Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2017 January 11

= January 11 =

Register to [sth]
Having newly encountered the Reverso Context website, I see it accepts contributed content - which prompts a caveat regarding its reliability. However, right on its Home page my skepticism kicks in: A "Register" field has the text: "Register to Reverso and boost your memory with the search history and phrasebook." (Emphasis mine.) I, a native speaker of US English, would "register for, with, or at" something. Whence this "register to" collocation? Is this Commonwealth usage or something in ELF? -- Deborahjay (talk) 12:12, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
 * French? inscrire à qqc... Reverso-Softissimo looks like it possibly is based in France? 184.147.116.166 (talk) 19:23, 11 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Sounds weird to me too, and after a brief search I see nothing indicating this is common in BrEng or any other variety. I will say, though, that we "register to vote". SemanticMantis (talk)
 * What I'm evaluating is the collocation with a preposition before a noun that's the object of the preposition. In "register to vote" the word after "register" is part of the infinitive "to vote." I wonder whether there's a forum in the Wiktionary project that could take up this query? Prepositions are notoriously unpredictable between languages; it's one of my bugaboos in translation to any other than my native tongue and a typical fix when I edit the writing of non-native speakers of mine. -- Deborahjay (talk) 06:28, 12 January 2017 (UTC)
 * There exist printed dictionaries which list collocations for the most frequent words. Notably the dictionaries by Oxford and Macmillan. Learner's dictionaries also tend to provide such information. Unfortunately usual explanatory dictionaries rarely list prepositions (I've just checked several, neither of them do). Another way is to use a corpus and search for collocations there.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 21:36, 15 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Strangely, when I go to the site and click the Register option, I just get an invitation to "sign up" - the phrase you complain of isn't there. Wymspen (talk) 19:52, 11 January 2017 (UTC)
 * The site doesn't seem to have a single Home page; I too get different results when I re-enter it. Yet I'm quite sure of what I saw prior to posting this yesterday. Through experience writing text for multilingual websites, I sadly can attest to the fact that for various reasons (e.g. outsourcing), the correct text isn't always what appears on the live site. -- Deborahjay (talk) 06:32, 12 January 2017 (UTC)
 * The home-page I see says "Get relevant translations in context with real-life examples for millions of words and expressions, using our natural language search engine applied on bilingual big data." Emphasis mine. And there's a loose Capital in another sentence. Caveat lector!Carbon Caryatid (talk) 13:06, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

Cynophobia from culture
Wikipedia article Cynophobia says Cynophobia is also very common among the Malays in Singapore. Malays in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia and Philipines are Muslims. Islam teach some rules about dogs like if lick by dog must wash hand few times. Many hundred years Malay culture become very scared dogs more than the Islam teaches. Same for Muslims cultures in other countrys. Question is cynophobia correct word for this dog fear in Muslim cultures but not Islam teaches? If yes then the article need to say more about it. --Curious Cat On Her Last Life (talk) 13:43, 11 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Don't forum shop. Since the article exists, bring it up on that article's talk page. μηδείς (talk) 04:03, 12 January 2017 (UTC)


 * What you mean? I Google forum shop and is at Las Vegas. What is the link to my question? --Curious Cat On Her Last Life (talk) 08:57, 12 January 2017 (UTC)


 * It was naughty of Medeis to use a rather obscure phrase in addressing one whose English is (pardon my saying so) obviously not fluent. It means: Don't go looking (shopping) for a forum that is hospitable to your opinion.  The proper place to discuss possible changes in Cynophobia is Talk:Cynophobia.  After a reasonable time, if there is no response, you might take it to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Dogs. —Tamfang (talk) 09:50, 12 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Bad, bad, naughty Zoot! Last time I said more than that re a content issue at an article I got yelled at for not just telling the OP simply "no forum shopping".


 * I will simply point out that a phobia in a technical sense is an irrational fear that interferes with normal functioning. But that is not necessarily relevant to cleanliness laws (see cleanliness in Islam) or the fact that rabies is a notoriously fatal disease whose largest vector in SE is dogbite.  One wouldn't argue that modern observation of Kosher rules are caused by Jewish food phobias or that a fear of dogs as disease vectors is irrational, although obviously in individual cases there may be overlap.


 * The bottom line is that the OP's question in so far as what should appear in the article should be discussed at that article's talk page. μηδείς (talk) 18:39, 12 January 2017 (UTC) I did not say this, I was not here; I did not light the grail-shaped beacon.)

Hospitable is more likely to agree? Only ask one time in one place is forum shopping? I only ask if Cynophobia is correct word for dog fear in Muslim cultures more than the Islam teaches. If no then no need to change the Cynophobia article and I think μηδείς say answer is no. If answer is yes then I never say must change the article but maybe is good for article to say more about this. I thought Ref Desk is also to help improve the articles? --Curious Cat On Her Last Life (talk) 13:35, 16 January 2017 (UTC)


 * I apologize, user:Curious Cat On Her Last Life, I could have been more expansive in my first response. You wrote what would normally be a perfectly valid question up to the point in your final sentence where you abruptly made it about what our article should say.  Discussions about what should be in any article belong on that article's talk page, although saying "I've started a discussion about this on the article's talk page with a link should be fine. μηδείς (talk) 19:12, 16 January 2017 (UTC)

Sorry I not know about Wikipedia talk pages. I try to post at the talk page. If my question is perfectly valid then hope for answers, --Curious Cat On Her Last Life (talk) 02:59, 17 January 2017 (UTC)