User talk:Zerida

Ahmed El Esseily
Hi - found you through the Egypt wikiproject. Wondered if you might comment on whether a quick google turns up anything relevant to the discussion at Articles_for_deletion/Log/2008_January_30. Always suspicious of systemic bias, I'm equally suspicious of personal articles about media types. --Paularblaster (talk) 23:14, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Ahmed Orabi
Did you read the discussion, of less than a month ago, on Talk:Ahmed Orabi before you replaced the name by which he was then (and is still) best known by a piece of less readable pedantry?

It is our policy to write common English here, while explaining difficulties and inaccuracies of transliteration. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 21:37, 3 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Response. — Zerida 22:27, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Human rights section
Zerida,

I admire the work you did on the Egypt page. I think the only problem however is that some sections contain too much details, most notably, the human rights and religion sections. I realize that this is often necessary for the sake of balance, but we cannot put include every little detail and every news story in the main article. Countries with far more atrocious records like Iran, Saudi Arabia, and even North Korea, have far smaller human rights sections on their main pages. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Citadelite (talk • contribs) 22:27, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

RFA thanks
  .: RFA thanks :.

Re Message
Thanks for your detailed message Zerida. I understand where you're coming from.

I must say however that I'm more circumspect about airing "dirty laundry".

It's been my experience that "enemies" of Egypt often use this information when say, contrasting Israeli "democracy" with the surrounding "barbarians". I don't have a major problem with that, as most often, the side they're coming from also has its deep flaws.

But as to the rationale for airing "dirty laundry", I believe that change should mainly come from within. I admire Kefaya and all the other labour movements that have sprung up in the last couple of years. I admire journalists like Ibrahim Eissa who,despite his often empty polemic, pushes the limits of free speech everyday. Or as a better example, directors like Youssef Chahine and Khaled Youssef with movies like Heya Fawda and Heena Meysara.

Furthermore, change is not going to come from a Wikipedia article that 95% of Egyptians can't even read, but from those movements and journalists inside Egypt that are pushing for change. I don't like it when we're thought of as puppets to the US - those that say that Egyptian democracy has backtracked because the US has abandoned its goals of pusuing democracy in the ME following Islamist victories. That contention deeply undermines the potential strength of groups like Kefaya and other movements. It undermines the resolve of the average Egyptian to bring about change.

From a different angle as well, when I'm reading the article, I try to envision myself as a prospective tourist who's thinking of visiting the country and wants to check out some preliminary info. He or she will be greeted by barrage of info on Muslim/Christian tensions et al. that renders the big picture hard to discern. I'm an expat and I often meet people who think that Egyptian Muslims and Christians are killing and beheading each other in the streets a la Iraq. This mistaken image often comes from a news story they saw about say, the Alexandria church attack or the Luxor massacre. One concern I have is that the prospective visitor who has never visited the country and thus lacks knowledge of the larger context in which those acts occurred would be scared away. Ergo, my efforts at trying to add all the latest positive developments to try and balance out the immense amount of negative details. But with your gargantuan contribs, mine, and others, those sections drag on for far too long.

I am not advocating for a hunky dory article. But:

1. I think it's unfair to focus on only the negative side.

2. The detailed exposition (of the positives and negatives) could be spared to other pages. It's just not practical and it's not sustainable to include every court decision and every HRW report on the main page.

I think the best course of action would be to take all the minutiae out. Doing that while still arriving at an agreement on what constistues a "balanced" position will not be an easy task. One suggestion I have is for me to send you a preliminary version of a summary for the religion/human rights sections, and for you to send me one in return, and then we can try and arrive at a middle ground.

I believe we both deeply care about Egypt, but in different ways. I'm writing to you on a day where I probably couldn't have been more proud of being Egyptian.

That said, hope you watched the final, MABROUK!, and looking forward to further correspondance between us.

Cheers! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Citadelite (talk • contribs) 08:41, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Re Message 2
Funny! I also saw that episode on YouTube the day before and in the couse of writing my previous message was envisioning you as a prettier version of Khaled Youssef :)

I enjoyed watching the interview, although I think both of them have neglected to consider the fundamental problem of the absence of an age- rating system in Egypt. I am wholly against censorship, and was dismayed when I watched Amr the first time around (in one of his solo rants a couple of weeks ago) wondering how the censors permitted the movie to be released in the first place. After decades of struggling against censorship, when they give you some leeway, you should not reject it! Coming from the liberal Amr Adib, it was somewhat of a shock.

I watched the movie while on vacation in Egypt. I do agree with Amr that the movie is not suitable for children. I would venture to guess that in the US it would earn, at the least, a PG-13 rating.

I'll try to find some time to write a summary for the religion section. I'm a bit busy these days as I'm also a graduate student and, as you probably know, work keeps on coming by the truckload.

ttyl! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Citadelite (talk • contribs) 06:54, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Fiction
I am studying linguistics. I just happen to be doing it without taking classes or with much involvement with linguistics professors at my university. — Æµ§œš¹  [aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi] 02:39, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm doing both. Life is short.  — Æµ§œš¹  [aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]  04:55, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I can has thankspam?
  Quick, let's delete the front page!

OhanaUnited's RFA
  .: Thank you! :.

HaniEGY
It looks like HaniEGY is just a sockpuppet of DavidGhazawy. Notice the similarity in behavior and POV:, ... I usually assume good faith, but how many new users do you know that immediately start out by restoring another users edits, and then edit war over them? Khoikhoi 08:12, 20 February 2008 (UTC)


 * No, your initial reaction was completely correct, it was something I would've done if I were in the same position. Yes, you haven't seen me in quite awhile because I haven't been that active at all lately. :-( Khoikhoi 08:57, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

Dear Zerida

HaniEGY is not a sockpuppet of mine. I actually haven't logged onto wikipedia in a while (until today). If you look at the Revision as of 03:13, 14 February 2008 (edit) for HaniEGY he/she is actually trying to deface the page. If you still don't believe me ask someone senior to do an IP Address check.

Kind regards DavidGhazawy

Rhoda Island
Hi, can you add the romanization for the Arabic "island" (I guess جزيرة) in Rhoda Island? Badagnani (talk) 01:27, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm pleased to find a Wikipedian in Egypt and hope you will help improve the articles I've begun on Egyptian composers, as begun at List of Egyptian composers. Sources are very scarce in English. Badagnani (talk) 01:30, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. You have a lovely user page. I am writing a dissertation now on the music of Halim El-Dabh. Badagnani (talk) 01:35, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Goblet drum
Hi, could you see if ar:WP contains an article about the Goblet drum (under whichever of its names)? It seems so strange that ar:WP would not include an article about this most ubiquitous of instruments (beside the 'ud, of course). Badagnani (talk) 21:05, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

I think one of the names is دربكة (darbukha). Badagnani (talk) 04:29, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Is dumbek spelled دمبك ? Badagnani (talk) 04:30, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Cairo Conservatoire
Could you add Arabic at Cairo Conservatoire? And can you find the official site? Badagnani (talk) 04:49, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Done, though can't seem to find the web site right now (it might not have one yet, which would be surprising). — Zerida  ☥   05:17, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, can you add the romanization of the Arabic name too? Badagnani (talk) 05:20, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Cairo Opera House
Hi, can you check the Arabic and romanization I added to Cairo Opera House? Badagnani (talk) 17:18, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Cairo Symphony Orchestra
Can you add Arabic and transliteration? Badagnani (talk) 17:20, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Is اوركسترا القاهرة السيمفونى right? I want to use the official name the orchestra actually uses. Badagnani (talk) 17:24, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Typing Arabic on MS Word (Windows XP)
Hi, can you help me with a question? The computer person at my university has just helped me install right-to-left typing on the Windows XP computer of Halim El-Dabh. I already have the Arabic ASDF Western keyboard, which works great on the Internet to type Arabic, but in Microsoft Word the Arabic letters didn't connect, even though I had clicked "right-to-left" in MS Word. So today he brought the Windows XP CD-R that allowed for the installation of complex scripts and right-to-left typing in Windows and MS Word.

Now, the problem is that when I set right-to-left and the Arabic ASDF Western keyboard on MS Word, I type an Arabic word, then hit the space bar, it puts the space to the RIGHT of the word instead of the left, then the next word I type goes to the RIGHT of the last word I'd typed. The Arabic letters are connecting and typing from right to left, it's just when hitting the space bar and typing the next word that the words are not following one another in the right order. About an hour ago, I had it working correctly, but now it's reverted back to the incorrect way. The only way to put the words into the right order is to move the cursor after each word and insert a space, or to cut and paste words, but I think there must be an easier way.

I guess the fix should be something easy, but I just can't figure it out, and hope you might know. My home computer, with Windows Vista, works fine for Arabic even without installing anything; it's just the XP that causes problems (since the version Windows is the English one, not the Arabic one). Thank you, Badagnani (talk) 21:41, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Now it's working again. I don't know what I'm doing to make it work, or not... :-( Badagnani (talk) 21:43, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

I just opened a new Word document and it's stopped working again. I notice that when it is working properly, the line between letters is short, but when it isn't working, the line between letters becomes very long. I wonder if this has something to do with it. Badagnani (talk) 21:45, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Voiced velar plosive
There are two reasons, the first is that stating that Egyptian Arabic is a separate language while other colloquial varieties of Arabic are not would be a bit POV. The second reason is that Egyptian Arabic is not the only variety that has the velar realization of this phoneme. Some Yemeni dialects also do this. Also, other dialects of Arabic have a voiced velar plosive that corresponds to different Classical Arabic consonants such as San'ani Arabic, which has a /g/ that corresponds to CA /q/. Having two columns allows for this sort of grouping together like you see for Occitan and Spanish at voiceless alveolar fricative. — Æµ§œš¹  [aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi] 02:33, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The way these tables work, you can use a dialect-specific word (for instance, maths, bloke, or arse for British English and elevator and aluminum for American English) in the example. That rāgel is specific to EA, then, has little bearing on whether we represent Egyptian Arabic with one column or two (though if it's important enough to you, I'm sure we can find a word that has cognates in CA or other colloquial varieties of Arabic).  I pointed out Occitan and Spanish only to make sure you understood what I meant in the representation of multiple dialects of one language, not to compare the language situations.  I do take issue with your assumption that different dialects of Occitan or Spanish don't vary in vocabulary or grammar.  If they differed only in pronunciation, they would be referred to as accents.  Granted, the differences are much greater with Arabic and Chinese, but this is nothing to gloss over. You're right that it's better to have the link go to Egyptian Arabic rather than Masri language, though since it goes to the same place I didn't think it was that important.  I didn't know that you were trying to address that and although my partial reversion put it back to the latter, I don't mind the link being the former.  Oh, and as for ɡ vs g, I prefer the latter since it's easier to see in the edit box.  The appear in the article the same on IE, which is the most commonly used browser.  — Æµ§œš¹  [aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]  06:31, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Now you've got me confused. You said "The example used, rāgel, is an Egyptian Arabic word" which I took to mean that it's a word specific to EA.  I think I see what you mean now in that EA rāgel is to  of other varieties what English Mother is to German Mutter.
 * I think that you're right that Chinese and Arabic should be treated the same and we've got a bit of an inconsistancy on our hands. I would favor putting the "dialects" together for sociolinguistic reasons, but I take it you disagree.  We should bring this up at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Phonetics and see what the community thinks.  — Æµ§œš¹  [aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]  21:54, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * My notes from Watson (2002) say that it's "/g/ in Cairene and Yemini dialects spoken in Ta’izz and in the Hugariyyah."  So I should probably be more specific.  I thought it would be good to use the same word as the Egyptian Arabic, though the actual form I got is from Standard Arabic.  Is this a mistake?  — Æµ§œš¹  [aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]  04:54, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Point taken. I'll put an example request.  — Æµ§œš¹  [aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi]  05:11, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm not well versed in syntax. :( — Æµ§œš¹  [aɪm ˈfɻɛ̃ⁿdˡi] 21:13, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Flag (third time)
Hi Zerida, I left a message about the flag at Talk:Copt. Would appreciate your views. (deja vu ?)--George (talk) 05:56, 2 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I left a comment on the article's talk page, though not adding much more than what I've said before. Try working it out on the talk page and see what kind of consensus you get. Cheers, — Zerida  ☥   21:25, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

HaniEGY is not a sockpuppet of mine - Egyptian Australian page
Dear Zerida

HaniEGY is not a sockpuppet of mine. I actually haven't logged onto wikipedia in a while (until today). If you look at the Revision as of 03:13, 14 February 2008 (edit) for HaniEGY he/she is actually trying to deface the page. If you still don't believe me Just check the history and see all the additions I made and then if you're still unsure please ask someone senior to do an IP Address check.

Kind regards DavidGhazawy 5th of March, 2008 (19:23)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Zerida

Thanks for the quick and polite response; the only reason I added the Hebrew language was because it is studied by some Coptic Theological Colleges. However, I agree with your initial assessment about it not being included in the Australian census and therefore probably not relevant to the article. DavidGhazawy 6th of March, 2008 (10:25am). —Preceding comment was added at 23:25, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Check spelling
Hi, can you check the Arabic spellings at Mona Ghoneim and Rageh Daoud? Badagnani (talk) 03:06, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Takht
Hi, can you check that the right Arabic for Takht is تخت? I can't find anything on YouTube under this spelling which makes me think it's not spelled right, because this is the most popular Arabic traditional ensemble and there should be a lot of videos under this name. Badagnani (talk) 22:44, 7 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Thank you! Can you tell me the name of the qanun player here? Is it Fahmy 'Awd? Or is that the singer's name? Badagnani (talk) 23:32, 7 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks again, I'm gradually learning how the letters are put together and pronounced. Can you tell if this was filmed in Egypt? My guess is yes. Badagnani (talk) 01:16, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Still can't figure out why there aren't any YouTube links for the Arabic word takht. It's such an important and popular type of ensemble. Badagnani (talk) 21:13, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Any way to find the Arabic name for this Cairo Congress of Arab Music (or ar:WP interwiki)? Badagnani (talk) 21:13, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * I think I got it via a Google search, but I'm not sure if "الأول" should be part of it. Badagnani (talk) 21:57, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * No clue here, there seems to be too many variations of the name. — Zerida  ☥   00:14, 9 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Does "الأول" make sense in the title? Badagnani (talk) 00:23, 9 March 2008 (UTC)


 * I showed the video to Halim El-Dabh and he said the singer is Saleh Abdel-Hay, who was Egyptian. (In fact, just last month El-Dabh did a lecture in Boston and by coincidence used an audio example of a "Ya Leil Ya Ainy" by Abdel-Hay as one of the examples). He bought a tape of Abdel-Hay's in Zagazig in the 1980s. He was surprised by the idea that the orchestra may have been Tunisian. I wish the uploader of that video would give more details. Badagnani (talk) 20:35, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Hassan Aziz Hassan
Here's a new one for you to check. Badagnani (talk) 23:14, 8 March 2008 (UTC)


 * I'll see if I can find something on him. — Zerida  ☥   00:14, 9 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I'm not finding much of anything, and don't know much about him or the former royal family. Maybe because he has such a common Middle Eastern name. — Zerida  ☥   00:20, 9 March 2008 (UTC)


 * I linked two articles (in English) about him. I guess after 1952 most people lost interest in the deposed royal family. Badagnani (talk) 00:24, 9 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Actually there has been a great deal of interest in the royal family of late for some reason, though I don't particularly share it myself (nor am I a fan of the 52 coup d'état). A television series about King Farouk that was made last year drew a lot of attention from Egyptian audiences. I believe it won several awards. — Zerida  ☥   00:32, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Ancient Egypt
Hi Zerida, Thanks for your comments on Ancient Egypt. I'll continue to work on these. Would you like to help with the language section, since you have some expertise in this area? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Jeff Dahl (Talk • contribs) 17:57, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Need check
Hi, can you check Arabic at Bashraf and Sama'i? I know bashraf comes from Turkish, but can you check the etymology of sama'i? It seems to be Arabic, but this form was most popular in the Ottoman world. I know Arabic, Turkish, and Persian terms are all common in Middle Eastern music, and sometimes folk (fake) etymologies show up, when in fact the word is from another language. Badagnani (talk) 07:13, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Also Andalusi nubah. I think I got this wrong :-( Badagnani (talk) 07:21, 12 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Sorry for the late reply; I'm not really sure how the terms would be written as I am not familiar with them, but I corrected sama'i. I think that's how it should be written. — Zerida  ☥   03:01, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

RfA - Discospinster
Thank you so much for your support in my RfA, which was successful with a final count of 70/1/1! ... disco spinster   talk  23:43, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Iqa'
Hi, can you check Iqa'? Badagnani (talk) 20:55, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Need Arabic
Hi, can you add Arabic at Sagat (musical instrument) and Zil? Badagnani (talk) 04:52, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Oh, now I think "zil" is the Turkish name and "sagat" is the Arabic name, for the same instrument. Badagnani (talk) 04:54, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

I think I got it Badagnani (talk) 05:04, 18 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi, can you tell me the Arabic for the large tambourine called mazhar? Is it مزهر ? Badagnani (talk) 06:57, 19 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Also need bendir. Is it بندیر or بندير ? Badagnani (talk) 06:57, 19 March 2008 (UTC)


 * As with the other ones, I would not be familiar with technical names like these. I've never heard of them. Your best bet is probably with professor El-Dabh. — Zerida  ☥   03:09, 22 March 2008 (UTC)


 * He helped me, thanks. I just thought you could more easily search for these things on the Arabic Internet than I, to double check. Strangely, most of what I find related to music are blog postings (some good, some bad), but nothing systematic like Maqam World or Wikipedia. So what we're doing is really valuable for worldwide knowledge of Arabic music. Badagnani (talk) 04:44, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Hi, can you check the Arabic at Sayed Awad? And are there any websites in Arabic about him? Badagnani (talk) 23:38, 23 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Can you find the Arabic for Khedivial Opera House? Badagnani (talk) 23:50, 23 March 2008 (UTC)


 * The first one looks fine in terms of spelling, though I can't be sure because googling in Arabic is not turning up with the artist's name. The second one I don't know, I'll ask around. I suggest making a request at WP:MASR as well. — Zerida  ☥   04:14, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Varieties of Arabic Template
That was a good edit on the Varieties of Arabic template. The previous labels were confusing to more than one person I've chatted with. (Taivo (talk) 23:34, 22 March 2008 (UTC))
 * Confusing to me as well. Glad it works. — Zerida  ☥   00:32, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Re: Your Work
Very well, i'm thankful for the rating process... :) I'm a big fan of Wikipedia and i do hope to provide contributions of value to Egypt-related articles and otherwise. :D i did go through some of your edits and they are quite good; keep it up! ;) Anyway, i wanted to ask you for help uploading some Eftekasat photos. (and please dont reply with links to the policies coz they do no good what so ever!) So if you can search for some 'free', or whatever they call them these days, images, i would really appreciate it! :) Thanks. Maged M. Mahfouz (talk) 23:10, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

This may sound stupid but where exactly is the rating? XD Maged M. Mahfouz (talk) 01:05, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Sadly, i dont have a camera! :( and when i did upload a pic taken by my friend, the adminstators deleted it!! :S:S and i meant, where is the voting? :D Maged M. Mahfouz (talk) 15:11, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Ok! i will try to contact the other members and see what they think of the rating. Maybe even ask them to add their opinion on the Wikiproject talk page. Thanks anyway Maged M. Mahfouz (talk) 22:10, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Your Edit
Thankyou for telling me about your Edit From ImogenPacker (talk) 18:07, 26 March 2008 (UTC)|Imogen Packer)) P.S. I'm a fan of Ancient Egypt!
 * Glad to hear that. Thanks for understanding. — Zerida  ☥   18:12, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

As an Egyptian, I hope u accept my thanks
Thank you for warning Arab league for his/her vandalism on Egypt's identity. One last pharaoh (talk) 19:04, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * No problem, it's a sensitive topic so unilateral deletions from that section are bound to be reverted. — Zerida  ☥   19:11, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanx
Thanx for ur warning to Arab league. i was wondering about wikimania 2008, and thought u may want to help me. i live in alexandria, and i think u agree with me that that's a one time in life chance. in fact, i know about wikimania through u, were i saw it's sympole in your user page. Thanx in advace.One last pharaoh (talk) 19:08, 26 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Would you like to volunteer ?. You can contact any of the existing coordinators for more details. I suggest dropping Meno a note on his talk page. Here's where you can add your name by the way . Cheers, — Zerida  ☥   19:26, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

your response was very helpful. Thanx a lot.One last pharaoh (talk) 12:42, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Wikimania
Hi, Zerida. W Enti Kaman Wahshani. It is really great to have a Wikimania in Alex and I hope that our attendees enjoy it. I would be glad to answer any questions about the event. See you. --Meno25 (talk) 18:26, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Barnstar of Diligence

 * Thanks Jeff, I appreciate it :-) I know that we've had our disagreements, but the collegial and cordial collaborative relationship that we strove to maintain throughout has made this process worthwhile. Cheers, — Zerida  ☥   04:55, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Coptic Flag
Hey Zerida! It has been a long time :) Would you mind taking a look at Articles for deletion/Coptic flag? Thanks! --Lanternix (talk) 23:50, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Nahuatl FAC
I have adressed your concerns to the best of my ability. I hope you agree with the way I have executed the changes. ·Maunus· · ƛ · 14:54, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks for keeping me updated. I left another comment on the nomination page. Cheers, — Zerida  ☥   01:11, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I've continued work on the phonology section today and attempted to explain the complex issue of omnipredicativity in a few short lines. ·Maunus· · ƛ · 19:39, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Scots
You keep reverting sensible edits to Scots language

The following is unsourced nonsense: but arguably upto 2.5 million speakers throughout Northumberland, County Durham and Tyne and Wear.

A source for a sensible treatment of the subject is perhaps the following about the Southern Boundary of Scottish Speech. The map is here.

Since the languageness of Scots is justifiably debatable, as explained in the second paragraph and further on under Status, using Scots is an Anglic language descended... in the first sentence pre-empts the second paragraph and is arguably POV, a more neutral phrasing would perhaps be: Scots refers to the Anglic varieties derived from early northern Middle English spoken in parts of Scotland. OK Anglic is just a polite way of saying English but up to now it has been accepted as a NPOV compromise

That, of course, doesn't solve the same problem in the 'Other Uses' tag at the top of the page.

Mentioning that it is also called Lowland Scots is fine but Lallans is not a contraction of lowland Scots but simply the Scots form of lowlands (and is mentioned in the fourth paragraph). It would suffice to mention that Scottish Gaelic is traditionally spoken in the Highlands and Islands. More information such as and small communities in the urban lowlands may lead to demands to have that bloke in Hawick included too. It clutters the article. After all, the article is about Scots. Detailed info about the distribution of Gaelic speakers belongs in the article Scottish Gaelic.

In Scotland it is sometimes called Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Scottish Gaelic traditionally spoken in the Highlands and Islands. 84.135.203.25 (talk) 23:51, 3 April 2008 (UTC)


 * This was part of a complex revert of significant changes, including vandalism, to the contents of the article. The lead should be descriptive per WP:LEAD; in fact, it is not sensible to repeatedly delete all references to Scots being a language when the title of the page is Scots language, and when it is recognized as such by several governmental bodies in the UK (information that you [?] kept erasing as well). Thus the "languageness" of Scots is not justifiably debatable *for Wikipedia*. The debate *itself* however can be mentioned in the article. Also please note that it is customary to start a discussion on the talk page when you are reverted. Other editors will be less tempted to view your edits as vandalism, particularly if you secure consensus for these changes. BTW, I do agree that if the statement regarding the number of Scots speakers in England cannot be substantiated by reliable sources, then it should be removed. Thanks for the link above on Scots phonetics, I found it informative (though not much on the question of the number of speakers outside Scotland). — Zerida  ☥   04:56, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

ويكيبيديا مصرى

 * Hi, you might know this already,but I have put a proposal and started an active project for ويكيبيديا مصرى wikipedia Masri. If this may interest you, I would be very grateful for any help you can offer in this project, many thanks.--Ghaly (talk) 15:12, 5 April 2008 (UTC)


 * To vote on the proposal please press here.--Ghaly (talk) 19:54, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Update
Wikipedia Masry currently have
 * 59 articles, categories, templates, and talk pages;
 * 5 redirects;
 * 7 editors (including any with at least one edit);
 * 298 revisions (including 30 minor edits).

More editors are welcome to add to wikipedia Masry as this will only enrich it, many thanks .Ghaly (talk) 13:16, 25 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Many thanks for your valued contributions to the ويكيبيديا مصرى wikipedia Masry project, looking forward to more of your edits , there are currently 24 articles providing a point to start from and you are welcome to add more, as you might be aware this will add a momentum to the proposal and will increase the chances of its acceptance. Ghaly (talk) 10:21, 27 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks!
·Maunus· · ƛ · 13:06, 7 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks, Maunus, I appreciate it :-) It was a great learning experience as well. I would say thanks in Nahuatl, but don't know how :-) — Zerida  ☥   05:58, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
 * "Tlazocamati" :) ·Maunus· · ƛ · 06:07, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

unsure
Hi ,Zerida i know you are a frequent contributor to the Egyptians article, an editor has been making changes to the language portion i would like you to check on it to see if they are useful, i have reverted this users edit once because i thought it was useless and omited infomation, but i would like you to check to see if it is just p.o.v or is it useful thank you--Wikiscribe (talk) 12:41, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, you were correct in reverting both. Thanks for being vigilant. — Zerida  ☥   15:12, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Can you please make him stop vandalising the Egyptians article? Tammoor (talk) 09:00, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

all of a sudden seems like the egyptians article is geting bombarded with complaintive edits very strange --Wikiscribe (talk) 20:10, 10 April 2008 (UTC)


 * If it's part of a give and take discussion to gain consensus, I see no problem with it. The problem is when it is done with general disruptiveness and tendentious editing, which I hope will cease. — Zerida  ☥   20:37, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

THANK YOU & ...
Dear Zerida, I'm proud of you & of your generous contributions to Egyptian Culture. Like you, I'm an Egyptian Linguist but I live in the UK. I also have a long experience as a Poet & a Journalist - you can view my Profile on the following website: http://themoonbooksthesack.googlepages.com/home In the meanwhile, please, confirm to me that IMAGES MARKED AS `COMMON DOMAIN' ON YOUR WEBSITE AS FREE TO USE. If so, can I use them in my new book, the Sack? Of course, I'll be glad to dedicate to you a copy on publication & I hope you'll enjoy it.

Looking forward to hearing back from you, may I thank you again for your wonderful work & wish you continuous success. With all the best from, Layla Yousif ليلى يوسف —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.146.61.170 (talk) 12:31, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Ezzayyek ya Layla! Merci, I appreciate it. Yes all images marked "public domain" are free to use for any purpose. Most images on Egypt-related articles fall under this agreement, or they have an expired license under Egyptian law. These are also free to use. Best of luck to you and thanks again. — Zerida  ☥   21:38, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

شكراً —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.243.41.241 (talk) 23:32, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Dear Zerida, further to my previous message regarding the use of pictures in the Public Domain in my new book, The Sack, may I ask you to kindly forward the reply to my E-Mail address detailed below? Thank you for your co-operation & all the best from, LAYLA YOUSIF ليلى يوسف E-MAIL ADDRESS: laila@talktalk.net —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.243.41.241 (talk) 23:38, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Dear Zerida, I didn't know you're so wonderful. God bless. Thank you for the prompt reply and kindness. Please, ignore my previous message about replying to my E-mail Address because I already saw your kind reply. In the meanwhile, may I enquire if my profile detailed on the Website sent to you & detailed below can be included in Wikipedia, the World's generous & precious resource? Here's the Website address again: http://themoonbooksthesack.googlepages.com/home

Finally, as mentioned, I'll be glad dedicate a copy of my new book, The Sack, to you on publication if you provide me with an address to send it to. I am really delighted to know that People like you do exist. You are give me the Hope. Bless you, Zerida, & thank you for your co-operation, Layla Yousif —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.243.41.241 (talk) 00:01, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Dear Zerida, I only want to know if I have to send a new message to access the reply. if not, how do I check it? Can it be sent to my E-Mail address previously provided - I am registered now on Wikipedia at the same Address. Thank you again for your co-operation, Layla —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.243.41.241 (talk) 02:20, 13 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi Layla! Yes, I will reply to your messages here, but please note as indicated in the brown box on the top right that I'm not always able to respond to messages promptly. If I understand your question correctly, you're asking if Wikipedia can have an article about you. Since you've already registered, you can only have a personal userpage that starts with User: like mine for example at User:Zerida. This is not an article in the mainspace, however; it simply means I'm an editor. In order for persons to have an article on Wikipedia, the community has established the criteria in WP:Notability and WP:Verifiability to make that determination. This usually means that the person must be recognized in their field as can be determined by multiple independent secondary sources. If the only references available are a personal web site or a blog, then the person does not satisfy the notability guidelines and the article will probably be deleted promptly by an administrator. For further information, please see Autobiography, Conflict of interest and WP:NOT. I hope this answers you question. You can also seek additional input at WP:Help desk. All the best, — Zerida  ☥   18:28, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

Alf Shukr Zerida for your kind reply. I appreciate all your efforts & co-operation. I only want to add that, my name was recognized as an Arabic journalist throughout the Eighties & I do have my pre-published articles to prove that. I am also a registered linguist at the Chartered Institute of Linguists in London. Anyway, I'll wait the publication of my new Book, The Sack, & see what what to do next. God bless you, Zerida, & thank you again for the wonderful work you do —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.243.204.6 (talk) 01:22, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
 * You're welcome, Layla. I think that sounds like a good idea, as this would be much easier to verify through independent sources. Thanks again for your kind words and good luck, — Zerida  ☥   21:41, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Egyptian Air Forces
Ezzayek ya Zerida :D may i require ur help with that editor User talk:Wb555 ? Thanx in advance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by One last pharaoh (talk • contribs) 22:56, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't see an attempt at discussion, Pharaoh, and the user is not deleting sourced content. Please invite him/her to the talk page to discuss the issue in order to reach a compromise wording instead of posting warning templates on the user's talk page. This might only aggravate the situation. You'd be surprised how much can be accomplished through discussion. Cheers, — Zerida  ☥   21:41, 14 April 2008 (UTC)


 * ok, i am going to try that out. One last pharaoh (talk) 12:26, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Undue weight shortcut
Hola,

You've recently tweaked the WP:UNDUE shortcut, citing 'not working' or somesuch. What was it that wasn't working? Currently it redirects to the NPOV page in general, far less helpful than the direct section link (which you obviously know about since I noticed you trying to get it to work :) Is it just stalling on the redirect page? D'you think it's 'cause of the bot changes? Have you noticed it anywhere else? If the bot is affecting the ability of WP: redirects to connect directly to sections, that's a really bad thing! I'm tempted to simply revert to the original version but there's not much point if I just duplicate the same set of steps without coming up with a solution.

Thanks, WLU (talk) 13:48, 15 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi! It looks like it's working now (yay!). I had made an inquiry about it at WP:SHORTCUT, so the problem may have been fixed after that. Keeping fingers crossed :-) Cheers, — Zerida  ☥   01:38, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
 * That's just weird - I compared the Bot version from 2007 and the current version. And there's no difference.  I'm mystified.  Looks like another case of demonic e-ssession.  Out vile demon!  I hate computers.
 * Thanks! WLU (talk) 11:35, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

THANK YOU & ...
Dear Zerida, Sorry to disturb you again; I know how busy you're. I only want to inform you that, because I'm dedicating my book to Shaadya & Haleem, I thought I ask you if you'll be able refer me to a source where I can find a photo of Shadya with a clear copyright, preferably when she was young. I know there is one for Haleem on your Site, but I wonder if I can find one for him when he was young too. I appreciate your time & co-operation. With all the best from me, ليلى78.151.126.141 (talk) 02:45, 17 April 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi Zerida, Further to my previous message, may I add that, whislt checking the information provided under Shaadya on you Website, I found 2 different Dates of Birth for her, One is: بالقاهرة يوم 1931 & the other, which is in Arabic, is: (1929-02-08). Please, advise me with thanks.84.13.201.206 (talk) 02:10, 19 April 2008 (UTC) ليلى


 * Hi Layla. Sorry, I don't know her correct birthdate. As for the pictures, I would use google images to search for nice photos. Anything black and white for these artists will have an expired copyright under Egyptian law. Cheers, — Zerida  ☥   18:25, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

ALF SHUKR, DEAR ZERIDA
Alf Shukr again, Zerida, & God bless. You're a real Pride to all Egyptians. Layla xxx84.13.201.206 (talk) 19:04, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

SHADYA'S D.O.B.
Dear Zerida, Further to my previous reply, here's the most confirmed Date of Shaadya's Date of Birth: 28/2/1929. However, it also appears in more than one place as: 08/2/1929 - not much difference. I am grateful to you again, Zerida, & God bless, Layla84.13.201.206 (talk) 19:51, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Camp David accords
may i request ur aid here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Camp_David_Accords One last pharaoh (talk) 12:58, 27 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Hey Pharaoh! I'm pretty strapped for time, so won't be able to revisit that topic for a while. I suggest trying to work out a consensus on the talk page instead of reverting. You could also include the references I brought up on the talk page if you feel like it, something I'd been planning to do but haven't gotten around to yet. By the way, with regard to the imagery, it's unquestionably antisemitic, so whether they are directed against Israeli government policies is not so much the issue. I think what the article needs however is more information about the current peace initiatives to balance that information out. I get the sense that some of the editors on that article are less interested in the peace initiative itself, and more interested in pushing a reactionary, ring-wing POV into the article, so I'm not inclined to be involved at any great length. I'll try to make some improvements when I get a chance. — Zerida  ☥   23:11, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

"Not sure why you'd want the MSA in any event"
Hi,

First of all, Happy (agnostic but orthodox?) Easter for last weekend!

I couched the question as idle interest, but the real reasons why I asked for an IPA rendering of Bachar Houli's name in "MSA" are kind of complex. The short answer is that "we" should give the guy some respect. The long answer has to do with the recent climate of fear, mistrust and xenophobia deliberately fostered for (neither moral or immoral but amoral) political reasons in Australia. Talk page or email me, perhaps? --Shirt58 (talk) 12:50, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

Egyptian Arabic
Well, my point in replacing "Egyptian Arabic" with "locally pronounced" is that the former gives a false, at least in my opinion, impression that there are two distinct languages with two different names. I don't think "locally pronounced" is really appropriate though. The "Language vs. dialect" section in Egyptian Arabic article was claiming that "political and religious implications in Egypt" is why Egyptians don't recognize it as a language, this wasn't sourced, and AFAIK Egyptian Church has an official Arabic translation of the bible but no Egyptian Arabic one, and IMO this has nothing to do with the language of Quran, so this particular sentence isn't really important too. --khaled hosny (talk) 22:01, 7 May 2008 (UTC)


 * I know about that copy of bible, but AFAIK it isn't official, is it? --khaled hosny (talk) 22:44, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Please see here. Санта Клаус (talk) 18:33, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Flooding of the Nile
The reason was, basically, I screwed up, thinking it was the Ancient Egypt banner. It's restored now. But it might be useful to contact the AE project to see if they would want to integrate their banner function into yours. It could potentially be set up like the Christianity banner or other such banners, to display and assess for both. Just an idea, anyway. Thanks for catching my error. John Carter (talk) 01:44, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Your changes to thematic equative and nominal group
Now an analogous article from the view of traditional grammar is privileged; by starting "In grammatical theory", it appears to embrace all that is grammatical. This is simply not the case, and to label structures such as t e and n g as somehow specific is to marginalise them. Besides, t e is unique to English, and n g is quite specific to English in its function. The n p article seeks to be for all languages (the main author told me so). TONY  (talk)  02:32, 20 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, NP is taken as a universal property cross-linguistically, but honestly after reading the article on nominal group I don't see how it's particularly different conceptually. Judging from what I see, it's mostly different terminology. I admit, I am not that familiar with functional grammar; most linguists, syntacticians in particular, work with generative and formal theories of grammar. I don't mean to downplay its importance, I'm quite intrigued by functional grammar, but I think these concepts are pretty marginalized on their own. That's why I think they need some disambiguation. Feel free to revert me though, I don't feel strongly about it, but I would still suggest incorporating systemic functional grammar somewhere in the opening text for background. — Zerida  ☥   07:13, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

ويكشينارى مصرى
الويكشينارى المصرى
 * Just to let you know that in view of the progress with wp/arz I have put a proposal for a wikitionary Masry wt/arz

Egyptians Collage Picture
I am relatively new to Wikipedia and it is my first time to upload a picture. I saw the collage you had made representing Egyptians, and thought that I could add some people to it. I edited the image and added five people, respectively, Mohamed ElBaradei, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Ahmed Zewail, and Anwar El Sadat. This is the image I made: I am asking you, please, to verify its sources and permission (which I left empty), and to edit anything that is not correct in its page. All the images are taken from Wikipedia English or Commons, and some I had cropped.

Thank you,

Hobapotter (talk) 17:12, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

Blocked
Blocked: Indefinitely for longterm sockpuppetry and deception, as noted at Requests for checkuser/Case/Fantevd. I have posted a summary of the case for review at the admins' noticeboard. Thatcher 17:03, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

What happened?!
Zerida, it's so sad to see you blocked! Please don't give up and try to come back. We need your wisdom with Egypt-related articles. Thanks! --Lanternix (talk) 01:12, 7 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I agree. Why would this happen??? I didn't see that coming. ~ Troy (talk)

WP:RSUE
You may be interested in this proposal to revise the text for articles using non-English sources. -- R OGER D AVIES  talk 04:22, 23 June 2008 (UTC)

Copyright Concerns in 26 March 2008 Revision of "Speech Act Theory"
Please accept my apologies if I am inserting this comment incorrectly.

I provided a contribution to the "Speech Act Theory" article under the heading "In Computer Science" that begins:

Another highly-influential view of Speech Acts has been in the 'Conversation for Action' developed by Terry Winograd and Fernando Flores in their 1987 text "Understanding Computers and Cognition: A New Foundation for Design"......role-associated goals.

(I also contributed the bibliography entry for the Winograd & Flores book.)

It appears that this section was removed because of copyright concerns.

I cannot vouch for the preceding paragraph, but the section that I contributed is my own work and in my own words, not "cut and paste".

Winograd & Flores 1987 is a classic in computer science that has also made Speech Act Theory highly applicable to many major modern problems (e.g., improving patient-provider and provider-provider communication in healthcare systems).

Could we please restore this section? Thank you-

BridgeBuilder (talk) 03:31, 22 August 2008 (UTC)