Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2007 January 9

= January 9 =

"Arctos" vs. "Ursus"
I know that "Ursus" is Latin for "bear", but is Arctos Latin, or Greek? When I look up "arctic" at dictionary.com, it says that it derives from Greek Arktos. But I'm always reading stories about how King Arthur's name is derived from Arctos for bear, and it would be unusual for a Roman to have a Greek name, no? User:Zoe|(talk) 17:10, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
 * King Arthur has some info on Arcturus. --Kjoonlee 17:45, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Great, thanks for the link. User:Zoe|(talk) 18:17, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

A "Rita"
I hope this is the proper section for this question. I have a question about a meaning of the word "Rita" as used in the lyrics of the song "Do the Best You Can" by The Hollies. The lyric is, "If you leave your car and you're not going far, remember what time to be back. If it slips your mind, I'm sure in time you'll find a Rita waiting in a mac." My question is, what does Rita mean in this context? Thanks in advance for any guidance. GassyGuy 23:01, 9 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Guess. Could this be related to The Beatle's Lovely Rita Meter Maid? I'd check the dates for you, but my battery's almost gone. Skittle 23:43, 9 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Excellent call, Skittles. "Lovely Rita" came out in 1967; "Do the Best You Can" in 1968.  Marco polo 02:15, 10 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Hmm. Interesting. Was it common to call traffic wardens Ritas at this time? Like, did it actually catch on as slang? Or was it just a device Clarke, Hicks, and/or Nash brought in for this song as an allusion to the Beatles tune? Thanks for the help so far. GassyGuy 03:08, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
 * From Lovely Rita: When asked why he had called her "Rita", McCartney replied: "Well, she looked like a Rita to me". --jpgordon&#8711;&#8710;&#8711;&#8710; 16:25, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Endnote templates?
I've looked around the internet quite a bit, and not one gives me a template on endnotes for internet or book sources. They're only examples, which frustrates me. For my internet resources, I know the author, page title, date I accessed the page, URL, and revision/creation date. For my book source, I know the author, title, place of publication, year of publication, and publisher. In what order should all these be put in for my endnotes? Thank you very much for any help. --70.50.103.86
 * Some of it depends on whether or not you've been told to use a specific format. Here is an example from the Modern Language Association:
 * Author's last name, author's first name. Book Title . City of publication: Publishing company, year of publication.
 * All lines other than the first line of the entry get indented. The same holds true for all endnotes. Here is an example for Internet:
 * Author's last name, author's first name. Website Name . Date of last update (day month year), if available. Name of any organization associated with the site, if applicable. Date of access (day month year)..
 * I hope this is helpful. GassyGuy 00:15, 10 January 2007 (UTC)