Language desk
< September 30	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	October 2 >

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.

October 1

The meaning of "outsouthern"

Would you please teach me the meaning of "outsouthern" in the following sentence?180.6.120.181 (talk) 07:12, 1 October 2015 (UTC)dengen[reply]

  Carolyn Ellis, a bright, funny Lebanese woman from Mississippi who could 
  "outsouthern" me and is now chancellor of the University of Mississippi.---
  Bill Clinton, My Life, p.183.

English speakers sometimes use "to out-xyz" to mean "to be more xyz", so I guess Clinton is meaning "who could be more southern than me". JIP | Talk 07:35, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) Clinton is saying that Ellis was able to exemplify or convey the cultural characteristics of the Southern United States better than he was. (The context may or may not make it clear exactly which of those characteristics he's thinking of. Perhaps it may refer to nothing more than her manner of speech.) See definitions 3 and 4 here. Deor (talk) 07:40, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I believe this type of construction originated with outdo. Alansplodge (talk) 12:33, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Dr. Carolyn Ellis Statonis currently listed as Professor Emeritus, but had been provost and vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. List of Chancellors of the University of Mississippi suggests that she was never the full chancellor. -- ToE 12:58, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

He is saying that her mannerisms, probably including speech, are strongly Southern. This might be a "subculture" of the United States. See also Southern United States, Southern American English, Black Belt (U.S. region), Southern hospitality, and several other Wikipedia articles. Bill Clinton of course hails from Arkansas, which is considered one of the West South Central States. Bus stop (talk) 22:37, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

No, actually, what he is saying is that her mannerisms are even more Southern than his—and he has a reputation of having very strongly Southern mannerisms and speech. Out- nearly always has the connotation of not only "to be more ..." but "to be more ... than something that is already strongly ..." StevenJ81 (talk) 00:20, 2 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o’erdoing Termagant; it out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it..
— Act III scene ii

In Middle and Early Modern English mystery plays the character of Herod was played as having a very loud voice. What Hamlet is saying here is, please don't be loud just for the sake of it; don't be even louder than how the Herod character is played.--Shirt58 (talk) 06:01, 2 October 2015 (UTC) "But in Pilates voys he gan to crie,/And swoor by armes and by blood and bones,/"I kan a noble tale for the nones,/With which I wol now quite the Knyghtes tale." Erm, or was it Pilate that had the loud voice? Ah, whatever.[reply]

Although see Termagant. Alansplodge (talk) 18:10, 2 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Acquiescent v quiescent

What's the difference? 82.68.76.174 (talk) 16:01, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I think that acquiescence refers to an individual making an affirmative decision to agree to something (or, to be quiescent about something). As a word, quiescence is more often used to refer to impersonal things (objects, events, etc.). But I'm kind of guessing on that. StevenJ81 (talk) 17:38, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

To become quiet vs. already in a quiet state.[1][2] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:40, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Quiescent is an important word in electronics. If it's said that the quiescent current in a device such as a transistor or radio tube is a certain value, the meaning is that that's the current under steady-state conditions with no input signal to the device. Akld guy (talk) 20:05, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

That fits with the notion of "quiet" as in "stable". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:07, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Yes Bugs, I was not disagreeing with your earlier post. Note that in the electronics sense, the stability is brought about by factors external to the device, not by choice of the device itself. Akld guy (talk) 22:50, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Although the –esc– element suggests a transition! —Tamfang (talk) 07:25, 3 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

According to the Oxford English Dictionary: acquiescent = "Ready to accept something without protest or to do what someone else wants – from Latin acquiescent – 'remaining at rest'" whilst quiescent= "In a state or period of inactivity or dormancy – from Latin quiescent 'being still'". I hope this helps! JezGrove (talk) 18:55, 2 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

why does the portugese word viciado means "addicted" ? what is his etymology?

this words sounds like the latin "vici" what means "I have won" (veni vidi vici)... and viciado has this word VICI at his beginnings.--Poker chip (talk) 16:17, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

It's probably from vitium, whence cometh the English word "vice". --Trovatore (talk) 16:47, 1 October 2015 (UTC) To be clear: That's my guess. I haven't actually checked the Portuguese etymology and I don't know a resource for that. I did look up the root of "vice" at etymonline.com. --Trovatore (talk) 16:50, 1 October 2015 (UTC) [reply]

And what would be the right definition of "GTA- Vice City" if you would translate this to an other language? A city where everybody is Addicted to something? --Poker chip (talk) 16:58, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

No, the English word "vice" doesn't mean "addiction" specifically, though in most people's estimation it probably includes addiction. A "vice" is any habit that you should really try to get rid of. There's a moral component to the word, but less so than with "sin" — a sin is something inherently bad, whereas a vice might be just bad for you and OK for someone else. --Trovatore (talk) 17:06, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

This source confirms Trovatore's guess. A closer English cognate is vitiate. Marco polo (talk) 22:36, 1 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Actually I've been having second thoughts about my explanation. The softer use of "vice" I was talking about is probably more of a jocular hyperbole than a precise use.

It might be better to say that the distinction between "sin" and "vice" is that a sin is a discrete act, whereas a vice (in the strict sense, rather than the hyperbolic one) is a sinful habit.

The usage from the video game probably comes from the notion of a police vice squad, popularized in the TV show Miami Vice, which is a police unit purposed to enforce laws against purported vices such as drugs and prostitution. --Trovatore (talk) 02:37, 5 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The normal Spanish for "drug addicted" is drogadicto, and Portuguese has the exact same term, although viciado em drogas is also used. μηδείς (talk) 18:38, 2 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]