Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 April 22

= April 22 =

Language on sign
What language appears on the bottom-left placard in this picture? It's a protest in North Carolina, so I thought it might be Cherokee. Some of the letters seem to match the Cherokee syllabary, but I don't see a "3" in the table and none of the translations of the words "peace" or "justice" I found online resemble those on the sign. Smurrayinchester 12:41, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * It's Cursive_Hebrew; the letters spell out "eyn tzedek, eyn shalom" (no justice, no peace). 128.146.172.106 (talk) 14:21, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Ah, thanks! I did consider Hebrew (especially since it appeared to be a right-to-left language), but I ruled it out because I didn't realize how different the handwritten forms looked. Smurrayinchester 14:43, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Much more literate than this famous graffito near London: "Give peas a chance". Alansplodge (talk) 16:00, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Surely that was the work of either the British Legume Marketing Board or the promotors of the Peasenhall Pea Festival. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 16:12, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Did someone ask for whirled peas? -- Jayron 32 16:09, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * 'Vegetable Rights and Peas'. KägeTorä - (影虎)  ( もしもし！ ) 21:46, 22 April 2016 (UTC)
 * The farmer is out standing in his field where he works among the beens and peas? μηδείς (talk) 03:44, 23 April 2016 (UTC)
 * The Victorian Music Hall performer Marie Lloyd famously sang "She sits among the cabbages and peas." When criticised on the grounds of obscenity, she amended this to "She sits among the cabbages and leeks." {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.199.208.67 (talk) 21:36, 23 April 2016 (UTC)

Period for sentence end after period for abbreviation end?
If I write Jansen et al. at the end of a sentence and follow it with another full-stop, is this correct?

"Jansen et al.."

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Seans Potato Business (talk • contribs) 22:06, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * The Chicago Manual of Style FAQ says to never end a sentence with two periods, even if the last word is an abbreviation. Grammer Girl agrees, as do the people over at the English Language StackExchange. -- 160.129.138.186 (talk) 22:43, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I would rewrite the sentence to avoid it. So, for example, change "The book was written by Jansen, et al." to "Jansen, et al., authored the book." StuRat (talk) 23:02, 22 April 2016 (UTC)


 * The rule is that a sentence ends with a full stop (except when it's a question mark or exclamation mark). In this case, a full stop is already there, so the criterion is satisfied, and there is no need to add a further one.  It's immaterial that the full stop was initially written to indicate an abbreviation.  It also serves as the full stop that ends the sentence.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  08:26, 24 April 2016 (UTC)