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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2011 August 27

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August 27

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use of "submitted"

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In this part of the world, when a government servant makes a request or brings to notice something to a superior officer, he wouldn't write a letter addressing the superior. He will write a note with "Submitted" placed on the top as heading. I guess this must be a colonial vestige. Is there such a usage in British English, currently?--Dondrodger (talk) 13:43, 27 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, in rather formal usage it means "sent in". You can submit your writing (the linked reference is a US site) or make a written submission (although I wouldn't say "write a written submission" - "make" would be better in my view). I'm not sure I have ever seen "submitted" as the heading for a Memorandum, this must be just local usage, but I would understand what it meant. To quote our Memorandum page: "A memorandum may have any format, or it may have a format specific to an office or institution." Alansplodge (talk) 15:40, 27 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's generally understood that the date on a memo is the date on which it was submitted, so the actual word is extraneous. If it's necessary to also note the date on which it was received, a date stamp with the word "Received" is often used for that. In the case of e-mails, these dates can by tracked automatically be the system, with the "submitted" and "received" dates listed as the dates it was "Sent" and "Opened" or "Read". StuRat (talk) 18:20, 27 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
One of my favorite puns concerns scientific journals which accept submission in Latex (not to be confused with submission in Latex). No such user (talk) 09:55, 29 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Any researcher who sent in anything like that might be reamed out and face disciplinary action or even suspension. StuRat (talk) 18:34, 29 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

arabic script

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[1] what language is this and what does it say please? Kittybrewster 16:40, 27 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Read it: La Di Da Di
HOOTmag (talk) 17:56, 27 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I've seen that clip without the Arabic on his shirt, just can't remember where. — kwami (talk) 18:29, 27 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
May be here? HOOTmag (talk) 18:54, 27 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Våran?

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I've noticed some Swedish say våran when they mean vår (Swedish for "our"). What is the difference between the two? Are there also forms like minan, dinan, hansan, hennesan, eran and derasan? JIP | Talk 17:51, 27 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I found this. 'Våran' appears to be a colloquial variant of 'vår', and 'vårat' a colloquial variant of 'vårt'. I've heard 'eran', but there aren't a lot of google hits (here's one). The other forms you suggest sound just weird to my (Norwegian) ears. --NorwegianBlue talk 20:32, 27 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I can comfirm what NorwegianBlue said. According to p 21 here it's a remnant of the old Swedish grammar where adjectives and pronouns were conjugated more often. The -an ending is originally the masculine, singular accusative case. The article also says that våran is unusual in Finland, so I'm not surprised that you haven't heard it.Sjö (talk) 11:30, 31 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]