Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 May 16

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May 16

Black lingerie word

I once found a word beginning with mel- in one of those dictionaries or websites that specialize in obscire and curious words. It meant a fetish for black lingerie. Googling "black lingerie" along with "obscure word", or even along with "Phrontistery", pulls up nothing. What was the word? 75.36.237.8 (talk) 00:49, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Melcryptovestimentaphilia. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:13, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Wow. Wikipedia is wonderful! Now I've just got to see if I can randomly throw that word into conversation somewhere today. (If I can remember it.) HiLo48 (talk) 02:41, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

A strict classicist would find it problematic that the Greek stem for "black" is in a strangely-shortened form that would more probably suggest "honey" than "black" to an ancient Greek speaker... AnonMoos (talk) 08:28, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Indeed. But then phobia and philia names are often coined with a view to being somehow eyecatching or memorable, rather than strictly classical, or for that matter of any use in serious clinical diagnosis (which has shied away from narrowly-defined phobias and philias for a while). But I agree that it should be "Melanocrypto..." - and ideally use a Greek, rather than Latin, word for raiment. AlexTiefling (talk) 08:32, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Modern Greek for "underwear" is εσώρουχα ("within clothes"), so perhaps something like melanesoruchophilia? Lesgles (talk) 17:11, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

speaking of -phobia and -philia

I've been wondering: is there any generic affix that indicates intense hatred, without implying fear like -phobia does? (That is, a more proper opposite to -philia?) —Steve Summit (talk) 12:24, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

Yes, the prefix mis- or miso- from Greek µῖσος (misos) means 'hatred of'. Examples are misogyny, misanthropy, misoneism, misogamy etc. - Lindert (talk) 12:50, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

See the etymology given in the lede section of misanthropy. Textorus (talk) 12:51, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

What's this girls says?

Hi

I am not a native English speaker. I want to know what the girls in the video says when they screams. I've heard only the word F(u)ck but the girl said something else. link to video at 2:45

Can you translate to French or explain me what's this lines means : I feel nothing Fuck like sick despair In this place only the willing survive

Thanks

"I feel nothing" means that the person feels nothing. "Fuck" means sexual intercourse or may be used as an interjection. "Like sick despair" is comparing the person's emotions to sick despair. In other words, the person feels very sad. "In this place only the willing survive" means that the person thinks that in this place, where she is, only the willing will survive or live. Sneazy (talk) 16:49, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks but the willing means and what say the grils in the video? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.48.172.23 (talk) 22:15, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Do you know what part of lyrics is the part you are looking for? If it's part of the lyrics, then you may do a simple search on the Internet. If it's part of the background vocal music, then I don't think it's feasible to understand what the girl is trying to sing. How badly do you want this? Sneazy (talk) 03:20, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

"The willing" means "people who are willing (to do something unspecified)". --ColinFine (talk) 12:42, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

I can't actually check the video , but in French it would be something like "Je ne sens rien, merde, dans cet endroit seuls les (forts|volontaires) survivent" - in this context I'm not sure if willing would be "people who have willpower" or "people who volunteer". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.201.173.145 (talk) 20:14, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

For the last phrase I would say "seulement les forts survivent ici." I agree fort (strong) is closer to the intended sense. There's also puissant. μηδείς (talk) 23:59, 18 May 2013 (UTC)

"Mis padres"

I know that the term means "my parents". But do Spanish speakers make an exception when the parents are both female (Dolly the sheep)? Sneazy (talk) 16:46, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Thought experiment: how do you think hispanohablantes would say "My parents are mothers"? μηδείς (talk) 18:29, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Well, since you asked "how do you think...?", I am going to give my best guess: "Mis padres son madres." However, I am not entirely sure if it is used this way. Sneazy (talk) 19:08, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm not an expert on Spanish, but I have a lot of experience dealing with same-sex coupledom and its ramifications. I think that it would depend on the context and whether the speaker wants to communicate an interesting or surprising detail about his or her parentage. The generic Spanish expression for "my parents" is mis padres, and I expect that a person would use that expression when referring to two female parents when their gender is not relevant or important or when the speaker doesn't wish to emphasize it. On the other hand, if the speaker wanted to make clear that he or she had two mothers, then he or she would say mis madres. Marco polo (talk) 19:30, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Since you say you have "a lot of experience dealing with same-sex coupledom and its ramifications", what do you mean by that? Do you work with them professionally or something? Sneazy (talk) 19:43, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

• I would say, "Mis padres son mujeres" or "lesbianas". But "mis madres" would mean "my mothers", not "my parents". To say my lesbian parents it would be padres lesbianas.μηδείς (talk) 19:54, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Right, but who feels a need to give such a detailed description of their parents in most situations? To answer Sneazy's question, my partner and I are a same-sex couple. Marco polo (talk) 19:56, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

That doesn't answer the question. μηδείς (talk) 22:24, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Which question haven't I answered? To the original question, I said that, in effect, "my parents" means "my parents" regardless of the parents' gender. (The fact that mis padres usually refers to people of different genders proves that the gender of mis padres is grammatical rather than biological.) To the later question, asking the basis for my experience of same-sex coupledom, I said that I'm in such a couple. So which question did I not answer? Marco polo (talk) 23:55, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Leave it, Marco. I have come to the conclusion that Medeis is sometimes just trolling. --Lgriot (talk) 09:01, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

The OP when prompted suggested he though the Spanish might say "Mis padres son madres." Marco responded he just wouldn't mention it--which is indeed not addressing the OP's question, when he specifically wants to know how they would say it if they did go into all the detail Marco doesn't think necessary. So, no, Marco didn't answer the question. μηδείς (talk) 15:43, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

A good approach could be to go to the Spanish Wikipedia and ask this question. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:11, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

Väiski in English & Swedish

In Finnish Scouting, väiski refers to a cap worn as part of the uniform. It's a brimless, peakless cap, rather like the cap hippies wear with a kaftan, or like a large skullcap that covers the whole of your head. It's also very similar to a Swedish style of cap - one that is now sold in tourist-tat shops, but presumably harking back to a traditional style of clothing - a little like a Viking helmet made of cloth and without the horns.

My Finnish is rather limited non-existent. But even so a search on the term only reveals that it's the Finnish for Bugs Bunny. Can anyone help me with the English term for a cap of this style, or (even better since I'd like to buy one) tell me what the Swedish cap is called? - Cucumber Mike (talk) 19:29, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

It looks like what would be called a skullcap in English, which seems to translate to kalott in Swedish. Marco polo (talk) 19:37, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Informal names might include beanie hat or tea-cosy hat in English. --TammyMoet (talk) 19:49, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Yeah, I think you're right that it's a skullcap in English, and that kalott is the Swedish translation thereof, but kalott seems to be used for the skullcap as worn by Jewish men and Catholic priests (see here) - I can't see that it's used for the traditional Swedish cap, which is what I'm ultimately after. Any ideas? - Cucumber Mike (talk) 19:52, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Tammy, it's not a beanie since it's made of a thickish fabric, not wool. Kinda like a flowerpot hat but without the brim. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 19:57, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

I'm digressing here, but "beanies" in the sense that Tammy linked to are not made of wool, but as you say of fabric (or sometimes leather or faux leather). They have four seams, in the same location as the four brown straight lines in the picture. But I can't tell whether those lines are seams, or just a different color. --Trovatore (talk) 21:10, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

My apologies to Tammy. Beanie in the UK sense is always a woolen hat - I should have read the article. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 21:22, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Actualy, I don't mean flowerpot hat, I mean a bucket hat. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 20:10, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Mössa? Marco polo (talk) 19:54, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Again, that seems to be a woolen hat. I want something made of canvas (I think that's what it is - I'm very poor on types of fabric!) - Cucumber Mike (talk) 19:57, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Native Swedish speaker here. I'm pretty certain that kind of hat doesn't have a commonly known specific name in Swedish. I'd call it a mössa or a hätta, though the latter would better fit one of these [1]. Mössa, by the way, is not limited to woolen hats. It is the generic word for any soft hat, including nightcaps, as is evident by the English name of Caps (party). So, I believe the chance of finding a Swedish word for these hats, that people without a specific interest in the medieval or viking ages would know, looks rather small./Coffeeshivers (talk) 20:49, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for this. Do you know the type of cap I am thinking of? It is made of thicker fabric than a väiski, and the hätta you linked. To be honest, the name of it actually isn't so important - I just want to buy one! Can you help me find a suitable search term? Nothing I've tried so far in English or Swedish (I speak Swedish well enough to use Google) has turned up the right type of hat. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 21:22, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

The man in the first picture on this page is wearing the sort of thing I'm thinking of - although the examples I remember were not so brightly coloured. The caption says I Morastugan visas en vardaglig variant av den lokalt särpräglade dräkten från Mora socken i Dalarna. - 'In the Mora cottage you can see an everyday version of the iconic local costume of Mora in Dalarna.' - Cucumber Mike (talk) 07:51, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

The Finnish Scout cap in action

I'm familiar with the Finnish Scout cap (I found a picture) and I'm certain that there isn't an English name for it - "skull cap" is the closest, but that usually means a yarmulka or zucchetto - the Scout cap is bigger and has the distinctive seams. I'd go with "traditional Scandinivian cap". Alansplodge (talk) 07:19, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

OK, I think I've found it now! It appears to be called a sotarmössa - a 'chimney-sweep's cap'. Apologies to all those who suggested beanie for the English word, since that does indeed seem to be what it would be called in English, and it is very often made of wool. But the one I want is made of thick cotton or felt or something. This gives me the lead I needed! Thanks to all for your help. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 08:31, 17 May 2013 (UTC)