Questions and Answers - Part 3

21:34 / 19.12.06

Yep. You said you're on a pc...

Winamp has built-in ipod support (since version 5.2).

Foobar is highly-regarded by many for its low memory usage and customisability (is that a word?). It's a bit on the geeky side of things, but may be your cup of toast. Ipod plugin is about. Not sure where tho (sorry! busy!)

22:26 / 19.12.06

i think i may be on the get itunes tae fuck trail real soon...
i had no idea about the plugins and support from other players. it makes sense the do that, but it had totally escaped me.

thanks, tramptunia!

StarWhisper

16:48 / 20.12.06

Do I give my 10cents on the pro-choice debate in the swichboard, or just, you know...leave it?

ONLY NICE THINGS

17:00 / 20.12.06

Well, if your ten cents does not include at least two cents of attention to the current activities of the Democratic party in the US, it might be wise to use the Head Shop rather than the thread in Switchboard, because it isn't actually a pro-choice debate - it is a discussion of Democrat policy on abortion that was briefly hijacked by Zardoz.

StarWhisper

17:03 / 20.12.06

I had an inkling that might be the case yeah. Cheers. I think I will leave it.

Don't really have an opinion- I just get annoyed by polemic.

And I'm fairy ignorant about american politics.

22:44 / 20.12.06

What is the Welsh for 'I am engaged to be married'?

It's time to share the happy with my grandparents (after a year or so of avoidance...) and it'd be nice if i could make for the double-surprise by telling them in Welsh.

They're native speakers, but they decided not to teach my mum the language and there don't seem to be too many babelfish-style translators for Welsh (and even if there were, i wouldn't trust babelfish with such a sentence. "toilet is engaged at my wedding" etc...).

So who [insert welsh for 'speaks Welsh' here]?

All Acting Regiment

15:54 / 24.12.06

What the hell was that film on BBC 1 the night before last? With the young guy who peeks at the girl next door, and then loads of weird, softcore-porn type stuff happens- she turns out to have been in this film where it's like martial arts porn. I dunno why I want to know, really. Oh yeah- why was it on BBC 1?

Bear

15:58 / 24.12.06

Sounds like that would have been "The Girl Next Door" with Eliza Cuthbert - it was probably on BBC1 because apart from some dubious mixed messages about porn it's great!

All Acting Regiment

16:20 / 24.12.06

Ahh. I was channel-hopping and just landed on the Karate bit. Quite a surprise. Nearly made me choke on a jammy dodger.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

16:38 / 24.12.06

So who [insert welsh for 'speaks Welsh' here]?

I don't, having only learned a few choice phrases in the three years I lived there - "I'm engaged to be married" not being one of them - but I know people who do.

Give me a while, and I'll try to find out

Mon Oncle Ignatius

16:48 / 24.12.06

As for web translators - this one produced "Dwi cyflogedig at bod 'n briod" which when translated back to English comes out as "I am being hired to be (a) heartburn spouse".

So you're not doubt correct that asking a native speaker is probably the better option. Unless you're mining for comedy gold, that is.

16:47 / 26.12.06

Native speaker friend says this:

'Rydw i wedi dyweddio'

Hope it's not too late, tramp.

All Acting Regiment

20:51 / 26.12.06

Anyone know a good book from which to learn Arabic?

21:36 / 26.12.06

i don't, but i'd recommend learning the alphabet and it's pronunciation early, which the internet can help you with.

my own abortive attempt to learn didnt get beyond the free online research level, i'm afraid.

grant

14:08 / 27.12.06

I have had good results from the Pimsleur Mandarin CDs, and they also have Arabic.

They're a bit expensive, but can sometimes be found in university libraries or dim, shadowy corners of the internet.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

16:00 / 27.12.06

.trampetunia - further variations offered by a native Welsh speaking friend to complement Whisky P's:

"Mae .......... a fi wedi dyweddio.
.... and I are enjaged
( the name of the person goes in the blank )

Dwi wedi dyweddio
I have become engaged

Dwi am briodi
I am going to marry "

17:29 / 27.12.06

Awesome. The Grands will be getting a call soon.

Thanks guys!

Allecto - i second the mention of pimsleur. There is a torrent about that has all of the pimsleur cds on it. If you use a client like Azureus, you can manually select which files (not) to download; so you don't have to learn farsi if you don't want to.

Obviously, you should only download this torrent if you already have own a copy of the cd. Otherwise, you would be doing the illegal!

Baz Auckland

22:09 / 27.12.06

Also... if you own a copy of course, DC++ is a great source for Pimsleurs. When I was learning German, their 99 lessons really helped.

It's funny listening to more than one though, since every lesson is the same in every language. Lesson 1: "An American man is on a (train/bus/plane) with a (Thai/German/Chinese/Polish/...) woman and wants to start a conversation. So he says 'Excuse Me"...

12:51 / 29.12.06

does anyone know of anywhere that ranks words in order of regularity of use?

Ticker

13:07 / 29.12.06

like this?

14:03 / 29.12.06

how about exactly like that?
damn, you're good.

Ticker

14:54 / 29.12.06

ƒ€@r m¥ 9009£€ ƒ00

...and you know glad to help and all that.

19:36 / 03.01.07

Can anyone identify this image? It may be a film still.

22:45 / 03.01.07

Think it's from a poster ad. Not sure what for though ... sorry.

13:20 / 04.01.07

Quick one:

Possessives where the word ends in "s" - I was always taught that it was Brutus's wife, not Brutus' wife (etc.) - but debate has been raging at work. Am I WRONG?

Kit-Cat Club

13:51 / 04.01.07

Does anyone know of a good and affordable brand of henna shampoo (or other red-hair shampoo?

14:00 / 04.01.07

Whiskey -
From what i can remember of my A level english lessons, a possessive without an s following is only used when the s is a plural.

Thus: the elephant's nose, the elephants' noses, Brutus's nose.

But i only got a B, and my memory has never been great.

Where's Haus?

Kit-Cat Club

14:07 / 04.01.07

Just checked the Oxford style guide on this and it says:

'Use an apostrophe alone after classical or classicizing namres ending in s or es: Herodotus', Demosthenes', etc.'

'Use 's after French names ending in silent s or x, when used possessively in English: Dumas's, Descartes's', etc.'

'An apostrophe alone is also permissible after longer non-classical or non-classicizing names that are not accented on the last or penultimate syllable: Nicholas'(s), etc. Jesus's is acceptable in non-liturgical use. Jesus' is an accepted archaism.'

'Use 's after non-classical or non-classicizing personal names ending in an s or z sound: Charles's, Marx's, Tobias's, etc.'

Tabitha Tickletooth

14:16 / 04.01.07

Whiskey - I researched this a little while ago when writing a departmental style guide. In short, my understanding is that you should write it as you would pronounce it, but be consistent in your approach. The rule is generally: if the noun is singular and ends in an s, to form the possessive either add apostrophe s or simply add the apostrophe. Obviously, if plural and ending in s, it's just an apostrophe.

I had many arguments about this issue and the dividing line seemed to be that people who would just add the apostrophe believed this to be the 'correct' or 'proper' way, I believe 'traditional' even got bandied about. I have some good website resources that answer this and other irritating which/that type questions that I would be happy to dig up if you'd like.

Smoothly

14:53 / 04.01.07

For what it’s worth, I notice that London Underground demonstrate their ambivalence over this matter by using both. See the platform signs at St James’s (St James’) Park for details.

16:07 / 04.01.07

Mind you, those bastards don't even bother with the apostrophe in King's Cross. Do they put one in Baron's or Earl's Court, does anyone know? If not I have a sneaking suspicion that the guy who designed the London Underground font forgot to do an apostrophe and so they'll go to any lengths not to have to use one.