Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2018 October 30

= October 30 =

Heritage
User:Ricco Baroni always uses the word "heritage" in phrases like "is of Avar heritage", instead of "ancestry" or "descent". He then meant his "pages also fixed by English teacher of Michagan (sic)" and reverts my edits. So my question, perhaps I am that ignorant and this user has great English skills? --User:Tomcat7 (talk) 10:53, 30 October 2018 (UTC)
 * I have no comment on user behavior in this forum, but the word "heritage" is different than "ancestry" or "descent". Ancestry and descent imply a purely genetic relationship, i.e. passed down biologically from parents to children over time.  Heritage implies a cultural relationship, passed down through one's environment and contact with that culture.  While people who share a genetic lineage often also share a cultural one, the culture is not passed through genes.  I would be inclined to use language that is precise as possible, and to not mix terms related to biology with those related to culture, as though they may sometimes be coincidental, they are not really related. -- Jayron 32 11:16, 30 October 2018 (UTC)


 * I'm curious what he means about English vs. Italian in this diff. Unless he was just making a dummy edit to post a comment in the edit summary, whereas this stuff really needs to be on the article talk page. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 11:57, 30 October 2018 (UTC)


 * It seems clear it was a dummy edit as it was just after a substantive edit changing ancestry back to heritage [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adam_Batirov&diff=prev&oldid=865855964]. The Italian thing is surely a response to this comment by the OP [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Adam_Batirov&diff=865383709&oldid=865380848]. While the rest of the comment (and the previous edit) seems questionable, the Italian bit seems fair enough since this is the English wikipedia. The article concerns a Russian and Bahraini wrestler. While Ricco Baroni may sound like an Italian name, the editor's user page says they are Russian and speak Russian with a little bit of English and has said so since April 2018 [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Ricco_Baroni&direction=next&oldid=837713163]. There is no mention of them speaking Italian, so explaining to them the Italian translation of some English term doesn't seem like it would be helpful to them or anyone else involved. Nil Einne (talk) 10:11, 31 October 2018 (UTC)
 * P.S. I should clarify I'm not really faulting the OP for assuming the editor spoke Italian, although it's often wise to check user pages before making assumptions about other editors. My point was that even if the OP didn't do anything that wrong, it was fair for the other editor to say 'speak English to me, since this is the English wikipedia and I don't speak Italian' Nil Einne (talk) 12:53, 2 November 2018 (UTC)

Latin help
Mr Churchill - A Portrait by Philip Guedalla has the words "Londiniensibus Londiniensis" on the page between the title page and the contents list. What does it mean please? DuncanHill (talk) 16:09, 30 October 2018 (UTC)
 * "A Londoner for Londoners" is the intended meaning, I guess. Deor (talk) 16:24, 30 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks, DuncanHill (talk) 21:45, 30 October 2018 (UTC)