Language desk
< June 14	<< May \| June \| Jul >>	June 16 >

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.

June 15

Pam

What are ironpans?

The picture is of a stagnopodzol in upland Wales, and shows the typical sequence of organic topsoil with leached grey-white subsoil with iron-rich horizon below. The example has two weak ironpans.
— http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spodosols

]]174.3.103.39 (talk) 02:55, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ferricrete says "ironpan" is a synonym. Adam Bishop (talk) 04:32, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Crudely speaking, an ironpan is a layer of iron-rich soil usually found under layers sand and peat, or similar material formed from a bog: it's created by the downward-moving bog water leaching the minerals out of the soils above and depositing them on a more impermeable layer beneath - see bog iron. Some ironpans were a source of the metal in the Iron Age. I'm sure anyone with some formal knowledge of the geophysical sciences could give a much more detailed and accurate answer. Contributions/87.81.230.195 (talk) 19:53, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If these answers don't tell you what you wanted to know, you could always ask Pam. :) -- JackofOz (talk) 21:35, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science. -- Wavelength (talk) 21:57, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Wikipedians has a link to Category:Wikipedians by profession. -- Wavelength (talk) 22:04, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Modern novels/authors in project Gutemberg/Librivox

What modern novels/authors can be found in project Gutemberg, Librivox and similar sites?--Mr.K. (talk) 12:52, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See Project Gutenberg and LibriVox and Category:Book websites. -- Wavelength (talk) 14:06, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Project Gutenberg only publishes book out of copyright so modern authors are less likely to be included, depending of course how you define modern. Contributions/86.4.190.83 (talk) 15:09, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Correction: Project Gutenberg mostly publishes books that are out of copyright. By the way, this query would have been better placed on the Humanities reference desk. --Anonymous, 05:00 UTC, June 16, 2009.

Joan

How is the male Catalan name "Joan" pronounced? Recury (talk) 14:13, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Catalan orthography, Catalan phonology and Talk:Joan Miró#Pronunciation suggest [ʑuˈan]. — Emil J. 14:26, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Confirmed. I have a Catalan friend called Joan. --NorwegianBlue^talk 21:24, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can hear the name pronounced at about 1:05 of this podcast (the 12th of June podcast of 'Internauta of Catalunya Radio). To my ears, there is a weak initial "d" sound, so the pronunciation of the inital "J" is close to that of English "John". --NorwegianBlue^talk 08:58, 16 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Wikipedians by language has a link to Category:User ca. -- Wavelength (talk) 20:19, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Alphabetic Order

I tried searching our articles on English alphabet and alphabetic order, but didn't find an answer. Why is the English alphabet in the order it is in? Did it just happen by chance, like everyone got together and said "Hey, let's make A the first letter, why not?" I know some alphabets have letters arranged by how you pronounce them, is this related? Or is there some other reason? --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 15:28, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Does Alphabet#Alphabetic order give a better insight? Astronaut (talk) 16:21, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Does it? Why was the early Semitic alphabet in the order it was in? — Emil J. 16:45, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See History of the alphabet#Letter names and sequence of some alphabets. -- Wavelength (talk) 18:41, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See this page in Google Books, referring to Hebrew acrostics in the Bible. -- Wavelength (talk) 18:49, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Short story about a kid who finds out that he's poor

I know this doesn't really fit here, but I think the audience of this group is more likely to know the answer.

Does anyone know what the name / author is of this short story? A kid is at school and his teacher tells the class that they are going to do things to help the poor. The kid feels great about this and is all excited about helping them out. When he gets home his parents seem uninterested. When he goes back to school the next day he has nothing to offer. The teacher is OK with it. I think it is the next night that the kid figures out for himself that his family is one of the poor families he had heard about. Before then he had no idea. It was the only life he had ever known.

I have no idea when the story was written, but I read it about 30 years ago. That's so long ago I may not even have the story 100% correct. --Wonderley (talk) 18:16, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Please don't post the same question on multiple RD's --ColinFine (talk) 23:13, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would normally agree with you Colin, but as I stated at the beginning of this post, this is the audience that would most likely know the answer. Even though it is not a question about language, the group that answers these questions is more likely to know the answer and not even look at a group that has posting asking what secret agents wear. --Wonderley (talk) 02:40, 16 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No, the correct desk would have been Humanities, not Misc. --Richardrj ^talk ^email 05:54, 16 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I vote for the entertainment desk; it's a question about a story. Anyway, I'm sorry but no one here seems to know the answer.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 16:36, 16 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

ID questions about stories and novels have traditionally been posted on the Humanities desk, to the best of my knowledge. Deor (talk) 04:42, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It's by Floyd Dell, from his autobiography HOMECOMING. It is often excerpted and named "We're Poor." I used it my my creative writing class and it was given the title, "My Sixth Christmas." You can find the full excerpt on the web. Be prepared to cry; it made my students cry. Very poignant, memorable. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.56.4.37 (talk) 17:27, 16 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

THANKS. Oh, I know about it being so moving. That's the only reason why I remember it. Thanks again. --Wonderley (talk) 20:09, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

AWESOME Story. Anyone seeing this might want to check it out. [1] --Wonderley (talk) 20:27, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]