Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2009 January 5

= January 5 =

joke / allusion
Hi, could someone please explain that joke to me? It seems to me that he discovers "a corpse in the cupboard", but I don't understand the reference to dating or marriage. Thanks, Flipote (talk) 06:09, 5 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I think the point is just that Asok is so desperate for a girlfriend that even a skeleton with a wig will do. And Wally is also so desperate for a girlfriend that he considers a skeleton with a wig a "babe". —Angr 07:04, 5 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Angr, can you please explain the next one? Julia Rossi (talk) 08:36, 5 January 2009 (UTC)


 * If I may, I think the suggestion is that Asok chipped his tooth while kissing the skeleton. Dismas |(talk) 09:14, 5 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Thanks Dismas, that makes sense now. I felt it wasn't quite right that the skeleton wouldn't be attracted by his chipped tooth.  Julia Rossi (talk) 09:32, 5 January 2009 (UTC)


 * We might think also of a macabre oblique reference to the film Psycho, and Norman's skeletal but still hair-topped mother. (The horror...)


 * – ⊥ ¡ɐɔıʇǝo  N  oetica! T– 11:35, 5 January 2009 (UTC)


 * When dating a skeleton, one never has to worry about her gaining weight. Hmmm.... StuRat (talk) 16:15, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Or about her complaining about one's own weight (or any other aspects of one's appearance or personality). —Angr 16:29, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
 * For other advantages, see Necrophilia. —Angr 16:34, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
 * And mouthguards. Julia Rossi (talk) 11:21, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

Name of Lightning-globe
What was the word for that spherical glass thing in museums that generates tiny purplish streaks of lightning inside it when touched? I know it had a name. 96.233.7.70 (talk) 11:21, 5 January 2009 (UTC)Curious
 * Plasma lamp. Nanonic (talk) 11:23, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Bah! You beat me!  Dismas |(talk) 11:26, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Wow, the name was a lot simpler than I thought it would be. Thanks! 96.233.7.70 (talk) 11:35, 5 January 2009 (UTC)Curious
 * I thought it was a Van de Graaff Generator?--TammyMoet (talk) 13:19, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
 * That's a different thing. (Van de Graaff generators are made of metal instead of glass, for starters.) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 15:17, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Japanese!
I found an interesting article on this website: http://www.tsuyama-ct.ac.jp/kats/papers/kn7/kn7.htm but because I don't know any japanese, I don't know if the article is written by an evening course student (and if so, if the article is approved), or if it's written by a teacher. Any japanese wiki-editors who can help me? Lova Falk (talk) 14:23, 5 January 2009 (UTC)


 * It is written by a teacher. Oda Mari (talk) 18:04, 5 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you! Lova Falk (talk) 14:45, 6 January 2009 (UTC)