User talk:Marco polo

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Desert
I just wondered if there was any link between the latin and the greek for the work for desert. You amended the latin which looks good for me, but you deleted the reference to greek. I wondered if there was one, as it seems quite likely. SuzanneKn 21:16, 26 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Actually, what I deleted was a reference to ancient Egyptian, which was obviously bogus. We should probably pursue this, if you are interested, on the Talk page for "Desert".  Marco polo 21:19, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Bizarre Dissertation Topic...Excellent Work on the Berlin Page!
Hmmmm -- "...the development of a culture of hygiene and sanitary infrastructure in 19th-century Berlin, Germany." VERY interesting stuff! I really appreciate all the work you've done so far on the Berlin page here on WIkipedia; it surely needed it. Yesterday I made a few minor edits involving misplaced periods, aberrant spacing, etc., and I might make a few more here in a minute. BTW: would you happen to have a copy of your dissertation on the Internet anywhere for me to browse over? Thanks again for your contributions on the Berlin page! --64.12.117.14 05:05, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
 * You sound like a pretty cool guy! What made you decide to do your dissertation on the culture of hygiene and sanitary infrastructure in 19th century Berlin? — [  Mac Davis ] (talk)
 * Sorry, my dissertation isn't on the Internet. You can probably get it from UC Berkeley via interlibrary loan.  It is also archived somewhere in Michigan in hard copy.  But I'm not sure it's the most entertaining reading!
 * Thanks for the compliment, Mac. As for how I decided on the topic, I wanted to explore how urbanization and industrialization affected people's relationship to their physical and bodily environment.  The obvious things to investigate where how and why people made a shift from wells and outhouses—where people had direct contact with their water sources and bodily waste disposal—to modern water supply and sewerage systems, which ended that immediacy. I chose Berlin because I could not get funding to do the research in the United States, I spoke German, I could get funding to do the research in Germany, and Berlin, as Germany's 19th-century capital and most important city, was the obvious place to do it.

Berlin
Hi engl.-BerlinPage Lovers ! would be great to see you voting here Good Article Collaboration of the week, thank you ! Sashandre

Please Help
Posted by (^'-')^ Covington 01:54, 10 May 2006 (UTC) on behalf of the the AID Maintenance Team

cheers
Good to meet you today; I hope you can make it to Wikimania in a few weeks! +sj + 03:10, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

"U.S." at "United States"
Hi there, Marco polo. I just want to suggest that, while making your other edits at "United States", you don't spend time changing "U.S." to "United States". The abbreviation doesn't contradict Wikipedia's guidelines, and many of your expansions of "U.S." may well disappear in others' edits. It has become the style in the article not to use "USA", "America" and "US" as nouns and attributives, but both "U.S." and "United States" are generally accepted. Of course, this may change; but I thought I'd let you know. — President Lethe 20:51, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Hope you have a barn
A belated thanks, Dirk. Marco polo 02:54, 3 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I noticed that the barnstar I picked was an odd choice, so I changed it to the geography barnstar. Feel free to revert this, but I doubt you will. Btw, it would look nice on your user page, especialy with your user name. DirkvdM 19:12, 13 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks again! Marco polo 20:01, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Your discriminating translation...
...on my Russian>English query on the Language reference desk (see further remark there) was more than helpful: it revealed the sort of thoughtful distinctions that I strive for in my own work and seek in others'. Reading your User page was quite consistent with my first impression -- though (and I blush to admit) I'd taken you for a fellow translator, as it's rare for me to come across a professional editor in the wild, as it were. :-) So, caro Marco, I'm glad to make your acquaintance!  -- Cheers, Deborahjay 01:36, 23 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Deborahjay. Glad to be helpful. I am flattered that you mistook me for a professional translator!  Marco polo 14:10, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Merry Christmas!
 '''
 * Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays ! | A ndonic O Talk 01:04, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

. 

{unblock-auto|1=198.4.159.6|2=Autoblocked because your IP address was recently used by "Ugaruer". The reason given for Ugaruer's block is: "spam".|3=Naconkantari}


 * I cannot find your block. When you try to edit a page it should show you which IP or IP range is blocked. I may look like 198.4.159.0/16 or similar. Let me know and I will try to help. HighInBC (Need help? Ask me) 16:37, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Ah, I see it was an autoblock for user:Ugaruer, it seems you share an IP address with this user. You will have to wait a bit while this is settled. HighInBC (Need help? Ask me) 16:39, 28 December 2006 (UTC)
 * I think it's sufficiently obvious that the two users aren't the same that I lifted the autoblock. You should be able to edit now.  Mango juice talk 16:43, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia presentation at UMass conference
Hello Mr. O’Malley,

I work at the Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) at the University of Massachusetts and and helping to organize a track on Enhancing Scientific and Community Collaborations with Information Technology for the WRRC’s Sustainable Waters in a Changing World: Research to Practice conference, to be held on April 9 in Amherst. http://www.umass.edu/tei/wrrc/WRRC2004/Conference2007/Conf2007Home.htm

We are particularly interested in how IT can be used to enhance a sense of place and of community. We believe that Wikipedia is a good example of a community-driven process that advances both objectives. In perusing the Massachusetts Wikipedia site, I came across your contributor information. Your background, interests and proximity to Amherst all seem favorable to participation in our conference. Would you be interested in making a presentation about your Wikipedia experience? If you will contact me via email: jschoen@tei.umass.edu I will be happy to discuss this further. Thanks, Jerry Schoen

Need help identifying parts of speech, PART TWO
Thanks for the Mark. Those 3 were the only ones I was not sure about. Can you tell me if the rest of my answers are corrrect? They are in brackets after the sentence. This assignemnt is due Monday. Thanks again! Noah

When will YOU leave for the airport? (pronoun) You look TIRED today. (adverb) SEND me the report tomorrow. (verb) Did you get good grades ON your report card? (preposition) We spent the WEEKEND in New York. (noun) The POLICE will patrol during the fair. (noun) EITHER Kerry OR Stan will give the speech at the assembly. (conjunction) Classes were dimissed EARLY because of the snowy weather. (adverb) Matt QUICKLY stapled his moework packet. (adverb) I ordered a hoagi WITHOUT onions. (preposition) OH, I wish I'd not done that! (interjection) Kelly bought a bag OF Doritos at the consession stand. (preposition) I wanted a good grade on this test, SO I studied for two hours. (conjunction) We planned the family REUNION for Saturday. (noun) Brian wore his FOOTBALL jersey to the game. (adjective) ARE you goig to the dance on Friday? (verb) Don't FORGET to buy your ticket. (verb) What book are you reading NOW? (adverb) John invited HIS grandparents to the band concert. (pronoun) I am VERY sorry to hear the news. (adverb) The award-winning poem was written BY Drew. (preposition) WOW! Wasn't that an easy test? (interjection) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.3.229.193 (talk) 03:39, 14 January 2007 (UTC).


 * I'd appreciate it if you signed your post, and I wasn't aware that this was an assignment. That being the case, I should not do the assignment for you. However, here are some tips. In the second sentence, you might want to reconsider your answer after looking at Copula and Complement (linguistics) and Adjective. There is also another possible answer for "football" in the example above, which you will read about in the Adjective article. How you answer would depend on what your teacher taught or what is in the textbook.  Marco polo 22:59, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Mexico City-many thanks
I've posted a general note of thanks at the relevant section, but I would like to express my particular appreciation for your insight and advice. My very best wishes, Clio the Muse 19:10, 29 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Marco, I thought I should let you know that the information you gave me was very useful indeed. Once again my sincere thanks.  Clio the Muse 17:29, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
I'm glad that you provided a long and complete analysis of the use of German e. As I said just now, the only error I made is that [eɪ]. In fact, I've studied a basic course before. The teacher, who is Chinese and has +30 years of teaching experience (probably being de-4 in WP standard), simply said that e, when read as the letter e and in gegen and sehen, is necessarily [eɪ], which in turn equals English letter a [eɪ].

The course lasted 3 months. I haven't studied German for nearly two months... now I'm going to pick it up again. I stopped at Dativ and didn't even finish the dative-prepositions.

I think it's really important to make things clear at the first place. It would be a shame, for example, that a Chinese speaker discovers that he writes in the wrong stroke order for more than 10 years. Now, I'm not going to mix up the e again. :)--Fitzwilliam 15:34, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Language
Hi Marco, Thanks again for the language help. I finally decided on learning Norwegian, after careful analysis of the suggestions I received. Polish looked very interesting, but after looking at the difficulty levels of the Slavic languages, I shyed away from it at this point. I will want to learn them at some point, when I can immerse myself in the language more frequently. I saw Swahili as a suggestion as well, but I would like to learn an easier language at this point, even though Swahili is considered easy for a native English speaker. I am also planning a vacation to Norway sometime within the next two years, so it has the second benefit of being useful. Thanks again for all the help. I don't know if you adopt Wikipedians, but I think it would help a lot to be adopted by you, if you do adopt. Thanks again!

MAP91 01:10, 9 March 2007 (UTC) Mike

Coming out
Hi, Mark. Thanks for the message. While I don't usually go around with "Gay" printed on my forehead, I don't shrink from referring to my sexual orientation when the occasion demands. I'm quite open about this on my user page. After years of denial, I came out in 1998, and have never regretted it for a moment.

We seem to have many similar interests. I'm currently trying to reinvent myself, and editing of manuscripts is exactly the field I want to get into. Wish me luck. Cheers JackofOz 00:08, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Thanks for your direct anwswer. When I looked at Norwegian language struggle, it said

So, maybe, instead of Middle Norwegian could have been the examplar.100110100 02:01, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Strange Edit Diff
On recent edit to the Reference Desk/Miscellaneous, a very strange diff was attributed to you. It made it look like you altered other's comments, and I was about to do something like TestTalk-edit ;). What's odd however, is that you didn't actually make those changes. Hitting the "undo" button only brings up the text you entered, and the page itself didn;t reflectn the "changes" it looked like you made. I know someone mentioned this somewhere before, but I can't find it. It's no big deal, I just wanted to bring it to your attention in case someone asks about it and you have no diea what's going on. --YbborTalk Survey! 22:34, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Aha, found it! --YbborTalk Survey! 02:13, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Help?
Do you think you can help me with my questions:


 * Reference_desk/Humanities


 * Reference_desk/Humanities


 * Reference_desk/Humanities

--Goingempty 16:11, 7 May 2007 (UTC)

Early civilizations and cultures
Marco, I am consistently impressed by your knowledge of early civilizations and cultures, the one serious weakness in my own intellectual armour. I know you are a geographer. Have you also studied archaeology? Clio the Muse 16:59, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

About M.B.
It's fine. Thanks for the dab. Cheers. MusiCitizen 16:15, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Welcome to WikiProject Germany


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If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me or any of the more experienced members of the project, and we'll be very happy to help you. Again, welcome, and thank you for joining this project! -- Kusma (talk) 20:52, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

The Constitution by any other name would smell as bad
It looks as if you may be right, Marco: we are, it would seem, shortly to get the 'Constitution' that is not the 'Constitition', if you understand my meaning, minus the promised referendum. My country's independence is draining away bit by bit, and a trans-national monster is coming in its place. It's all too, too depressing. I though to spend my life in academic cloisters. I'm now being drawn towards politics-one simply has to say something before it is all too late. I will do a deal with you, Marco: give me your plutocrats and you can have our bureaucrats. Sigh! Clio the Muse 05:19, 25 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Good heavens! Prime Minister Clio??  Has it finally come to this?  (Yes, Prime Minister).  :)  --  JackofOz 05:38, 25 June 2007 (UTC)


 * In the footsteps of of my heroine, Jack. But, you see, I am even more ruthless!  Clio the Muse 06:01, 25 June 2007 (UTC)


 * No thanks, Clio, I don't want your anti-democratic bureaucrats, either. In theory, I would think that something like the EU would be good for Europe and even for Britain, but the democratic deficit merely makes it a tool for the bureaucrats—and the vested interests that they mediate—to override the citizenry, particularly those whose interests lack institutional representation.  Still, if I were British, I would want to try to mobilize public opinion throughout Europe to fix (i.e. radically reconfigure) the EU and to end the stranglehold of political elites, particularly in Germany and France.  The recent election of Sarkozy—something of a rebel among the Gaullists—is a hopeful sign.  Britain cannot stand alone as it did when it dominated the world economy in the 19th century.  Britain has a choice of standing with Europe—while working to remake it—or of standing with the United States (and perhaps Australia, Israel, and other vassals) alone. I fear that my country is going into a self-destructive decline, in which the plutocrats are eating the seed corn and weakening our economy and society for the long term. Therefore, I think that it would be a mistake for Britain to sever its European ties to become too reliant on the United States.  Good luck if you enter politics.  If you do, I hope that you will consider the little people, as your heroine, often, did not.  Marco polo 13:35, 25 June 2007 (UTC)


 * It may interest you to know, Marco, that I met the great lady once at a party in Downing Street. I was only six-years-old at the time, but she was really kind, taking the trouble to speak to me in a whole crowd of people.  I was thrilled!  When I later examined her political career in depth it seemed to me that she was, if anything, the champion of the 'little people', promoting their interests against all kinds of entrenched groups, from trade union bosses to local government bureaucrats.  Anyway, that is certainly how I see her.


 * I would not like you to think that I am opposed to Europe as a free-trade area. I am, however, deeply opposed to a European super-state, which goes against every political instinct that I have.  I find it profoundly worrying that this is being fashioned without any form of popular consensus.  As far as international politics is concerned, England has far more in common with the United States, for all its faults, than we ever had with some of our European 'partners'.  I do not like to think of myself as a reactionary, but perhaps there is something to be said for the political partnership of all of the English-speaking peoples, a view once promoted by Radical Joe and Cecil Rhodes, the old imperialist himself.


 * It's obvious that we have differing political perspectives-mine to the right, yours to the left-but it is good that we can still reach out to one another in the great republic of intellect! Clio the Muse 23:54, 25 June 2007 (UTC)


 * You certainly have my vote! Cyta 08:27, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

persian language querry
hey man thanxz for ur support and answering.....can i vote for u .. r u in upcoming elections.....


 * Thanks for your support! However, I am not running in any elections.  Best wishes, Marco polo.  Marco polo 15:08, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks!
Thanks for the help on "mentor"! SietskeEN 12:33, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Medical opinion
Please don't offer medical opinion, as you did on the reference desk today. Its is against our guidelines and puts Wikipedia (not to mention the querent) at risk. Thank you. Rockpock e  t  19:04, 6 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Here is the thread in question, in which I noted that I am unqualified and that I am not offering medical advice. I encouraged the querent to seek medical advice.  I said that it was likely to be a sprain or a herniated disc, and that ibuprofen would be likely to help.  I did this, as someone who has himself suffered excruciating back pain, out of pure compassion for the querent.  Surely taking a few ibuprofen is unlikely to put a person in pain at risk.


 * I am aware that Wikipedia guidelines do not allow medical advice for reasons of liability, and I worded my response carefully to avert liability. I wasn't aware that this particular guideline is now being enforced so rigidly and ruthlessly.  It makes me think less of Wikipedia that when people who may lack access to health care seek helpful suggestions, Wikipedia has decided to slam the door in their face based on what amounts to a bureaucratic regulation, inflexibly applied.


 * I am not interested in conflict over this. Although it violates my sense of compassion, I will not respond to requests for medical advice in the future.  I will leave it to others to slam the door in the face of the suffering.  Marco polo 20:39, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

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Megullia Dotata
Your input would be appreciated on the article Megullia Dotata.--Doug talk 00:06, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Well-Deserved
After taking a close look at your history contributions at the help desk and elsewhere, I'm frankly stunned that this doesn't yet feature prominently on your User page. As such, allow me to present it properly:

your username
I'm not trying to sound rude, but isn't there some Wikipedia rule stating that you can't use the name of a famous person? (Please don't think I'm saying to change your username, I'm not, you're an awesome and trusted user, I'm just curious. Please don't take this the wrong way.) --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 05:12, 9 February 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm not aware of such a rule. If there is such a rule, please point it out to me, and I will consider registering a different user name. Obviously, I would rather avoid this, as I have developed something of a record and reputation under this name.  I can see the point of a rule prohibiting use of the name of a famous living, or even recently living person.  However, I don't think that there is much danger that someone would think that I am actually Marco Polo, since he has been dead for nearly 700 years.  Secure in the knowledge that there could be no such confusion, I chose the name to suggest my interest in the fields of both geography and history.  Marco polo (talk) 19:22, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
 * The rule is indeed that you shouldn't have a user name that is the same as the name of famous living person unless it's your real name and you either are that person or make it clear that you're not. (There was a linguistics graduate student once whose name was David Bowie; on his homepage he wrote, "No, I'm not that David Bowie." That would probably pass muster here if he ever wanted to register as User:David Bowie.) Anyway, your user name is fine. —Angr If you've written a quality article... 22:17, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Babel
You should change de-3 with de-4 - I saw your edits on german wiki, your german really sounds better than from some (by?) native speaker ;). Greetings --Marcl1984 (talk) 20:21, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Your answer to the RF Iraq question
Marco, I just want to say that your answer to the Iraq question is exactly spot on. Admittedly it is speculation, but all the other justifications given by the Bush administration are all clearly bogus. You clarify for me my own vague ideas about what the real justification was. Thank you.--Eriastrum (talk) 18:14, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * LATER: Also your summary of the Israeli-Palestine history is wonderful. The whole idea that a complex history can not be summarized in some meaningful way is wrong, in my opinion.--Eriastrum (talk) 18:33, 26 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the praise, Eriastrum! Marco polo (talk) 19:56, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Re: Chickens
They're really not that hard to take care of with a little work. And if word gets out that you have chickens, you'll be a popular guy with those seeking fresh eggs! I recently brought some to work to sell to a coworker. He called in sick that day, so I sent an email out to my department asking if anyone else wanted them. I had about a half dozen takers by the end of the day. I wonder if you've thought this all the way through though... If your real name is Marco, then you may get a few wiseguys calling you "Marco con pollo". :-) Dismas |(talk) 17:18, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

March 2008 edition of the WikiProject Germany newsletter
This newsletter is delivered by a bot to all members of WikiProject Germany. If you do not want to receive this newsletter in the future, please leave a note at the talk page of the Outreach department so we can come up with a better spamlist solution. Thank you, - Newsletter Bot 'Talk  15:27, 23 March 2008 (UTC)''

Your response to "Stocks" on the Hum Refdesk
Hi. Firstly, thanks for your excellent reply to that request for advice - I think that this was an excellent example showing how information satisfies a request for advice. More importantly, however, a few of us recently got together to form WikiProject Investment, which focuses on making Investment articles more understandable to casual investors. We've just started and we don't have that many members but (given your various responses to finance/economics/investment questions on the RDs) I think that having you there would be invaluable. If you have the time and are interested, please have a look. Zain Ebrahim (talk) 21:32, 17 May 2008 (UTC)

Verb / satellite framing examples
Hello Marco Polo, thank you for the feed-back about English examples. The "switch on / switch off" wasn't my choice actually ; like the "schalten" possibilities in German, I feel them be a bit too stilted for such an everyday example. How would you consider by the way put the light on / put the light off - especially considering the position of the particle (one of the points of English I'm the least comfortable with...) ?

As for the "get out the train on the left", I should tell the Paris' tube authorities that their multilingual warning message is part wrong (I won't ask who translated it). Or may there be a British / American difference in use?

Regards, Bertrand Bellet (talk) 20:25, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks again. I'll use "turn on / out", then. For the train example, I'll prefer "step out" - "exit" is not appropriate as an example here since it is verb-framed. Bertrand Bellet (talk) 06:57, 21 May 2008 (UTC)

"Großdeutschland"
Caro Marco, thanks for helping on my Language RD query. Now my focus is on the term Großdeutschland, if you'd be so kind as to have another look there, I've explicated my options and could do with further advice... ''Thanks again! Deborahjay (talk) 20:44, 10 June 2008 (UTC)''

Edinburgh traffic
Hi, sorry for the slow response (to the message you left on my talk page), I was on holiday. When I said the city bypass, I did mean the A720; by 12:30, though, I'd expect it to be far from deserted but nor would I expect it to be gridlocked. As for heading east at about 9, I'd expect the worst of the rush hour to be over but for it to be very busy; not so much stop-start but probably somewhat slow going (that said, I'm normally off the A720 by this time, so it's an educated guess). I think you're probably okay with the A720 both times. I'm not totally familiar with the Dalkeith route, but I'd imagine it'd probably be a bit smoother, if slightly more circuitous? Hope this is of some help, and good luck with your planning. Angus Lepper(T, C, D) 17:18, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Maps for travelling in Britain
Hi, did you find the maps you needed, and more importantly, did you have a good holiday? DuncanHill (talk) 13:06, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Six months later....
Thanks Marco Polo! You answered a question of mine back in March, and now I have created an article called Human flagpoles. Would you care to cast your eye over it? Your expertise is apreciated! BrainyBabe (talk) 09:32, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your help! BrainyBabe (talk) 18:52, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

Subjunctive confusion
I am confused now and slightly off the rails, but this subjunctive thing is bugging me. 1.) "I think" has no need for a subjunctive. "I think that he is just boring me stiff." 2.) So, for the sentence to be in the subjunctive, "It is important that" would need the subjunctive. But is it "It is important that she spends money on him to keep him satisfied". Or is it really "It is important that she spend money on clothes?" To me this sounds simply wrong, but am I missing something here? I really am out of practice, so this is no fake question.--Radh (talk) 20:41, 16 October 2008 (UTC)


 * You are correct that your example 1) does not need the subjunctive. It is a subordinate clause but an indicative statement.  However, the second example 2) always requires the subjunctive, at least in standard American English.  Also, the subordinating conjunction "that" is not preceded by a comma in English.  So it should be "It is important that she spend money on clothes", without your comma.  That is how it works in American English.  For most British English writers and speakers, that would be "it is important that she spends...", but this sounds very wrong to an American (or at least to an educated American).  Have you taken a look at Subjunctive mood? Marco polo (talk) 20:41, 21 October 2008 (UTC)


 * I see, it is the content clause and demand thing, thank you and I really have to look at my Zeichensetzung (I get them wrong even in german). I must have thought that "it is important" were a statement of fact.--Radh (talk) 22:11, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

But don't the two sentences: "It is important that she spends money . . ." and "It is important that she spend money . . ." have different meanings? In the first case she does in fact spend money, and that is an important thing for her, or an important fact to know about her. In the second case, an important thing that she SHOULD do is to spend money. It seems to me (as a speaker of American English) that both constructions are possible and correct, indeed necessary in order to express these two different meanings. It would not be possible to express the first meaning if only the subjunctive were permitted.134.53.42.93 (talk) 18:48, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

photo?
Did you mean to link to something in this edit? --Tagishsimon (talk) 02:28, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

new WP:RDREG userbox
The box to the right is the newly created userbox for all RefDesk regulars. Since you are an RD regular, you are receiving this notice to remind you to put this box on your userpage! (but when you do, don't include the |no. Just say <tt> </tt> ) This adds you to Category:RD regulars, which is a must. So please, add it. Don't worry, no more spam after this - just check WP:RDREG for updates, news, etc. flaminglawyerc 23:29, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Pronunciation of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir's Name
Thank you very much for the rough pronunciation of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir's name. I understand that using English language sounds will not get it quite right, but you made it recognizable and more. You are a gentleman and a scholar. --SeditiousBroom (talk) 13:55, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

One good aeterna...
I liked your reply about pronouncing "lux aeterna" at the RefDesk. The edit note I attached to my pronunciation, such as it was, says that IPA is the system you use when you don't want people to know how to pronounce something. I thought I'd make it clear that was just slightly tongue in cheek. --- OtherDave (talk) 10:33, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Islam resources
Hi Marco Polo. Did the website I found in response to your question help you with your quest? Another thing I thought of is, you might want to compare socially conservative strands of Islam with socially conservative strands of Christianity -- assuming that your target audience has some familiarity with the latter. This could be historic or contemporary Christian groupings. BrainyBabe (talk) 09:42, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Encyclopedia Africana
Hi, perhaps you'd be in a position to add a little weight, substance or detail to the article on the Encyclopedia Africana. When I was trying to sort out the history of the Encyclopedia's creation and versions during our recent exchange, the article seemed a little thin; and (without inducing any WP:Conflict of Interest) someone who'd worked on the Africana's editorial team might be the very person who could fill it out or sharpen its vaguer elements. [Purely by way of flukey coincidence, I learned of Dr Du Bois' death in Ghana while I was on a bus from Providence to the 28 August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom Now. Other trivially slight coincidences I see now that I've looked at your user page are that I attended Berkeley, unsuccessfully, as a Poli Sci major, and that my brother, who's worked on water supply and hygiene in Africa, is a huge admirer of John Snow, the man who established public health in Victorian London.] Have a good Labor Day. —— Shakescene (talk) 20:24, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

extermination, לא עלינו ! :- /
Greetings upon what I hope will be my return to more regular patrolling of the RDs after these recent months spent toiling excessively on mercenary work. I see you weighed in early on this one and wonder what you think of my subsequent effort there. Hope I haven't lost my touch! (e.g. deliberated long about enumerating the expendable population as "hundreds of thousands, yea millions," and it took me a while to decide how to work in the word "expedient" so that even the most benighted lurker let alone the OP would have a chance of understanding it.) Oh, and if you can't read the Hebrew: it's a colloquial interjection that for all I know has traditional roots; means "[it] shouldn't happen to us...!" -- Cheers, Deborahjay (talk) 09:13, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

Manchurian areas
Hello Marco! Please transliterate the Manchurian area "Cheng-teh" into Japanese/Traditional Chinese. Please answer here. Thanx again, Doc Taxon (talk) 15:12, 15 September 2009 (UTC)


 * In this case the traditional Chinese version of the second character (承德) seems to have one more stroke than the Japanese version (承徳).  Marco polo (talk) 21:02, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Duanmu
Hey Marco polo, I just noticed you linked to San Duanmu's paper from NACCL 2008...were you at that conference? I was at his talk there&mdash;if you were there too, well, small world... <b class="Unicode">r ʨ anaɢ</b> talk/contribs 17:45, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Standards/laxness of language
It was amazing how your recent answer to the Reference Desk question about standards and laxness was absolutely exactly what I wanted to say! By the way, I admire your work (I've seen your contributions). I also highly admire geography, and I'm not just saying that. --71.111.194.50 (talk) 03:24, 19 September 2009 (UTC) (user:Dpr)


 * Thank you :-) Marco polo (talk) 02:12, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

'Ovnt Lid' by Itzik Manger
Dear Marco Polo,

Thank you so much for your intrepid and intense translation of Itzik Manger's 'Ovnt Lid' -mazel tov! Having recently been named honorary Asheknazic Jew by a dear friend, I thought I couldn't possibly begin the traditional Ashkenazic education in Yiddish literature at a better time -my knowledge of German certainly helps with learning the language. Your translation not only cleared up many previous ambiguities and nuances for me, and therefore certainly set my pursuit of Yiddish knowledge in the right direction, but also made my listening to Chava Alberstein's rendering of this poem far more poignant. Again, many thanks, and l'shalom!

Luthinya (talk) 20:13, 13 October 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm glad I was able to help! Marco polo (talk) 20:27, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks!
Thanks for the edits on the article Edmonton. Cheers  Kyle  1278  17:38, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

Nice de-escalation
Thanks for doing your part in making this place more peaceful, as you did here. &mdash; Sebastian 22:28, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Proposal regarding Mihkaw napew and the reference desk
In case you're interested, I have started a proposal to have Mihkaw napew banned from responding to comments on the Language reference desk. The relevant thread is WT:RD. <b class="Unicode">r ʨ anaɢ</b> talk/contribs 13:33, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

Horses and Men
Hello Marco polo! I am trying to nail down the 1000-fold told story of the "Taoist Farmer who lost his horse", "Sai Ong looses his horse", etc. The article (first go in German, English could follow) is at present in one of my workshops (not anymore 2010-03-06). I am waiting for a book (in French) which gives the translation of chapter 18 (hopefully with annotations). In the meantime, could you please have a look at the Chinese text (link above)? Did I seperate the lines correctly? A "Westernized Version" will follow underneath, als well as short examples, how the story is used in other cultures. Cheers Grey Geezer 09:32, 11 February 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Grey Geezer (talk • contribs)
 * Too late! Too late!! Too late!!! ;-)  The article is already up ... and running. Interestingly, the 10.000-fold written Western versions contain an error. Irren ist  menschlich! Thanks anyway. Grey Geezer 11:18, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Dunning, was: Polish: monity
Greetings, Mp! Apropos my recent query, on which I appreciate your weighing in: I'm curious as to your assessment of the word dunning, to wit: <tt>"...probably the best English word for its meaning, and it is in use, but it is probably not universally understood in the United States."</tt> I see on your User page that you're a fellow native speaker of US English. The word is entirely familiar to me, who in 1957 enrolled in P.S.#233 in Brooklyn, N.Y. and continued in the 1960s in the Los Angeles Unified School District and points south. On the other hand, when I reached for my Oxford English-Hebrew Dictionary at the office yesterday, the verb dun was nowhere to be seen. I ceased searching at that point, but as a translator my knowing the currency of a word in the vernacular is quite crucial to producing successful target text. Have you any further thoughts to share on this matter? -- Deborahjay (talk) 07:08, 16 March 2010 (UTC)


 * I have commented on your user talk page. Marco polo (talk) 19:09, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

State Capitols
Thank you for your clear and interesting post at RD/Misc. Cheers. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 18:54, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

A total shot in the dark
Are you associated with the Wikipedia Reference search engine? If you don't know what I'm talking about, then obviously not. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 13:36, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I have nothing to do with any search engine. Marco polo (talk) 13:47, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
 * OK, thanks. Like I said, it was a total shot in the dark.  Have a good day. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 13:52, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

when the pronoun is the object of one verb and subject of another
On your comment about the above post, a question naturally arises, apparently, is as to whether this ambiguity is sufficiently pervasive crosslinguistically so as to suggest that homophony is not involved in predicators (the verb ‘let’ in both cases here) to determine pronouns, or whether instead they should be analyzed in morphosyntactic combination of pronoun with a mood head as distinctive determiner of correct pronoun.

On to the provided example, I would rather say that it is an archaic composition of the biblical texts than it has an underlying deep structure composition elliptically in terms of its exhortation, which is simply then a semi-imperative form either as a jussive form (which is here) or as a hortatory form (which is also possible). The bare infinitive form, unless imperative, is only required if a form is to be subjunctive. In terms of the ambiguity that is analogous to the distinction between relative and deictic construals of pronouns, it is a subject pronoun as for ‘You let that he who is without sin cast the first stone.’ but an object pronoun as for ‘You let him, who is without sin, to cast the first stone.’ with respect to their ellipses in modern form. Does this seem more corret now? -Mr.Bitpart (talk) 17:32, 14 July 2010 (UTC)


 * Except that the form "Let that he [subjunctive]..." or "(You) let that he [subjunctive]..." has never been used in English. I think the most archaic form (lost during Late Middle or Early Modern English) would have been "[subjunctive] he ..." e.g., "Cast he the first stone" if that form were still current in English.  Today we still have "May he cast the first stone", though even that form is starting to sound archaic.  Marco polo (talk) 01:04, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Hello
I'm sure you misinterpreted me, and I profoundly apologize if anything in my words insulted you, although I hope that nothing did. Anyways, I really can't understand what was nasty in my asking you to read again the first sentence in my last paragraph (beginning with the word: "Note")". Does this request insult? Again, if it does, then I fully apologize, and I'll be happy if you give me a second chance to explain myself: I thought that I was "clear enough" in the beginning of this paragraph which begins with the word "Note", where I wrote explicitly that the main clause (no. 1) is still as before, so the new sentence (that has to combine both clauses, 1 and 2) must begin with: "I met a person...". Your proposal does not meet this requirement, does it? Again, I hope you forgive me if I was not clear enough in my last response to you. Have a nice day, all the best, take care. HOOTmag (talk) 14:16, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Talk:Ruhr
As you are an expert in geography and languages, you may also leave a commentary on Talk:Ruhr. Wikiwiserick (talk) 17:09, 1 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your comment. Unfortunately there is no majority for changing the name of the article "Ruhr". However, I did some additional research. Therefore, may I ask you for a further comment concerning the |historical development of the term Ruhr. Thanks in anticipation. Wikiwiserick (talk) 15:16, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

on a classifying schema in language typology
Hi Marco, I just checked you post about La Spezia-Rimini line, so I have a question to you as well. If I understood it correctly, the language in question from the point of view of comparative language typology and its classifying schema, I think neither the Italo-Romance family nor the non-Italo Romance family seems to follow the liner order of declension as stated in the WP Latin chart of plural endings of accusative, namely--root+ long vowel+ ‘s’. Am I correct on this? And for the shake of their generality, there seem to be also ‘s’ declensions in nominative and vocative cases. So the feature as aforesaid may not be the factor that exclusively distinguishes the family of Italic, but something else that is of parallel in their typology? Mr.Bitpart (talk) 23:58, 25 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Actually, in the typical Western Romance languages (Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, French), the plural forms are all clearly derived from the Latin accusative plural. They no longer have a long vowel before the plural.  This has mutated to the current form.  I think that there is virtual unanimity among Romance comparative linguists on that point.  Marco polo (talk) 23:47, 27 November 2010 (UTC)


 * Interesting. Any explanation why the accusative form, rather than of the nominative, was predominant in Western Romance languages while the bare nominative form or of the inflections usually claim to be the cognates of language evolution? Mr.Bitpart (talk) 01:25, 28 November 2010 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure "why". I can speculate.  It seems plausible to me that the accusative was the most frequently used form of most nouns.  Pronouns are frequently the subjects of sentences, while nouns are frequently the direct object (in the accusative).  Also, Latin nominative forms were often less regular than the accusative forms.  While nominative singular forms often involved a mutation to the root form of the noun, especially in the third declension, the accusative forms were almost always built on the root.   See the following two examples:


 * Case        Singular                Plural


 * Nom        homo                    homines
 * Acc          hominem             homines
 * Gen         hominis                hominum
 * Dat          homini                  hominibus
 * Abl          homine                 hominibus


 * Nom        rex                       reges
 * Acc          regem                  reges
 * Gen         regis                    regum
 * Dat          regi                      regibus
 * Abl          rege                     regibus


 * Finally, the accusative may seem to be the "default form" to naive speakers, even if the nominative is the usual lemma. In English, children and uneducated speakers often use forms like “Me and my friend went to the store” or “Me and him went to the store”.


 * If you are interested in Romance historical linguistics, I strongly recommend The Story of Latin and the Romance Languages by Mario Pei. Marco polo (talk) 00:52, 30 November 2010 (UTC)


 * This is good enough for now. Thanks again. Mr.Bitpart (talk) 04:05, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

Made me laugh
Rarely say this but I found good enough to mention. Nil Einne (talk) 16:49, 9 December 2010 (UTC)
 * I was just coming by to mention that exact post. That may be the funniest thing I have read all day.  Hilarious.  -- Jayron  32  16:52, 9 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Make me third (coming by to say "WELL DONE!!!"). That was a brilliant response. --Quartermaster (talk) 20:52, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Arab population in diaspora
In the "Arab people" article there are discrepancies between the Arab populations listed in the initial info box and in the table presented later in the article on the "Arab diaspora." For example, in the first box it says that there are 6 million Arabs in France; in the second, 2 million; for Argentina: 3.5 mil vs. 500,000. Do you know if these sets of figures can be reconciled in some way (e.g. they measure different categories; but if so, what?), and if not, could you indicate which figures are more likely to be accurate? 134.53.42.93 (talk) 16:50, 11 December 2010 (UTC)
 * These numbers are all estimates, some of them quite rough, so they cannot be definitive. For France, 6 million is certainly too high.  The cited source gives this as the entire immigrant population of France.  Approximately 70% of these  (or perhaps 4 million) are Arabs.  Therefore, 2 million is also certainly too low for France.  For Argentina, the source cited for the number 500,000 in fact gives an estimate of 3.5 million, so this is a mistake.  However, the number 3.5 million is likely to be too high.  This number is the estimate of an organization advocating for the interests of Arab Argentines.  Obviously, this organization is not impartial, and it has an interest in exaggerating the size of its constituency.  Unfortunately, estimate by disinterested bodies do not seem to exist for Argentina.  Marco polo (talk) 23:23, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

Anent: Antananarivo
Hi, on 15th October last you made the following [|changes] to the pronunciation of the city's name. Do you have a reference for the vowels and consonants you used? - because it conflicts with my understanding.--AssegaiAli (talk) 16:10, 15 January 2011 (UTC)


 * My source is Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary, 3rd edition, page 53. Marco polo (talk) 18:28, 24 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks, but I am fairly sure that Webster's is wrong. When I was there in 2007 nobody called it that and in any case the final vowel in Malagasy (pr. 'Malgash') words is typically not pronounced rather as many English words end in a silent 'e'. Certainly the city is not pronounced -rivo, at the end but -riv only. Unfortunately my English guide-book did not give any details on this, just my companions' French guide-books which I haven't got to refer to. I do remember that the spelling system in Malagasy follows a very different convention from English so saying the name exactly as the letters seem to suggest is not usually correct.--AssegaiAli (talk) 22:40, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Schools
Hi. The Wikipedia Schools Project has set up a dedicated  help and feedback page at WP:WPSCH/H. This is for elementary/primary, middle, and high schools (often called college in the UK). It is not for universities. If you regularly give advice to users, you might wish to send enquirers there - we are quick to respond. However, WT:WPSCH still remains the place for general discussion about the management and policy of school articles. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 00:58, 1 May 2011 (UTC)

The compound phrasal adverb ‘looking forward to’
--an interesting post since there are differences of opinions on what it is and what it isn’t.

Here is one, which seems alright.

Here is another one, which seems alright too.

But the problem in question is still left opened and is confused to sort things out. And if we search for its historical descriptivism, it only gives the explanation that the form as a ‘verb + compound phrasal adverb’.


 * I am eagerly looking (verb) forward (adverb) to (adverb compound) joining (gerund =noun=object) your firm (object of the gerund). Correct


 * I am eagerly looking (verb) forward (adverb) to (adverb compound) join (verb) your firm (object). Problems--doesn’t have any explanation for its correctness since there are two verbs ('look' and 'join').

And if we look at this in a different context, not as a compound phrasal adverb but as a spatial adverb, the example I am looking forward to join your firm seems alright too as for implying of its intransitivity and complementing with a spatial adverb ‘forward’ where the ‘to’ function as the infinitive ‘to join’ (rather than as the compound adverb to ‘forward to’).

Just an add, Marco, since you always give some good explanations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.Bitpart (talk • contribs) 19:09, 3 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Mr. Bitpart, thanks, though I'm not sure I understand your point. The looking forward to phrase is an idiomatic verb phrase in which the preposition to requires a noun phrase (such as a gerund) as a complement.  It is ungrammatical to have a verb as the complement, as the to in this phrase is not the infinitive particle. The infinitive, including the particle to can stand in for a gerund in some positions.  In this case, you would need to say looking forward to to join.  However, that is not grammatical either, since the phrase looking forward to requires a gerund rather than an infinitive as a complement.  Marco polo (talk) 19:37, 3 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, there are two—a) whether the sentences ‘I am eagerly looking forward to joining’ and ‘I eagerly look forward to joining’ have contrasting varieties in terms of their semantics to encode more less of a commitment or not is a bit of blur, though the present continues tense, rather than the present tense of a verb of regular activities, suggests more commitment at present—and b) whether the idiomatic verb phrase ‘looking forward to’ can be analyzed other then as the compound phrasal verb or not is another problem. Mr.Bitpart (talk) 20:37, 3 May 2011 (UTC)

Talkback?
What's up with this? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:27, 3 May 2011 (UTC)

Mr Bitpart has posted it on several pages. I've asked him to explain what he wants us to do. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:39, 3 May 2011 (UTC)


 * That would be catastrophic, Baseball Bugs. So no--I just asked all the participants just to look at this post since everyone has opinions. An interestin post--that is why. Mr.Bitpart (talk) 21:06, 3 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Look at what post? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 21:14, 3 May 2011 (UTC)

Northern Canada accents
Do you have a source for your answer you gave me about Northern Canada accents? Neptunekh2 (talk) 05:02, 28 May 2011 (UTC)
 * What Neptunekh has done is copied your text from the reference desk into the article on Canadian English .  From what I know of this user (see her userpage) she probably has no idea that there might be a problem with doing that.  I have tried to explain  (check page history, page may have been blanked). Incidentally,  found a source for exactly what you said, so go you! --Elen of the Roads (talk) 17:03, 29 May 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm afraid that my answer was just based on my background knowledge. I'm glad that a source has been found that backs up my statement.  Marco polo (talk) 19:49, 29 May 2011 (UTC)

Re: Response removal on WP:RD/L
Sorry about that. It was not an intentional edit on my part. Rmhermen (talk) 18:21, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

Otium
This is my latest article. Feel free to make any improvements. --Doug Coldwell talk 19:20, 1 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Expanded article. Any ideas for a DYK hook?--Doug Coldwell talk 11:21, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
 * I've made it more concise. Does it need more "fine tuning"? Good Article possibility?--Doug Coldwell talk 16:39, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

3/5 compromise
I responded at the Reference Desk and I also asked the question at the Language desk. Did you make a formal move request for Three-fifths Compromise to correct the capitalization or does that still have to be done? I agree with your reasoning that "Three-Fifths Compromise" is correct... it's certainly not any less correct as it's used in scholarly works. Certainly the word "Compromise" needs to be capitalized and it's not. "Three-fifths Compromise" is arguably correct although I think the full title caps is more correct.

This is a lot of quibbling perhaps over a small change but it's kind of an interesting little point. Anyway, if you haven't already requested the move let me know and I'll do it. Shadowjams (talk) 21:36, 20 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Already requested, thanks. Marco polo (talk) 01:44, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Henry (L.?) Tucker, composer
Noticed your comment on a request from a few years back; have been thinking of starting an article on him myself, especially since I'm contributing to his category on IMSLP. One contemporary source seems to be A critical dictionary of English literature and British and American authors by Samuel Austin Allibone (1872, page 2464, very very brief biographical listing, but it's something. There's also an 1891 edition that may be a reprint though since it's after his death it may mention it- will check soon. Seen at Google Books.) (Not sure if you're also interested but am assuming from context. May be mistaken! Cheers anycase and best) Schissel | Sound the Note! 13:33, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

HA Schult
As I know that you are able to read German texts, may I ask you for a third opinion on the "Ruhrgebiets-Künstler" and performance artist, HA Schult? We have a content dispute, as another user is frequently removing information that, in my opinion, is well sourced. See HA Schult and Talk:HA Schult. What do you think? Perhaps you have also an idea how to solve the problem? Wikiwiserick (talk) 18:53, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Most popular leisure-time activity in Switzerland in 1920s
Hi, Marco polo, I posted in the miscellaneous reference desk asking what the most popular leisure-time activity in Switzerland in the 1920s was. This was your answer: "Swiss people in 1920 were a lot less affluent than they are today, and most would not have had much money for "leisure activities". As such, the top leisure activities of most Swiss people would have been the following: playing with one's children; for men, chatting with friends in the local pub over a beer or a glass of wine; for women, chatting with friends in one another's kitchens with baked sweets and some kind of beverage; mostly but not exclusively for men, fishing in a local lake or river; for women, doing some kind of creative craft such as embroidery; for men, doing a creative craft such as woodcarving."

If it's alright with you, I still have two questions: 1. So would the most popular leisure-time activity of most Swiss people be chatting with friends? 2. What about hiking and mountain climbing? Were they top leisure activities too, or not yet? 3. Your answer above gave me lots of information. But I'm just curious, I gotta ask, how did you find this information, and where can I find it (I couldn't even find such information on Google Books!)?

Thank you so much for your help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.48.46.71 (talk) 11:52, 13 January 2013 (UTC)


 * Here are my answers to each of your questions:


 * 1. Yes, I think chatting with friends would be the most popular leisure-time activity. That has probably been true for every society at every point in history.


 * 2. Hiking was a popular leisure activity among those who had significant time off. This would have been mainly members of the professional and managerial upper middle class.  Others would have been working six-day weeks and would have spent their only day off (Sunday) with family and friends and/or at church.  This was a period when Saturday was a work day and many people did not have vacations/holidays.  Mountain climbing would have been confined to a relatively small number of mostly young male members of the upper middle class, such as university students.  While they had some popularity, I don't think that hiking or mountain climbing were things that a majority of Swiss people did during the 1920s.


 * 3. Actually, I did not find this information. I know it based on years of study of social history.  However, I don't really count as a reliable source.  If you are serious about researching this and need sources, you will need to understand German and/or French, but you will find this kind of information in oral histories.  You might contact Archives Online.org, but since many of these materials are not available online, you would have to travel to Switzerland to access them.


 * Marco polo (talk) 21:37, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

enjoyed this immensely
see. μηδείς (talk) 18:36, 27 March 2013 (UTC)


 * Happy to amuse! Marco polo (talk) 00:38, 28 March 2013 (UTC)

Hello! There is a DR/N request you may have interest in.
This message is being sent to you let you know of a discussion at the Dispute resolution noticeboard regarding a content dispute discussion you may have participated in. Content disputes can hold up article development and make editing difficult for editors. You do not need to participate however, you are invited to help find a resolution. The thread is "Huizhou University, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Huizhou_University, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_and_colleges_in_Guangdong". Please join us to help form a consensus. Thank you! EarwigBot   operator  /  talk 11:40, 30 April 2013 (UTC)

A little history of my Real Life as an editor
Dear Marco, I want to thank you for pitching in on the current Language Ref Desk query, which led me to an unexpected little epiphany I'd like to share with you. Through our interleaved responses, I realized that my first job after college that required me to use written language was as a medical secretary, for which I had no particular training beyond my experience of a year's night shifts as a ward clerk - a position I nabbed by serving as an unofficial Spanish/English interpreter in Labor/Delivery and (more important) Neonatal ICU. I got a lot of precision-language practice while typing transcription and composing correspondence for a non-native English-speaking researcher-cum-clinical physician in the field of pediatric neurology specializing in certain rare, deadly and incurable genetically transmitted neurogenerative disorders. My second gig when I relocated for romantic reasons was in a radiation-oncology unit in a large private hospital, from which I transfered onto the IT department's Quality Assurance team (12 in a department of 70 employees, in 1982 when the QA field was new and technical writing skills were de rigueur). So the careful use of language... either comes naturally to me or I picked it up under dire circumstances. In all, my ediitng one of those chicken-and-egg things. Occasionally someone will ask me where I got my training - usually a fairly transparent (in the old sense) query about my qualifications - which I usually fob off with a reference to William Zinnser's "On Writing Well" (6th ed.). As of today, I have a new regard for my unwritten pedigree as a pro. Of course it's to benefit my use of English on Wikipedia, too. -- Cheers, Deborahjay (talk) 13:34, 18 July 2013 (UTC)

Random question
I noticed on the Reference Desk that you said you liked learning languages. I was astonished by this claim, because most people claim the exact opposite. I had to learn two foreign languages (English and French) and am glad I did, but both were long and painful experiences. Why do you like learning languages, and what learning methods do you use that make it less painful? --Bowlhover (talk) 08:20, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

A Constitutional question
Hi there, since you're pretty experience on the reference desk, I'm hopeful that I will get a real answer from you. I'm wondering whether the English language is "recognised" or not on the Article 82. Official language under the Constitution of Brunei. Link to the Constitution of Brunei ---> Constitution of Brunei. Do reply on my talk page so I can be notified. thanks pal. Alevero987 (talk) 21:22, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Archaic Chinese Dict.
Hello MP!

I have two, in fact: Bernhard Karlgren, 1940
 * Grammata Serica - Script and Phonetics in Chinese and Sino-Japanese
 * (Wikipedia has an article on Grammata Serica Recensa - not sure if it's the same book, but same author) [EDIT - it is the same book, but updated in 1957)]

Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1973
 * A pronouncing Dictionary of Chinese Characters in Archaic & Ancient Chinese, Mandarin & Cantonese

<font face="MV Boli" color="blue">KägeTorä - (影虎) (Chin Wag) 15:17, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

Re: Musical taste
Thanks for the note Marco. The early stuff is having something of a revival here, perhaps encouraged by Classic FM who sponsor The Sixteen, a choir that regularly sells out in concerts around the UK. I sometimes inexpertly have a go at it myself in our parish church choir, where Tallis, Byrd and Purcell are on the agenda now and again. Alansplodge (talk) 18:08, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

Wrong half of the century?
Dear Marco polo, I'm not going to intervene in the ongoing discussion on WP:RD/H, but you wrote a sentence there that diverges from the history I learned (in the U.S.A.). You wrote, "Jews, with the rare exceptions mentioned above, never formed a majority or the dominant group in any society until they colonized Palestine in the early 20th century." Is not this rather (note particular wordings in italics): "{Jews who supported the Zionist movement purchased land and sent settlers to set up colonies in Ottoman and then British Mandatory Palestine in the early 20th C.} Jews ...never formed a majority or the dominant group in any society, including Palestine, until after the founding of the State of Israel following UN Resolution 181 (Partition of Palestine) and the 1948 war." The first, bracketed sentence is the history I learned which your sentence outright contradicts - and which I think is false. I hope my participation history at WP:RD/H and overall grants me credibility on this contentious subject. Nor do I want to get into a hassle with you here (I'm presently working against a deadline). What do you say? -- thanks, Deborahjay (talk) 11:58, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

From the Reference Desk: "Western European Families during the Middle Ages"
I have noticed that my Reference Desk question is a bit too broad; however, if you allow me to explain how I approached the state of mind that I was in while writing the inquiry, hopefully you will understand what I mean and what I want to know.

Recently in my spare time, I've decided to take on the Family values project, because the previous article was too political and did not even talk about the term "family values" used in the academic sphere. As a matter of fact, the term "family values", as used by many social scientists, has a specific, clear, and explicit meaning that contradicts one line from a previous version of Family values (saying that "family values" is a "vague" concept, when in reality, this term has a specific meaning) and that is not so far-fetched from the popular conception of "family values" (families providing elderly care, children respecting their elders, etc.). There is even an entire academic discipline devoted to this study; it's called "Family Studies". And I avidly read them, using them as credible sources for the introduction and "In culture" section of the "Family values" article. Just yesterday, I came upon this article. [Panasenko, N. (2013). Czech and Slovak Family Patterns and Family Values in Historical, Social and Cultural Context. Journal Of Comparative Family Studies, 44(1), 79-98.] I don't know if you have EbscoHost, but I found it on EbscoHost. Then, the following paragraph caught my attention: "The bourgeois family is understood as a family structure arising out of 16th century and 17th century European households, in which the family centers on a marriage between a man and a woman with strictly defined gender-roles. The man typically has responsibility for income and support, the woman—for home and family matters (Family in the West. Family types)."

This is why, unfortunately, I cannot pinpoint the exact country or culture in Western Europe. However, it seems to me that the author has cited this Wikipedia article. So, if you know anything about the cultural backgrounds of some Western European families prior to the 16th and 17th centuries (it'd be great if you know the specific culture), then feel free to contribute to the Family values article.

Best regards,

71.79.234.132 (talk) 00:22, 5 September 2014 (UTC)

thank you for your help on the source of US Government debt repayment streams - followup question
Dear Marco polo,

I greatly appreciated your response to my question under the Reference Desk (regarding sources of US Government debt repayment, e.g. upon t-bill maturity.) I found your response very helpful and it gave some extra avenues such as about quantitative easing, current account deficit, etc. I would be extremely interested in discussing this subject briefly with you - is there a chance we could connect by phone or skype? I don't know your time zone. Q1q2 (talk) 17:03, 22 December 2014 (UTC)
 * For now, I'd like to keep my identity confidential, which would preclude a phone conversation with a stranger from Wikipedia. But feel free to ask any further questions you have on the Reference Desk. Marco polo (talk) 21:02, 22 December 2014 (UTC)
 * I'm very sorry to hear it, because it sounds like 5 minutes talking with you can easily let me answer essential questions I have. Well, can you point me to an introductory book or lecture on the subject of high-powered money, fractional reserve banking, current account deficit, and regarded subjects (just this narrow subject)?  Monetary policy of this kind is not hte most interesting or important part of the economy, but I'm in a position where I have to understand it now.  (For what it's worth I'm running a virtual central bank, but have only a general economics background a few papers.)  Thanks. Q1q2 (talk) 02:06, 23 December 2014 (UTC)
 * Q1q2, I think you overestimate my expertise. In fact, I have never taken an actual economics course.  I am self-taught.  The best I can suggest is reading the relevant Wikipedia articles, and taking their references to a good library.  While you are at it, you might borrow or photocopy and read reference works from a good university library on each of those topics.  It also helps to read relevant articles in the media, such as Bloomberg, the Financial Times, and the Economist to keep abreast of current conditions. If I were in your position, I would subscribe to those sources, and perhaps the Wall Street Journal, and read them daily.  Marco polo (talk) 15:03, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

Global account
Hi Marco polo! As a Steward I'm involved in the upcoming unification of all accounts organized by the Wikimedia Foundation (see m:Single User Login finalisation announcement). By looking at your account, I realized that you don't have a global account yet. In order to secure your name, I recommend you to create such account on your own by submitting your password on Special:MergeAccount and unifying your local accounts. If you have any problems with doing that or further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on my talk page. Cheers, —DerHexer (Talk) 16:55, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

kudos on debt repayment answer, but questions
Marco,

Kudos on an excellent historical response (if accurate) which exactly answers OP where you wrote: There is no rule that dictates that debt levels greater than 100% of GDP are problematic. It depends very much on the growth rate of the economy in question. As long as the economy is growing faster than the stock of debt, debt will decrease as a percentage of GDP. Debt exceeding 100% of GDP may be problematic in times of recession, but those have typically been short lived in modern times. According to our article History of the British national debt, the national debt of the UK exceeded 200% of GDP after the Napoleonic Wars. However, because Britain was then the world's leading industrial power, with a steadily growing economy, it was able to reduce its debt as a percentage of GDP steadily during the 19th century. Its successful record of economic growth and debt repayment certainly helped the UK borrow the funds it needed to fight the world wars in the 20th century. Even if Britain had not been able to reduce its debt level during the 19th century, it would have had other options entering the world wars, such as instituting a command economy involving some nationalization. Such a policy arguably could have left the UK economically weaker after the world wars, but would not necessarily have entailed "economic collapse". Repudiating debt would have meant a financial crisis and losses for Britain's wealthy elite, but redistribution and a reduction in economic inequality, which could have resulted from a command economy, could also have resulted in renewed economic vigor if, say, the country's capital had been privatized by granting shares in firms to employees. Marco polo (talk) 19:07, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

I (same poster as included the debt lists) would state though that there is such a 'rule' though (insofar as there is any rule - for example, there is no rule that you need more than 1 employee at a company to found it and sell it for $1 billion within 12 months, but in fact there is such a 'rule'. Instagram was at 18 employees and 18 months in when sold for $1 billion to FB, but that doesn't mean it didn't break all rules by doing so.)  I would say it is accurate to say Britain broke all rules by exceeding 200% of GDP after the Napoleonic Wars but growing fast enough to counter this. And did it grow fast enough - or in fact not fast enough to keep together. I don't know the details of the British Empire but isn't it fair to say Britain is mostly a couple of small islands again, having not been able to retain its empire, which you state grew fast enough to counter 200% GDP debt? For comparison, the United States did not get reduced to the 13 colonies and Hawaii over the same timeframe. So did it really break the rules, or demonstrate them? 212.96.61.236 (talk) 20:21, 3 February 2015 (UTC)

A kitten for you!
It's not so much the mix up, as who I was mixed up with that I had a problem with. No hard feelings.

Ian.thomson (talk) 20:38, 9 March 2015 (UTC) <br style="clear: both;"/>

A like-minded person
Carry on marcopoloing. --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:09, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Kaiser Kitkat (talk)

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