Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2017 October 3

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October 3

Hi is there any good site for grammar check for articles

[SPAM REMOVED] MER-C 02:23, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

Grammar checkers are pretty useless. It's better to wait for a human to come along and fix articles.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 08:22, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

Cheburashka

In this video, what is the first thing that Cheburashka (the bear) says to Gena the Crocodile? From context, I'm guessing it's something like "Gena, can I sit beside you?" I'm interesting in knowing the Russian, and the English translation of what he says. Thanks. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 14:08, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

• "Гена, я с тобой поеду". "Gena, I will go with you". BTW he is not a bear . Шурбур (talk) 14:15, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

That's great, thank you very much. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 15:06, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

A more precise rendition in English by the context, I guess "I will be riding with you" (on the roof). Шурбур (talk) 15:56, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

Cambridge spelling

Does Cambridge University Press follow non-standard-UK spelling? I was surprised to discover Explaining Social Behavior from Cambridge UP; until I found the WorldCat record, I figured it was a typo for "Behaviour". Nyttend backup (talk) 15:48, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

Hmmm... Cambridge University Press is an international business. So, that may explain the American spelling. Maybe an American affiliate published the specific article you're reading. American or British, I don't consider it a typo. Both are acceptable spellings in English. 140.254.70.33 (talk) 16:32, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

The author, Jon Elster, is a professor at Columbia University, so presumably he used American English spelling when writing the book. Gandalf61 (talk) 16:37, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

A quick search for behaviour and behavior on the CUP website throws up many examples of each spelling. Checking on a few of the authors, it does appear to depend on their nationality, or where they are working. Wymspen (talk) 17:26, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

You can find a general style sheet for CUP here. They say they allow either "British" or "American" spelling and punctuation, with a few examples of each. So in some cases they do follow non-standard-UK practice. Herbivore (talk) 21:10, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

I think "non-standard-UK practice" is a misleading way to phrase it, as it might suggest (a) "[nonstandard] UK" rather than (b) "non-[standard-UK]". Standard US is (b) but not (a). jnestorius^(talk) 08:21, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

Are not books these days submitted electronically? As the type is no longer set manually that may be the reason that C U P (and no doubt other publishers) are happy with either variety provided it is used consistently. 82.12.63.55 (talk) 11:02, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

Jnestorius, I was asking about (a), wondering if CUP had a parallel to Oxford spelling. Nyttend backup (talk) 13:07, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

Oxford spelling is just the retention of a convention that was standard British English a hundred years ago. The standard has changed (partly to simplify teaching in British schools), but Oxford hasn't. Cambridge has moved with the standard, but have no variation on standard British spelling for their British publications. Dbfirs 07:35, 6 October 2017 (UTC)

(OR based on years of voracious reading) British publishers usually do not translate American authors into British English, American publishers usually do translate British authors into American English. DuncanHill (talk) 13:43, 7 October 2017 (UTC)

Female version of Praitōr (Greek)

Hi there, I've been looking for female versions of some Greek titles, and one that has me stymied is Praitōr (πραίτωρ). Thanks CsikosLo (talk) 18:10, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

Is that a military title ? If so, there may not have been a female equivalent, if females were not allowed to serve, at least at that rank. StuRat (talk) 18:30, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

Praetrix is a Latin title. Could that be related? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:40, 3 October 2017 (UTC)

In ancient Rome, a "praetor" sometimes had judicial functions and sometimes was a military commander. Traditionally, praetors ranked below consuls and above other "magistrates". A woman could never be officially a Roman praetor. Most of the first few pages of Google results for "praetrix" come from role-playing and/or alternate history sites, or from poorly scanned Latin books with lots of OCR errors. If the word Praetrix really existed in ancient Latin, it likely referred either to women doing things in non-Roman cultures similar to what a Praetor did at Rome, or to the wife of a Praetor (similar to the word flaminica, which means the wife of a priest, and so on)... AnonMoos (talk) 10:08, 4 October 2017 (UTC)

I can imagine a Byzantine form of this would be "praitorissa", but I don't see any evidence for that title actually existing...there are some results for "praetorissa" but they all seem to be early modern German women. Adam Bishop (talk) 08:53, 5 October 2017 (UTC)