Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 May 29

= May 29 =

Touchy-feely
Does being 'touchy-feely' have negative connotations? Is calling someone touchy feely a bad trait? --FallinggoApartio (talk) 02:15, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * It's only a "bad trait" from the standpoint of those who are not touchy-feely. Maybe not a bad trait, but can be very annoying. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:24, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Yes, the connotations are absolutely negative. Compare the examples in Wiktionary. At best, the term can be used in an ironic or self-ironic way, but that's an extension building on the basic negative connotations of the expression. It's never a compliment. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 05:18, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * That's not quite right. The examples at wiktionary are misleading, because they have been selected by editors to illustrate what they think are the connotations. Compare the actual usage in the examples at e.g. this corpus site: it's typically negative, certainly, but there are also examples such as: My book is a more touchy-feely book as the experiences I got from living there were incredible and I learned so much.; It is the touchy-feely part of sex that is the real turn on. HenryFlower 07:39, 29 May 2016 (UTC)

English words
Why are same words having different meanings and similar pronunciation used in English? Is it just because English is a funny language? sahil shrestha 02:53, 29 May 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sahil shrestha (talk • contribs)
 * English is a hodge-podge of many different sources. History of English gets into it. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:56, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm ready to assume that near-homonyms exist in every language, even though I haven't checked them all. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 05:21, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Indeed. The OP's user name is a fairly common name in Nepal. Here are some homonyms from Nepal.--William Thweatt TalkContribs 05:45, 29 May 2016 (UTC)

Vas ist los?
How is it that the initialism for Rassehunde-Zuchtverband Deuschland is RVD? Is this some fiendish feline plot? (I'm asking because RVD (disambiguation) is up for deletion.) Clarityfiend (talk) 22:44, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * A calque of the name is "PedigreeDog-BreedingAssociation of Germany". The abbreviation is split as "Pedigree dog-breeding", "Association", and "Germany", not "Pedigree Dog", "Breeding Association", and "Germany".  Tevildo (talk) 23:01, 29 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Gotcha. Thanks. Clarityfiend (talk) 01:58, 30 May 2016 (UTC)

Did You mean: Was ist los? ? -- Hans Haase (有问题吗) 00:20, 4 June 2016 (UTC)
 * Der Rassehund ist los! ba-dum tchh ---Sluzzelin talk  01:34, 4 June 2016 (UTC)