Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2018 March 10

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.

March 10

Korean expression/word: "gross-mid-ah" (my attempt at transliterating what it sounds like to me phonetically)

I watch a huge amount of 3-cushion billiards and so I end up watching a lot of matches on Youtube that are from S. Korean TV. I constantly hear an expression or word that sounds like "gross-mid-ah" to my English-speaking, untrained ear. I got curious what it might be. I can give you a use: It's said multiple times in this match, and to hear one, go to 14:05--185.230.124.51 (talk) 01:12, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

Sounds like ‘그렇습니다’, means (abstractly) “Yeah” or “That’s right”, etc. wikt:그렇다. In your video... “(Person A says something)” “그렇습니다(That’s right)— (and continue his word)”. — regards, Revi 15:19, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

Ah, thanks very much -revi. I figured it had to be something like that, given how often I hear it. Can't wait to trot that one out the next time I'm playing a Korean (but hope I don't butcher it too badly so that they have no idea what I said).--185.230.124.53 (talk) 02:39, 12 March 2018 (UTC)

Superstars, superheroes, supermodels, ...

We hardly ever hear of plain stars, heroes or models anymore. People seem to go straight from nonentities to superstars or whatever, without ever seeming to have to pass through common-or-garden stardom.

A case in point: at the recent Winter Olympics, an Australian snowboarder named Scotty James won a Bronze Medal. All very good, well worth some accolades and at least temporary fame given that our track record at the Winter Games is hardly world-beating. But within a day, he was already being referred to, at least in the Aussie media, as a "superstar". He had never even been a star; he was utterly unknown to 99.999% of the public. And he came 3rd in his event, not 1st. He had also been chosen as the flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony, but on what basis I have no idea. Had he not won a medal, I doubt he'd be called any kind of star.

Same with models: There must be many thousands of them who have not yet ascended to the heights of fame. But the moment one of them gets any kind of media attention, they get called "supermodel". (Here's me thinking modelling was all about the clothes, not the wearer. But what do I know?)

Is all this clap-trap explained by media hyerbole, personality cult, or what? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:25, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

The media using hyperbole? Did you really think that the media has never used hyperbole in the past? The media (especially in New York) has always referred to everything as "biggest", "best", "most important", "world's tallest", "world's most expensive" everything. And this is not new. To quote Captain Renault. "I am shocked!" Collect (talk) 20:40, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

Dickens's timely comment on it, just the other day: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. --Trovatore (talk) 22:12, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

Collect -- The 1779 play "The Critic" has a whole long explanation of different kinds of 18th-century newspaper "puffing"... AnonMoos (talk) 02:11, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

EO says the term "superstar" first appeared in the 1920s, in reference to Babe Ruth, and it was certainly deserved.[1] EO also dates the term "supermodel" to 1978.[2] The term "superman", which presumably inspired the more general term "superhero", originated 500 years ago.[3] The term "superhero" dates from over a century ago, getting wide use in the 1960s.[4] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 20:51, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

Chess is a field that hyperbolizes schizophrenically. It jumped straight from classical to hypermodern in like 1920 to 23 and classical chess wasn't invented till 385+ years after the rules were. Also classical style wasn't invented till decades after the end of neoclassicism (i.e. classical music) and chess's classical history continued after fighter pilots, 131 mph electric trains (1903), liquid helium (1908) and superconductors (1911). Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 05:11, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

I've recently come across the word "super-ager" [5], [6]. Is this novel? 86.155.146.232 (talk) 12:22, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

Can't see it used before 2003, or at any rate not in that sense. Someone in 1995 used it to mean "things that really, really age you". --Antiquary (talk) 15:05, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

I don't think I've heard of "superager", but the word Supercentenarian has been around for a while... AnonMoos (talk) 23:40, 11 March 2018 (UTC)

Aha, that's a perfect counterexample to my thesis. First you have to reach 100, and that makes you a centenarian. You become a supercentenarian if and only if you reach 110. You cannot go straight from old person to supercentenarian. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 00:04, 12 March 2018 (UTC)