Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2008 August 25

= August 25 =

Horny
A man can get horny (erect penis looks like a horn) but surely a woman cannot get horny? what word is more appropriate for females? — (Unsigned comment left by )
 * For either gender, you might say "aroused" or "excited". But in my experience (American English speaker), "horny" is not a term limited to men. Dylan (talk) 01:11, 25 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Wow, dictionary.com has an article on it. Agrees on the etymology. Anyway, yes, girls get horny, the word's been used that way for a very long time. With some effort, you can find websites like this: that have lists of words like that. "Wet" seems to be the most fitting for your purpose. Black Carrot (talk) 02:36, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Never heard "up rise in the Levi's" before.  bibliomaniac 1  5  03:17, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * A woman's erect nipples could resemble little horns. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 03:13, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I think the word has transcended any literal interpretation. They do that after a while. Black Carrot (talk) 03:40, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Agreed. I was just humoring Maaandrel's line of reasoning. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 04:05, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

ripcord
What does "ripcord" mean:

"If the throw lands flat then the distance is measured from the back of the ripcord."

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javelin_throw#Competition_and_throws

?24.65.69.8 (talk) 02:43, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Odd my understanding is that a flat landing is a foul. Omahapubliclibrary (talk) 03:34, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * So do you know what the ripcord is, Omahapubliclibrary? — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 19:15, 25 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I see the word ripcord in the article on javelin, but undefined. What does it mean?  Presumably nothing to do with ripcord as in parachute jumping.
 * I believe that the term in the article should be "whipcord [grip]". See the first item here. I've changed the article accordingly. Deor (talk) 19:34, 25 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Slightly related. My impression is that there was no TV coverage of javelin throwing at this Olympics.  Is that true, or did I just not watch at the right time? Thanks, Wanderer57 (talk) 19:30, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * If you mean on NBC in the U.S., it went by in about 30 seconds... AnonMoos (talk) 22:25, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Quite a lot of coverage (particularly women's) on my continent. DOR (HK) (talk) 02:39, 26 August 2008 (UTC)


 * This is a long shot (long throw?), but maybe they didn't want to risk televising people being impaled. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 22:52, 25 August 2008 (UTC)


 * There was javelin coverage on CBC in Canada, both separately and as part of the decathlon (perhaps only because there was a Canadian competitor, who, as it turns out, is really terrible at javelin). Adam Bishop (talk) 01:13, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Hottie
What does "w" and "CR" mean in the best times table of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Connaughton#Biography?24.65.69.8 (talk) 03:33, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * In athletics 'w' normally denotes wind assistance (usually in m/s with -w marking a headwind), which is taken into account when posting times. CR is usually used to mark a Commonwealth Record, although reading the article, it says it denotes a Championship Record - relating in this particular case to the Canadian Championship athletics event. Nanonic (talk) 03:47, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

ślůnsko
How to pronounce "ślůnsko", a native name of the Silesian language, and what is its IPA transcription? luuva (talk) 05:39, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * According to szl:Ślůnsko godka, it's . &mdash; Kpalion(talk) 15:19, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you! luuva (talk) 16:20, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Need somebody who speaks Arabic
Is Heyati real, or is it an attack on someone with that name? Corvus cornix talk  07:12, 25 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Regardless, I have prodded the article. — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 07:49, 25 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Also, perhaps the correct spelling is "hayati". — Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 07:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Google Translator does not recognise either.--Thanks, Ainlina(box)? 09:14, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, the person who wrote the article in question may be confusing the two separate Arabic words &#1581;&#1610;&#1575;&#1577; and &#1581;&#1610;&#1575;&#1569; (or misunderstanding some form of wordplay involving the two words). AnonMoos (talk) 22:16, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Considering the edit history, I think it's an intentional personal attack.  Corvus cornix  talk  20:18, 26 August 2008 (UTC)