Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 November 16

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November 16

Person who is ambidextrous

What would you call a person who is ambidextrous? An ambidextrite? An ambidextrian? UNSC Luke 1021 (talk) 17:10, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

An ambidexter. Alansplodge (talk) 17:43, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

How antiambisinister of you! μηδείς (talk) 04:37, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

Yes, wouldn't "dextrosinister" be a better word than "ambidextrous" ? StuRat (talk) 16:13, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

To be "ambidextrous" literally means to be "right-handed on both sides".[1] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:32, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

Another antiambisinistrite comment! Next you'll be going on about omnipollexity! μηδείς (talk) 18:20, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

Cash wrap

I recently saw the term "cash wrap" used. I've never heard/read it before. Apparently it means a cash register or point of sale. Is this a regional term? How long has it been around? I'm in the US and I believe the speaker is American. Possibly Canadian, I guess. Thanks, †dismas†|^(talk) 18:05, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

This thing says that the expression is "a regular retail industry term for retailers, designers, manufacturers, and builders". Being none of those, I had never heard it before, either. Deor (talk) 18:13, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Oh, and the book Divided by a Common Language gives a British "translation", so the usage is predominantly American, seemingly. Deor (talk) 18:18, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

British, and have worked in both retail and manufacture, and have never heard the term. DuncanHill (talk) 23:01, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Never heard it until today. As Deor indicates, probably industry jargon. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 23:17, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Thanks. I've worked in a retail job or two in my life and, like I said, had never heard it. I appreciate the info! †dismas†|^(talk) 23:36, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

UK in popular usage

When did the the term "UK" become a popular name for the United Kingdon of Great Britain and Northern Ireland? It seems that in the past the most common term was Great Britain. I assume it was some time in the second half of the 20th century. Certainly after the second world war. Was it ever used before this time? Many thanks Stanstaple (talk) 19:29, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

My impression was that the UK government responded to the Troubles by promoting the usage of UK instead of GB as the name of the state; the term UK includes the NI, whereas the term GB excludes it. This is also how .uk came to be used instead of the ISO 3166-1-standard .gb. --80.4.147.220 (talk) 20:39, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Here is an early 1970s British driving licence emblazoned "Great Britain". Northern Ireland was almost entirely self governing through the Parliament of Northern Ireland at that time, until it all went horribly wrong and was dissolved in 1972 and the province became directly governed from Westminster. I suspect that may have been the tipping point, but I can't find anything to back it up I'm afraid. I remember as a boy watching an early Eurovision Song Contest, and our country being called "United Kingdom" sounded rather odd, it wasn't a label I'd heard before. Alansplodge (talk) 22:18, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

Interesting. I would be surprised if the status of Northern Ireland was a factor in the adoption of the usage. Was the country not the United Kingdon of Great Britain in the 18th century before any part of Ireland was under the same parliament? Stanstaple (talk) 22:47, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

No, it was the Kingdom of Great Britain. Rojomoke (talk) 22:53, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

(Edit conflicted twice) No, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland united to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. DuncanHill (talk) 22:56, 16 November 2016 (UTC)

My point was that most internal governance before 1972 specifically excluded Northern Ireland, and so the term "Great Britain" or "GB" was used. We are still "GB" for the International Circulation Mark because NI have their own plates and "Great Britain" for the Olympics, because athletes from NI have the option to compete for the Republic of Ireland. Misuse of the term "Great Britain" even occurs in our own dear Wikipedia, see Agreement Between Great Britain and Sweden Relating to the Suppression of the Capitulations in Egypt (1921) which should surely be "United Kingdom" instead. Alansplodge (talk) 11:37, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

Even the League of Nations got it wrong sometimes: [2]. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:22, 17 November 2016 (UTC)

We are still "GB" for the International Circulation Mark because NI have their own plates -- while it is true that NI reg differ from GB ones, there is no separate International Circulation Mark for NI. That being said, I see many NI reg cars on the roads of the Republic of Ireland, and vanishingly few sport any International Circulation Mark. jnestorius^(talk) 23:37, 18 November 2016 (UTC)

Quite right - thanks. Alansplodge (talk) 20:19, 20 November 2016 (UTC)

You can see search results for the UK on the Google Ngram Viewer.

—Wavelength (talk) 22:55, 16 November 2016 (UTC)