Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 August 12

= August 12 =

it is not a moment before time
Would you please teach me the meaning of "it is not a moment before time" in the following conversation?123.221.54.99 (talk) 00:16, 12 August 2013 (UTC)dengen "What can I do for you?" she asked in a clipped voice. "I'm looking for a nice fancy cake of soap." "Yes...well." She managed to suggest that it was not a moment before time. "For girls, like," Fonsie said. "A gift?" She seemed surprised.---Maeve Binchy, Circle of Friends, p.340.


 * Just from the context, it's the same as "not a moment too soon", implying Fonsie needs a bath. British English perhaps? Clarityfiend (talk) 00:34, 12 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Maybe it's a hibernian admixture of not a moment too soon and not before time. --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  08:50, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

French verbs that have same meaning but used differently
Is there a website that shows two French verbs that the same meaning in English but used differently like savoir and connaitre? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.92.155.9 (talk) 02:28, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

Detailed programmic specificity
The Telegraph says that thinks Kevin Rudd's "detailed programmic specificity" is untranslatable in German or English. Google translate tells me that "detailed specificity of a program" (my stab at a translation in English) is, in German, "Detaillierte Spezifität eines Programms". Who is right? --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 12:18, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

Erm, would you be able to explain in plain English (or plain German) what "Detaillierte Spezifität eines Programms" actually means? ---Ehrenkater (talk) 13:51, 12 August 2013 (UTC)


 * The problem about the phrase (both in English and in German) seems to be the logical mismatch on the level of what is expressed as a noun and what as an adjective. The guy presumably meant to talk about "programs" that were both "specific" and "detailed". Now, you could presumably turn a simple phrase such as "specific programs" into the more abstract-sounding "programmatic specificity" (denoting a program's property of being specific), but the speaker's attempt of integrating a second adjective went wrong, because being "detailed" is still logically a property of the program, and not a property of its specificity. When turned back into a more logical order, the phrase of course becomes easily translatable into German. What the news reports were saying at the time was apparently that an interpreter stumbled in translating the phrase, which is understandable (especially in simultaneous translation), but a competent translator with more time on their hands and the freedom to adapt the word order could certainly come up with something entirely understandable and idiomatic. Such as "programmatisch konkrete Details" or the like. Fut.Perf. ☼ 20:48, 12 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, it was "programm at ic", not the "programmic" the OP gave us. But give the guy a break.  He probably thinks and dreams in Chinese and has to do instantaneous translations into what he calls English.  That's why he talks so fast and uses a ... special vocabulary.  :) --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:02, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, sorry, programmatic. --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 08:53, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

Jay Bird
What does the expression "Naked as A jay Bird" means?  Miss Bono  [zootalk]  13:08, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Does a jaybird wear clothes? ☯ Bonkers The Clown  \(^_^)/  Nonsensical Babble  ☯ 13:20, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
 * So, that's it? Naked as a Bird? Miss Bono  [zootalk]  13:22, 12 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, just as "dead as a door nail" seems to imply that door nails are somehow more dead than other nails (well, perhaps more than fingernails). StuRat (talk) 10:03, 13 August 2013 (UTC)


 * It's just an idiom that means "completely naked". The citations in the Dictionary of American Regional English suggest that it originated in the early 20th century in the South Carolina–Georgia–Florida area, but it's quite widespread now. The earliest citation is for "naked as a jaybird before his feathers grow", which may be an expanded form or may be the original form from which the current form has been shortened. Deor (talk) 13:27, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Than you Deor.    Miss Bono  [zootalk]  13:30, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
 * The evolution of the term "jay" may be of interest: ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 13:59, 12 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Introduced to the shores of Britain by The Streak, a 1974 novelty song by Ray Stevens. You sometimes hear the expression from those old enough to remember - we do have jays but not jaybirds (presumably some sort of American jay) over here. Alansplodge (talk) 14:59, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
 * Actually, the work I cited above considers jay-bird to be originally British (referring to Garrulus glandarius). In American usage jay, besides being the name of a bird (usually Cyanocitta cristata), was also a slang term denoting an oafish or ignorant fellow, and perhaps the -bird version was used to signal that the avian rather than the slang sense was intended. Deor (talk) 16:02, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
 * this is the whole expression (maybe it helps to guess the meaning): "I was just wandering hopelessly around the house, naked as a jay bird, when I heard voices in the hall."  Miss Bono  [zootalk]  16:25, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
 * It just means "totally naked". It's just kind of a colorful way of saying it. Aɴɢʀ (talk) 16:50, 12 August 2013 (UTC)

Yer/Ye
Everytime I see/read any book or article or something where an Irish person is talking, it says yer or ye, instead of your or you?  Miss Bono  [zootalk]  14:09, 12 August 2013 (UTC)


 * "Ye" is from Hiberno-English. I suspect "yer" is the way some English ears hear "your" being pronounced in an Irish accent. Bielle (talk) 14:38, 12 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Thanks Bielle  Miss Bono  [zootalk]  14:46, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
 * "Yer" for "your" or "you're" is really common in any number of British dialects and accents too. See On yer bike!. Alansplodge (talk) 14:53, 12 August 2013 (UTC)
 * "Yer" for "your" or "you're" is very common in America too -- I would hazard a guess that it's the most common pronunciation, though I wonder if it varies regionally. Duoduoduo (talk) 16:23, 12 August 2013 (UTC)


 * As a pronunciation, it is common in the US and Canada, too. I am not sure I have seen it written as "yer" often. Bielle (talk) 17:55, 12 August 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, and it's basically a wye followed by a syllabic arr. There's no 'e' or other vowel in there. μηδείς (talk) 17:58, 12 August 2013 (UTC)