Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2010 February 8

= February 8 =

Quicken?
What is qif?174.3.98.236 (talk) 07:06, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Looks like it's Quicken Interchange Format. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 07:14, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * In the TV series Highlander, they used a variation on this software, call Quickening ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 07:17, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * But that makes no sense in the context quoted, which appears to be a comment about template syntax to me (something about attempting to reduce dependency on qif by something or other.) 128.232.241.211 (talk) 12:47, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

From the top of this page: "Is there any way I can get a faster answer? Yes, you can search first. Please do this. Entering search terms in the box to the left may locate useful articles in Wikipedia."r ʨ anaɢ talk/contribs 07:22, 8 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Yes, I should have mentioned that. I typed qif in the search box, it appeared in the dropdown, and when I selected it, it took me straight to the Quicken Interchange Format page. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:04, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * qif seems to be some obsolete MediaWiki template. qif appears to have been used for conditional components of a template, though it seems to have been replaced by "#if" in more recent versions of the software.  Maybe some wiki guru knows more (try the Computing ref desk).  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.172.19.20 (talk) 13:11, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

3 types of ironys
I have larnt they have 3 types of ironys one is dramatic, verbal and what is the other one. One of them means the way opposite one of them means I know something autor have no idea on. Which one is which?--209.129.85.4 (talk) 17:21, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Our article Irony lists dramatic, verbal, and situational as the three types. Deor (talk) 17:36, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Asking about Spanish homework
I want to know how to ask if any homework was assigned for Wednesday. I have managed to smush this sentence together: "Usted asigna tarea por el clase en Miercoles?" but I am fairly sure that's not right. Can someone help me fix this? 174.20.67.206 (talk) 21:27, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Informally: Hay tarea para el miércoles? (or para la clase de miercoles) [that's "Is there homework for Wednesday"]--or Tenemos tarea para el miércoles? ["Do we have homework for Wednesday?"]
 * More formally: Asignó usted tarea para el miércoles? or Había usted asignado tarea para el miércoles? ["Have you assigned homework for Wednesday"] --71.111.229.19 (talk) 22:29, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * So why is it the "yo" form of haber and asignar? 174.20.67.206 (talk) 22:35, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Unaccented o usually indicates a verb conjugated in the first-person singular present indicative active. An ó with an acute accent usually indicates a verb conjugated in the third-person singular preterite indicative active.  In this context, the third person is used to represent the polite form (Usted) of you (second person).  See Spanish conjugation. -- Wavelength (talk) 22:51, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * [I am inserting the underlined words and hyphenating "first-person" and "third-person". -- Wavelength (talk) 23:26, 8 February 2010 (UTC)]
 * There is an acute accent on the first e in wikt:miércoles. -- Wavelength (talk) 22:33, 8 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Also, for an idiomatic reason, these examples usually carry the definite article accompaning the day of the week. Hence, I would say Tenemos tarea para el miércoles, etc. For the very special case of hay, it is worth noticing that the verb is constructed impersonally, carrying the third-person form. Pallida  Mors  00:05, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Corrected--71.111.229.19 (talk) 12:33, 9 February 2010 (UTC)