Language desk
< April 2	<< Mar \| April \| May >>	April 4 >

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.

April 3

one syllable word meaning "person"

Hey,

So I'm trying to come up with a catchy name for something, and the sentence refers to a generic person. I've come up with lots of words that are catchy and one syllable, like "a man and", "a guy and", "a dude and", "a bro and", in the sentence, but I would really like to have a generic word so that it applies to everyone, and "a person and" just isn't as catchy.

are there any good one-syllable words I can use to refer to a person in general? it can be completely (even ridiculously) slangy, it just has to apply to everyone. 91.120.48.242 (talk) 07:48, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There's the plural "folks," but I'm not sure "folk" is a regular singular noun of any sort. Evanh2008 ^{(talk|contribs)} 07:59, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

"Folk" is plural anyway. --TammyMoet (talk) 09:39, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, but so is "folks," so a singular word "folk" could hypothetically be derived from it in some dialect or another. It hasn't been, to my knowledge, but it's not out of the question. Evanh2008 ^{(talk|contribs)} 11:40, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

y'all? 196.214.78.114 (talk) 09:29, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Bloke? Apparently the word "skate" means "a person; fellow: He's a good skate." Although it also means "a contemptible person." Bus stop (talk) 09:52, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm an American so I don't use "bloke" but that entry says, "man; fellow; guy." Maybe I wasn't clear but this whole question is about a word like guy/bloke/man/dude/bro that can apply to either gender. I suppose at a stretch you can address a girl as "Dude," but you definitely can't refer to a girl as a "a dude". But if you say "a person" sure you can. The problem is only that "person" is too long for me, I'd like one syllable and maybe a bit slangy. (For comparison, I've only listed words that apply to men, but there are words that apply to women: girl/gal/chick/sis, which are no worse than 'bro', not a word I like. The point is these words exist). What can I call a guy or a gal, without having to specify which one? --91.120.48.242 (talk) 10:06, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Person as a thesaurus entry has some related terms. Bus stop (talk) 10:18, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Mentsh? Angr (talk) 11:41, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Best I can do is bod. --Nicknack009 (talk) 12:01, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There's chap, but that's rather British-sounding and possibly a bit dated. — Cheers, JackLee ^–talk– 12:20, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

and usually understood (at least by this Brit) to refer to males only. Rojomoke (talk) 12:39, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Having been called "mate" more times than I care to remember,I can only conclude that it is a unisex epithet. --TammyMoet (talk) 14:12, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

But one relatively new epithet is "peep", as popularised by Stavros in the 80s/90s and which seems to be making a comeback. --TammyMoet (talk) 14:14, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Wasn't that plural only, though - 'peeps' = 'people', I mean? KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 14:25, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think that there is a noun that fits your parameters in widespread use. One option is to go for plural solutions, as suggested above ("folks", "peeps"). Another might be to use some kind of synechdoche, such as "a soul" or "a mind", "a voice", or even "a mouth" (if, say, you were marketing a food product). Marco polo (talk) 15:05, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Soul, as in: some poor soul? 93.95.251.162 (talk) 15:18, 3 April 2013 (UTC) Martin[reply]

In the Midwest U.S. at least, "guys" as a plural nowadays seems to mean any group of people, regardless of gender (one young girl to her four peers: "Hey, guys, let's go"); but doesn't seem to work the same way as a singular. --Orange Mike | Talk 20:10, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Old saying or new?

I once came up with a saying, and it dawned on me I had probably just remembered it from somewhere, and forgotten where I had heard it. Googling doesn't help. It happens occasionally that a politician or similar person has been dishonest or equivocal with the truth, and eventually they cross the line, and do something that really exposes them. Usually it isn't something illegal, but it exposes them in some memorable way. To use a fictitious example, imagine a devious politician saying "well, that depends on what the word "truth" really means". There is nothing illegal in the saying, but the media would have a field day with it. Then my saying is: "a whale has to come up for air." In other words, a fish can stay underwater, but a whale is a mammal, so it eventually has to surface, and then it gives itself away. I'm sure I must have heard it somewhere, but I can't find it. Can anyone point me to where it has been used? IBE (talk) 16:42, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Arthur C Clarke uses that exact phrase in Islands in the Sky, Gregg Press 1979 (p.148) "Even so, it can't stay in the night land indefinitely, but has to return to the twilight zone at intervals, just as on our own world a whale has to come up for air." However, it seems to be an analogy used to describe an alien life form, rather than the political metaphore that you describe. Alansplodge (talk) 18:05, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Free Dictionary has two figurative senses: "to stop what one is doing for a different activity or rest", and "to stop kissing for a moment and breathe". The expression has been used in the literal sense (of whales, seals etc) for hundreds of years, but earliest figurative usages I can find are in Thackeray and Harper's Magazine in the mid-1800s. Dbfirs 12:00, 5 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Standard English

Hello there, English is my second language. I want to update a post from here. It looks like:
Linden Wolbert, this woman's just inspired us. Do what you love to do.....she's proved it. After leaving 9 am to 5 pm job that she's been doing for three years, she eventually got involved in her dream job - a professional mermaid. She's always dreamed of becoming a mermaid, always wanted to get in touch with water. It was her childhood dream. A Dream that she wished comes true. Water fascinates her like nothing else.We people are so crippled by society's stupid structure that forces us to do things that we don't like. Always running after money simply destroys our mind and body, always showing off people that what material things we have makes braggart, always hearing naysayers bullshit pollutes our soul and we forget what we want to become. We just become slave of surrounding environment that destroys our peace in mind and passion. And when we realize it, it's too late for us to recover. Linden Wolbert knows how to enjoy life through her work. Makes her dream come into reality that she fostered in her heart. A freedom that she always want, a passion that she proves through her will power. Because freedom breeds creativity and passion.Find a Job You Love and You’ll Never Work a Day in Your Life."

Is it in correct form? I want to make it more standard in English language and thought provoking. Can anyone help. Thanks--180.234.50.212 (talk) 18:52, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like you are trying to create an advertisement, and I don't think we should help you with that. In the USA it would be illegal to use somebody's name in this way in an ad without getting permission, but I suppose in Bangladesh you can get away with a lot. Looie496 (talk) 19:16, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You have misunderstood me. It's not advertisement. I want to update my Facebook status by this inspirational story.--180.234.50.212 (talk) 19:20, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I would make the following changes:

Linden Wolbert, this woman's just inspires us. Do what you love to do.....she's exemplified it. After leaving the 9 am to 5 pm job that she'd been doing for three years, she eventually got involved in her dream job - as a professional mermaid. She's always dreamed of becoming a mermaid, always wanted to get in touch with water. It was her childhood dream. A dream that she wished has come [or would come, depending on your meaning] true. Water fascinates her like nothing else. We people are so crippled by society's stupid structure that forces us to do things that we don't like. Always running after money simply destroys our minds and bodies, always showing off ~~people that what~~ the material things we have makes us braggarts, always hearing naysayers' bullshit pollutes our souls and we forget what we want to become. We just become slaves to the surrounding environment that destroys our peace of mind and passion. And when we realize it, it's too late for us to recover. Linden Wolbert knows how to enjoy life through her work. She's made the dream that she'd fostered in her heart into reality. A freedom that she had always wanted, a passion that she has proven through her willpower. Because freedom breeds creativity and passion. Find a Job You Love and You’ll Never Work a Day in Your Life."

-Elmer Clark (talk) 21:34, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Penge/Pinezhi/Peniaze

It has come to my attention that the Danish word for money is penge. In Rusyn we would say pinezhi. (My grandmother would always say "Masz pinezhi?" and offer me a twenty.) I see the Slovak for money is peniaze. Can anyone point to an etymology for these words? Thanks. μηδείς (talk) 19:09, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It seems likely to me that they all derive, or at least relate to, the Proto-Germanic panningaz, the precursor of the English word penny. Looie496 (talk) 19:23, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's right. The change of Proto-Germanic -ing- to Proto-Slavic -ędz- happened in *kuningaz > *kъnędzь (whence Russian князь and many other Slavic words) as well. Angr (talk) 20:02, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Although some linguists think it came from Latin pondus.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 14:45, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Russian is деньги (dengi). -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 20:03, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Which isn't from Proto-Slavic *pěnędzь. According to Wiktionary, деньги is from Turkic. Angr (talk) 20:13, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

In Old Russian there was also пѣнязь "money".--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 14:45, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The subtitled Danish dramas are going well then? :-) - Cucumber Mike (talk) 21:17, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

French questions

How would one render "And the thing was" in the sentence "And the thing was a lot of these kids are just some folder somewhere."? Thanks WhisperToMe (talk) 19:32, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, literal translation does obviously not work here....if I see this as something bad being piled on another bad thing, a good rendering would be: "Et pour rendre la chose encore pire.....". But I must admit I would need a bit more context here. Lectonar (talk) 19:38, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

For context, the original English is located here: Commons:TimedText:Sextortionagent_interview.ogg.en.srt - The draft French is located at Commons:File talk:Sextortionagent interview.ogg/French WhisperToMe (talk) 19:40, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Then my translation can stand, although one might use "Et pour rendre les choses encore pires...". IMHO this catches the indended meaning quite accurately, although I would bow to a native French speaker, as usual. Lectonar (talk) 19:43, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! When I've gone through the subtitles I'll ask a native French speaker to proofread it. Then it will be moved into a .srt file WhisperToMe (talk) 19:52, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Also what is "This is what I have over you" (as in "this is what I can use to extort you, or to punish you if you don't do what I say) ? WhisperToMe (talk) 20:01, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I daresay this is typical American English, a bit colloquial, perhaps? Has it the meaning as "having control over somebody", like: "You are in my hands now"?Lectonar (talk) 21:22, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the original English is often-colloquial American English from an FBI agent. It means "this is what I have that I can control you with" or "this is the negative material I have on you" WhisperToMe (talk) 22:43, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There is really no way to say this with anything too literal. If "this" is information, then something like: "J'ai ces informations incriminantes sur toi / vous". Or if you want the full meaning to be very explicit: "Ces informations incriminantes me donnent un pouvoir sur toi / vous." Not a very satisfactory translation. --85.119.27.27 (talk) 07:31, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! I'm using the second one WhisperToMe (talk) 07:50, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

After thinking this through, I would use: "Je te tiens (...dans mes mains)..", literally "I have you in my hands", means I can do with you what I want. This should be readily understandable by French speakers. Lectonar (talk) 07:55, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! I'll try that out! WhisperToMe (talk) 08:17, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Je te tiens, avec ça ! --Lgriot (talk) 08:52, 5 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I think The thing is/was... can be rendered as Ce qu'il y a, c'est que.... That's how I usually say it in French, anyway.64.140.121.87 (talk) 06:34, 7 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]