Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2010 February 8

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February 8

Quicken?

What is qif?174.3.98.236 (talk) 07:06, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Looks like it's Quicken Interchange Format. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:14, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

In the TV series Highlander, they used a variation on this software, call Quickening ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 07:17, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

But that makes no sense in the context quoted, which appears to be a comment about template syntax to me (something about attempting to reduce dependency on qif by something or other.) 128.232.241.211 (talk) 12:47, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

From the top of this page:

Is there any way I can get a faster answer? Yes, you can search first. Please do this. Entering search terms in the box to the left may locate useful articles in Wikipedia.

rʨanaɢ ^talk/_contribs 07:22, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I should have mentioned that. I typed qif in the search box, it appeared in the dropdown, and when I selected it, it took me straight to the Quicken Interchange Format page. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:04, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

qif seems to be some obsolete MediaWiki template[1]. qif appears to have been used for conditional components of a template, though it seems to have been replaced by "#if" in more recent versions of the software. Maybe some wiki guru knows more (try the Computing ref desk). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.172.19.20 (talk) 13:11, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

3 types of ironys

I have larnt they have 3 types of ironys one is dramatic, verbal and what is the other one. One of them means the way opposite one of them means I know something autor have no idea on. Which one is which?--209.129.85.4 (talk) 17:21, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Our article Irony lists dramatic, verbal, and situational as the three types. Deor (talk) 17:36, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Asking about Spanish homework

I want to know how to ask if any homework was assigned for Wednesday. I have managed to smush this sentence together: "Usted asigna tarea por el clase en Miercoles?" but I am fairly sure that's not right. Can someone help me fix this? 174.20.67.206 (talk) 21:27, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

• Informally: Hay tarea para el miércoles? (or para la clase de miercoles) [that's "Is there homework for Wednesday"]--or Tenemos tarea para el miércoles? ["Do we have homework for Wednesday?"]
• More formally: Asignó usted tarea para el miércoles? or Había usted asignado tarea para el miércoles? ["Have you assigned homework for Wednesday"] --71.111.229.19 (talk) 22:29, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

So why is it the "yo" form of haber and asignar? 174.20.67.206 (talk) 22:35, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Unaccented o usually indicates a verb conjugated in the first-person singular present indicative active. An ó with an acute accent usually indicates a verb conjugated in the third-person singular preterite indicative active. In this context, the third person is used to represent the polite form (Usted) of you (second person). See Spanish conjugation. -- Wavelength (talk) 22:51, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

[I am inserting the underlined words and hyphenating "first-person" and "third-person". -- Wavelength (talk) 23:26, 8 February 2010 (UTC)]

There is an acute accent on the first e in wikt:miércoles. -- Wavelength (talk) 22:33, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Also, for an idiomatic reason, these examples usually carry the definite article accompaning the day of the week. Hence, I would say Tenemos tarea para el miércoles, etc. For the very special case of hay, it is worth noticing that the verb is constructed impersonally, carrying the third-person form. Pallida  Mors 00:05, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Corrected--71.111.229.19 (talk) 12:33, 9 February 2010 (UTC)