Language desk
< July 1	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 3 >

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.

July 2[edit]

Volume of a Human Being[edit]

Anyone know what the average volume of an adult human male would be? I know we have many variances in our physiologies, so I'm looking for an estimate using "average" healthy stats. Krys Tamar 00:25, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It depends. I can be pretty loud. ;-) —Bkell (talk) 02:00, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps you meant to post this on the Science reference desk?

Anyway, this is easy. People have practically the same density as water -- that's why they just barely float in water, and sometimes don't. So just look for statistics on weight, change the kilograms to liters, and you'll be close enough. --Anonymous, July 2, 2007, 06:24 kg :-) (UTC).

If anonymous' clever method isn't good enough, you could submerge Average Man in a tub, mark the water level, remove him, and then measure how much water it takes to bring the water back up to that level. That's his volume. --TotoBaggins 19:59, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

When I saw this, I thought that Krys Tamar was referring to the vocal volume of a male human. That would make a bit more sense on the Language Desk, though the Science desk might still be better. --Falconus 02:15, 3 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ask Aristotle. :) DirkvdM 12:40, 4 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That was Archimedes. —Bkell (talk) 00:13, 5 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ouch. Well, they were both Greeks and their names have 4 syllables and start with 'Ar'. But still, ouch. DirkvdM 06:54, 5 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

words that end in certain letters[edit]

I am very interested to know if there is any website where I can get list of words ending in certain letters, like -gry, -uous, or -uity. thank you in advance.

Rhyming dictionary has a couple of possible links. DuncanHill 14:53, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Also, if you are using Linux or perhaps MacOS, you could do searches like the ones below. --TotoBaggins 19:56, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

cd /usr/share/dict 
grep 'gry$' words
grep 'uous$' words
grep 'uity$' words

You might also want to read our article -gry, discussing "the -gry puzzle." --LarryMac | Talk 14:26, 3 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Pronunciation of Popol-Vuh[edit]

How is Popol-Vuh pronounced?

Popol Vuh is in K'iche' language. In modern orthography it is 'Popol Wuj'. It is IPA: [[Help:IPA|[popol wuχ]]]. — Gareth Hughes 20:25, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Liftboy?[edit]

Is the word "liftboy" used in English? If no, how do you call a person professionally operating an elevator (in a hotel etc.)? --Thick Peter 17:22, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Not in American English (of course, we don't use "lift" either, but instead the bigger mouthful of "elevator"). We call them "elevator operators", or perhaps "elevator boys" if they're young and male. +ILike2BeAnonymous 17:32, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There are not many such, whatever one might call them. In Canada, and most of the U.S. where I have been, almost all elevators are automatic (hotels, office buildings, department stores, hospitals) operated by the user by way of call buttons. The principal exception is where there is a separate elevator solely for the use of those in wheelchairs. Often, but not always, someone on staff is designated to operate that elevator, on an "as requested" basis, and to bring it back to "base" as it were, when the wheelchair passenger has exited. As this is no one's full-time job, it doesn't have a title. I also cannot imagine that "elevator by" would go down well in North America; I can't speak for "lift boy" in the U.K. Bielle 18:05, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In the UK, lifts have buttons that passengers press to indicate the required floor, so we don't need someone to operate them for us. DuncanHill 18:07, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The OED lists "lift-boy" and lift-attendant" as valid words in British English. Possibly some of the top hotels still employ them.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 18:12, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The OED's entries for that part of the alphabet were generally written around 1902 and last updated around 1975. Anyway, a word can still be "valid" for use in historical contexts even if the thing it refers to no longer exists: you can say things like "And so he became the new managing director, 30 years after joining the company as a lift attendant."

So the answer, I think is: we don't usually speak of people in that job betcause it pretty much doesn't exist any more, but we might refer to it in a historical context. If we are doing that, North Americans won't say "liftboy" because we know the job as "elevator attendant", but British people might say "liftboy" (at least if the person is a young male) or "lift attendant".

--Anonymous, July 3, 2007, 04:10 (UTC).

I suppose a bellboy might have carried out some of these activities as well. 194.168.231.2 11:28, 3 July 2007 (UTC)Wes[reply]

In Taiwan, many department stalls, malls etc have lift/ elevator attendants, though I always say lift ladies (I'm Australian). These ladies operate lifts/ elevators for customers, they dont have any other duties. Awzium 06:42, 4 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Odd Autobiographical Habit" - Dubliners[edit]

In A Painful Case, Dubliners by James Joyce, Mr Duffy has "an odd autobiographical habit which lead him to compose in his mind from time to time a short sentence about himself containing a subject in the third person and a predicate in the past tense." Could someone give me an example of such a sentence, please? Thanks in advance 82.12.214.93 18:20, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Mr Duffy closed the book". "Mr Duffy" is the subject of the sentence, "closed the book" is the predicate. DuncanHill 18:30, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank-you 82.12.214.93 18:36, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Guys is "ignourant" ever used in old English? Or...[edit]

favourite, olde, and withe? I am in a discussion about language on Youtube here. -PatPeter 17:27, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Answered at Talk:Old English language. —Angr 19:49, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]