Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 April 28

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 28

Australian English: Chookey ?

I just watched an episode of a Nova series, "Australia's First 4 Billion Years: Monsters". In it, about halfway through, a woman says she calls a pile of bones about 5 feet long and 2 feet in diameter "Chookey", "because it's about that size". So, is there a word "Chookey" in Australia, or perhaps this is just the result of bad editing, like so:

"I named it after a dog I used to own, Chookey, because it's about that size." StuRat (talk) 05:37, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

Australians often refer to domestic poultry, or what Americans call chickens, as chooks. Perhaps from that background, "Chookey" is an occasionally used affectionate nickname (or name for a pet, presumably of that size, apparently).

(Interesting. Wikipedia DOESN'T have an article on chooks (shock, horror!), but it does have one on Chook raffle, an important cultural event. That's explains chooks.) HiLo48 (talk) 05:56, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

We have one on Chuckie Egg, as well - same word, different hemisphere and spelling. Tevildo (talk) 23:49, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

OK, thanks all. So apparently the dinosaur preserved inside those rocks was about the size of a chicken. I see Nova needs a translator. StuRat (talk) 06:47, 3 May 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

Negative growth

Why does this expression exist at all? That's like "negative improvement." Unless I am wrong, and collapse, decline and similar expression were not appropriate. OsmanRF34 (talk) 17:26, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

[See also All pages with titles beginning with Negative.—Wavelength (talk) 17:41, 28 April 2013 (UTC)]

The word "growth" (unlike more vague terms like "improvement", "decline" and "collapse") has a more precise definition in economics, see "Economic growth". Other ways of saying that economic growth was negative are often ambiguous. Gabbe (talk) 17:55, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

They could say "shrinkage", but apparently that has more emotional connotations than an oxymoron such as "negative growth". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:47, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

The econo-jargon word is apparently "contraction" ("Economic activity contracted in the third quarter..." etc.). AnonMoos (talk) 01:29, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

OsmanRF34 -- the word "decrease" comes from ancient Latin de- "down from" + cresco "grow", so the pattern is quite old... AnonMoos (talk) 01:27, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes, expand and contract are opposites, increase and decrease are opposites. The opposite of negative growth should be positive growth, not just "growth". However, the latter is widely used to imply positive growth. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:12, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

It has come into modern exposure in the UK by its regular use by politicians who do not wish to be explicit about the decline of the economy and prefer to make statements that sound not quite what they want you to understand. As many politicians regularly do. It is, I think related to the political medicos' bs speak of 'negative medical outcomes' which is not quite as oxymoronic as negative growth but does demonstrate the deceitfulness of some official spoken words. Richard Avery (talk) 10:02, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

I've just been watching a report about claims the food and beverage industries have been engineering their products to contain a particular mix of sugar, salt and fat that will keep their consumers addicted, thus guaranteeing permanent repeat sales. One industry spokesperson countered with: The industry provides a range of kilojoule and taste options to meet every lifestyle or hydration occasion. [1] He said this with a completely straight face. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 13:20, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

A Japanese car seat maker announced the following: "In order to better support our ever-broadening US customer base, we will be expanding our product line to provide a wider range of seating options". Translation: "We're making bigger seats for you fat-assed Americans". :-) StuRat (talk) 19:11, 1 May 2013 (UTC)

Aye, us translators do often paraphrase, to keep things polite. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 00:00, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

For example, a frequent paraphrase of "we" is the much more concise "us". :) -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 11:17, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Aye, it's the difference in typing - distance, movement, etc. We all need a bit of exercise after sitting down all day in front of our computers, and this solves it. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 12:16, 2 May 2013 (UTC)