Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2014 January 5

= January 5 =

Japanese help for Karachi Japanese school
What are the Japanese characters in http://www.geocities.co.jp/NeverLand/2664/title.gif ? It's for the Karachi Japanese School.

Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 04:49, 5 January 2014 (UTC)
 * 在カラチ日本国総領事館付属日本人学校. 在カラチ日本国総領事館/Consulate-General of Japan at Karachi, 付属/attached and 日本人学校/Japanese school. So it means The Japanese school attached to the Consulate-General of Japan at Karachi. Oda Mari (talk) 05:59, 5 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Thank you :) WhisperToMe (talk) 06:34, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Spanish help: Translating El Pais article?
From this article for Colegio Japones de Madrid:

"(See article for context) [...]En el colegio Japonés de Madrid, que no llega a la treintena de alumnos, también se tiene en cuenta la madurez de cada uno. No hay suspensos y recuperaciones, se les puntúa del 1 al 5 para evaluar su evolución y, si lo necesitan, destacar qué ayuda necesitan. Los mejores ayudan a los rezagados."

Does this mean the school has 30 students, it does not have suspensions (what does "recuperaciones" mean?). It evaluates students on a 1-5 scale, and has its higher performing students help struggling ones? WhisperToMe (talk) 06:43, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * I bit so. My translation: (The student population )in the Japanese College High School of Madrid does not reach 30 students, there is also the issue (or question) of the maturity of each one. There are no supensions nor recoveries and each are graded from 1 to 5 to evaluate their progress and as necessary point out where help is needed. Those who are advanced help those who are lagging.--Jondel (talk) 09:20, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Ok. The sentence before: "Finlandia y Dinamarca lo aplican en la educación primaria. En el colegio Escandinavo de Madrid, por ejemplo, no aspiran a alcanzar “metas específicas por semestre”, sino que otorgan “flexibilidad a los profesores para conseguir las metas de acuerdo con la madurez de cada niño”. Por ese motivo a menudo “hay unos en una clase trabajando con el mismo tema pero a niveles diferentes”, explican en su ideario." - So does it still mean the Japanese school in Madrid has fewer than 30 students? WhisperToMe (talk) 09:27, 5 January 2014 (UTC)
 * Does not exceed 29 students. I made a correction: colegio is not college but high school.Your new spanish paragraph: In Finland and Denmark, this is applied in primary shool. In the Scandanavian high school of Madrid for example,(err..., I' pause a bit here).   --Jondel (talk) 09:50, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your help! I think this school is actually an elementary and middle school and it just uses the Spanish "colegio" in its name. WhisperToMe (talk) 10:01, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Minor difference: "también se tiene en cuenta la madurez de cada uno" is better translated as "the maturity of each student is also taken into account". μηδείς (talk) 17:18, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Neurosemia.
My sister and I have been researching our family tree and our great grandfather is said to have died of "neurosemia" - which is believed to be "Shell Shock". He died in the UK - so this word would presumably have to be one that a British-speaking coroner would have used.

A Google search for the word produces only ten hits - two of which are duplicates, three of which don't mention the word, one of which is a junk Tweet.

Of the four remaining documents:


 * 1) Someone talking about a WWI veteran.  This author puts a "(?)" after the word and thinks it means "Shell shock".
 * 2) Claims that it's a greek word meaning "invalid" - possibly connotating someone who's spinal cord is broken.
 * 3) An official US defense department document about Gulf War syndrome says it means "Shell shock".
 * 4) An advert for a bookshop in a Texas newspaper from 1956 that simply says "Cure your Neurosemia! Read!".

I can't find the word in Wikipedia/Wiktionary, it's not in any online dictionaries or medical encyclopedias that I could find. If it does mean "Shell Shock" - then it must be a crazily obscure word given that it shows up in so few places on the Internet...and I can't imagine why a coroner would use it and expect anyone to know what it means! Also, if it really means "Shell shock" - how does someone die of that? Sure, he might commit suicide because of this - but wouldn't the coroner report the physical cause of death rather than attribute state of mind to be the ultimate cause?

Can anyone shed any light on this word? Could it be a typo for something else?

SteveBaker (talk) 13:33, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * There are a few things that suggest a mishearing. Not only is the number of hits small, but several of them are recent and refer to a radio program.  I don't find any results for news reports or books from the time period when the term would have been in regular use.  Moreover, it would seem to mean "brain signifiers" (from σημεια, as in asemia or semiotics).  That doesn't make sense, again suggesting confusion with a similar word.  Perhaps the intended term is neurasthenia?  The unfamiliar ending could easily be misheard as the more familiar -emia as in anemia, leukemia, septicemia.  --Amble (talk) 14:23, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Ah...yes..."neurasthenia" makes more sense - and according to our article it's a milder/precursor form of "shell shock" - so the meaning fits too. We're trying to get the original coroner's report to find out what he ACTUALLY wrote.  All we have is what someone else wrote after reading the report - and clearly that person wasn't too careful to get the details correct.
 * Many thanks! SteveBaker (talk) 14:54, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Regarding dying from shell shock, it has two distinct meanings, which unfortunately are often confused:


 * 1) The PTSD meaning you assumed.


 * 2) Concussion injuries resulting from nearby shell detonations. These cause brain injuries which can result in death.


 * Note that the two sometimes overlap. Also, the second meaning was often applied incorrectly, intentionally, to protect the soldier from charges of being a "mental case" or coward.  Thus, "shell shock" was a bit of a euphemism, since saying a soldier was unable to fight, for mental reasons, was a grave charge, at the time.  Recently the world has become more accepting of PTSD, so the distinction between PTSD and a closed head injury is made more clearly now. StuRat (talk) 14:56, 5 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Some worthwhile links on the subject at World War I Centenary - Perspectives on "shell shock", an educational resource from Oxford University. Also Hysteric or neurasthenic? The role of class in the treatment of ‘shell shock’ during World War One. Alansplodge (talk) 15:17, 5 January 2014 (UTC)