Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2020 March 15

= March 15 =

Online orders in New Zealand
Do New Zealand's new border restrictions in response to COVID-19 affect online orders in New Zealand? Can people in New Zealand still order things from other countries? How can things be delivered to New Zealand, given the rules about people visiting the country having to self-isolate? Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 03:09, 15 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Cargo ships and planes are still allowed. The crews of ships and planes do not have to self-isolate. What you need to know- gadfium 03:19, 15 March 2020 (UTC)
 * While this is a bit WP:CRYSTAL, I think it's expected that the border restrictions will significantly reduce the number of people coming to NZ. Therefore the number of passenger flights to NZ is also likely to be significantly reduced, maybe even stop completely from some places. A large percentage of NZ's air cargo comes via such flights so there's a reasonable chance of capacity problems and air cargo needing to taking longer more complicated routes. And it isn't just NZ, flights between other destinations have also been affected by the numerous restrictions etc. [//www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120253007/air-freight-warning-when-flights-are-pulled-cargo-capacity-goes-as-well] [//www.nzpost.co.nz/contact-support/international-mail-updates] Pure OR anecdote, but during Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption, I bought something from eBay. I think it was sent via regular Deutsche Post air parcel service to Auckland and ended up taking something like 3 months to arrive whereas I expect it would normally take about a month or less. (The disruption had long ended by the time it had arrived, I suspect it either ended up taking a very circuitous route or got semi lost in some backlog.) Nil Einne (talk) 04:38, 15 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes. I suspected that something like this would be true. Hence the question. Freeknowledgecreator (talk) 09:39, 15 March 2020 (UTC)

Is the Vietnamese kiem related to the jian?
I want to end the ongoing dispute with SimeonManier regarding jian (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jian&diff=945108100&oldid=944245559). Did the jian influence the Vietnamese kiem? SpinnerLaserz (talk) 19:28, 15 March 2020 (UTC)


 * There is little doubt that the terms are related; see 劍 on Wiktionary. One theory (see the etymology section there under the heading "Chinese") is that the words in Chinese and Vietnamese came from the native language of Wu. If that is the case, both may also have imported this double-edged sword type from Wu, after which each had its own independent development. This is of course speculative. Unless there is contemporary documentation, this may be hard to establish, but it is probably equally hard to establish that this was definitely not the case. The way Wikipedia works is that we base what we write on reliable sources. If there are reliable sources that state it is likely that the forging technologies of Vietnam originated with the sword smiths of China, we can report that, referencing the sources. (An issue is then what is meant by "China" in the historical context.) If other reliable sources favour different theories, we should report these as well – while not giving undue attention to fringe theories. If we have no sources for any theory regarding the connection, we should stay mum and not invent one ourselves. --Lambiam 20:27, 15 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Okay, is there is a section on Wikipedia where can I request anyone to find a good source on how the kiem is related to jian? SpinnerLaserz (talk) 21:56, 15 March 2020 (UTC)
 * This here is by itself not a bad spot for such a request. Perhaps others are more successful, but I have been able to find only one usable source. If you click "Download this PDF file" on web page http://www.eastm.org/index.php/journal/article/view/93/81 you get an article that appeared in the journal East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine, no. 21, from 2003. It contains, on page 18, the following sentence: "Besides importing the sword, the Vietnamese also imported its name; given the Vietnamese transliteration of Chinese, they are the same word: Chinese jian, Vietnamese kiếm." That is all it states about the relationship, but at least it is a reliable source. If it is really important to you, you might consider contacting the author of the article through her contact page. --Lambiam 03:21, 16 March 2020 (UTC)