Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2008 January 6

= January 6 =

愛
I'm fairly certain the following character means "Love" but I just wanted to double check with someone who actually studies Chinese. Thank you. Quietmartialartist (talk) 02:41, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't really "study" Chinese as such, but you can check out character 愛 for yourself at the Unicode site: http://www.unicode.org/cgi-bin/GetUnihanData.pl?codepoint=611B -- AnonMoos (talk) 03:29, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * It certainly does look like 愛, the traditional character for ai4 (in pinyin, for Putonghua), as opposed to the simplified 爱 . Someone will verify this. As you know, there can be very similar variants to be aware of. (Beware of counterfeit love!)
 * –&thinsp; Noetica ♬♩&thinsp;Talk 03:45, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Yeah this does mean 'love', 'to love', etc. =)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.58.58.66 (talk) 05:05, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
 * It's definately 愛, but very poor writing. Maybe written by a child or a non-kanji writing country's person. Oda Mari (talk) 05:51, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I would prefer the correct designation: Hanzi. Kanji is just a subset used in Japanese. --antilivedT 05:28, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Same. See these., and . Oda Mari (talk) 05:35, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm not saying that it differs between Chinese and Japanese, but that OP has specifically said "studies Chinese", and thus calling it Kanji is as nonsensical as calling the English alphabet stafróf. Even if the OP doesn't specify what language it is it's better to use Hanzi than Kanji, giving a much larger scope (and lower chances of being wrong) than kanji. --antilivedT 05:42, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Oops, it was stupid of me. Sorry. Oda Mari (talk) 13:44, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Looking for French poem/poet
I remember seeing a poem in French about a man waiting for someone in a cafe. All I recall of it is that the poem is blank verse, with a few short words to a line. It's repetitive and builds on the last action along the lines of the person goes to a cafe, enters the cafe and orders a cup of coffee, puts sugar in the cofee, stirs the coffee with a spoon, and ... until it rains and he cries ( not quite sure here). Anyway I can't find it anywhere and wonder if anyone knows the poem or poet or a poet of this style? Julia Rossi (talk) 03:12, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Déjeuner du matin

– Jacques Prévert


 * Il a mis le café
 * Dans la tasse
 * Il a mis le lait
 * Dans la tasse de café
 * Il a mis le sucre
 * Dans le café au lait
 * Avec la petite cuiller
 * Il a tourné
 * Il a bu le café au lait
 * Et il a reposé la tasse
 * Sans me parler
 * Il a allumé
 * Une cigarette
 * Il a fait des ronds
 * Avec la fumée
 * Il a mis les cendres
 * Dans le cendrier
 * Sans me parler
 * Sans me regarder
 * Il s’est levé
 * Il a mis
 * Son chapeau sur sa tête
 * Il a mis son manteau de pluie
 * Sans une parole
 * Sans me regarder
 * Et moi j’ai pris
 * Ma tête dans ma main
 * Et j’ai pleuré

–&thinsp; Noetica ♬♩&thinsp;Talk 03:21, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
 * That's so swift and so cool, so many thanks to you Noetica, brilliant one : ) Julia Rossi (talk) 03:24, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * De rien, Julia!
 * –&thinsp; Noetica ♬♩&thinsp;Talk 03:27, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
 * You can listen to the song here. Oda Mari (talk) 05:43, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * That's mad! Thanks Oda Mari. Julia Rossi (talk) 06:18, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
 * and PS I've put it and link on my user page to enjoy again. : ) Julia Rossi (talk) 06:22, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Surely the speaker is intended to be a woman? If Prévert was homosexual, his article doesn't mention it. --Trovatore (talk) 23:52, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * How sweet and 1950s of you, T! Alors, voyons: No internal grammatical evidence gives the game away, in this case. (Nothing like il m'a quittée, par exemple.) But whatever the sex of the speaker, we need not think that the sexuality of either party is in play here. One could be a son, the other a father; the speaker could be the mother of the other; they could be two old friends, with the speaker being of either sex. All we know is that the other is male.
 * We'd need to research the context; but a good poem will succeed even without context, as this one certainly does.
 * –&thinsp; Noetica ♬♩&thinsp;Talk 04:59, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Good point Noetica. As I recall, Prévert was married at least once, possibly twice. I think he had a number of very close relationships with men too - but am unaware if they were sexual or simply passionate friendships. DuncanHill (talk) 12:21, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * As a gay man myself, I do rather hope that someone with the last name "prevert" was straight. —Angr If you've written a quality article... 16:16, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * It's been quite a few years since I took any French lessons, but I was able to read that fairly well - granted it's not all that difficult. Just one question - does "Il a fait des ronds Avec la fumée " mean he made smoke rings?  -- LarryMac  | Talk  14:19, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * It's a long time since I studied French too, but I also found the poem very clear - and yes, he did blow smoke rings. How sad for the world that one can no longer blow smoke rings in Parisian cafés. Sometimes romance should be allowed to triumph over mere physical health. DuncanHill (talk) 14:30, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I would note that there is no clear indication in the poem that he is in a café. He might have been at home, where presumably smoke ringing is still allowed.  -- LarryMac  | Talk  15:26, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Good point! But it is much more romantic to smoke one's Gauloise in a little café, somewhere in Montmartre. Liberté Toujours. DuncanHill (talk) 15:38, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I wonder if it might be helpful to suggest that this poetry relies on a kind of Metonymy as a rhetorical device -- as an illustration that sometimes "less is more" in the process of eliciting mood or memory. --Ooperhoofd (talk) 21:16, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

usum, nutum
What do they mean in this sentence? "... this is not because the Church does not possess the material sword, but rather because it possesses the material sword, non ad usum, sed ad nutum. --Omidinist (talk) 13:12, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Not according to usage (ad usum) but according to the will of God (ad nutum, according to the nod, will, or command, nutu dei, the nod of God) SaundersW (talk) 13:53, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you, SaundersW. --Omidinist (talk) 19:39, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

What does "making out" in American English mean exactly?
As someone who speaks British English, I am not sure what "making out" means. From its context it seems to be something to do with courtship, dating, sexual intercourse, perhaps kissing. When Brandy is described as "making out" with Brad, what does this mean exactly please? 80.0.126.128 (talk) 15:56, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * I believe your equivalent would be snogging. Friday (talk) 16:13, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I now see there is an article about it: making out. 80.0.126.128 (talk) 16:33, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Or french kissing? ny156uk (talk) 17:40, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * French kissing is a subset of making out. There is usually more to it than that, but it falls short of "having sex", however that is defined. Marco polo (talk) 21:59, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Inscriptions on Continental Currency (US)
1) What means Fuglio?



2) What's the meaning and the name of the woman and the animal she's riding?

Thanks a lot and happy new year, --84.56.55.163 (talk) 21:34, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * As to (1), the word is fugio, which means "I fly" or "I flee" in Latin. As we see a sundial, which is used to tell the time, it is reasonable to assume that the imaginary speaker uttering this word is Time itself. Tempus fugit – "Time flees" – is a well-known Latin saying, whose function is to remind you to make good use of your time, a wise advice paralleled by "Mind your business", that is, take good care of the things under your care. --Lambiam 21:53, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * We have an article which may be of interest at Mind your own business - it mentions the use of fugio and the sundial device on early American currency. DuncanHill (talk) 21:59, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


 * As to (2), I found this text:
 * "the allegorical figure Virtus (Virtue) in harness, holding a sword and a spear in her hands and treading down the allegorical Tyranny, his crown fallen from his head; a broken chain and sword lying next to him. Text: "SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS" ... the motto of the state of Virginia, ...". The tyrant being trampled upon has perhaps been replaced by a counterfeiter... --Lambiam 22:08, 6 January 2008 (UTC)