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October 1

Figure at Swedish National Museum

At the Swedish National Museum in Östermalm, Stockholm, Sweden there is a small clay figure at a display case. It's an adult male figure, wearing a suit and tie, with thick black eyeglasses, reading an opened book on its hands. I have a picture of it but have not uploaded it to Wikipedia or Commons. Does anyone know whom this is a figure of? JIP | Talk 00:11, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think you will find the museum people very helpful at info@nationalmuseum.se phone +46(0)8-519 543 00 . Specifically you can ask their Image Services at images@nationalmuseum.se, visiting address: Holmamiralens väg 2 (by appointment only). Philvoids (talk) 11:08, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You don't need to upload it to commons, you can upload it to a free image hosting service like imgur and post the link to the image here. --Viennese Waltz 11:50, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

imgbb doesn't even require any signup. Card Zero (talk) 12:31, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That's good to know. I've never uploaded images (it's years since I used a camera) but I believe Commons doesn't require signup either. There's a form to be filled in, so you can be certain you're not violating any copyrights. And the description can be updated, useful for future reference. 2A02:C7B:10B:4800:CB6:FD0D:1A20:91AF (talk) 13:04, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Here is a picture of the figure at imgbb. I tried creating an account but imgbb just says "Check the errors on this form to continue" without showing any errors. Anyway the picture has been uploaded and will be autodeleted after two weeks. I could have uploaded it to Commons but was unsure about whether the copyright status would allow it. Does anyone recognise whom this is a figure of? JIP | Talk 23:11, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

My lizard hindbrain recognizes it, but can't tell me the answer. I'm thinking either cold-war-era political figure, or intellectual TV personality. Best guess so far: Henry Kissinger. (But why would they have a little clay idol of Henry Kissinger?) Card Zero (talk) 06:40, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

My first idea was Bruno Kreisky, but again: why? The suggestion to contact the museum was a good one. --Wrongfilter (talk) 06:52, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This is Gunnar Sträng, see here. --Viennese Waltz 07:43, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Usage of hello

In a telephone conversation between two officers of an Armed Force of differing seniority, is it correct on the part of the junior officer to respond to the call by saying "Hello"? What is the correct way of beginning the telephonic conversation by the junior officer? Sumalsn (talk) 07:15, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

How one starts a telephone conversation in a military context depends on whether one is making the call or responding to a call, whether there is an operation in progress and whether the line is secure. The word "Hello" itself conveys nothing but it would be correct to use in "Hello can you hear me?" During a predefined operation there may be routine calls that merely announce "Observation post reporting, no enemy sighting." An unexpected call might be initiated with "Hello this is General Threestar's office with new orders to General Twostar" to which the response might be either "Hallo this is Twostar, what the blazes is going on?" or "Hello the general is unavailable, shall I connect you to Lieutenant Standin?". Philvoids (talk) 11:00, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Our protocol was to answer the phone with: (Name of Unit) (Name of building) (Your rank and last name) speaking. How may I help you? 12.116.29.106 (talk) 11:04, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Should the same protocol apply to the incoming call "All your base are belong to us, you have no chance to survive make your time"? Philvoids (talk) 11:19, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Would that be a senior officer calling? —Tamfang (talk) 18:30, 4 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

How would the junior officer know a senior officer is calling him? (unless he has all of the Armed Force in his contacts list) FWIW we said "Good morning. This is Major Gump." 196.50.199.218 (talk) 12:07, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Caller ID? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:41, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This all assumes that the soldiers speak American/English. They may say something completely different. -- SGBailey (talk) 21:09, 1 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Regardless of nation, it seems reasonable to expect that the call would initially be answered in a businesslike manner, similar to what 12.116.29.106 said. Then the caller would identify themself, and the actual conversation could begin. Just answering "Hello" is not businesslike. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:43, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

This was a subject of some controversy in 2018 in the august ramks of the British Army. Apparenty, the accepted formula:

"When the telephone rings I must answer with the name of my department, my name, followed by 'how can I help you sir?'"

was challenged by a Colonel Steve Davies, Assistant Head of Employment, Directorate Manning (Army), who thought that the use of "sir" might cause offence to a female. [1] This generated a considerable reaction. [2] What the upshot of all this was, I cannot tell. You might think there were more important things to worry about. Alansplodge (talk) 18:01, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Your own normative judgement of "businesslike" without something to back it up is inappropriate here. The word hello is a cross-linguistic telephone greeting (and predates it in general hailing situations) -- there is nothing that is intrinsically non-businesslike about it. (Arguably, historically, as it is a means of attracting a business transaction, it is an entirely businesslike greeting -- hence the importance of providing something on the ref desk beyond your personal beliefs.) SamuelRiv (talk) 18:32, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe you've never actually worked at a company or are otherwise unfamiliar with good phone etiquette. "Hello" is how you answer your home phone. If it's your business phone, you state who you are. If you only say "Hello", the caller is liable to think they've mis-dialed, and you're off to the wrong start. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:11, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Here's some basic advice on answering a phone professionally.[3] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:27, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

And here are some tips on answering the phone where military is concerned.[4] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:30, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

To be clear, you are stating that answering a phone with only saying the one word "Hello" is not business-like. If you answer with "Hello" followed by who you are and where you work, that is business-like. It isn't that the word "Hello" is banned. It just isn't business-like to use it with absolutely nothing else. It can be worse. My grandfather was raised on a reservation and didn't have a phone until he was at least 40. He didn't get the whole "Hello" thing and answered the phone by saying "Speak." 12.116.29.106 (talk) 13:27, 3 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Off topic, but according to a Spanish course I did (long ago), the telephone greeting in Spanish was "Diga me", which translates to something like "talk to me", so starting with "hello" is something culturally. I agree that answering with only "hello" in English doesn't sound business-like. Rmvandijk (talk) 09:27, 4 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

My thanks to all the esteemed members of this desk who have spared their valuable time to answer my query.

Regards Sumalsn (talk) 10:54, 4 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]