Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2014 March 13

= March 13 =

Oh Dae-su (Hangul: 오대수)
It is a fictional character and the protagonist of the 2003 South Korean film Oldboy. You can look up the article aobut him. What does this name mean? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.225.174.69 (talk) 03:47, 13 March 2014 (UTC)


 * (Links added.) Does it need to mean anything?  I seem to remember reading that the surname Oh can mean 'king', but I doubt one can be sure in a given case. —Tamfang (talk) 22:59, 13 March 2014 (UTC)


 * It doesn't need to mean something. But in the film, the character says "my name Oh Dae-su means getting through one day at a time." Google translate, however, says 대수 means algebra, 수 number, 대 versus. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.225.174.69 (talk) 02:03, 14 March 2014 (UTC)


 * The line in the movie is "내이름은 오대수다. `오늘만 대충 수습하고 산다'고해서 오대수다." Apparently, his name is Oh Dae-Su, and he randomly spelled it out to make a sentence that despises himself. Given a three syllable word, spelling it out to form a sentence or a short poem is called 'samhaengsi 삼행시', meaning 'three-line poem', and is quite popular in Korean culture. --10k (talk) 00:22, 19 March 2014 (UTC)

flourishing spring
Is "The flourishing spring returns." correct? I think it is, but I've never seen anyone else use the collocation "flourishing spring", so I want your opinion. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.249.228.60 (talk) 03:49, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * It makes perfect sense.  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  06:15, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes, the usage certainly is valid on etymological grounds, but it has a rather dated feel to me (you did ask for opinion). The usage of the verb "to flourish" has shifted slightly over the last few hundred years.    D b f i r s   07:34, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I agree it is a little old and poetic. I googled it, and there is a book called 'Flourishing Spring', apparently. In any case, when talking about spring, who doesn't go all arty-farty and start using poetic words?  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  08:35, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I've known some hayfever sufferers to use some imaginative words, but I wouldn't exactly call them poetic... MChesterMC (talk) 09:20, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I'd say it's not incorrect, but also not idiomatic (not something people would be likely to say or to write in prose). People are saying that it's poetic because you can combine words in poems (or sometimes in book titles) that don't usually go together. If the word "spring" is modified, it is usually in relation to the weather or perhaps the mood that the season evokes. Also, it is a bit odd to use the simple present form "spring returns" without an adverb or adverbial phrase (e.g., "spring returns every year").  It would be a little more natural to say "Spring has returned."  But if you are aiming for a poetic mood, then your sentence is okay as is.  Marco polo (talk) 15:14, 13 March 2014 (UTC) Looking out the window at the snow falling at -8° C and wishing that spring might return, someday.
 * "If winter comes, ...". --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  18:27, 13 March 2014 (UTC)

Japanese character identification
Can anyone please identify the Japanese characters shown in http://i61.tinypic.com/2v1snf4.jpg found in an old document? NewOCR identifies it as 名 麦再 which Google Translate translates as "name wheat re-", which cannot possibly be right - the document has nothing whatever to do with wheat or any other grain or plant. But I've found NewOCR to be totally hopeless each time I've tried it. 121.215.154.87 (talk) 15:15, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * 名稱 - just two characters, and a photo of someone's erect penis under it - choose a better image sharing site, FFS.....  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  15:58, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * 稱 is the traditional kanji of 称 and 名称 means "name". Oda Mari (talk) 16:21, 13 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Thanks.  Sorry if any offence occurred.  I checked the link when I set it up - it was fine. I've just checked it again and it's still ok - just shows the two characters.
 * GoogleTranslate did not recognise the second character - Thanks, Oda. 121.215.154.87 (talk) 16:24, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * It was fine to me. I only saw two characters. Oda Mari (talk) 16:33, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * You didn't look closely at the row of thumbnails, then. —Tamfang (talk) 03:56, 14 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes, I did. With my a bit older version of SeaMonkey, the link only shows white rectangular with the characters in it on a black background page. But I tried with Firefox, also an older version, minutes ago, I could see the thumbnails. Why the difference? Oda Mari (talk) 07:22, 14 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Assuming you have Windows, you can install Japanese language support. Control Panel>Change keyboards and other input methods>Keyboards, then choose Japanese and Microsoft IME. You will then get an icon in your system tray which will probably say 'EN'. Click on that to choose Japanese, and switch to hiragana. Then, you will have the IME pad icon. You can use this to draw the kanji, and then add them into any program you want (Word, or your browser, etc.).  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  12:57, 14 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Thanks. But I can do Japanese characters now - I don't need to install anything.  I copy-pasted the characters you guys supplied into MS-Word, and into GoogleTranslate as a check, without any problem.  The trouble is, I have a document in Japanese that was a) partly handwritten (by some old coot whose knowlege of modern Japanese was not that good, apparently!), b) reproduced on a dyeline machine - antiquated pre-photocopier technology that was never very clear, and the prints fade and blur over time, and c) as a non-Japanese, I find it almost impossible to tell which character (out the thousands in use) is which.  Not much good being able to write in Japanese if you don't know what to write!   If there is anything better than the utterly useless NewOCR, do please let me know! 121.215.154.87 (talk) 14:44, 14 March 2014 (UTC)


 * If it's a short document, just post it here and we'll transcribe it. If this guy writes Japanese in the way most people write Chinese (i.e. by scribbling chicken-scratch), even a native speaker might have trouble reading it, and a computer will have no chance in hell.  --Bowlhover (talk) 14:56, 14 March 2014 (UTC)

Patently absurd
What's the difference between patently absurd and just regular absurd? ScienceApe (talk) 16:04, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Kind of like the difference between denying and categorically denying, in that they both carry a greater emphasis of certainty. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:17, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * ... and one has a website Martinevans123 (talk) 18:07, 13 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Or the difference between "There will be four separate/different investigations into this incident" and "There will be four investigations into this incident". It's very unlikely they would be four identical investigations.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  18:24, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Same difference, Jack, same difference.  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  19:10, 13 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Here is Wiktionary's entry for "patently": https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/patently
 * As you will see, "patently" means "clearly" or "unambiguously", so something that is "patently absurd" is "clearly absurd", whereas something that is merely "absurd" may need a little thought before you realise what the absurdity is. RomanSpa (talk) 20:40, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Patent etymology: "Short form of Anglo-Norman lettre patente, "open letter", from Latin littera patens." Martinevans123 (talk) 20:59, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Yes, as in "It is patent to the mob / That my being made a nob / Was effected by a job" ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 22:44, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I always thought that meant the mob actually owned the copyright to it, and that is why they tried so hard to stop anyone else from 'sharing' the business, just like nowadays.....  KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( TALK )  23:54, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
 * Glad you're so open and frank about all this. Martinevans123 (talk) 23:59, 13 March 2014 (UTC)