Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2011 August 2

= August 2 =

Japanese ヒゲくず
I'm looking for a general American word for the hair that remains on a shaver after shaving. I can't think for the life of me what it would even be in Brit.Eng. - besides informal words like scum, or crap, or whatever. I'm looking for an 'official' word - something you might see in a manual or advertisement or something. --  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  11:01, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * "Beard clippings"? (example). Gabbe (talk) 11:07, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Whiskers? -- Deborahjay (talk) 12:47, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Cheers! Must have been writer's block.... ;) Both 'clippings' and 'whiskers' work for my translation. Thanks. --  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  13:15, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I'd say 'gunk' rather than 'scum' or 'crap'. ;) —Tamfang (talk) 17:38, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
 * True enough - 'gunk' would be better as Am.Eng., but I mentioned 'scum' and 'crap' in the context of Br.Eng. (and in any case, none of these words would have been appropriate). I chose 'clippings' in the end. --  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  21:11, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Telugu help
I'm try to create articles on labour unions in the Singareni coal fields. I have encountered a problem, that one ref (http://www.cpimlnd.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=250) mentions SWU as the Singareni mine wing of UCCRI(ML) (DV faction). But http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/02/stories/2007080256770300.htm mentions SGKS as the mine wing of UCCRI(ML). SGKS figures in more sources, but is not mentioned in the CPI(ML)ND link. Could these orgs be the same? Could Singareni Gani Karmika Sangham be the same as the Singareni Workers Union? My guess is that "gani" would mean "mine" (if so, the names would be different), but I'm not sure. As to my knowledge, the DV faction is the sole UCCRI(ML) group still in existence. --Soman (talk) 15:48, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

How do you pronounce Ken Kifer?
Is it /kifer/ or /kaifer/? I don't even know what the nationality is... it could be a Jewish name.

Jonathan talk 18:36, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I can't find a source, but it would be surprising if the name were pronounced other than /kaifer/. This is almost certainly a variant of the German name Keifer. Surnames of German immigrants to the United States before 1900 were regularly transcribed according to English rules of spelling and pronunciation.  Marco polo (talk) 19:13, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Need help from Italian and Greek-fluent contributors
Our Energy Catalyzer article is rather lacking in sources, and since it is a project designed by Italians, and under production (or so it is claimed) in Greece, I wondered if the 'Catalyzer' (or the Greek producer 'Defkalion') have articles in the Italian and Greek-language Wikipedias? If they do, are there sources which might be useful to our article? Any help would be much appreciated. AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:07, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * You mean this? {And no, I'm not fluent in either Italian or Greek.  But I do know how to use interwiki links.)  Ghmyrtle (talk) 21:11, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Doh! Yes, I'd missed that - no link to the Greek Wikipedia, though. In any case, it really needs someone fluent in the relevant language to take a look, and to assess the suitability of any sources. AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:18, 2 August 2011 (UTC)