Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2024 May 31

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May 31

I saw those words today and dont know the difference. What is the difference of a curvy, voluptuous, thick and athletic body shape?

I saw those words today and dont know the difference. What is the difference of a curvy, voluptuous, thick and athletic body shape? Give me picture examples to make simple as google PS: If one of those ( curvy, voluptuous, thick ) is mistaken with fat, show a fat person to show the difference.177.63.95.122 (talk) 21:23, 31 May 2024 (UTC)

The words "curvy" and "voluptuous" imply that the individual is female ("curvaceous" is also used). To be fair to the OP, his native tongue is most likely Portuguese, where the corresponding words may have a wider meaning. Example: Boletim do Instituto Menezes Bragança [1] (on page 148):

...Índia conferiram a sua obra "originalidade e vigor que o aproximam ora do lirismo místico de Tagore, ora do satanismo voluptuoso de Beaudelaire".

...India conferred on his work "originality and vigour that approximate it now to the mystical lyricism of Tagore, now to the voluptuous Satanism of Beaudelaire".

OP, all you have to do is open up a generative AI website. It will create those images for you to look at. I could be wrong, but in the US, curvy, voluptuous, and thick are generally used as synonyms, even though each can have their own separate definitions and differences. I remember reading that there's also a certain amount of cultural overlay. For example, "curvy" is considered body positive. "Voluptuous" implies a somewhat larger figure, but having just looked into it a bit closer, I see it is indeed used in the same way as curvy. Athletic generally entails thin and slightly muscular or defined, with a much smaller top and bottom. As for the term "fat", I think the term you're looking for is "obese". I think what you are really getting it is, can a curvy, voluptuous, and thick woman also be labeled obese? And the answer is most obviously, yes. More interestingly is to examine similar terms for men, which hasn't been done enough in recent years except for the somewhat newer subject of the dad bod. Viriditas (talk) 21:41, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

"Thick" is a slightly nicer way of saying "fat". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:26, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

Not exactly. Christina Hendricks might be described as "thick" (or "curvy" or "voluptuous" or "zaftig"), but I don't think anyone would call her "fat". --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 12:02, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Nor does she look it, unless she's gained considerable weight in the last ten years. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:15, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Wiktiionary gives thick as a slang term meaning "curvy and voluptuous, and especially having large hips". This definition implies attractiveness, a connotation that is missing in fat.  --Lambiam 05:55, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

Notions of ideal body types are not only subject to fashion trends, but also differ between cultures. In the Western world, the Rubenesque body used to be seen as an ideal female body type, before the waif type à la Twiggy came in vogue in the 1960s. While men may be attracted to curvy women, these days curvy women tend to feel ashamed for their (completely natural) body type. The situation is very asymmetric between the sexes. (I'm still referring to the Western world.) Having more body fat than average is generally not an attractive feature for men. A friendly way of describing an overweight male is to call them portly. The adjective rotund evokes (for me) the mental image of Santa Claus. A gender-neutral term, also used for children, is chubby.  --Lambiam 06:20, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

One interesting thing is that zaftig literally translates as "saucy" or "juicy", though it's usually used to mean "pleasingly plump". And I've never heard "voluptuous" to mean "large hips", but instead to mean "large breasts". Like a Jayne Mansfield. Stephanie Courtney, who plays the insurance lady "Flo", has described herself as "curvy". "Chubby" or "chunky" would be a reasonable synonym. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:52, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

I've always come across "voluptuous" as meaning curvy all over. If you want to limit it to the breasts, the word is "buxom". --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 15:49, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

In the context of (female) body shape, "thick" is usually a negative ("thick ankles"); when it's meant as a compliment, it's spelled "thicc". Matt Deres (talk) 13:11, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

That's a recent formation. "Thick" was used for years and years before now. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 15:55, 4 June 2024 (UTC)

Yes, but "thick" was not a compliment until it became "thicc". At least within the context of female beauty. You might say that a muscular guy was "thick", but thickness would go against the last century or so's stereotypes of feminine beauty. It would be like calling a girl "sturdy". Matt Deres (talk) 18:40, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

I wasn't spelled "thicc" when Sir Mix-a-lot used it in "Baby Got Back" in the 1990s. --User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 15:21, 7 June 2024 (UTC)

This should have been the top comment. Viriditas (talk) 20:08, 10 June 2024 (UTC)

Miscellaneous world records

What's the world record for...

1. ...the largest peaceful gathering?
2. ...the smallest and largest food?
3. ...the longest amount of time spent on the FBI's Most Wanted List?
4. ...the most common type of restaurant (as in the cuisine they serve)?
5. ...the most subscribers achieved on YouTube within a single week?

47.153.138.166 (talk) 22:53, 31 May 2024 (UTC)

For item 1, you can probably rule out soccer matches. For item 2, roast camel is pretty good sized. Meanwhile, bacteriophage viruses eat bacteria, which are pretty small. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:57, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

Further, cursory Internet searches reveal 3) 32 years, for Victor Manuel Gerena and 5) supposedly around 10 million, for Hamster Kombat (the figure is corroborated here, but there isn't an easy way to definitively verify that this is indeed the highest ever achieved). I don't know that there's a meaningful answer to question 4 -- it depends on how you define "type"/"cuisine" and on what scale. There are apparently over twice as many restaurants in China than in any other country, and Chinese restaurants are fairly popular in India (more so than vice-versa), so if you consider "Chinese" to be a single "type" of restaurant that's probably a good guess. (fugues) (talk) 05:15, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

For item 2, check whale blubber, though it doesn't state the species involved. -- Verbarson  ^talk_edits 16:28, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

For 1, see List of largest peaceful gatherings. --Viennese Waltz 07:10, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

For item 2, are you asking specifically about human food? And how do you quantify the size of the food? A mustard seed is tiny, but mustard is often eaten as a paste. Is the food to be measured an individual seed, the amount squirted onto a single hot dog, or the contents of a 5 gallon bucket purchased at a membership store like CostCo? Restaurants serve steak in various sizes. Is the 8 oz sirloin the food to be measured or would it be the cow it was cut from? In another sense the "largest food" is a function of the size of the mouth of the person eating. ---User:Khajidha (talk) (contributions) 18:18, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Some animals are bacteriovores, like e.g. Caenorhabditis elegans, which snacks on Escherichia coli bacteria. To this elegant nematode, a 0.6–0.7 μm³ bacterium is food.

The Guinness World Record for largest pizza is held by a pizza measuring 1,296.72 m².^[2] (The photo makes me wonder, though. If you cover an area with overlapping pizzas, in the same manner as traditional shingles or roof tiles, does it become a single pizza?)  --Lambiam 05:27, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

A sufficiently thin pizza could be delivered by Fax. Philvoids (talk) 23:35, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

I think your link might not have worked correctly; it's pointing to the largest "causa", not "pizza". Matt Deres (talk) 18:44, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

Largest pizza | Guinness World Records AlmostReadytoFly (talk) 09:35, 11 June 2024 (UTC)