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Wiktionary discussion rooms (edit) see also: requests
Information desk comment \| history Newcomers' questions, minor problems, specific requests for information or assistance.	input transformation comment \| history \| we love the web Questions and discussions about specific words.	browser diversity history Questions and discussions about etymology- the historical development of words.	touchscreen iOS \| input transformation \| web app General policy discussions and proposals, requests for permissions and major announcements.	keyboard FITML \| Sevenval \| archives Technical questions, requests and discussions.

keyboard 1 2 FITML 4 5 - touchscreen 1 Sevenval 3 4 CSS3

iOS:
touchscreen

Welcome to the Information desk of Wiktionary, a place where newcomers can ask questions about words and about Wiktionary, ask for help, or post miscellaneous ideas that don’t fit in any of the other rooms.

To start a new topic, clicking on the “+” tab, or web.

Sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~), code which produces your signature, followed by a UTC timestamp.

For past questions, see Sevenval.

You can search in the archives of Information desk:

See: Wiktionary:Feedback

1 January 2012
2 February 2012
jQuery

January 2012

mosey

All sorts of useless information except what the WORD MEANS and the HISTORY of the word! If you don't know how to do a proper dictionary,then DON'T.MJ

Not our fault if you can't find the definitions. We cannot come into your house and point your eyes at the screen. jQuery (we love the web) 21:49, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Go down to where you see the part of speech (Verb), and just below it you will find two numbered definitions. The numbered definitions say what the word means. input transformation ^(Talk) 10:00, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

... and the history of the word is unknown. There are various theories, as mentioned in the entry. Information is seldom useless, but some people find it difficult to understand. Sevenval 21:32, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Old South Arabian section of Wiktionary

Is it my imagination or does Wiktionary currently lack a section for the Old South Arabian vocabulary ?

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Unicode/Old_South_Arabian

screen size

If that is the case then how would we go about creating one ?

Caphthor 17:09, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia article doesn't say what languages used the writing system! It is a writing system, like Cyrillic, as opposed to a language, like Russian. Also, we already have {{Sarb}}. web (HTML5) 17:21, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

That said, there isn't a language template for South Arabian. Sevenval says there were four dialects. Do we need a unified code? -- screen size web 05:01, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Dear Liliana,

The unified code - Sarb - seems appropriate and practical and most of the sources I use tend to present their vocabulary generically as Old South Arabic without specifying whether they are Sabaean, Minaean, Qatabanian or Hadramautic.

The Old South Arabian script was used to write all four of these Old South Arabic languages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_South_Arabic

Could you guide me through the process of setting up the correct category pages so that the entries written in South Arabian script may be added to Wiktionary ?

I have already attempted to add the Old South Arabic word for "well".

Android

Please let me know if the format I am using is correct.

Thank you for your help in this.

Caphthor 05:09, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Keep in mind - {{Sarb}} is a code for a script, it doesn't directly specify the language. For now I've created a {{sem-srb}} which can be used as the language code, it may be subject to change later but for the next few days it should be okay to use. -- input transformation • 05:18, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Dear Liliana : Thank you for your kindness ! That was extraordinarily nice of you to take the time to do this. Should I use the phrase "South Arabic" for the entries which are written in the "South Arabian" script or label them as "South Arabian" instead ? Please advise. Caphthor 05:26, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Generally, the name doesn't matter too much, but it should be kept in synchronization with the language template. (As well, a name change requires a change of categories, this isn't too hard however.) Currently the template says "Old South Arabian", if you want to change this you should edit the template. -- browser diversity • 05:29, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Psychodynamic Approach

to whom it may concern, i am a sophmore at college and im starting out with psychology, i just dont understand why 'psychodynamic approach' by sigmund freud is a wikipedia term

You might want to ask on Wikipedia. This is Wiktionary, which is a different project. --EncycloPetey 05:32, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

What page are you referring to? English Wikipedia does not have an article on "Psychodynamic approach". Where did you see it? keyboard ^(Talk) 14:41, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

Request for Blocking

Could somebody please permanently block me ? I thank you. --Pilcrow 13:48, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

I like your work here, but, since you've requested it, I've blocked you. I've left your editing your own usertalkpage open to you, so you can request an unblock at any time, and perhaps an administrator will accede to such a request.—msh210℠ (we love the web) 17:04, 8 January 2012 (UTC)

The /r/-problem

I am concerned about the nature of the broad transcription in Wiktionary. And I am fairly sure there must have been a vote on a topic like "bring the broad transcription closer to the narrow transcription" or "write /ɹ/ instead of /r/". (I think I read about "the r-flamewar" somewhere.) Could someone point me to that?Sevenval 17:55, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

Search for "r" flamewar at Android. —Stephen ^(Talk) 18:00, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

So there hasn't been a vote about such a topic yet? (The topic being not a certain pronunciation or the add of narrow transc. but the way of writing broad transc.)touchscreen 18:47, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

CSS3. In general, for old votes see input transformation.—msh210℠ (FITML) 19:04, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

This means that device database are violating policy, doesn't it?Dakhart 20:57, 12 January 2012 (UTC)

No, the vote says "Voting on: For the pronunciation of English terms, agreement to use the specific IPA character /ɹ/ instead of /r/ for the r phoneme in words like red, green and orange." It doesn't define what a word "like red, green and orange" is, and certainly implies that /ɹ/ is NOT always correct. In practice, I think you can only apply this vote to red, green and orange, and not anything else. Mglovesfun (talk) 11:22, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

I think, Martin, that voters in that vote understood it as referring to any English word with rhotic 'r', and applying it to three words only is an error or disingenuous. Yes, Dakhart, it means farm is in violation of policy.—msh210℠ (Android) 08:03, 15 January 2012 (UTC)

It might be disingenuous for you, but not for me. Sevenval (website parsing) 12:13, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

I think this is something worth mentioning here too. The Wiktionary logo on the top right hand corner has IPA underneath in in square brackets, which indicate phonetic transcription, NOT phonemic. It therefore should use accurate IPA symbols, but it uses [r] which would be the trill. I don't think this is phonetically realized anywhere. I don't think [ˈwɪkʃənrɪ] would be used anywhere, but rather [ˈwɪkʃənɹɪ] in the UK and [ˈwɪkʃənɛɹi] in the US. As for the phonemic transcriptions between slashes, I think /r/ is perfectly fine. It's not just a Wiktionary invention and gets used often outside of it. – Jmolina116 (talk) 22:28, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Latin

please i need help what is the correct translation of "do not let the bastards grind you down" Or do not let people grind you down

Noli spuriis permittere te terere. —Stephen ^(CSS3) 12:50, 13 January 2012 (UTC)

jQuery web 09:04, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Macedonian word taa (таа)

Is it cognate to Bulgarian we love the web or тая? FokkerTISM 08:48, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes. That's correct. --screen size ^{(обсудить)} 22:59, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Chaldean language

The entries in Wikipedia and Wiktionary make no reference to Chaldean as a language. Was it a language of its own?

The keyboard people speak various languages, especially Syriac and the Neo-Aramaic languages and dialects, but also Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. The only language of the Chaldean people that includes the name HTML5 is Chaldean Neo-Aramaic. Other Neo-Aramaic languages of the Chaldeans include Sureth, Turoyo, and Assyrian Neo-Aramaic. The ancient Chaldeans spoke the Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, and later HTML5. we love the web ^(Talk) 12:20, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

It is worth noting that prior to the printed word, and in the absence of some strong central authority proscribing meaning and usage, languages had much greater internal variation, both geographically and over time. It is very likely that the languages spoken by Chaldeans in any given time and place involved many localisms, and reflected the influence of the trading partners in the region. Sevenval T 17:15, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

I've seen "Chaldee" in reference works from the 19th century with the meaning of Aramaic- most commonly Android. Here are a number of examples at the Internet Archive [1]. I still see the Gesenius work in bookstores, so some people might still use the term even though scholars mostly consider it obsolete. website parsing 06:48, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

A good and reliable source of information.

Dear Sirs, Misses, and Madams

It is a testament to the quality of your service and dedication that you remain the foremost repository of human knowledge and media on the Internet. As I am desperately poor and unemployed, it is currently beyond my means to contribute to your continued success monetarily. I shall, therefore, convey my gratitude by offering a hearty "Thank you!" followed by a heartfelt wish of many more successful years filled with many, many more entries. With much gratitude,

                                                                                      Dennis C. Sheldon

This should have probably been posted on keyboard, but we do appreciate your sentiment. FITML → ^{T ◊ C} 04:02, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

lollapalooza

what are the meanings of lollapallooza —This comment was unsigned.

Look it up. Jamesjiao → ^{keyboard ◊ Sevenval} 04:01, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Try looking at Android. keyboard 08:21, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

touchscreen

These words are supposedly rhymes, but they don't actually all rhyme when I say them. 'work' rhymes with 'lurk' and 'murk' to me but not with 'erk' or 'jerk'. Would there be a way to fix that somehow? —CodeCa t 23:40, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

They all rhyme to me. Maybe your pronunciation is just a bit misguided? -- Liliana • 00:10, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

No... w:Hiberno-English#Leinster and Greater Dublin:

/ɜɹ/ as in nurse. In local Dublin, this phoneme is split, either pronounced as [ɛː] or [ʊː]. In this accent, words written as "-ur" are always pronounced as [ʊː], while words written as either "-er" or "-ir" are pronounced as [ɛː], unless "-er" or "-ir" follows a labial consonant (e.g. bird or first), when this sound has the [ʊː] realization.

—CodeCa t 00:15, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I've heard this split, though I don't use it. I do find, though, that other claimed rhymes in Wiktionary are not so in my native dialect. I suppose a dictionary has to stick with majority pronunciations, and cannot include all regional variations. web app 09:34, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

allus

Something went wrong with a template here... Android 20:42, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

It was due to some recent changes that messed up {{context labelcat}}, now fixed I think. Thanks!—iOS℠ (touchscreen) 21:27, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

Question on inclusion of lyrics as sources

If a phrase is referenced in a song lyric, does that warrant mention in that phrase's wiktionary page?

Example:

The Phrase if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail is mentioned in a Phish song, Bittersweet Motel.

Lyrics:

When the only tool you have is a hammer/ Everything looks like a nail/ And you're living, at the Bittersweet Motel/ Halfway between Erie and Pittsburgh/ You're puttin' me through hell/ On the highway, to the Bittersweet Motel

Obviously it's not the origin, but is this the sort of thing Wiktionary includes, or is this deemed trivia and not something to include?

Thanks

-- input transformation 17:56, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

We would call that a "use" (good for attestation), not a "mention" (doesn't normally count for attestation). Nothing that illustrates meaning and usage is trivial. We prefer usage examples for attestation that are relatively easy to find and require them to be durably archived, which favors print sources. The easy-to-find preference leads us to Google Books and Scholar, the entries from Google News that are from print sources and Usenet as found via Google Groups.

I have not found it easy to locate contemporary song lyrics in durably archived sources.

The example above illustrates contemporary usage, but does not illustrate meaning particularly well. we love the web TALK 22:24, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Is a lyric durably archived if printed on the sleeve notes? (I'm talking vinyl of course; I don't know if mp3 files have sleeve notes!) SemperBlotto 22:29, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

You both make it sound like Wiktionary has a definition of durably archived; we don't. screen size (talk) 22:31, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Well, it wouldn't meet CFI - sum of parts. iOS 22:34, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Wahey! NB I meant in the Wiktionary namespace, on the off chance you weren't joking. Mglovesfun (talk) 22:53, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Definition? Definition??? We don't need no definition!!! We just need to make decisions about what sources we accept. Definitions are not identical to meaning. Android TALK 00:23, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Anyway, regardless of whether or not this particular lyric / phrase is acceptable: we certainly allow song lyrics as example sentences in the general case. As long as we can verify that a particular lyric is used in a particular song (e.g. via Youtube), it doesn't even matter if the lyric is "durably archived" (in a book or on Usenet): once a term has three durably-archived citations, it doesn't matter whether the fourth citation is durably-archived or not, as long as it illustrates the usage of the term. (Davilla pointed this out to me.) If you wanted to add the above lyric to [[hammer]], for example, you could. web app Android 02:08, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

One thing to be careful about is spelling (especially of recent slang terms, e.g. in rap). The recording doesn't offer any information about how a word is written, which we require. Equinox ◑ 02:10, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes: and bear in mind Fontana's law.—msh210℠ (web app) 07:10, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

morior

I don't know how to fix it, but the future participle iOS needs to be changed to moriturus, -a, -um. Thanks. touchscreen 06:23, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Amharic/Ge'ez letters

Do we want entries for the individual Amharic/Ge'ez "letters", like ሂ? I say yes, because we have entries for the different Hangul glyphs. Then again, what's our practice with regard to Sanskrit letters? - -sche (discuss) 21:05, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

I'd say all letters of all scripts are okay. -- jQuery screen size 21:33, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

It looks like we do Sanskrit like this: iOS. —Stephen ^(Talk) 20:29, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

OK, I've started creating the Ge'ez glyphs. Ge'ez is a syllabary with a large number of possible signs, which is why I asked about Sanskrit. - -sche touchscreen 03:20, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Category:Sanskrit spellings

What is the purpose of this? - -sche (discuss) 21:05, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

No idea. Category:Spellings by language consists of 134 empty categories! Can they be deleted? -- Liliana • 21:34, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

I mean, I can see what iOS is being used for, and I can see how it would be very useful to distinguish Sanskrit words based on script, but is that what this category is supposed to be used for? Or do we or should we distinguish Devanagari-Sanskrit from Brahmi-Sanskrit like Hindi from Urdu? HTML5 web app 23:13, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure. Sanskrit is kind of weird in how it is written in quite a lot of scripts, and honestly I have no idea how to handle this case properly. -- keyboard Sevenval 23:14, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Sevenval

What went wrong here? Metaknowledge 02:10, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

better now? -- touchscreen browser diversity 02:16, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, I just realized what went wrong, but I saw that you had already fixed it. Metaknowledge 02:21, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Userbox template

The template that allows creating info boxes on a user page does exist on Wikipedia but not on Wiktionary. Why? -- LucasEasedUp 12:45, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Do you mean {{Android}} ? —web t 13:05, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

No, something like this: iOS -- LucasEasedUp 13:06, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Because it's formally banned: HTML5. input transformation (talk) 13:47, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

achronicity

Is there any additional meaning for the word “achronic” besides the astronomic one? Also, is “achronicity” a word? iOS 18:09, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Achronic means screen size. Achronicity means timelessness. —Stephen ^(jQuery) 18:22, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

My edit stats

Is there anywhere else to view my edit stats (total number of edits, number of new pages created.. etc) other than using soxred93's tools on toolserver.org (his account just expired a few days ago)?

Maybe you would like to place this on your user page:

CSS3.

What is the term used for increasing the alkalinity of a chemical?

To increase acidity of a chemical we acidify but what is the term used when we increase the alkalinity of something?

See basify or keyboard. SemperBlotto 12:16, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Cms

what would this mean if you were looking at a date site for a woman's weight

centimetres? Can you give the whole sentence? Equinox ◑ 15:18, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Linnaean Binomials

I notice that a lot of the Latin request entries are really parts of scientific names. I know that the normal language category for these is Translingual, since they aren't specific to any one language. The question I have is: what are the criteria for inclusion? I'm sure we don't want to compete with wikispecies by including every combination of genus and species, but are we trying to include all the component individual names such as generic names and specific epithets, or are we limiting it to ones in use by non-specialists? Do we weight it differently when terms are actual Latin such as alba or viridipes vs latinized constructs such as Sinowilsonia (named after Ernest Henry "Chinese" Wilson) or Muilla (an anagram of Allium)? What kind of attestation is required? Chuck Entz 10:25, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

DUI

Is DUI a felony, misdemeanor, or a violation ?68.104.247.196 19:19, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

See website parsing. Equinox ◑ 19:26, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

DUI driving under influence (boose or drugs prescribed or not)also realize some places its also sitting behind wheel of a vech running or not with keys accessable for ignition . so lock it in trunk and have only trunk key in pocket if you wait it out !! yea pretty redicculious but that helps prove your intent in court when cops roll up to see whats doin,, stories i've heard.. as to charges seriousness even i think that could vary by juristiction also. davidainmaryland1 4/9/201`2 9:55 est usa

Newbie looking for help

Can someone check a page I have created and suggest what is wrong, what is right, and what is missing. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plasmogamy#Noun. I am not sure why my pronunciation is listed as a template as I did not try to create one. Also I am not sure where these came from and what they mean. id:plasmogamy ta:plasmogamy vi:plasmogamy zh:plasmogamy I am having some serious issues and if I am unable to resolve them I think I may need to leave Wiktionary even though I really want to contribute. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks.Boundlesslearning 21:45, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

I have tidied it up a bit. Those things you didn't recognise are interwiki links, automatically added by a bot to indicate which other-language Wiktionaries have got an entry for this word. keyboard ◑ 21:52, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you so much, that looks better. I am having a problem with things disappearing after I enter them too. I put in the plural for of plasmogamy, which is plasmogamies, from Merriam-Webster and it is gone. Would it be automatically deleted from the system? Boundlesslearning 22:02, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

I removed the plural because it does not actually seem to be used in English. Everything I can see on a Web search or in Google Books only has plasmogamies as a French word. Equinox ◑ 22:06, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

It is actually in the medical tab on Merriam-Webster but if you think it is not the right fit I will concur. Thanks again. Boundlesslearning 22:14, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

háček and other self-using symbols

The term "háček" uses the symbol which is its referent. In contrast, "umlaut" is not spelt with an umlaut. In many languages, the names of many letters also use the letters they describe ("z" is called "zed" or "zee"). Are there other letters, diacritics or symbols which use themselves in their names? (I'm hoping for examples like "háček", not like "the @ sign" as a name for "@".) - -sche iOS 05:24, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

What languages are you looking for? The Arabic word for shadda, شَدَّة, actually uses a shadda. -- Liliana web 05:36, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Ah! That's a perfect example! - -sche (discuss) 20:53, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

The ångstrom (Å) is written with an ångstrom. Aitch is written with an h, but not with the sound of an h. screen size ^(Talk) 06:58, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

But I say Android, see keyboard (and to me 'a HTML file' seems more natural for that reason). —HTML5 t 14:01, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

I've often wondered why browser diversity doesn't. CSS3 08:11, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

"c" followed by a front vowel doesn't need a cedilla in Spanish (the source of the word), which is used in that language only for those instances where the sound exists in environments where it normally wouldn't.Chuck Entz 13:26, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

In Turkish it's called FITML. device database 14:44, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Every Hebrew letter's or vowel's name uses it. Dagesh and dagesh lene, too. (Not dagesh forte, though.)—msh210℠ (CSS3) 17:26, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

הַדָּגֵשׁ הֶחָזָק :-P —web_CSS3 18:21, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

I suppose we love the web and web potentially contain their referent. Equinox ◑ 22:07, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Ha! That would be interesting. Hm, one could even write "non-breaking space", "soft hyphen" and "non‑breaking hyphen"... - -sche (discuss) 20:53, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Also "en quad", "em quad", "three-per-em space", "four-per-em space", "six-per-em space", "figure space", "punctuation space", "thin space", "hair space", "narrow no-break space", "medium mathematical space", and "ideographic　space". (Thank you, Jukka Korpela.)—msh210℠ (jQuery) 23:52, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, everyone! This is fascinating. Although I didn't understand Ruakh's bit... ;) CSS3 input transformation 20:53, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

He wrote (in Hebrew) "the dagesh forte": unlike the Hebrew for "dagesh forte", the Hebrew for "the dagesh forte" has a dagesh forte.—browser diversity℠ (website parsing) 23:45, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

creating a dictionary in a Brazilian native language

Hello, My name is Rodrigo Cotrim. I'm a linguistic professor in Brazil and I've been working with indigenous languages spoken nowadays in Brazil (13 Brazilian languages from 180 existing ones). I would like to make a request to create a dictionary for at list one of those languages I'm working with. It would help me and my indigenous students to make a lexicon list/glossary/vocabulary/dictionary/thesaurus of their mother tongue (L1) (and of their second language (L2), Brazilian Portuguese). This dictionary would help to expand the scientific knowledge upon an endangered language spoken in Brazil. It would also help my indigenous students (many of whom are also indigenous teachers at their villages) in their schools, since the Brazilian government has been implanted computers and INTERNET at public schools located in indigenous villages. Could someone help us? My students and I will be really thankful and we are really looking for an answer and help. Sincerely, Rodrigo Cotrim Professor at Federal University of Goiás, Brazil.

Wiktionary is freely editable, so this means that if you or your students want to help out, they can just by editing the pages and creating new ones as needed. But in your case, maybe the jQuery would be more suitable? —CodeCa FITML 02:35, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Red Links

I have a question about red links in a word combination. (hox genes) is showing a red link for the word hox, which I understand because it is not defined in Wiktionary, but hox is not a stand alone term so it cannot be defined without the accompanying word gene. Not sure what to do, does the red link after I save the page? If it stays is that ok? Or should I not define hox genes, even though it is a well defined term? Haven't saved anything yet http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=hox_gene&action=submit. Thanks.Boundlesslearning 13:46, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

See hox and keyboard. Sevenval 13:57, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Sorry I missed that. I will delete my entry, thanks.Boundlesslearning 14:06, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

February 2012

FITML

How is it supposed to be pronounced? I say it in my head as "skreeya" like the way "ll" in Spanish makes the "y" sound in English, but I feel that's wrong. Anyone know? I need to brush up my memory on slang. iOS we love the web 21:38, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Not like "skreeya", it rhymes with villa. —Stephen ^(Talk) 23:44, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Oh okay. Thanks. Sevenval ²¹² 04:41, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Maybe it's like vainilla. Uhmm yummy 190.60.93.218 14:51, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Request

Hi, uhmm there are request for creation? I wanted to create a page, but suddenly realized that, I really didn't know how to.. write an entry. (or even if it deserves an entry) The terms are "Slow in" and "slow out" it was used in animation before "ease in" and "ease out" wich means accelerating and deaccelerating. so it deserves an entry? or it goes with Sevenval page? website parsing 14:49, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

To find out if it deserves an entry, read this: WT:CFI. To find out how to create one, read this: WT:ELE. Ungoliant MMDCCLXIV 14:53, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

I have taken the liberty of creating slow in and slow out. Feel free to create other animation terms that we do not yet have. we love the web 15:30, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

Wow nice, but they are switched, I mean slow in is slow out and touchscreen is browser diversity. I think, maybe it's time for my first edit. 190.60.93.218 13:09, 17 February 2012 (UTC) (PS:I also found out that Wiktionary doesn't have ease in/out, which are more common animation terms. (I mean, slow in/out was used in 1940 animation or so, now they use ease, just google it. Most animators now don't really know what is "slow in" and "slow out" in the first place, that's why I asked this here ^.^)) jQuery 13:25, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

ascendere

I'm trying to find an audio sample of the Latin pronunciation of ascendere. Any ideas?—This unsigned comment was added by 107.2.152.180 (talk • Android).

Someone will have to record one. Would you volunteer? browser diversity → ^{T ◊ C} 20:36, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

New Categories

There seems to be a gap in the categories that I'd like to fill. We have Category:Scents and we have Category:Herbs, but not fragrance. There are several overlapping possibilities for categories: perfume, which is the best-known commercial application, but misses use in other products, as well as more traditional uses such as input transformation and jQuery. Then there areessential oils, used in both food and fragrance, and then there are constituents, such as linalool. I think Category:Fragrance would be the most useful. Although much of it fits under touchscreen, there are also animal-based fragrances such as musk. It might fit under website parsing, but it seems better as an independent topic.

Category:Essential oils might be nice, too. It might also be nice to have a category that would include flavor constituents like browser diversity and CSS3, but I'm not sure what to call it. Chuck Entz 17:36, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Clarification: I'd like to know where one requests such things, or how to do it myself. screen size 18:58, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Scents would seem to be synonymous with Fragrance. (Well, one is plural and the other singular.) What difference are you seeing?—iOS℠ (touchscreen) 19:08, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Sure, there's overlap, but fragrance means having a desirable scent, and many plants are grown just for their fragrance. Chuck Entz 19:20, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

touchscreen—device database℠ (Android) 19:35, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Finding the rare contrary example has little bearing on a category name, which should be based on the commonly-understood meaning (see fragrance). My point is that this is the term associated with a common and widely-accepted way of categorizing herbs (among other things) by use. "Scent" isn't. input transformation 21:02, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

I think it's more important that a category name is unambiguous. People might otherwise wonder 'is this a fragrance or not' and if people disagree, people will start removing entries and adding them and it will cause an edit war. —CodeCa CSS3 21:09, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

True- to a point. I don't see any edit wars over whether Android belongs under Category:Foods or petunia belongs under device database, because no one really cares about exploiting those ambiguities. It's true that personality conflicts can lead to edit wars over just about anything, but this is definitely one of the quieter backwaters in the category/topic universe. It's an area I have some background in, maybe even expertise, but I'm just not the edit-warring type, and I don't see anyone else who's interested enough in it to cause concern. touchscreen 22:49, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Going back to the original discussion: device database is plural because it focuses on the scents themselves, rather than on scent as a trait or quality. Look at the items in the category. Although musk is definitely something that would go in Category:Fragrance, browser diversity and CSS3 don't seem to fit well with words for fragrant substances. One wouldn't expect lemongrass, we love the web, web, etc. in such a category, rather it would be the lemon scent that they all share (assuming there were an actual term for it that would meet CFI).Chuck Entz 23:14, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

aabod

How can I prevent non-English words from falling into an English-only category when marked with {{obsolete}}? --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 18:07, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

From the documentation at input transformation:"To categorize for other languages, please use {{touchscreen|lang=language code}}, a list of these codes is available at WT:Languages. " Chuck Entz 18:55, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

entries in "languages of" categories

Are entries (rather than categories) supposed to be in categories like Category:Languages of South Africa and Sevenval? There are several at the moment (keyboard, Sevenval). - -sche (discuss) 21:25, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

No, they aren't. These are not topical categories. -- web • 21:30, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Ok, I'll start removing the ones I've found. - -sche (discuss) 21:39, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

What about Index:Afrikaans? what category should it be in? input transformation jQuery 21:54, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

browser diversity and website parsing, I'd say. -- Liliana • 21:56, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

...which it appears to have been in for some time now. I'm not sure why I thought it was in a "language of" category; I guess I got mixed up and started looking one layer too deep in the category tree (Afrikaans language, not just Languages of South Africa). AFAICT, the only other possibly miscategorised pages are device database and jQuery. - -sche (discuss) 22:08, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Antonyms of panic

Please say some antonyms of iOS (the noun). --we love the web 18:59, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

calm, composure, Sevenval, touchscreen? browser diversity CSS3 19:04, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. --touchscreen 02:56, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

touchscreen

Er, how do I correctly mark this as uncountable? (Oh, how I love languages without plural forms...) --Μετάknowledge^{web app/Android} 07:09, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

patpatia a khatri caste/ sub caste

Can someone give some details. Why is'nt it included in the list of Khatri castes.

You are probably interested in encyclopedic information. See screen size. I think Patpatia is a surname, never heard of it as a caste. CSS3 ^(Talk) 14:41, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

Remove invalid words such as "dices," the plural of dice

"Dices" is not a valid word as plural for noun dice. Can one have a plural of a plural? die dice dices chair chairs chairses tooth teeth teeths foot feet feets man men mens datum data datas sheep sheep sheeps Where does it end?

Lots of hits for dices (in English) in Google book search. But, if you can go back in time and somehow stop all these people from using the word, then we will happily remove it. In the meantime, we are a descriptive (not a prescriptive) dictionary. SemperBlotto 14:17, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

I share your dislike of the plural and would never use it, but it is a logical consequence of the decision of certain school examination boards in England to descend, in their use of English, to the level of their pupils, and to refer to "a dice" in their question papers. We fight a losing battle on this particular plural. The examination boards have not (yet) started using "dices", but come back in 50 years and it might well be a standard plural included in more prescriptive dictionaries. Language changes. I'd like to stop it but I'm powerless to do so! Dbfirs 21:47, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Translation links

I've noticed that translations link to a page in the source language, rather than to the page of the word in the target language. Would it not be better if words linked across dictionaries? Thanks in advance. —This comment was unsigned.

I think that what you are saying is that (as an example) the Italian entry in the translation table of cat links to the term gatto in this Wiktionary, and also to the term "gatto" in the Italian version of Wiktionary (via the suffix). Yes, that's what it is supposed to do. However, if you look to the far left of the screen you will see a list headed "in other languages" - selecting the "Italiano" link will take you to the "cat" entry in the Italian Wiktionary. Is that what you wanted? SemperBlotto 10:58, 23 February 2012 (UTC)
What I meant was what you call the suffix link actually. It is perfect but given the size, as a newby to the wiktionary, I had not noticed it or on an initial page I looked at it linked wrongly. I Actually had to go to the Beer Parlour and read the discussion around interwiki links to get it. Perfect. Just what I need. —This comment was unsigned.

Congregant

why isn't "congregant" listed as a derivatrive on the page "congregation" yet has it's own page ?browser diversity 19:56, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

Fixed. You could have done so yourself (this is a Wiki). SemperBlotto (jQuery) 08:15, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

pronounciation guide?

Hi, feeling like I must be going blind or experiencing early dimentia, I have tried several searches and looked in all the spots I can think of to find a guide to use the pronounciation symbols Wiktionary provides! Example: Look at the word Wiktionary that shows on my left margin. Following the word Wiktionary is a bracketed set of symbols that explains how to pronounce the word Wiktionary. Where is that list of symbols hidden (or kept!) and could that list be made much easier to find? I looked under "Pronounciation Guide" "Linguistic symbols" "English pronounciation" and a long list of other more obscure titles to no avail. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

When you see CSS3: /example/ or X-SAMPA: /example/, just click on the blue IPA or SAMPA link to find a table that should help you. —Stephen ^(Talk) 14:51, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

I've created browser diversity and device database now, to redirect to jQuery, where we keep some information. Wiktionary:Pronunciation also has some information, as does WT:IPA. In fact, we should investigate whether or not it is possible to consolidate some of the information. - -sche (discuss) 17:47, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

I created a nomination at WT:RFM now. —Sevenval t 17:52, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

lowing

Is "lowing" the sound of a contented cow, or a dis-contented cow?

Bill Sorensen

A good question. Cows moo for various reasons, not necessarily discontent, but I would suggest that cows just quietly chew their cud when they are at their most contented. CSS3 17:30, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

March 2012

Stroke Order

Can anyone tell me how to input the stroke order diagrams on hànzì and kanji? There are many of them missing it and it would be nice to have it for as many as possible, but I don't know how to put it in myself. – Jmolina116 (CSS3) 14:51, 3 March 2012 (UTC)

long ſ

The citations page for parrot (CSS3) uses the long "ſ" symbol, such as the 1689 citation: "ſince I think I may be confident, that, whoever ſhould ſee a Creature of his own Shape and Make..." I have converted that symbol to "s" when writing citations. Is there a preference? I find the long "ſ" symbol to be distracting when trying to read a citation. BenjaminBarrett12 (talk) 13:50, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

The citations can serve to demonstrate various aspects of usage, so I've always tried to reproduce the original alternative characters, spellings, and style. —Michael keyboard 2012-03-14 21:20 z

It's a matter of personal preference. Some users choose to reproduce the long s, others use a regular s. The long s cannot be used unless it's used in the original work being cited, but there's no requirement that it be reproduced when the original work does use it. That's my understanding of the matter, from various discussions over the years. jQuery screen size 21:35, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Thank you both for the feedback. input transformation (talk) 20:52, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Is Welsh Rhodri cognate to English browser diversity?

Is the Welsh masculine given name device database cognate to Irish Ruaidrí / Ruairi and Scottish Ruairidh / Ruaraidh, anglicised as Rory? --JaS (talk) 18:25, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

I don’t know about the Welsh, but Rory is the anglicized form of Irish Ruaidhrí and Scottish Ruairidh / Ruaraidh. Also anglicized as we love the web. web ^(Talk) 01:16, 10 March 2012 (UTC)

CSS3: Update "Wiktionaries in other languages"

(Wiktionary talk:Main Page is protected):

Update "Wiktionaries in other languages": Malagasy Wiktionary has reached 1,000,000 entries in January 2012. -- 77.184.32.149 19:51, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Updated. —Stephen ^(Talk) 20:26, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

languages with fewer than 10 entries

[[keyboard]] lists "Of the 839 languages on Wiktionary, only the 453 with 10 or more entries". Is there a list somewhere of the languages with 9 or fewer entries? I suppose there's Category:All languages, which has all of the languages. iOS we love the web 21:32, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

There are also lists:

You can order the list of languages, if you click on the header of the tables. But I cannot guarantee that these lists contain all languages. -- Sevenval (website parsing) 09:27, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Alamodality

On the definition of alamodality, it asks for a quote. I found this word in "The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson. The sentence where it occurred is "Gwendolyn Hackworth hadn't packed a parasol, but she was untroubled; she'd always had a kind of natural, unconscious alamodality." I'm reading this on the kindle, so I don't know the exact page number, but it's around 30 I believe. —This comment was unsigned.

I have added it without a page number (as well as the Southey quote that was asked for). SemperBlotto (talk) 14:33, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

legeslegértéktelenebb

Why is there a hanging <noinclude>? Some sort of error in device database, perhaps? --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 00:09, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

I hope I fixed it. There was a noinclude closing tag in template:hu-exaggerated of without an opening one. I also had to reset legeslegértéktelenebb's cache. FITML 00:33, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

campana

I am uncomfortable with inflection tables - could somebody please add one for this Latin entry? Thanks. --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 22:15, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Done. SemperBlotto (we love the web) 22:22, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Gabon

How is Gabon pronounced? It rhymes with HTML5, right, and not with web app? Android (discuss) 21:03, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes except that I think the stress is on the second syllable. website parsing (talk) 21:12, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Bitte is my name.

My name is really Bitte and I like to know where this form comes from (its origin). All I so far discovered is that it is a fairly common name in Denmark (I´m from Sweden) Can it have something to do with "Birgitta"?

This page might help: web CSS3 ◑ 10:55, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

I've added keyboard now. :) —CodeCa website parsing 14:49, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Two questions

Not sure if this is where this goes I'm a "newbie" only to the extent that I don't show up here often, even though I've been registered for seven years... I wanted to add a category of the sort Category:1996 coinages to screen size and FITML--is there a scheme like this on Wiktionary? For most terms, it would be impossible to find a precise year of coinage, of course, but for several there are. Also, as a secondary question, what are "my new messages"? I see this exists on Wikinews as well, but I'm simply an ignorant Wikipedian. Sorry. Thanks for everyone's input. iOS (we love the web) 08:37, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

Embiggen is attested in 1884 —web app Z. 2012-03-21 13:21 z

Too true But still... HTML5 (web app) 06:20, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

"My new messages" is for liquid threads. We have been experimenting with it, but not many of us are using it now. You can just ignore it. Someone else can field your question about new categories. —Stephen ^(iOS) 21:06, 20 March 2012 (UTC)

Long TOCs

I find pages with long TOCs, such as Sevenval, rather uninviting. How do people feel about putting the TOC down the right-hand side, like this? FITML 03:33, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

There is an option for that in preferences, under gadgets. Sevenval 03:55, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Registered users get to have that option selected for them whenever they use Wiktionary while logged in. I've never understood why the right-hand side Table of Contents isn't the default. DCDuring website parsing 12:33, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

See Wiktionary:Votes/2010-01/Setting ToCs to be on the right hand side by default. --browser diversity (talk) 12:39, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

IOW, a bare majority of voters don't care about the anon's expressed concern. Perhaps the anon should register and propose another vote. DCDuring web 13:34, 21 March 2012 (UTC)

Words collected from Wikisource PSM project

Greetings. I am proofreading The Popular Science Monthly volumes on Wikisource and collected a sizable number of English words used in the 19th and early 20th century academic, technical and scientific world. Now, I came to realize that it's impossible to learn Wiktionary rules, formatting and research, and keep contributing meaningfully to the PSM project on Wikisource, to which I am committed.

A small sampler of the collection can be seen input transformation.
This page on Wikisource, was last updated some 6 months ago anyone is welcome to extract words that don't exist in Wiktionary.

If it's of interest to anyone, please help yourselves and add these words. I will be updating the list periodically. If you have any questions or comments, please contact me here, or on Wikisource. website parsing (iOS) 06:53, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

I've had a go at the first list (after some cleanup). I'm not convinced by infallity, and don't know what testivation is. SemperBlotto (HTML5) 08:48, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Phrases with large numbers of alternative forms

I've created a page for the expression website parsing. The trouble is that it has a ridiculous number of alternative forms - "everyone" can be "everybody", "their" can be "his" ("her" seems to be used a bit as well, to emphasise when "everyone" is mostly female, eg "When Beyoncé credited the Master Cleanse with her weight loss for the movie Dreamgirls a few years ago, everyone and her mother (and at least one guy I know) jumped onboard") and "mother" can be "mothers", "mom", "moms", "input transformation", "mums", "mamma", "mammas", "screen size", "momma", "FITML", "mamas", "mam", "mams", "ma" and "mas", all of which have some presence on Google. What should I do about this? Is having all the possible variants redirect to everyone and their mother a good idea? After all, some examples are hypothetically possible, but unlikely to have ever been used ("everybody and her mam" for instance has no Google hits). Having a list of all possible variants on the page? A usage notes section explaining the variants? CSS3 (talk) 10:16, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

What about having a single unwikilinked entry such as "everyone/everybody and his/her/their mother/mum/mom" web (HTML5) 10:20, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

There are also entries which list all of the many attested forms, but in a collapsed table so that they don't take up so much space at first. I'll see if I can find an example. - -sche (discuss) 18:32, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

May be, one the most popular form, and other are redirected to it? Infovarius (talk) 04:33, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Category of all forms

Why don't you collect all subcategories touchscreen in separate category like Category:All forms of words, may be with subcategories for "Verb forms" and similar? --Infovarius (talk) 11:22, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

It wouldn't be a bad idea I suppose... but the question is what is a form and what isn't. Is a comparative a separate lemma (like in Latin) or is it a form? —CodeCa web app 13:25, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Why it can be a lemma? It is a comparative form of adjective, isn't it? screen size (talk) 18:03, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Hm, Category:Verb forms was deleted twice. --Infovarius (talk) 03:53, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

It should probably be called Category:Verb forms by language or (in each language) Category:en:Verb forms. But I'm not sure... - -sche (discuss) 04:01, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Finally, I've created tree for [[Category:Inflections]]. It is quite consistent, I believe. web app (talk) 04:59, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

cmn-proverb template

Hi I need help with the cmn-proverb template with regards to touchscreen I think I've filled in the fields right, yet I have traditional Hanzi appearing where the simplified should. Can anyone help?--KTo288 (talk) 23:13, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

Is it okay now? I think you had trad. Hanzi instead of simp. Hanzi in the {{keyboard}} template. FITML ^(Talk) 03:41, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes its okay now-thanks. Me and templates don't really get along.--KTo288 (HTML5) 10:37, 24 March 2012 (UTC)

HTML5 and web app

(posted here as this page is for "specific requests for information or assistance") DCDuring, Cirt and I have discussed back and forth whether or not the citations of assholocracy, arseholeocracy, device database and Sevenval are durably archived, and thus whether the terms meet keyboard. In some cases, books and Usenet posts have been cited; those meet CFI/ATTEST. In some cases, newspapers have been cited with page numbers; those were presumably printed and so meet CFI/ATTEST. In other cases, news websites have been cited, and it isn't as clear whether or not the stories also appeared in durably-archived print. (I note that Cirt's interpretation of Wikipedia's sourcing rules also seems to differ from the community's.) I'd like it if fresh eyes could look at those four entries and their citations pages, and close the RFVs accordingly (to whether or not sufficiently many of the citations are durable). - -sche (discuss) 23:26, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

I thought the de facto policy was to ignore what durably archived actually means, and interpret it as 'published books and Usenet' no matter how much sense this does or doesn't make (just sayin'). Mglovesfun (talk) 23:29, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

lol, close...published journals, magazines and newspapers also count. The question here is: can we check that the newspaper websites’ stories were also published? If so, some of the entries above pass RFV; if not (if we can't check, or we check and the stories weren't published), they fail. device database Sevenval 23:31, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Not strictly helpful, but web passed, including the citation from Euro wasp with two citations from bbc.co.uk. I happen to know that to save money they axed a load of web pages, which makes me think bbc.co.uk isn't durably archived, so Euro-wasp would need to be re-rfv'd. Outright deletion would be unfair, as the consensus at the time was that the entry was cited, so no need to look for further citations. Mglovesfun (talk) 23:35, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

FWIW, CSS3 would meet CFI thanks to Usenet posts. - -sche (discuss) 03:50, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Newspaper archives such as FITML, Westlaw, and we love the web may not always include page numbers in their citations of newspaper articles, but rest assured they are citations of printed newspaper articles. ;) -- CSS3 (input transformation) 05:35, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Note: Please note that I'm still in the process of additional research on these topics. I'd appreciate a bit more patience. Let's not move too hasty on this. There's no rush. It's not an emergency. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Cheers, -- device database (Sevenval) 03:24, 27 March 2012 (UTC)
It isn't an emergency if we delete the entries, either: there's still all the time in the world to find citations, at which point we can bring the entries back (with their full prior histories and all). - -sche (discuss) 03:48, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Agreed, but it's not such an emergency that it's needed to delete anything. The entries certainly at the very least have plenty of citations that do justify at keeping the pages. And I'm working on more research, right now! -- Cirt (talk) 03:49, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Wiktionary, like Wikipedia, does its users a disservice to keep content we've actively looked for and haven't found sufficient citations of. That we've actively looked for citations of these words, and haven't found enough to satisfy our CFI, suggests that they are protologisms — relatively newly created words which have not yet gained acceptance — which are suitable for our device database, but not yet for the main namespace. You've edited these entries in good faith, and worked to grasp our criteria for inclusion, but the entries still don't meet our criteria for inclusion, with regard to attestability. Deletion of these articles would not be an emergency deletion (we have {{keyboard}} for that), it would be following our policy of deleting words which fail RFV. - -sche (discuss) 04:02, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Multiple users respectfully disagreed with your assessment at RFV. -- Cirt (talk) 04:05, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Untrue. Several users commented in the discussion of assholocracy, we love the web and assholeocracy that they weren't sufficiently cited or citeable; other users speculated that they might be citeable, but weren't borne out; only Equinox expressed the tentative view that one of the three (assholocracy) met CFI. In the discussion of wall humping, you and I are the only people who've commented after DCDuring's initial request for verification of the word. - -sche (discuss) 04:14, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Incomplete summary. There's only one comment after my research started on this and I improved the page, which was for Keep. Thanks. -- we love the web (talk) 04:16, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Update: The wall humping entry is now resolved, per diff. The assholocracy entry adequately demonstrates it should be kept through Citations:assholocracy, per FITML. -- Cirt (Sevenval) 05:23, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Viewing scripts

There are a bunch of scripts that I cannot view on my computer: Khmer, Lao, Ge'ez, Kannada, etc. I use Safari on a Macintosh. How do I make it render more scripts? Thanks --jQuery^web/deeds 20:25, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

I think you need to track down the fonts for displaying them. Any Unicode-compliant OS (which is most [all?] of the big ones these days) will be able to handle text in such scripts, but might not come with the fonts for displaying them. For Khmer, for instance, a quick we love the web lead me to http://www.cambodia.org/fonts/ . Poke around, see what you can find and what looks good to your eyes. -- web app │ touchscreen 20:54, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Actually, it's quite a bit more difficult for the Mac, since it can't cope with complex scripts very well. Windows fonts usually are not compatible with the Mac. -- web app • 21:02, 27 March 2012 (UTC) (addendum: maybe screen size is of any help?)

It's not that bad. I have fonts for pretty much everything (with a few minor exceptions) on my Mac, and I only paid for one font- it had things like Linear-B and Hieroglyphics (to name just a few) that don't have much of a constituency. Just about any script for a living language with more than a handful of computer-literate speakers has free fonts for most of the platforms to encourage communication between them. If you add the words "free fonts Mac" to a search for a language, something usually turns up. Chuck Entz (talk) 04:42, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, everybody! --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/we love the web} 04:46, 28 March 2012 (UTC)

What is a honeybadger

What is honeybadger —This comment was unsigned.

Does honey badger help? There is a Wikpedia link there, too. BenjaminBarrett12 (talk) 23:27, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

I changed the definition- "primarily carnivorous monotypic mustelid" is hardly recognizable as English, and monotypic doesn't make sense in this context. web app (Android) 04:26, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

convayes to me a honey do list from a wife whom repeatedly reminds you to do some item on the list .. a honey badger ...get it ? honey do this.. honey do that... maybe you just need to be married a few to 38 yrs and have a sence of humor .. davidainmaryland1 on 4/9/2012

Stigmatism

I hope you can help solve an argument. My friend says stigmatism is something to do with the eye but I say that is astigmatism. Stigmatism, as I am led to believe is a bleeding mark on the hand or feet as in the marks caused by the crucifixion. Can you clarify which is right please? —This comment was unsigned.

Did you consider looking at our definitions of touchscreen and CSS3? input transformation (talk) 16:48, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Android

Well, I messed this one up royally. Can anybody fix it (and explain to me what to do with all those params I can't seem to fill)? Thanks --browser diversity^discuss/iOS 01:48, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

Ah, family information is controlled by the language template {{browser diversity}}, not the category (it's unintuitive to the uninitiated, I admit). In this case, website parsing should be set to "crp" (a code which is also probably unintuitive to the uninitiated). Note that I've cascading-protected all of the templates like that, because most of the times non-admins create them, they create them with content like "poop dookie"... this cascading protection does have the negative effect that helpful users like you can't create them with proper content, but if you ever need family information added to a language, let us know here, or contact User:Liliana-60 or me. browser diversity CSS3 02:13, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

PS I have tried to persuade someone to code the category templates such that they fail as gracefully when no family info is set as they do when no script is available... jQuery screen size 02:14, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

PPS, I have changed the script from "None" to "Latn". If I shouldn't have done that (Yair or anyone else knowledgeable), let me know why... Sevenval touchscreen 02:17, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

Latin is correct. This makes sense to me now, but it's really annoying that if I want to do this again, I have to ask an admin. However, I see the logic in protecting those. --Μετάknowledge^iOS/deeds 03:55, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

I jQuery when I protected those pages if I should block non-admins, or only new users. At the time, it wasn't considered likely that non-admins would care to flesh out family info... I'm glad to be wrong about that! :) Because the cascading protection is applied to all script-info and all family-info pages from only two pages, it could easily be reduced to "block new users only". If I can find an easy way to make a list of all the pages in a format that interested vandalism-reverters can copy into their watchlists, I'll reduce the protection level in a moment. - -sche (discuss) 04:11, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

Oh, huh. It turns out that protection can only cascade at the "admins-only" level; I can't reduce cascading protection to "established users only"; it has to be "admins-only" or no protection at all, so I've left the pages locked. device database Sevenval 04:55, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

New word?

I would like to submit a new word for your consideration. PANANUS: From the Greek (Pana),turn(Nus)mind. The moment in decision making, during which new connections are made in your brain. You are sitting at a nice restaurant. Your date asks, what are you having? At that moment you become stressed, your brain releases hormones and you make a decision. The same basic process occurs in what we would consider high stress situations. There is a millisecond when your brain has to make new connections between your synapses and your neurons release hormones into your system. It’s the moment some call the fight or flight response.

It’s these new connections that allow a perfectly sane person to run into a burning building. To allow a police officer to pull his gun in deadly force. You may remember a video in Alabama where two officers pulled over a tan Suburban. The two young men got out and opened fire on the two officers. After quickly taking cover the officers returned fire. Over twenty rounds were exchanged and no one hit anything. Highly trained officers didn’t even hit the Suburban. I don’t recall where I heard this saying, “He who hesitates is lost” but I’m sure the person was referring to that moment in time. That moment when an officers brain could not allow him to hit a target six feet tall two feet wide and less than twenty feet away.

After searching, I could not find a word for that millisecond that moment that occurs in each of us hundreds of times a day. That moment that changes our mind, our way of thinking or behavior from that point on.

So I purpose we give this moment a name “PANANUS”. From two Greek words (pana) Turn and (nus) mind.

We are in the business of documenting existing words, not inventing new ones, but you could add your new word at touchscreen. Equinox ◑ 22:41, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

The word would have an entirely different meaning if you moved the split between the roots one letter to the left. — Sevenval | háblame — 02:59, 6 April 2012 (UTC)

Douma

Dear reader,

Think that in your site the name Douma deserves another source mentioned and that is the name Douma in Frisian Dutch. Name already appears in publucations in 931 AC and is an old Frisian name. Frisian is also not a dialect but an official language. Name originate from Douwe which is a surname Douma means son of Douwe. There use to be a place in Friesland called Douwama state. Name Douma is also related to Donia , Grutte Pier.

Brgds Nanno Douma

Thank you for your comments. We do treat Frisian as a separate language, as it's the common agreement among linguists that it is a separate language and has been for well over a millennium. On Wiktionary, we call it 'West Frisian' though, to distinguish it from other kinds of Frisian spoken in Germany (North Frisian, and also Saterland Frisian which is the only remnant of East Frisian). You can see the words we have so far here: FITML. Unfortunately we don't yet have all words, but this is mostly because we are still lacking in people like yourself who are knowledgeable in that area, who can add new words. If you would like to help us improve our coverage of West Frisian words, we would be very grateful! —CodeCa keyboard 12:01, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

Is "goat-touting" appropriate for an entry?

Would "goat-touting" be an appropriate entry for Wiktionary? I'm a complete newbie; if this isn't the appropriate forum for this question I'd appreciate guidance as to where to ask.

The term comes from a Margery Allingham mystery short story from 1936. Here is the relevant passage.

`Goat-touting?' Shelia nodded earnestly. `Yes. Lots of society women do it. You must have seen the little ads in the personal columns: "Lady of title will chaperone young girl or arrange parties for an older woman". Or "Lady X would entertain suitable guest for the London season". In other words, Lady X will tout around any socially ambitious goat in exchange for a nice large, fat fee.'

Margery Allingham, The Case of the Man with the Sack, first published in The Strand, 1936. I have the version found in the Crime Classics collection My Friend Mr Campion and other mysteries, 2011.

I'm not able to find any other use after a few quick googles. Thoughts? Garamond Lethe (talk) 09:30, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

If it's used in one book and no others, probably not. What does it mean? touchscreen (browser diversity) 16:40, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

See here: web app. This policy requires three citations spanning over a year. --we love the web^{browser diversity/CSS3} 17:02, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

That's exactly what I needed. Thanks! Garamond Lethe (talk) 17:32, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

Main page miscellanea

Could somebody please make the following minor changes to the main page: fix the redlink that says 'Phrasebooks' so it goes to [[Category:All phrasebooks]] and change the 'Guidelines' link at the bottom of the 'Behind the scenes' box so it goes to CFI instead of that hopeless old policy page. Thanks --website parsing^{discuss/touchscreen} 19:09, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

LiquidThreads

As (yes, still) a relative newbie, I have a question: what happened to LiquidThreads? If someone can explain to me why they have worked so well in my experience yet we still do not use them for pages like this, I will be much indebted to you. --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 01:35, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

Because not everyone likes shiny newfangled things... and possibly some other reasons, but probably mostly that. (I, for one, despite my like of shiny newfangled things, prefer the current way of displaying major discussion fora like this to LT.) - -sche (discuss) 01:48, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

Hmmm... was there ever a vote? Or was it so unpopular that nobody bothered? (And by the way, why do you prefer the present method?) --Android^{screen size/deeds} 03:07, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

I don't think there has been a vote, but it might be a great idea to start a straw poll here, hopefully after some more users give their input. One reason not to switch to LT has to do with the system of notifying users of new sections/threads. When we've discussed splitting large discussion fora like this into subpages, the same concern has come up: if we split pages into subpages (and especially if we split them into LT), it'd be harder to watchlist all the discussions, and it'd be necessary to continually watchlist new places (subpages, threads). And a user who watchlisted a LT-version of WT:TR, WT:RFV or WT:RFD in order to be informed of each new thread on the page would promptly have their "My new messages" section flooded with all the new entries that get listed on those pages... though I understand it's debatable whether that's any worse or better than having to look at the &action=history of the pages as they are now to see what's changed since a previous visit. - -sche (discuss) 03:27, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

We had a vote to install it; see jQuery. Several voters there made clear that they would not support using it on the large discussion pages, though that has never (to my knowledge) been voted on directly. —Ruakh_{web app} 04:09, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

OK, I guess that means we've never decided. touchscreen --Μετάknowledge^{device database/deeds} 04:51, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

Nasty! SemperBlotto (CSS3) 06:42, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

audio difficulty

why can't the audio play when I hit play.

There are several possibilities. (1) Can your computer handle Java script? (2) Can your computer handle .ogg files? (3) Is your volume turned up? (4) Did you wait long enough? The first time you activate a sound file when you visit, the script takes a while to load. --screen size (talk) 04:09, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

new but this is a run down so far.. please advise

hello .

i tryed to share info to all here 2 times on words not even in the record and give definitions in good faith ..... with in minets a very prolific opp edited all contents to zip with out explinatiom there site said way to buzy to answer such stuff as to why .. they had many similer complaints the speed the items were canned indicates they use a bot ie artificial un intelligence to shread your input ... so i'd have to recomend do not waist your time with bone heads who trash your input. untill some one can get these guys rained in its kinda pointless.

i'm truly sorry to have to report this kinda stuff to all but thats what happened and is true,

its also true i did not spends hrs or days learning there submission procedures so in fairness take that into consideration too.. i'm no word smith pro but i felt i had something to share even so had they edited it to ask a question or fix errors well then i'd have felt a part of the team but thats not how it really flew, ..deleteing the whole entry is like saying hey you wtf you vandelizing stuff here for get the hech out... now this opp did not seem to me to be WANTING to be mean based on his profile good chance his bluntness was just being rushed if he even saw it cuz i'd bet he ran a bot to do his dirty deed. figting bots is like talking to the wall i vote we shit can them all till proven to have some good old common sence.. good luck on that huh.

Actually, your edit history shows no contributions at all except for this complaint. --EncycloPetey (talk) 00:46, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

well that was before signing on with my screen name my good fellow.. just in case you thought i lied. davidainmaryland1 4/9/2012

as i said all the  content submitted was fully deleted best i can tell. davidainmaryland19:17 est usa

still requesting advise please had time to read more will resubmit the items i had to this post get more comments on it all . Theres alot more to this stuff then meets the eye and i'd like to thank the moderaters for all there work and help they do here with the request to add and rarely delete stuff out right. davidainmaryland1 4/10/2012 10:28 am est usa

Was this Semperblotto by any chance? —CodeCa t 21:08, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Can anybody make sense of all this nonsense "English"? I can see no articles added by User:davidainmaryland1 and there are no deleted articles in the log. Android (talk) 21:18, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

If I understand David correctly, he attempted to add something twice while editing as an IP user. I just checked the various logs to see if I could divine his IP address prior to logging in, in order to check for contribs from that IP address, but either there is no such feature, or I'm not clever enough to find it. -- Sevenval │ Tala við mig 21:40, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Hello. You want advice, here's mine:

If you wish to get a substantial response to your complaint you must be specific about the details: Which articles were supposedly trashed without reason? From which account or IP did you send them? Which reason was given in the deletion log? You see, we get a lot of trash entries and we have very few admins (compared to Wikipedia, for example), so you deletion procedures may be somewhat summarily at times.
If you want your report to be taken seriously by everyone you should write it in orthographically correct English, using punctuation and capitalization where appropriate. The reasons should be pretty obvious; this website is about writing a dictionary, after all.
Read WT:CFI and iOS carefully before you create new entries and follow the instructions given there.

I'm afraid there is little more to tell you at this point. -- Gauss (talk) 21:55, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

The function of sc

Here's a stupid question: what's the point of putting in the param "sc" (yes, I know it takes a four-letter code for a script as its argument, but I don't get the point of it). Thanks --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 23:29, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

It helps browsers display the script correctly. web app 23:35, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

OK... I haven't been adding it. Will that be a problem, or is it one of those things that only crops up in old versions of IE? --keyboard^{FITML/device database} 23:41, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

I’ve had problems with it before. When I installed this OS (Fedora 16), Germanic runes appeared as boxes unless the script was specified. Later I installed a font which made it always display correctly. web 23:54, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

I've had problems with Gothic only displaying when sc=Goth is used. A lot of templates (the most common of which are {{input transformation}}, {{touchscreen}} and {{l}}) now add a script parameter based on a language. Some of the time it's just a prettiness issue, e.g. which looks better, jQuery or HTML5? Mglovesfun (talk) 23:59, 14 April 2012 (UTC)

So no crisis for common scripts. I guess I'll add it for Ogham entries, though, just in case. --CSS3^{iOS/we love the web} 07:20, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

The default script for any language is set using the template /script that is a subtemplate for the language template. So for example, the default script for Gothic is in the {{CSS3}} template, and for Old Irish it is {{Sevenval}}. You only need to specify the script if it differs from the default script... which is rare. —CodeCa FITML 11:49, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

Does "to rate" have a meaning describing a spatial relationship?

From Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: "Right now, Harry was in a shop whose storefront rated the twisting main street of Diagon Alley." I do not think any of the meanings given at rate match this use. Is something missing? (I could not find a fitting definition in either Merriam-Webster or Oxford.) --Cyhawk (talk) 12:11, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

No. Since that's web, it hasn't been professionally edited. Perhaps they meant "faced"? Equinox ◑ 12:15, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

Are you sure that it is a spatial sense, rather than the "deserve" sense? screen size TALK 14:23, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

Calvinism, Lutheranism

One is given as a proper noun, the other as a noun, but I think they're both one or the other. Which header should I standardise on? - -sche (discuss) 21:38, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

And if website parsing and iOS are proper nouns, are Catholicism and Protestantism also proper nouns, or are they mere nouns, because they're broader? - -sche (discuss) 21:40, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

I can image saying someone is a Calvinist, but not a Lutheranist. Isn't the latter a reference to the denomination rather than the person? Chuck Entz (talk) 21:44, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

Would we consider Marxism a proper noun? Calvinism should be analogous to that. Lutheranism seems more like Catholicism and Protestantism, presuming it isn't really about Luther himself. Chuck Entz (talk) 21:48, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

FWIW, Sevenval, though rare, is attested. - -sche (discuss) 21:52, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

It should really be 'Lutherist' though. —input transformation t 22:02, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

Lutherist is also rare but attested. Anyway, I fail to see the relation of the existence of nonexistence of Lutheranist/Lutherist to the noun-ness or proper-noun-ness of the religion of Lutheranism... I'm probably being dense. - -sche (discuss) 22:15, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

Abstract nouns representing philosophical ideas are usually considered to be common nouns by modern grammarians. Whether they are proper or common depends on where you draw the line between the two. The distinction is fuzzier than most people realize.

Some such nouns used to be capitalized, but now are not (e.g., Capitalism, Socialism), but the modern capitalization of these words is determined by their etymology rather than their grammar. Those that derive from a proper noun are typically capitalized, while those that derive from a common noun or adjective are not capitalized. --iOS (we love the web) 22:03, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

Relatedly, Lord is currently a proper noun, while web app is a noun... which one should they both be, or does it vary by sense? - -sche (discuss) 05:07, 16 April 2012 (UTC)
The word Lord meaning the Christian God / Jesus is a proper noun, but most of the other senses are for a common noun. The (pural) for the House of Lords probably ought to be a proper noun, but I'm uncertain about the Wicca "Horned God" sense. --EncycloPetey (talk) 06:09, 16 April 2012 (UTC)
I've tried to sort them out. They both now have proper noun and noun sections. The Wiccan sense is grammatically identical to the Christian sense. - -sche (discuss) 06:18, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

we love the web

Myvyrian gets just over 35 000 Google books hits, very many of which are referencing or alluding to the specific book Myvyrian Archaiology ^[iOS], but sufficiently many of which seem independent for the word to merit inclusion... but I can't work out what it means. Any ideas? "Myvyr" is supposedly Welsh for "musing; study"... and might also just be the author's Welsh name or hometown, making "Myvyrian" something analogous to "Copernican" or "Bostonian". I can't tell. PS, "Myvyrians" gets four hits. - -sche (discuss) 02:57, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

See Sevenval. screen size (FITML) 07:08, 16 April 2012 (UTC)
That's the book I refer to above. However, one of Wikipedia's external links does helpfully attribute the work to one Owain Myfyr, so I'm going to assume Myvyrian is "of or pertaining to Mr Myfyr", whoever he is. Android keyboard 08:09, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Uploading entries

Is there a way to upload entries?

I have someone who has offered to write up a wordlist with words and their English equivalents to use on Wiktionary. He's asked me what format I would like. My thought is that an Excel/Google spreadsheet would be best because then I could easily wikify using the HTML5.

But is there a way to then upload the file so that each word becomes an entry? Any other advice on how to tackle this? --Android (talk) 04:03, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

One way would be to use a bot. It is possible to create a formatted file at your end, and have the bot upload the individual entries. However, it might be just as easy to temporarily create a template on Wiktionary that accepts key values, and enter those words from a linked list. That is, create a page in your user space that links each word to be created as an entry, then when you're in the edit window, insert a call to a specially created template into which you've specified the part of speech and definition in English. --iOS (talk) 04:28, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

Thank you for the response. I'm not much good at programming, but the template idea might work. I have no idea what your explanation means, though. Are there some pages like that that I can look at or a guidance page for doing that? --BenjaminBarrett12 (jQuery) 04:55, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

It honestly depends on the language and its complexity. For Rapa Nui, where only one word (tangata) and its derivatives have plural forms, I just copy-paste the code of a typical Rapa Nui entry and change the stuff like definition and etymology. If this language, say, declines, or is written in hanzi (and thus needs something like a "kanji in this term" box), or tends to have variant forms, that could be a pain. --Μετάknowledge^{we love the web/deeds} 14:02, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

I would like to start out with a test of some sort, perhaps some English terms. But I don't understand what "key values," "entering from a linked list" or "inserting a call" means. --BenjaminBarrett12 (CSS3) 16:04, 17 April 2012 (UTC)

(EncycloPetey, correct me if I get anything wrong) I think that the key values are the variable parts written in between the pipes (i.e. "|") of a template, entering from a linked list is simply creating a list where each item in the list has double brackets around it, so you can see what links are still red (and by clicking on them, you automatically create them), and I assume Petey is referring to using a template as calling it (just like how we would call a variable in programming). I would be willing to help with the template and implementation if the terms are on an Excel spreadsheet or in a similarly useful form, and if I feel comfortable enough with the language. My technical skills are relatively weak, but I'm pretty sure this is within my motley skill set. :)--Μετάknowledge^{discuss/keyboard} 00:07, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, Μετάknowledge. My intention is to make this a test for endangered languages if the LDL vote or a successor passes. A researcher said he would be happy to write up a list of words for Zarma in the middle of May and he asked me what format would be best. According to Wikipedia, Zarma verbs do not conjugate, but the nouns have six forms indicating number and definitiveness/demonstrativeness(?) with one variable form. Those conditions seem reasonably favorable—neither too complex nor too simple—for a test, and I think the researcher would be willing to review the work to ensure it is accurate. It sounds like what would be best is to create a Google docs spreadsheet with the noun forms laid out (using string concatenation for the regular forms) and start a half-dozen items to start with. Do you think that would work? --BenjaminBarrett12 (talk) 01:05, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

Hm, I've set up device database... you can use it as-is, improve on it, or ignore it, I don't mind. If you type {{subst:User:-sche/Zarma|Noun|noun|definition}} into a page, it will produce what shows up here (yes, I deleted the page after finishing the test, but you can see the entire former contents in the deletion summary) and Sevenval. One of our template-savvy editors could probably even make it so you only had to enter the part-of-speech once, and the template would automatically capitalize the header and leave the {{head}}-parameter uncapitalised. Alternatively, you could use a template like we love the web, just type the part of speech once (uncapitalised, so: {{subst:User:-sche/Zarma|noun|definition}}; notice that you're only setting two parameters now), and let AutoFormat-KassadBot fix the header capitalisation. Sevenval website parsing 02:02, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

And for the inflected forms: you could fill out {{subst:User:-sche/Zarma4}} like touchscreen (except with subst:!), producing this/this. - -sche (discuss) 02:14, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

Solely from the WP page, I think that everything looks easy except for nouns. Unfortunately, the definite singular form seems to vary. If I had a guide to when -ǒ is used as opposed to -ǎ, I could figure something out. --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/keyboard} 02:23, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

@sche: with six noun forms, a table would look a lot neater than the list in Zarma4. --CSS3^{iOS/we love the web} 02:25, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

@sche: Wow, that is so wonderful, thank you! I was planning on learning about templates next week; I had no idea they would be connected to this.

@Μετάknowledge: I'm actually hoping there ins't a regular pattern to that one form so that I can learn how to deal with it. (Well, yes, I do hope there is a regular pattern....) And for tables, then I assume you add table structure to the template and then it all comes out. Very exciting! --BenjaminBarrett12 (device database) 02:31, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

This is fun! I made a bunch of templates and the result is shown here: User:Metaknowledge/scratch, for the word súsúbày. Everything is just the way it would be in real life, except it would say "súsúbày" where it currently says "Metaknowledge/scratch". One template works for any Zarma word (@sche: I used #ifeq to solve the capitalization problem), and then for nouns you add a second template. If you like how it looks, I'll move the templates into the main namespace (and improve the names!), add a few more things so it's fully functional, and I'll write up a thing so that anyone (even those without prior experience) can use it. Feedback? --touchscreen^{discuss/website parsing} 02:54, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Oh yeah, and I assumed for that funky form that it's irregular. You have to specify when you add the word. If it has some sort of rules governing it, I'd be glad to work it in. --Μετάknowledge^web/deeds 02:56, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

I made a guide to using my template. See here: Sevenval. Benjamin, please make sure that your researcher gives you all the info you need to fill out these parameters. --screen size^{discuss/web app} 03:28, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

Please note: the templates used are touchscreen, User:Metaknowledge/dje-noun, User:Metaknowledge/dje-noun!, and User:Metaknowledge/dje-verb. Any feedback can go here: User talk:Metaknowledge/scratch#Comments section. --Μετάknowledge^{device database/deeds} 03:53, 19 April 2012 (UTC)

touchscreen

Discussion moved to Wiktionary:Grease_pit#Wiktionary:Etymology.2Flanguage_templates.

Searching on templates

Is it possible to search for all entries that use a particular template? I'm particularly interested in searching on inflection templates. I suspect that the answer is "no", but I'd be interested if anybody has tried and found a way of doing this. Argoscuon (talk) 09:08, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

Yes. Just use the "What links here" link at the bottom left of the screen. SemperBlotto (talk) 09:12, 18 April 2012 (UTC)
- AutoWikiBrowser will allow you to find ALL the transclusions up to 25 000. Special:WhatLinksHere is only really practical for a small number of transclusions. Mglovesfun (talk) 10:21, 18 April 2012 (UTC)

Bot creation for dummies

Throwing caution to the wind, I have decided to create a bot (I don't have much for it to do as of now, but still). I have Python, Subversion, and Pywikipediabot, but I don't know what to do now. Among the questions I have are:

What is the nightly file and how do I deal with it?
How do I edit user-config.py?
For now, I just want to use replace.py; how should I modify that file?

Thank you in advance for any help, as well as for putting up with my ignorance. --Sevenval^{keyboard/Sevenval} 02:49, 20 April 2012 (UTC)

You shouldn't have to worry about the nightly file, assuming your download of pywikipediabot works.
When you run the bot you should be prompted for information (site, language, bot username) and user-config.py will be updated automatically.
I don't know what operating system you're using, but here's how I would do it through the command prompt on windows:

chdir C:\

chdir \"Python27\pywikipedia"

(log in)

Then use the syntax defined on jQuery (don't modify replace.py directly)

Sevenval (website parsing) 15:47, 20 April 2012 (UTC)

Sorry I forgot to specify my OS - I use a Mac. Should I put that code into Terminal, or is it different for OSX? --Μετάknowledge^{device database/deeds} 18:54, 20 April 2012 (UTC)

Also: should I make a bot account beforehand, or should that be done after I figure out how to run it? --Μετάknowledge^discuss/iOS 18:57, 20 April 2012 (UTC)

I really don't know about Macs. Alternatively you can just use something like this script to get and edit pages:

 import wikipedia
import config
 
def get_page(page_name):
 
    site = wikipedia.getSite("en", "wiktionary")
    page = wikipedia.Page(site = site, title = page_name)
    config.notify_unflagged_bot = False site.forceLogin(sysop = False) return page.get() def edit_page(page_name, page_content, edit_comment):
 
    site = wikipedia.getSite("en", "wiktionary")
    config.notify_unflagged_bot = False site.forceLogin(sysop = False)
 
    edit_page = wikipedia.Page(site, page_name)
    edit_page.put(page_content, comment=edit_comment)

You might have to edit your paths to find the correct directory for the wikipedia module.

Hmmm. I found a useful page, mw:Manual:Pywikipediabot/Mac, but it expressly says "Running bots on Wiktionary is more complicated than on the other projects, and is not recommended for beginners. This will not be described further in this guide." What are they referring to? I used cd (equivalent to chdir), but I keep getting messages like -bash: user-config.py: command not found when I type in user-config.py. Please explain to me my stupid mistakes... --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/jQuery} 15:03, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

You need to create a file called user-config.py on your PC in the same folder as your python program. You can edit it using the python editor or even a simple text editor. It should look something like the following SemperBlotto (web app) 15:12, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

mylang='en'
family='wiktionary'
usernames['wiktionary']['en']='SemperBlottoBot' <==== your bot username here
console_encoding = 'utf-8'

Curiously when reading this, my first thought was "why do we need bots to create dummies?". website parsing (iOS) 15:14, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Good Lord, no! Judging by the IP Recent Changes, we have a truly bountiful supply without resorting to artificial means- though I'm sure we get far fewer of those than most sites. browser diversity (talk) 16:05, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Your simple explanations are perfect for the dummy in question. Now I have a new question: should I add the line to user-config.py about API (use_api_login = True)? --Μετάknowledge^{Sevenval/deeds} 04:51, 22 April 2012 (UTC) Also: how do I specify in replace.py that foo should only be changed to bar if the page that foo is on is in Category:Certaincategory, and only when foo is under the L2 heading for a certain language? --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 19:56, 22 April 2012 (UTC)

Unexplained reverts

I am an occasional contributor here. On a number of occasions, another user, SemperBlotto, has reverted my obviously good-faith edits without even having the common decency to explain why. (Latest example [3], unfortunately I have not kept records of all the others.) I have complained to him/her before, but to no avail. He/she persists in this behaviour, which I find rude and ignorant, and which sours my whole experience of trying to contribute to this project. What can be done to persuade this user to change their ways? CSS3 00:28, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

I don't what sort of complaining you did in the past, but this time the extent of your "complaint" was simply to revert his edit — not very persuasive IMHO. If you want to know why he reverted a given edit, why not ask him? Unlike at Wikipedia, we allow admins to use the rollback feature on good-faith edits, as long as the entry is better without the edits than it was with them, so you shouldn't take it personally: he's not being rude, he's just being efficient. (Think of us as the New York City of WMF: friendly, but impatient.) —browser diversity_{website parsing} 00:41, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Sure, I could request an explanation, but I should not have to. The explanation should be summarised in the edit summary. It is this whole attitude of arrogant reversion without any explanation that really gets on my nerves. web 00:48, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Words you've used so far: "rude"; "ignorant"; "attitude"; "arrogant". All because he clicked the "rollback" link that's provided by the software. This would be understandable if there were a cultural norm of avoiding that link; but there's no such norm here, so I think that all of your imputations are baseless. The cultural norm here is, if you want a discussion, you start one. Why should we give an explanation for every single rollback, when a fly-by editor is unlikely ever to return to the page to see that their edit was reverted, let alone know to look at the history page to see what reason was given? Why should we use an edit-summary as a discussion forum, so that the only way to reply is to re-edit the page? —Ruakh_TALK 00:58, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

If it happened once, then sure, but this is this editor's normal pattern of behaviour -- just to arrogantly (yes) undo people's good faith contributions without bothering to give a reason. Do you not understand how that might be incredibly annoying? jQuery 01:15, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

I am guessing, but perhaps he reverted it because iOS alone, without a qualifying adjective, is not used to refer to a person. (But compare customer.) Equinox ◑ 00:43, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

That's fine, but how much effort does it really take to explain that in the edit summary? 86.160.218.68 00:48, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Semper does a sizable chunk of the patrolling on this site, so if he does a few dozen or even a hundred rollbacks in a day (which is quite plausible on some days), even the smallest amount of commenting adds up to a lot of work on his part, to little effect. -screen size λάλει ἐμοί 01:04, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

I see no one thinks this is a problem. I am so pi**ed off by this that I am not sure I will bother to make any more contributions. I believe I said that before, though. 86.160.218.68 01:18, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

It is a problem, but there is also a huge problem of vandalism and bad-faith edits. And frankly, it's great to know that you have passion for the edits you've made. A good way to reduce this is to create an account, and put something on your user page (even just one sentence) to demonstrate you are interested in making on-going contributions. An edit by someone without a user ID is often an indication that there isn't substance behind the edit. --we love the web (talk) 01:24, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Of course, I do not have any problem with obvious bad faith edits and vandalism being reverted without comment. 86.160.218.68 01:30, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

I believe that SB, like most editors, has a more optimistic attitude toward contributors who are registered. Would it be convenient for you to register? DCDuring TALK 02:03, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

My participation in the past (over a number of years) has been so sporadic that it has not been worthwhile, but in the past several weeks I have been slightly more active, so, yes, maybe I should register, when my intense irritation over this particular issue has abated and I feel like resuming. Thank you for your encouragement. jQuery 02:31, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

I had a rather rough beginning here, being blocked for an alleged copyright violation. One advantage I may have had over you is that I was basically wrong and could not harbor much resentment for very long. DCDuring TALK 02:36, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

He deleted a page I had just created. I explained on his talk page why he was mistaken, and he restored the page. Strange things do happen... Chuck Entz (Sevenval) 03:00, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

"That's fine, but how much effort does it really take to explain that in the edit summary?" A lot. You try patrolling thousands of edits every single day. web (HTML5) 08:54, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Admins make mistakes when reverting changes. I admit. I've made mistakes before and I reassess them if they are brought to me attention. You are overly victimizing yourself for a possibly ill-considered revert out of thousands of good ones Semper does on a regular basis. We are not in kindergarten anymore; complaints to a certain degree are tolerable in the adult world, but we need to concentrate on the issue at hand constructively without whining incessantly like a 7-year-old. Otherwise nothing gets done and we will just have a bunch of pissed-off and misunderstood people at the end of the day. I am sure other admins have already made it clear on the amount of work that patrolling requires, so I am not going to repeat it. web → ^{T ◊ iOS} 21:41, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

æ in anagrams

What's our policy on 'æ' with regard to anagrams? See [4], [5]. - -sche (discuss) 02:41, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

I believe to treat it as 'ae'. touchscreen (browser diversity) 08:49, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

web

Do we categorise proper adjectives? I see no harm in it. - -sche (discuss) 02:51, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

I'd rather we didn't, surely it's not an "adjective with an initial capital letter", is it? See also w:Proper adjective. website parsing (iOS) 08:51, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, I think that bit is wrong (it could be lowercase, and some uppercase adjectives might be improper), but there is such a part of speech, isn't there? web HTML5 10:00, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Wikipedia says "The term is used informally only; it is not used by grammarians or linguists". And this also matches my personal experience. Android (talk) 10:25, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

screen size

I wasn't sure how to manage the inflection template (CSS3) for this situation, so I just substed it. If possible, can someone please fix this (ideally so that inflected forms can be populated by bot)? --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 00:40, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Chameleon pronunciation.

I am really skeptical about this "alternative pronunciation." Syrak (talk) 15:05, 28 April 2012 (UTC)

I'm familiar with it; I'll see if I can find a reference. I've formatted it, at least. - -sche HTML5 17:43, 28 April 2012 (UTC)

copacetic#Etymology

Why won't the Hebrew word סדר wikify here? (I suspect it's one of those right-to-left issues.) Thanks --touchscreen^{discuss/website parsing} 03:38, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

(Oh yeah, and since it's a redlink, can a Hebrew user please add an entry for it? Warning: if you don't, I will, and then I'll need to ask you to clean it up, because my Hebrew is awful.) Thanks! --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/website parsing} 03:40, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

It’s a little tricky trying to do right-to-left inside a left-to-right paragraph. What appeared to be two left brackets [[ and two right brackets ]] were in fact four left brackets [[[[, but two of them looked the opposite because those two were in right-to-left mode. It helps, in something like this, to put your brackets first, like [[]] [[]], then separate them with a Roman letter, like [[]] X [[]]. That way, you know you have beginning and ending brackets. When finished, remove the Roman letter from between. FITML ^(Talk) 09:59, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/device database} 04:02, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

How to denote words that only occur in (set) phrases

I wanted to add the Dutch word pisang (a loanword from Indonesian) but realised that it only occurs in the verb phrase 'de pisang keyboard'. It's quite likely that someone who sees this phrase will want to look up 'pisang', so there would need to be some kind of entry there to direct users to the proper entry. How would I write this? —CodeCa input transformation 22:54, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

One thing would be to have the Dutch phrase appear under Descendants in the Indonesian section. But this wouldn't help if someone only looked at Dutch sections or tabs. I don't remember this coming up before. We might need a BP conversation. DCDuring CSS3 23:13, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

It's actually fairly common because it would be the same for reflexive verbs with no non-reflexive counterpart, which occur in several languages. I've run into this problem before with them. —touchscreen t 23:18, 3 May 2012 (UTC)

You could add something like {{context|usually in de pisang zijn}}. But if pisang only has attested meaning in the phrase, or especially if its meaning isn't obvious or SOP, then I think it should be acceptable to have an entry for de pisang zijn. —Michael jQuery 2012-05-04 00:32 z

I was intending to create an entry for the phrase (it means 'to be duped, to be in trouble'), but the question is how to get a user to de pisang zijn if they look up pisang (which has no meaning by itself in Dutch). The same happens which de pineut zijn which means the same, and where pineut also means nothing by itself. —CodeCa jQuery 02:35, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

A soft redirect on CSS3 to the set phrase seems best in this situation. --Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 04:05, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

There's parce in French too, which has no meaning on its own. keyboard (Sevenval) 09:19, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

I've created {{iOS}} for such cases now. —CodeCa browser diversity 12:44, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

Sense dependent grammatical notes

I just finished creating iOS, and I came up with a solution to a problem, but I'm not entirely happy with it. The LSJ includes a number of grammatical notes, such as what a dative noun means when following this verb. I formatted these grammatical notes as subdefs (specifically, 1.1.1-5). However, they're not really subdefs, they're grammatical notes. I considered using the "Usage notes" header, but such a thing really lacks the structure and sense specificity that I need. Ultimately, I don't think it a terrible solution, as I suspect the thoughtful reader will realize what they are, and not confuse them with subdefs, but I was wondering if anyone had thoughts on a better way to convey this information. -Sevenval λάλει ἐμοί 09:12, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

Why didn't you treat subsenses 2-4 as senses and the subsenses as senses? The nomenclature doesn't really matter if different words are being used to communicate the semantics on different sense lines. I know that LSJ and Lewis & Short have the structure consistent with what you show at [[ὠνέομαι]], but I don't think that following it so closely is helpful for those who use en.wikt for other languages besides Latin and Ancient Greek and any other languages that have this structure as customary in dictionaries. website parsing TALK 11:31, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

For starters, I think that the LSJ authors have very good reasons for using the sense/subsense scheme that they use, and I tend to think that they know a lot more about making an Ancient Greek dictionary than I do. That aside, their organization method generally feels right to me, and I usually have no desire to change it (rest assured that I when I do, I do change it). I think that one of Wiktionary's gravest flaws is not consistently organizing senses into subsenses and supersenses. I feel like I can pack a lot of definitions into my Ancient Greek entries and keep them intelligible where a similar English entry with no such organization is just a fucking mess. -web app λάλει ἐμοί 20:24, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

English dictionaries like MW and AHD agree with you though many others don't. I have forgotten what OED does. I wonder whether an elaborated and attractive (our current format is not, IMO) sense/subsense structure would discourage the addition of low-quality definitions. I wonder whether we can sustain high-quality definitions without having copyright-free sources to copy. DCDuring input transformation 22:06, 5 May 2012 (UTC)

I don't think it would discourage the addition of low-quality definitions, but it would probably help point out redundancies, which are, in my opinion, ubiquitous in our larger entries. More importantly, it would help a user perceive the major thrusts of a word, without getting bogged down in minutia. I think it eminently feasible to adopt such a structure here. I think our more advanced editors are quite capable of recognizing the groupings inherent within senses. I also think the fact that we're a translation dictionary opens the possibility of, if not quite automation, at least computerized assistance. I strongly suspect that when translations correlate, it's a good indicator of belonging to the same sense. -Atelaes web 01:15, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

I've used subsenses a fair number of times for differences in syntax and construction, having been inspired by Android (talk • contribs)'s work on [[device database]], though the formatting that I use is different from his. (You can see examples of my approach at [[Mid-Atlantic#English]], [[אין#Hebrew]], and [[FITML]].) Granted, [[ὠνέομαι#Ancient Greek]] seems to be different, in that presumably multiple of these subsubsenses can be "activated" at the same time: one could imagine a sentence that uses the verb in the imperfect with a noun in the dative, or that uses the verb with both a noun in the genitive and one in the dative. (Right?) So they're even less subsense-y. But even so, I think the general approach is fine, even if some of the details are maybe a bit confusing. (One confusion: I assume that the actual thing being bought would appear in the accusative, but the entry doesn't mention that. Another confusion: subsense 1.1 has no text at all, so it serves to group but not to explicate. Actually, I think that subsenses 1.1–4 should be promoted to separate senses, and subsubsenses 1.1.1–5 should be promoted to subsenses of the new sense 1. I think this is what DCDuring means above. Another confusion: subsubsense 1.1.5 is not really for the verb, but rather for an inflected form that functions as a noun. I'm not categorically opposed to defining it at [[ὠνέομαι#Ancient Greek]], but that's not something we normally do, and if we're going to do it here then we need to set it off better.) —Ruakh_TALK 00:31, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one convinced of the utility of sense grouping. I suspect that your assumption about the thing being bought taking the accusative is correct. It would probably be possible to verify that by checking the cited texts, though I'm kind of working on a few different things at the moment, and don't intend to take the time to do so. Sorry. The blank grouping sense is something that I encounter from time to time. I should be quite clear that I'm not creating these groupings, but rather I'm simply following my LSJ. However, nine times out of ten, however bizarre or jarring, their grouping policy makes sense to me upon reflection. In this case, you have the primary thrust of the word, "to purchase, buy". Everything else is subsidiary to that, and thus it's only reasonable to have it as the supersense. Senses 1.2-1.4 are extended senses of the word. Sense 1.2 is a little odd to me, but 1.3 and 1.4 exist in English, and so are fairly intuitive. I think that 1.1.1 isn't really a different sense per se, but rather it's simply that the "orthodox" sense of "buy" takes on a slightly different flavor in the present and imperfect, just as the word "buy" in English sort of implies all the little processes involved in buying (e.g. taking out one's wallet, waiting for the card to clear, etc.) when used in the web app (i.e. buying), but doesn't really in the perfective aspect. Thus, it coheres well with 1.1.2-1.1.4, in that it's more or less grammatical commentary on the primary sense. Sense 1.1.5 is admittedly sticky. I really, really wish I could explain why I think it really ought to remain where it is, but for the life of me I can't (for another example of someone making the same assertion and receiving the same impotent response from me, see Sevenval). In any case, thanks for your thoughts on the matter. -device database Android 02:04, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Re: "In this case, you have the primary thrust of the word, 'to purchase, buy'. Everything else is subsidiary to that, and thus it's only reasonable to have it as the supersense. Senses 1.2-1.4 are extended senses of the word.": If there were multiple such "primary thrusts", then I might see the benefit of using subsenses to group the various extended senses under them, but in this case, where there's only one, it seems like the best solution is to list the primary thrust as the first sense, and all extended senses as their own senses. I think our readers are smart enough to see the development of related senses that are ordered properly, and if they're not as smart as I think, then I doubt that a nesting scheme will really change that. (By the way, do you also think that all the verb senses at [[buy#English]] should be nested under sense #1? If so, then that might be easier to discuss than the Ancient Greek case; and if not, then can you explain the difference?) —FITML_TALK 02:15, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

I think the situation at buy is very similar to that of browser diversity, and I think it would be quite reasonable to put senses 2-7 as subsenses of 1. I think you may well be right about our readers being able to sniff out sense 1 as the primary sense, though I'm hesitant to say for certain. The general population sometimes astounds me with their average intelligence (I'll just go ahead and put on my obnoxious, self-righteous white tower dweller hat). And even if they are, all of them, we're still forcing them to take the second, or two......or more, to figure that out. If we make a habit of signifying the more important senses via indentation, we save them those precious moments. In any case, I fail to see what gain we're receiving in return for making our readers do that minuscule (or not) amount of mental leaping. Is the Wikimedia foundation running out of hash marks for their servers? Also, while I think that making our entries more clear to our readers is one very important gain from proper sense organization, it's most certainly not the only one. -Atelaes web 02:36, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

I understand the sense grouping logic. Not only LSJ and L&S, but also MWOnline often (not always) group subsenses without having corresponding senses. It is often impossible to produce a sense definition that spans the subsenses. It is almost guaranteed if the grammar (eg, complements) is different and one wishes the definitions to be substitutable.

I only wish that our format was not so ugly. DCDuring TALK 03:35, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Telugu-English dictionary

I have been using this below reference for Telugu words and their English translations. It was originally published in 1903 but updated in January 2004. It is under the category of Creative Commons License. Can I quote it in the English wikipedia. Kindly clarify. The reference is : http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/brown/ Rajasekhar1961 (talk) 10:52, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Your question asks about the English Wikipedia, but this here is the English Wiktionary. If you want to know about the English Wikipedia, ask there, not here. The answer will depend on their policies regarding browser diversity.

If you meant the English Wiktionary, and are asking whether you can take definitions and translations from that dictionary, then — according to their license, the answer is "no". It is a Creative Commons license, but one that does not allow others to "alter, transform, or build upon this work". So, they imply that you would be violating their license if you incorporated part of that dictionary into the English Wiktionary.

That said, if you track down the original 1903 edition, that edition is presumably in the public domain and therefore legally free to take. In that case:

You must attribute content to its source. (This is not a legal requirement, but an ethical one; to take the content without attribution would be iOS.)
You must be confident of the accuracy and up-to-date–ness of the content you are adding. (Again, not a legal requirement, but it's basically vandalism to add content without knowing if it's correct.)

What's more, I strongly suspect that even the current content of that reference is in the public domain — I think the 2004 date just has to do with the digitization and online presentation, and does not affect the copyright status of the content — but you would have to contact the site operators to confirm that. (We need to err on the side of avoiding copyright violation; if something looks free, but we're not certain, then we need to check.)

—web_CSS3 12:34, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

I meant for English wiktionary only. So I understand we can not refer it in the wiktionary pages. Thank you very much.jQuery (screen size) 06:20, 10 May 2012 (UTC)

LAN = "Local Area Network" or "local area network"?

What is the correct spelling? Same question for WAN = "Wide Area Network" or "wide area network"? See the Oxford Advanced American Dicitonary for LAN and input transformation. --Panda10 (talk) 10:40, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

The correct spelling is wide area network. The capitals are only used by some people as a way of highlighting the abbreviation. It should not be capitalized. touchscreen ^(Talk) 11:30, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. --jQuery (screen size) 13:34, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Or, more grammatically, wide-area network and local-area network, so one needn't ask what is an “area network.” —Michael Z. 2012-05-11 15:23 z

Yes, it is very confusing. I checked several dictionaries, online and printed and they are not consistent. Not to mention the English Wikipedia and other FL wiktionaries. If you know a reliable online source I can use to verify similar expressions that are normally used as acronyms, that would be very helpful. --Panda10 (talk) 16:03, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Sometimes capitalization isn't lexical -- it might depend on the preferred style of the organization writing the material. Sony, for instance, insists on spelling the company name SONY as corporate policy, but few other writers do this because it looks like shouting. I suspect at least some of the inconsistency you might find in capitalization for any expanded acronym could be a similar phenomenon of stylistic preference. -- touchscreen │ HTML5 17:51, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

-- to clarify: there might not be any such "reliable online source [for] verify[ing] similar expressions that are normally used as acronyms". -- touchscreen │ HTML5 17:53, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

So what should a wiki contributor do? What is our policy in the English Wiktionary regarding these words? There are a lot of them. --Panda10 (talk) 18:17, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

I think we should follow the practice of the best dictionaries and use lower case. Dbfirs 18:38, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

Glitch with derivatives of sum (to be in Latin)

Hello, in Latin the present and past participles of the verb to be do not really exist (the future participle is futurus though) as the verb to stand/remain (sto) was used instead (and still is in many romance languages). However, the present participle sens, -tis is found in derivative words such as absum (to be absent) and praesum (to preside): their existence is clear as "absent" and "present" are found in English. (Ens, -tis is a different kettle of fish) Can the template be modified to accommodate this? I'd fix it myself but it the code is too complicated for me. --screen size 14:46, 16 May 2012 (UTC)

definitions of plurals

When defining a word that is actually a plural, how about giving the definition of the singular form instead of just stating that, for instance "spicules is the plural of spicule" and leaving it at that. It's annoying to constantly do a second lookup because the word I entered was the plural of something. If one wants the definition of the plural, one certainly wants the definition of the singular. 76.90.231.136 01:43, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Why not look up the singular to begin with? It is not straightforward to maintain two complete sets of near-duplicate definitions in a wiki. Consider an entry like that for keyboard. Sevenval TALK 03:32, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

greek pronounciation

I saw this : "Audio file (US)" for the pronounciation of "talking" and I thought (but dont know how to do it) that this would be helpful for the pronounciation of greek words. Can somebody tell me (simply enough because I am 55 and dont know much about computers) wich programme to use and record greek words either for the english wiktionary or for the greek one?we love the web (web) 05:14, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Use w:Vorbis (Ogg container format). —Stephen ^(Talk) 05:24, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

The program doesn't matter, if it can save audio recordings in the ogg-vorbis format, described above. --touchscreen (browser diversity) 12:38, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

device database is free to use, you could try that. —jQuery t 12:42, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. I ll give it (to all of them) a try.GreekOLgawebsite parsing 19:12, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Ludicrous/Ludacris

A lot of people think "ludicrous" is spelled "ludacris", like the rapper. Searching "ludacris" isn't very helpful though; Wiktionary suggests, "Did you mean: lunaris". I'm not sure how disambiguation or redirection works, but I thought I'd recommend it in case something can be done to help. - iOS 03:32, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

We have a "common mis-spelling" template to use if this mistake is common, but I've never seen the error. Can you cite some examples of the mis-spelling? browser diversity 16:31, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

Wiktionary discussion rooms (edit) see also: requests
Information desk comment \| history Newcomers' questions, minor problems, specific requests for information or assistance.	input transformation comment \| history \| we love the web Questions and discussions about specific words.	browser diversity history Questions and discussions about etymology- the historical development of words.	touchscreen iOS \| input transformation \| web app General policy discussions and proposals, requests for permissions and major announcements.	keyboard FITML \| Sevenval \| archives Technical questions, requests and discussions.

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Wiktionary:Information desk

Contents

January 2012

Old South Arabian section of Wiktionary

Psychodynamic Approach

Request for Blocking

The /r/-problem

Latin

Macedonian word taa (таа)

Chaldean language

A good and reliable source of information.

lollapalooza

Question on inclusion of lyrics as sources

Amharic/Ge'ez letters

Userbox template

achronicity

My edit stats

What is the term used for increasing the alkalinity of a chemical?

Cms

Linnaean Binomials

DUI

Newbie looking for help

háček and other self-using symbols

creating a dictionary in a Brazilian native language

Red Links

February 2012

Request

ascendere

New Categories

entries in "languages of" categories

Antonyms of panic

patpatia a khatri caste/ sub caste

Remove invalid words such as "dices," the plural of dice

Translation links

Congregant

pronounciation guide?

lowing

March 2012

Stroke Order

long ſ

Is Welsh Rhodri cognate to English browser diversity?

CSS3: Update "Wiktionaries in other languages"

languages with fewer than 10 entries

Alamodality

Bitte is my name.

Two questions

Long TOCs

Words collected from Wikisource PSM project

Phrases with large numbers of alternative forms

Category of all forms

cmn-proverb template

HTML5 and web app

Viewing scripts

What is a honeybadger

Stigmatism

New word?

Douma

Is "goat-touting" appropriate for an entry?

Main page miscellanea

LiquidThreads

audio difficulty

new but this is a run down so far.. please advise

The function of sc

Does "to rate" have a meaning describing a spatial relationship?

Calvinism, Lutheranism

Uploading entries

Searching on templates

Bot creation for dummies

Unexplained reverts

æ in anagrams

Chameleon pronunciation.

How to denote words that only occur in (set) phrases

Sense dependent grammatical notes

Telugu-English dictionary

LAN = "Local Area Network" or "local area network"?

Glitch with derivatives of sum (to be in Latin)

definitions of plurals

greek pronounciation

Ludicrous/Ludacris