Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2015 January 19

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January 19[edit]

More Arabic[edit]

WhisperToMe (talk) 02:47, 19 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Apologies to Omidinist, it's better just to let him answer all of these :) But it says "الثانویة الفرنسية بكادير". Adam Bishop (talk) 03:16, 19 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Just to correct a little error: الثانویة الفرنسیة باکادیر. Omidinist (talk) 04:38, 19 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks! WhisperToMe (talk) 05:24, 19 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Oops! See, I knew I should have waited! Adam Bishop (talk) 15:08, 19 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Do people working in Arabic have to increase the zoom levels on their computers compared with Latin script? I can't read any Arabic, but even if I could I don't see how I could make out that tiny writing without big zoom. 109.157.10.246 (talk) 01:50, 20 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
It is a bit tiny. It's like reading 8 pt Latin text. I'm not sure why it shows up like that, something to do with character encoding in Unicode or some such, I suppose. Adam Bishop (talk) 03:16, 21 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Try to read ٱلْثّانَوِیَّةُ ٱلْفَرَنْسِیَّةُ (the fully diacriticized version of first two words of the example) without big zoom. --Theurgist (talk) 16:31, 21 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

What is the word for this?[edit]

What is the word for that fuzzy, blurry thing that temporarily appears on your eyeglasses in the middle of winter when you rapidly come from the freezing cold outside to a warm indoor space? JIP | Talk 19:07, 19 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

If what you're talking about is what I'm thinking of, my family usually just calls it Condensation, since it's the beginnings of it. Sometimes "fog." Ian.thomson (talk) 19:14, 19 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Lenses "fogging up" is the usual colloquialism I've heard, and condensation is the technical term, just like when a cold drink makes the glass "perspire". You can get the same effect going from an air-conditioned space out into heat and humidity. And it can be annoying, but there's a trick to lessen its effect - when passing from the one environment to the other, hold your breath for a little bit - because most if not all of that condensation is coming from your own exhaling. Try it sometime. :) ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:43, 19 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
I call it 'steaming', or 'steaming up'. KägeTorä - () (Chin Wag) 11:40, 20 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Yes condensation is probably more technically correct but most of AmEng speakers I know would say their glasses "fogged up" or "are foggy." There's probably a specific word for it in German :)SemanticMantis (talk) 16:43, 20 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
As KageTora says above, "steamed-up" is widely used in the UK, which is one of those double entendres on which much British humour depends, since "steamed-up" is also a rather archaic term meaning "aroused with ardour" amongst other things. We're a simple people, easily amused. Alansplodge (talk) 13:58, 21 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]