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

= May 19 =


 * jv:Wikipedia:Dhiskusi bab basa
 * hu:Wikipédia:Kocsmafal (helyesírás)
 * nl:Wikipedia:Taalcafé
 * fi:Wikipedia:Kahvihuone (kielenhuolto)
 * These links were added and re-coded. -- Wavelength (talk) 06:16, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

English grammar question
Is the sentence "Don't do your homework when ..." grammatically correct? Can you rephrase it to more common usage? Thanks. roscoe_x (talk) 01:36, 19 May 2009 (UTC)


 * "Don't do your homework when [you've drunk too much beer]" sounds fine to me, but 'after' would be better. "Don't do your homework when Pokemon is on TV" also sounds fine to me, but 'while' would be better. Do you have the full sentence? --KageTora - (영호 (影虎)) (talk) 03:08, 19 May 2009 (UTC)


 * "Don't do your homework when [you're supposed to be playing]" is arguable, but grammatically sound, advice. Methinks. Abecedare (talk) 03:18, 19 May 2009 (UTC)


 * "Don't do your homework when you are tired from watching TV; do it before your favorite program starts." We'd need to know what ending you had in mind for your phrase to rephrase it. 71.236.24.129 (talk) 09:18, 19 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the answers. I felt using two "do" is incorrect. roscoe_x (talk) 13:18, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Is this really a grammar question? Judging by the answers so far, the issue seems to be whether the use of when here is semantically correct. Some of the explanations in SOED are: "At the (or a) time at which: on the (or an) occasion) on which", "With the notion of time weakened or modified: In the, or any, case or circumstances in which". This seems to offer quite some leeway, depending, no doubt, on one's idiolect.
 * When talking of semantics, may it be pointed out that I refer to meaning, not to the regrettable (and modern?) misuse of the word in phrases such as "That's just a matter of semantics", menaing some sort of empty wordplay? Bessel Dekker (talk) 13:21, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh, wait a sec: so you were referring to don't do? Surely that is correct. One do is periphrastic, the other is the main verb. Anyone remember the buttons some women sported when Diana was about to get married to Charles? The text ran: Don't do it, Di! Bessel Dekker (talk) 13:24, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh yes, such a common usage, Don't do it. Well, I need to learn more... roscoe_x (talk) 13:46, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Don't we all! Bessel Dekker (talk) 13:59, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

t'iao-chin-chiao in Chinese chaarcters
Can any user please tell me how to write the Chinese expression t'iao-chin-chiao, which means "religion which extracts the sinew" in Chinese characters. Thank you. Simonschaim (talk) 11:34, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * 挑筋教. And of course you know they are called 猶太教 now. F (talk) 13:27, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. Simonschaim (talk) 15:54, 19 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Out of curiosity, who are these sinew-extractors? AlexTiefling (talk) 22:30, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Jews! As F says, Judaism is now called youtaijiao, which is just a phonetic transcription. Steewi (talk) 01:12, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

To remember the incident of Jacob wrestling with the angel, until this day Jews are prohibited from eating the sciatic nerve (the "sinew") of animals (Genesis 32:33). Therefore, all over the world (including the Jewish community (which was) in Kaifeng China), before Jews can eat any animal, this sinew (amongst other things) must be removed from the animal. This obviously, in particular, attracted the attention of the non-Jews in Kaifeng, that the Jews there received the nickname the "religion which extracts the sinew." Simonschaim (talk) 04:23, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

See Sciatic nerve and Gid hanasheh, the latter of which could do with some expansion and enhancement. --Dweller (talk) 11:52, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

'Inos
You have 'Albino' which is white, 'Lutino' for yellow, and 'Rubino', red. Two things: what would the word for blue be in the same vein, and which language are these colour-related prefixes coming from? Thanks. Lady BlahDeBlah (talk) 12:22, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * These words are all created from the Latin name of the color (albus, luteus and ruber, respectively). Going from there, you could say something like caerulino for a blue-tinted specimen -- Ferkelparade &pi; 13:10, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * Azulino would probably be permissible as well, even though it's sourced through Spanish (Azulino is dark blue, where caerulino would imply a lighter, sky-blue). Steewi (talk) 01:14, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Horse racing betting
"Avoid bets on horses whose price significantly increases from tipster-forecast to starting-price". What would an increase in betting price be? Would it be the odds moving for example from 4:1 to 5:1? Or would it be the other direction, from 5:1 to 4:1? This is in the UK. Thanks. 78.149.232.7 (talk) 20:59, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

German Wikipedia article
Is there an English translation of this German Wikipedia article? Zentrum für Außergewöhnliche Museen. If there is, I can't find it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kitefox (talk • contribs) 21:12, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * I don't believe there is. If there was an English version, then an "Englisch" link would be located under "Andere Sprachen". It's too bad, as the museum ("Centre for Extraordinary Museums") seems to be rather interesting! Xenon54 (talk) 21:32, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * If only it were sourced, it could be translated into English and brought to English Wikipedia. But alas, most editors of German Wikipedia seem to be allergic to citing their sources. +Angr 22:07, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
 * See Center for Unusual Museums, Munich. -- Wavelength (talk) 22:59, 19 May 2009 (UTC)


 * If you visit Berlin, merve Publishers once did a small book on the out of the way Berlin museums (-a?)--Radh (talk) 11:33, 20 May 2009 (UTC)
 * This Munich thing Kitefox wanted to know about seems to have shut down (collector died), at least that's what the germanwiki entry says.--Radh (talk) 11:38, 20 May 2009 (UTC)