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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 May 13

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May 13 edit

the meaning of "rameish" edit

Please teach me the meaning of "rameish" in the following passage. This may be a Irish slang word. Thanks in advance.123.227.223.236 (talk) 00:16, 13 May 2013 (UTC)dengen[reply] 

   They heard the angelus ringing. The deep sound of the bells rolled 
   through Knockglen twice a day, at noon and at six in the evening, 
   great timekeepers as much as reminders to pray. But there was no sign
   of Benny's father.
   "I hope he wasn't delayed rameishing on with some customer today of 
   all days," Benny heard her mother say to Patsy.---Maeve Binchy,
   Circle of Friends, p.15.
I don't see any sources documenting it, but it is (in my opinion) pretty clearly a variant of rame, meaning (among other things) to talk repetitively, or to drone on, babble on, etc. So rameish is in origin a noun produced from rame (-ish being a productive ending), meaning the sort of talk made when one rames, and then rameish itself was turned into a superfluous verb. --Atethnekos (Discussion, Contributions) 01:48, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
It's from Irish ráiméis "nonsensical talk, rubbish". Here's an example of the anglicized spelling in a different book. Angr (talk) 10:29, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The English spelling doesn't appear to be consistent, but it seems to be more usually rawmaishing. In fact Binchy spells it this way in Firefly Summer: "...She doesn't have any awful things to put up with like you do, not being able to walk and getting stuck behind the counter listening to old bores drinking and rawmaishing on for hours." See A Dictionary of Hiberno-English: The Irish Use of English. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 10:42, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I've now started an entry for rameish at Wiktionary. Thanks for bringing this word to our attention! Angr (talk) 10:41, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I'm not sure if the spelling is different in different editions, or what, but Google Books has results for Circle of Friends with the spellings "rameishing" and "ramishing". Adam Bishop (talk) 10:27, 14 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Best German answer edit

Is it "Bestes Spielfilmdebüt" or "Best Spielfilmdebüt"? Clarityfiend (talk) 05:26, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

German declension#Attributive adjectives... -- AnonMoos (talk) 07:19, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
"Best Spielfilmdebüt" is not German in any case, "Bestes Spielfilmdebüt" could work, depending on context, e.g. in a heading. bamse (talk) 08:36, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. It's for "Preis der deutschen Filmkritik - Bestes Spielfilmdebüt". Clarityfiend (talk) 08:40, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
That's right in that context. Usually superlative adjectives are preceded by the definite article (das beste Spielfilmdebüt) or a possessive determine (unser bestes Spielfilmdebüt), but in the context you gave no determiner is necessary. But (with a few exceptions) attributive adjectives always have to have an ending; you can't just use the bare stem. Angr (talk) 10:06, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Just google.de "Bestes Spielfilmdebüt" and you'll see that there is plenty of references to it. 188.76.162.153 (talk) 11:49, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hebrew (?) text edit

Could somebody please, translate this presumably hebrew text?

http://i39.tinypic.com/30a9q1g.jpg

46.107.26.54 (talk) 12:33, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It definitely is Hebrew. הסרפד (call me Hasirpad) 19:20, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, definitely Hebrew! Unfortunately, I'm not very good with handwriting, so I'll leave this to more knowledgeable individuals. Evanh2008 (talk|contribs) 20:00, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I have no difficulty with the handwriting, but I have difficulty translating Modern Hebrew well, so here is a transcription, which others can translate:
עבור מרכז רפואי סנט אנדרה:
ביקרנו במרכז ב 08/05/13. קיבלנו הרצאה וארוח למופת עם מצגת מכבדת. אנו שמחים על הקמתו של המרכז ומודים לצוות על הארוח הנפלא. בברכה
עמותת קידום ביה"ח [בית החולים] גריאטרי נתניה
The gist of the note is that the "Association for the Advancement of the Geriatric Hospital in Netanya (?)" thanks the "Sant Andre (?) Medical Center" for their hospitality. הסרפד (call me Hasirpad) 22:23, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the transcription. I'm unsure on the word order in a few places (Modern Israeli isn't my strong suit either), but I'll give it a shot:

To* the St. Andre [or Andrew?] Medical Center—

We visited the center on 08/05/13 (May 8, 2013). We received [?] a talk and presentation honoring exemplary service [more literally would be "hospitality"]. We are thrilled about the establishment of the center, and we thank the staff for an excellent meal.
Best regards, [literally, "with blessing"; out of context you would typically translate as "welcome," but this seems better here]

Foundation for the Promotion of the Netanya Geriatric Hospital

*I'm not very sure about how to translate this word. Literally it means "to advance" or similar. I've never had to write a letter in Hebrew, so far all I know this is an easy, common salutation I'm struggling with. Phonetically, אנדרה is Andre, but this use is almost certainly with reference to the apostle Saint Andrew. Evanh2008 (talk|contribs) 03:32, 14 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps it's St. André Health Care in Biddeford, Maine, which also apparently specializes in geriatrics. And if this letter was written by visitors from a geriatric care center in Israel, then "hospitality" (no pun intended) probably really is the intended meaning rather than "service". Angr (talk) 09:32, 14 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
That very well may be. I had assumed it was correspondence between one Israeli institution and another, since a letter to an American establishment would probably be translated to English first. It might be helpful to know the context in which the OP found the note; if it were a note quickly dashed off in Hebrew and sent to an assistant to be translated to English and then posted, for example, that whole scenario make a lot more sense. Evanh2008 (talk|contribs) 03:19, 16 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! 46.107.26.54 (talk) 14:13, 14 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Dalmatian resources? edit

Are there any kinds of resources for learning Dalmatian? Aren't there any documented texts on-line by now? --66.190.69.246 (talk) 18:27, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Chinese help: True Jesus Church edit

The Chinese in this image is low res, but is it alright if someone figures out what the Chinese is in File:True Jesus Church Olive Garden.jpg?

Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 19:03, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's 真耶穌教會. Compare [1]. Lesgles (talk) 19:32, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you! WhisperToMe (talk) 19:57, 13 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]
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