing to read it all. StuRat (talk) 18:40, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Thank you. I've placed it here. Fritzmann2002 19:02, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Essay

Many people know how to shoot a basketball, but when some players step up to shoot a free throw they might not have the best form. The top teams in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) have a percentage of about 75% from the line. Numerous missed shots are due mainly to poor form, which can be easily fixed. The best time to learn how to have this good form is during one’s early basketball years. This is so one can develop muscle memory. A free throw occurs in a basketball game when a player is fouled in certain situations. When a player is fouled, they may shoot one to three free throws depending on the occasion. The free throw line is fifteen feet away from the basket from junior high school up to professional basketball. For most professional players, this is a small distance that can easily be made without jumping or much effort. Even though a large percentage professional players have mastered the art of the free throw, many adolescents are still shooting with two hands and not even hitting the rim. There are many things to work on to improve one’s form. Arguably the most important of these is to make sure the shooter “follows through.” A common analogy for this is for the shooter to put his hand in the cookie jar after letting go of the ball. This means that once the ball is out of the shooter’s hands, he should continue to move his arm forward to guide the ball into the basket. Another effective way to increase one’s free throw percentage is to be consistent. The best way to do this is not to jump. Bending your legs is acceptable, but a player should be able to have enough power not to need to jump. The second way to be consistent is to continue to practice. A player who practices the same shot every time he steps up to the line will build muscle memory and increase his accuracy. The last, but certainly not least, important thing a shooter must remember while shooting a free throw is to be set and lined up to the basket. He should spread his feet about shoulder length apart to make sure that he is well-balanced. Lining himself up with the basket increases his chances of making the shot. This is because if he overshoots there is still a chance the ball will bank off the backboard and fall into the basket. If he tends to miss the basket to the right, he should move himself a few inches to the left to compensate for this. Combining these things will make a player’s free throw shooting better, greatly improving his average number of points in a game. Sometimes a free throw is the difference between winning and losing a game. If someone knows how to correctly shoot a free throw, he could greatly improve his team’s chance of winning the game. A player will make his free throw shot better than it already is by remembering to follow through, being consistent, setting one’s feet, and lining oneself up.

• The above is a short writing assignment on basketball free throws. μηδείς (talk) 21:16, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

The only actual error I can see immediately is in the first sentence of the third paragraph - it should be "a large percentage of professional players". Stylistically, you need to be more consistent between "he", "one" and "you" - the third paragraph has the right balance, but don't change between "one" and "he" in the same sentence. You have a couple of singular theys - if your English teacher disapproves of them, they should be removed; if not, replacing a few "he"'s with "they" might improve your Political Correctness rating. There's a (gasp) split infinitive in the last paragraph ("how to correctly shoot") - I personally would leave this as it is, but others might urge you vehemently to correct it. Punctuation is generally OK - it's an example of what H W Fowler calls "spot-plague", in that all your sentences are separated by full stops; a few semicolons (and perhaps some more conjunctions) might make it read more fluidly. Tevildo (talk) 21:36, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

• I see some extraneous words like "mainly" in "Numerous missed shots are due mainly to poor form, which can be easily fixed." and "be able to" in "a player should be able to have enough power not to need to jump."

• It seems like you are padding it to take up more space in places, like "The last, but certainly not least, important thing a shooter must remember while shooting a free throw is to be set and lined up to the basket." I would have written "While shooting a free throw, it's important to be set and lined up with the basket." (BTW, what dies "set" mean here ? If it is meaningless, it should go, too.)

• Should "free throw" be hyphenated, as "free-throw" ?

• I agree with the previous comment on not mixing "they", "he" and "one". I'd avoid "he", as it excludes girls, and "one", since it sounds entirely too formal for a discussion of basketball. I'd go with "you", "yourself", etc., or you could make it more personal with the first person form ("I", "me", "my", "myself"). StuRat (talk) 00:56, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

StuRat, Thanks for the advice. I'll definately take out those extra words, but as for your last point, my teacher is an extreme stickler about using "you" or "yourself" in papers. I think he'll be more likely to count me off for using those than having inconsistencies. Fritzmann2002 12:43, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

How about my first person suggestion then ? StuRat (talk) 15:15, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

• One thing I found that others haven't yet noted: consider the intended audience of the writing. Is this supposed to be read by basketball players? Basketball fans? People who are casually aware of the sport of basketball? People who have never heard of the sport? There's certain jargon in the paper which may need elaboration or further explanation, for example "the line" is commonly used to mean "the free throw line" in basketball, but if I wasn't fully aware of that, because I was only a casual fan of the sport, I may not know which line you were refering to. After all, there are a LOT of lines on a basketball court. Which line do you mean when you say "the line". Consider elaborating on or expanding terms like that and use formal names rather than shortened names or jargon so it is more accessible to a general audience. --Jayron32 18:20, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

• The essay should have a title. A good title raises interest and expectation and your choice of title is to make an honest early connection with your reader.
• The essay can be more clearly divided into two sections as follows. The first section explains the free throw in basketball i.e. what it is, when it occurs, who succeeds and who fails. The second section comprises all the training instructions that follow the sentence "There are many things to work on to improve one's form." I suggest that sentence should start a new paragraph.
• I don't understand "A common analogy for this is for the shooter to put his hand in the cookie jar after letting go of the ball."
• It's enough to write "a player should have enough power" without inflating that to "a player should be able to have enough power".
• I did not understand "the ball will bank off the backboard" but I would understand "the ball will bounce off the backboard".
• It's enough to write "a few inches to the left to compensate." without adding "for this." which is superfluous.
• Otherwise I agree with all the comments given above except the pettifoggery about the split infinitive. AllBestFaith (talk) 14:02, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

If I may answer the charge of pettifoggery: I think it's important for the OP to be aware of the split infinitive, even if they don't change it. This may be a defensible split infinitive, and I wouldn't want the OP to think that "how correctly to shoot" is an acceptable replacement, but, if their English teacher has traditionalist views on the subject, marks will be lost here. Replacing it with "how to shoot correctly" will keep the most hidebound of English teachers happy, even if the original version isn't strictly an error. Tevildo (talk) 15:33, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

the differance

Hellow every one. What is the differance between category:districts in India and the category:districts of India? If there is no differance please tell me what is the better one and i will merge the other category whith it. Regards---مصعب (talk) 22:50, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Category names#Categories by country.—Wavelength (talk) 23:02, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Please see Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines.

—Wavelength (talk) 23:03, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Category:Districts in India, Category:Districts of India and, heaven help us, Category:Districts of India by name should all be merged into one. IMO, the second is the best title, but (of course) the first has the most entries (677). Clarityfiend (talk) 23:53, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

Changing a category title takes mere seconds. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 04:45, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

The request has been moved to Wikipedia:Categories for discussion to be moved by a bot although i can move it in few minutes by Help:Cat-a-lot if there is a Consensus.--مصعب (talk) 13:12, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

because there is no objection to the request i moved part of the category. The rest will be moved by a bot---مصعب (talk) 08:42, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Category:Districts of India by name appears to be a category of categories of district-based lists (rather than a category of district articles). Should it be integrated with Category:Districts of India, so that each district article is the chief article of one of these district categories? —Tamfang (talk) 00:21, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

may be. I dont know the exact differance between the preveous categories that you have mentioned because i am not a native speaker. But in as a wikipedian i dont see an important differance in usage that may prevent integration between them--مصعب (talk) 09:40, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

April 21

Dictionary with words grouped by topic

I am trying to find a thesaurus similar to the Cambridge Word Routes Anglais-Français, (aka Cambridge Word Selector). Amazon link: [6]. It's out of print, and the used options are outrageously expensive. It's important that it is bilingual (English-French/Italian), illustrated (for learners, not just for native speakers) and from a good publisher like the Cambridge University Press. Any suggestions? --Scicurious (talk) 16:34, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

I don't know what you regard as outrageously expensive, but CUP in the USA have Cambridge Word Routes Anglais-Français in stock at $41.75 here. DuncanHill (talk) 17:13, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

It also appears to be available much more cheaply from Amazon UK, tho' I don't know how much delivery to wherever you are would be. DuncanHill (talk) 17:16, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

$20 used on Amazon. [7]--jpgordon^{::==( o )} 18:16, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

Then add $20 for international delivery. Notice that some used version cost more than 60 pounds and that you are only linking to the English-French version. The English-Italian version is much more expensive. :( Scicurious (talk) 20:39, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

Anyway, has CUP released a new edition of this? Otherwise, I can't explain why it's out of print.Scicurious (talk) 20:39, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

Alternatives:

THEMATIC GENERAL ENGLISH DICTIONARIES (extremely important for logical and quicker vocabulary learning):

1. Longman Language Activator (Unique idea production English dictionary, very valuable for solid vocabulary learning).

There is also Longman Pocket Activator Dictionary. Longman English dictionaries are the most authoritative.

2. Longman Lexicon of Contemporary English.

3. The Oxford-Duden Pictorial English Dictionary (by J. Pheby, over 28,000 entries, 1995, 816 pages).

4. Oxford Learner’s Wordfinder Dictionary.

5. Word Menu (dictionary by Stephen Glazier, Random House, USA, over 75,000 words arranged by subject matter).

6. Cambridge Word Selector/Routes.

7. NTC’s Dictionary of Everyday American English Expressions (over 7,000 phrases arranged by topics).

Llaanngg (talk) 23:11, 21 April 2016 (UTC)

For German there are Grundwortschatz series from Langenscheidt and Hueber. Though they lack pictures but may be helpfull anyway.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 11:39, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

April 22

Language on sign

What language appears on the bottom-left placard in this picture? It's a protest in North Carolina, so I thought it might be Cherokee. Some of the letters seem to match the Cherokee syllabary, but I don't see a "3" in the table and none of the translations of the words "peace" or "justice" I found online resemble those on the sign. Smurrayinchester 12:41, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

It's Cursive_Hebrew; the letters spell out "eyn tzedek, eyn shalom" (no justice, no peace). 128.146.172.106 (talk) 14:21, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Ah, thanks! I did consider Hebrew (especially since it appeared to be a right-to-left language), but I ruled it out because I didn't realize how different the handwritten forms looked. Smurrayinchester 14:43, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Much more literate than this famous graffito near London: "Give peas a chance". Alansplodge (talk) 16:00, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Surely that was the work of either the British Legume Marketing Board or the promotors of the Peasenhall Pea Festival. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 16:12, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

Did someone ask for whirled peas? --Jayron32 16:09, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

'Vegetable Rights and Peas'. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 21:46, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

The farmer is out standing in his field where he works among the beens and peas? μηδείς (talk) 03:44, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

The Victorian Music Hall performer Marie Lloyd famously sang "She sits among the cabbages and peas." When criticised on the grounds of obscenity, she amended this to "She sits among the cabbages and leeks." {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.199.208.67 (talk) 21:36, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Period for sentence end after period for abbreviation end?

If I write Jansen et al. at the end of a sentence and follow it with another full-stop, is this correct?

"Jansen et al.."

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Seans Potato Business (talk • contribs) 22:06, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

The Chicago Manual of Style FAQ says to never end a sentence with two periods, even if the last word is an abbreviation. Grammer Girl agrees, as do the people over at the English Language StackExchange. -- 160.129.138.186 (talk) 22:43, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

I would rewrite the sentence to avoid it. So, for example, change "The book was written by Jansen, et al." to "Jansen, et al., authored the book." StuRat (talk) 23:02, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

The rule is that a sentence ends with a full stop (except when it's a question mark or exclamation mark). In this case, a full stop is already there, so the criterion is satisfied, and there is no need to add a further one. It's immaterial that the full stop was initially written to indicate an abbreviation. It also serves as the full stop that ends the sentence. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 08:26, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

April 23

What is the part of speech?

What is the technical (grammar) word to describe this part of speech (those listed in bold)? Smith is the doctor whose research will be published next month. My secretary is the one whose car was stolen. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 05:25, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Pronoun.[8] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 05:35, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, but I thought it had some "special" name or function. No? It's not just a "regular" pronoun like I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they, etc. I don't think so, at least. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 06:06, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Relative pronoun.--Shirt58 (talk) 06:16, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

OK. I read that page. So, it looks like "whose" is the possessive form of the relative pronoun "who". So, here is the real question that I wanted to get to. Generally speaking, a human being would carry the pronoun "who", while an inanimate object would be referred to as "that". Compare John is the neighbor who gave me a ride and The blue corvette is the car that hit me. So, my question is: what is the proper possessive form when you are talking about an inanimate object? If you are talking about a person, we might say: Smith is the doctor whose research will be published next month. or My secretary is the one whose car was stolen. What about the possessive case for an inanimate object? For example: The blue corvette is the car _____ (whose?) license plate is illegible. Or, City Hall is the building _____ (whose?) front door is locked. What is the proper word to place in those blanks? I want to know the relative pronoun possessive form for an inanimate object (i.e., non-human). I am not interested in rewriting or restructuring the sentence. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 16:33, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Following links in the article Relative pronoun, I quickly found this table. --Wrongfilter (talk) 16:37, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks. So, it is grammatically correct to say: The blue corvette is the car whose license plate is illegible. And, City Hall is the building whose front door is locked.? Wow. That seems odd. It seems incorrect to my ears. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:30, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Yes, it does sound kind of funny, but "that" doesn't really have an equivalent to "whose". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 18:09, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

See this discussion from a couple of years ago. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 20:47, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

• There's always …the building whereof the door… —Tamfang (talk) 07:47, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

That page cited above (English relative clauses) specifically states: The possessive form whose is necessarily used with non-human as well as human antecedents because no possessive forms exist for which or that. Otherwise, to avoid, for example, using whose in "...the car whose engine blew up.." would require a periphrastic phrasing, such as "...the car the engine of which blew up", or "...the car of which the engine blew up". So, I guess that's a pretty direct answer to the question. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 03:42, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

April 24

Finnish / Swedish name order

Linda Brava says that Linda Cullberg Lampenius is better known by her maiden name Linda Lampenius, and that she's married to Martin Cullberg. Is this a Swedish or Finnish custom that the husband's name goes before the birth name, or her own idiosyncrasy? I'd put it down to the common performing artist trait to keep their own names for publicity purposes, but her mother seems to have done the same thing. Rojomoke (talk) 03:33, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

I would guess it's just a double barrelled surname. Lots of people do it in English, too. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 05:03, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

I agree. Tove Torvalds, also a Swedish-speaking Finn, didn't keep her maiden name, because her husband's name is a lot better known than hers. --51.9.188.97 (talk) 08:46, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

Every Finnish wife I know, including my ex-wife and my best teacher Anna Kokko-Zalcman, choose to put their birth name before their husband's name. When discussing that, they would say it's a choice more than a custom. Akseli9 (talk) 09:00, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

Temple

Is there (or has ever been) a meaningful lexical relationship between this temple and this one? Omidinist (talk) 14:33, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

Not according to http://etymonline.com/index.php?search=temple --217.140.96.140 (talk) 15:47, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

A Swedish, a Norwegian, and a Dane go into a bar

Would they prefer to talk in English, or would each one speak naturally in his own language - Swedish, Norwegian, Danish? --80.39.145.148 (talk) 14:39, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

They would prefer to talk in English, especially with a Dane. Akseli9 (talk) 16:06, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

I've heard Swedes and Norwegians conversing fluently with each other, each in their own language. "All the other Nordic countries joke that Danish sounds like Swedes talking with a potato or porridge in their mouths, while Danes joke that Swedes sound like drunk Danes, and Norwegians sound like drunk Danes singing". [9] Alansplodge (talk) 16:15, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

It is true that they understand each other (even the Danes) and that they would use English mostly because their level in English is very good. Akseli9 (talk) 16:24, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

Phil Champ says: ".. speakers of other Scandinavian languages describe Danish as sounding "like a throat disease", possibly due to the sound of the /r/ phoneme." Martinevans123 (talk) 16:41, 24 April 2016 (UTC) p.s. you mean Swede (as in "Swedish turnip")!

The history of the three nations is fraught with discord. English would be preferred. Very. And never call a New Norse-speaking person a "Swede" for sure. And be very careful about even sounding Swedish in Finland. Collect (talk) 16:50, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

And don't call them a "Norwegian sodd," either. Martinevans123 (talk) 17:10, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

• Since the OP geolocates to Spain, he should consider that the relationship of Danish to Swedish/Norwegian is like the relationship of Portuguese to castellano; it is an asymmetrical one in regards to comprehension. It is much easier for Danes and Portuguese, whose sound systems have acquired more changes from the older common language to understand Swedish/Norwegian and Castilian, whose sound systems are for the most part more conservative, than it is for Swedish/Norwegian and Castilian speakers to understand Danish or Portuguese. μηδείς (talk) 17:20, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

From Danish language#Mutual intelligibility: studies have shown that speakers of Norwegian generally understand both Danish and Swedish far better than Swedes or Danes understand each other. Both Swedes and Danes also understand Norwegian better than they understand each other's languages.[8] Loraof (talk) 20:37, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

I have a Swedish friend who is in her mid-60s who has been involved in work with people from the other Scandinavian countries for nearly 50 years. She says that 50 years ago she spoke to other Scandinavians in a sort of Scandinavian mix, whereas from 30-40 years ago she started speaking (even to those same people) in English. Scandinavians generally have such perfect English that they can get by much better than if they try to understand each other's Scandinavian. One Dane speaking to one Swede or Norwegian might be able to modify their own language and pronunciation in order to speak Scandinavian, but if a Dane was speaking to a Swede and a Norwegian at the same time they'd need to make different modifications for each one, so therefore again English is easier. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 11:51, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

language change

The Roast Beef of Old England "is an English patriotic ballad. It was written by Henry Fielding for his play The Grub-Street Opera, which was first performed in 1731."
When mighty Roast Beef was the Englishman's food,
It ennobled our brains and enriched our blood.
Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good
Oh! the Roast Beef of old England,
And old English Roast Beef!

did this rhyme in 1731? Asmrulz (talk) 19:50, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

It still does rhyme in parts of Cumbria -- Q Chris (talk) 21:26, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

The Great Vowel Shift would have finished long before 1731, so the standard pronunciations of food, blood and good wouldn't by then rhyme any more.

The ballad may have used a non-standard pronunciation -- either dialectal, or as a stylistic tool to sound more archaic. --51.9.188.45 (talk) 21:59, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

"And when threatened with emeutes (tarantara, tarantara) / And your 'eart is in your boots (tarantara)..." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:58, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

Lord-word

I came here with a question, but decided to add it here since it is very closely related. In the LDS hymnals are quite a few hymns that rhyme Lord with word. Was this ever closer to a rhyme?Naraht (talk) 20:51, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

Until somebody who knows about historical vowel pronunciation comes along, a brief comment about hymns... Hark the herald angels sing tries to rhyme "behold him come" with "Virgin's womb", the British national anthem, God save the Queen, rhymes "cause" with "voice" (verse 3), and the New Zealand national anthem, God Defend New Zealand rhymes ""star" with "war". There are many, many others; if you want me to go on, I am quite willing. Alansplodge (talk) 21:13, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

Linguist David Crystal and his actor son Ben explain and perform Shakespeare in the "original pronunciation" at The Globe. This was recorded on YouTube by the Open University. The puns may surprise you. Carbon Caryatid (talk) 23:16, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

Have we an article on reconstructing pronunciation? —Tamfang (talk) 09:09, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

The phenomenon is known as eye-rhyme. --TammyMoet (talk) 09:36, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

Request for a translation

Hello, I am a new editor on Wikipedia. I will translate an article from English to Greek. I would like, however to translate this article to other languages. How can I request for a German, French, Polish etc translation?

Thank you. Irene000 (talk) 20:00, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Translate us may be a good place to start looking for resources to help you. --Jayron32 23:45, 24 April 2016 (UTC)

April 25

Why synonyms?

Why do people keep using synonyms? Why would we want to have two words for the same? Like 'peril' instead of 'danger'? Some might be regional like 'autumn' and 'fall', but using them, isn't just an act of pedantry? --Llaanngg (talk) 11:21, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

Well, nobody has yet come up with a synonym for the word 'synonym', so we're not completely abject in our craven synonymophilia. But if you want to know more, read synonym. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 11:31, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

It is just preference. Some words sound better than others to some people. --Lgriot (talk) 11:35, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

See also this archived question from 2014: Why do synonyms exist? ---Sluzzelin talk 11:36, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

Synonyms are useful in poetry when you need a word that rhymes and yet has a certain meaning. "There was a young lady called Beryl, who would always put herself in peril, one day for a laugh, she went to a caf, and acted most extraordinarily feral". "There was a young lady called Beryl, who would always put herself in danger....", just doesn't work. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 11:41, 25 April 2016 (UTC)