Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 January 9

= January 9 =

Deuce of a job
Where did the deuce come from in "a deuce of a job", etc. meaning "extremely difficult"? Thanks. Martinevans123 (talk) 12:42, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Possibly "devil". --←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:00, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Or possibly "... by similarity to Latin deus and related words meaning "god.": "According to OED, 16c. Low German had der daus! in the same sense, which perhaps influenced the English form." Martinevans123 (talk) 14:07, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
 * I saw that theory, but the average citizen is far more likely to say "what the devil" than "what the god". --←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:06, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
 * True, but etymology from Latin often doesn't pay much attention to what today's "average citizen" says? Martinevans123 (talk) 19:09, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Are you asking whether that's the case? --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  19:55, 10 January 2022 (UTC)

Pronunciation of Gneisenau
I posed a question at WP:MILHIST as to the pronunciation of Gneisenau and came to the conclusion it would be appropriate to add a pronunciation footnote for August Neidhardt von Gneisenau and German battleship Gneisenau. Here is my attempt at an IPA rendering from a YouTube video of a German speaker saying it:

Would a German speaker or other expert be able to confirm or correct this? Thanks! 93 (talk) 22:48, 9 January 2022 (UTC)
 * The and  are actually semi-vowels, which can be notated in narrow transcription as  and . The  should definitely be a schwa,, which is more obvious at t=119s. Together, this gives
 * Disclaimer: I'm neither a native German speaker nor particularly an expert on German phonology. --Lambiam 00:14, 10 January 2022 (UTC)
 * I was under the impression that the initial "G" is largely silent (same as in gnädige Frau), but I'm not a native German speaker either. Maybe one can confirm. Xuxl (talk) 18:55, 10 January 2022 (UTC)
 * It's not silent. It isn't in gnädige Frau either. --Wrongfilter (talk) 20:33, 10 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Audio of gnädige: De-gnädige.ogg --Lambiam 23:45, 10 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I've gone ahead and added this to August Neidhardt von Gneisenau and German battleship Gneisenau. 93 (talk) 21:32, 26 January 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I've gone ahead and added this to August Neidhardt von Gneisenau and German battleship Gneisenau. 93 (talk) 21:32, 26 January 2022 (UTC)