Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2008 August 25

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August 25[edit]

Horny[edit]

A man can get horny (erect penis looks like a horn) but surely a woman cannot get horny? what word is more appropriate for females? — (Unsigned comment left by Maaandrel (talk · contribs))

For either gender, you might say "aroused" or "excited". But in my experience (American English speaker), "horny" is not a term limited to men. Dylan (talk) 01:11, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Wow, dictionary.com has an article on it. Agrees on the etymology. Anyway, yes, girls get horny, the word's been used that way for a very long time. With some effort, you can find websites like this: [1] that have lists of words like that. "Wet" seems to be the most fitting for your purpose. Black Carrot (talk) 02:36, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Never heard "up rise in the Levi's" before. bibliomaniac15 03:17, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
A woman's erect nipples could resemble little horns. — Twas Now ( talkcontribse-mail ) 03:13, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think the word has transcended any literal interpretation. They do that after a while. Black Carrot (talk) 03:40, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Agreed. I was just humoring Maaandrel's line of reasoning. — Twas Now ( talkcontribse-mail ) 04:05, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What does "ripcord" mean:

If the throw lands flat then the distance is measured from the back of the ripcord.

?24.65.69.8 (talk) 02:43, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Odd my understanding is that a flat landing is a foul. Omahapubliclibrary (talk) 03:34, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
So do you know what the ripcord is, Omahapubliclibrary? — Twas Now ( talkcontribse-mail ) 19:15, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I see the word ripcord in the article on javelin, but undefined. What does it mean? Presumably nothing to do with ripcord as in parachute jumping.
I believe that the term in the article should be "whipcord [grip]". See the first item here. I've changed the article accordingly. Deor (talk) 19:34, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Slightly related. My impression is that there was no TV coverage of javelin throwing at this Olympics. Is that true, or did I just not watch at the right time? Thanks, Wanderer57 (talk) 19:30, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you mean on NBC in the U.S., it went by in about 30 seconds... AnonMoos (talk) 22:25, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Quite a lot of coverage (particularly women's) on my continent. DOR (HK) (talk) 02:39, 26 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This is a long shot (long throw?), but maybe they didn't want to risk televising people being impaled. — Twas Now ( talkcontribse-mail ) 22:52, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
There was javelin coverage on CBC in Canada, both separately and as part of the decathlon (perhaps only because there was a Canadian competitor, who, as it turns out, is really terrible at javelin). Adam Bishop (talk) 01:13, 26 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hottie[edit]

What does "w" and "CR" mean in the best times table of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Connaughton#Biography?24.65.69.8 (talk) 03:33, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

In athletics 'w' normally denotes wind assistance (usually in m/s with -w marking a headwind), which is taken into account when posting times. CR is usually used to mark a Commonwealth Record, although reading the article, it says it denotes a Championship Record - relating in this particular case to the Canadian Championship athletics event. Nanonic (talk) 03:47, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

ślůnsko[edit]

How to pronounce "ślůnsko", a native name of the Silesian language, and what is its IPA transcription? luuva (talk) 05:39, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

According to szl:Ślůnsko godka, it's ['ɕlonskɔ]. — Kpalion(talk) 15:19, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you! luuva (talk) 16:20, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Need somebody who speaks Arabic[edit]

Is Heyati real, or is it an attack on someone with that name? Corvus cornixtalk 07:12, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Regardless, I have prodded the article. — Twas Now ( talkcontribse-mail ) 07:49, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Also, perhaps the correct spelling is "hayati". — Twas Now ( talkcontribse-mail ) 07:54, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Google Translator does not recognise either.--Thanks, Ainlina(box)? 09:14, 27 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I can tell, the person who wrote the article in question may be confusing the two separate Arabic words حياة and حياء (or misunderstanding some form of wordplay involving the two words). AnonMoos (talk) 22:16, 25 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Considering the edit history, I think it's an intentional personal attack. Corvus cornixtalk 20:18, 26 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]