Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2009 July 19

= July 19 =

estubo
Hello! What is the Spanish "estubo" meaning in English?

In context the quotation:


 * Flores-Villela, Oscar (1989). OBITUARIOS: Rozella Pearl Beverly Blood Smith. Boletin de la Sociedad Herpetologica Mexicana, 1(1):10/11.

" Para la gran mayoría de los herpetologos de México y del resto del mundo, en particular de los Estados Unidos, Rozella Smith, fué una persona cuyo nombre estubo estrechamente relacionado al de Hobart M. Smith (su esposo) y a las publicaciones más completas y prestigiosas acerca de la herpetofauna de México. "

Thank you, Doc Taxon (talk) 06:38, 19 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I suspect it's a misspelling of estuvo "was". +Angr 10:24, 19 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Can anybody translate this sentence, too? Doc Taxon (talk) 13:45, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 * "For the great majority of herpetologists in Mexico and the rest of the world, in particular the United States, Rozella Smith was a person whose name was closely connected with that of Hobart M. Smith (her husband) and with the most complete and prestigious publications concerning the herpetofauna of Mexico." +Angr 13:57, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Translation of a French article
HERE.
 * HERE and HERE
 * Alternatively see Category:Wikipedia articles needing translation, Translation
 * Did you wan't something more specific?83.100.250.79 (talk) 09:22, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Turkish rooters' song
I made a question in Reference desk/Entertainment. Help me. -- JSH-alive talk • cont • mail 14:36, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Apropos vs. Appropriate
I often hear these words used interchangeably although I doubt that's appropriate. What's the difference? Could someonen kindly help me out by giving some examples where one is appropriate but the other is not? Thanks! --Shaggorama (talk) 22:15, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
 * http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apropos
 * http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/appropriate
 * It seems you can use apropos where you might use appropriate. Vimescarrot (talk) 05:57, 20 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Apropo of nothing, we get some interesting questions around here!DOR (HK) (talk) 06:08, 20 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Nonsense, they are neither synonyms nor semantically related.  --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 07:50, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * That's what I was thinking. I was gonna write up on the differences of the two, but then checked out wictionary and found out they are supposed to be interchangable, which surprised me. Anyway, in Slovene, "apropos" is used to change the subject to a marginaly related subject, like for instance: "The neighbour dropped by earlier and brought some of his apples, you can have some. Apropos, did you get around to buying that iPod yet?". I learned to hate the word, as my mother would almost invariably use it to introduce the subject of my diploma: "Apropos, how's your diploma going? When will you finally graduate?" I had expected the use in English to be similar, but apparently it is not... TomorrowTime (talk) 08:15, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * That is exactly what I would regard as the primary use in English. I have also heard it used as a predicative adjective, with a meaning something like 'appropriate', but not synonymous with it, as for me it has much more of a implication that the speaker is making a refined judgment on the matter. --ColinFine (talk) 19:54, 20 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "a propos" in English, except "a propos of nothing", as DOR said above, in which case it is similar to TomorrowTime's use to change the subject. Adam Bishop (talk) 02:17, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Whatever Wikitionary has to say on the matter, they are not supposed to be interchangeable. While they might sound similar, they also have different etymologies. Apropos means fitting, pertinent, with regard to, to the purpose, fitly, with reference to, opportunely, to the propose (archaic noun, meaning goal, aim). Appropriate means suitable, proper, fit, right. You could perhaps see "apropos" as describing a relationship or connection between two things, while "appropriate" is perhaps more an empirical judgement on aptness, suitability or correctness. Gwinva (talk) 02:23, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I must say I've never heard "apropos" used as an adjective at all, so from that perspective, it certainly can't be a synonym for the adjective "appropriate". It's almost always used in the phrase "apropos of ...".  --  JackofOz (talk) 21:29, 21 July 2009 (UTC)