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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2021 June 7

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June 7 edit

What does "my not so" mean? edit

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Dumbledore says to Harry Potter:

Dumbledore: I've always prized myself on my ability to turn a phrase. Words are, in my not so humble opinion...our most inexhaustible source of magic...capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.

What does "my not so" mean? Rizosome (talk) 07:12, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

It is in two parts, "my" and "not so". Dumbledore has an opinion, which he thinks is not so humble. JIP | Talk 07:15, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Some writers (or style guides) would hyphenate this, as "my not-so-humble opinion", which makes the sense clearer. It's an example of a compound modifier. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 09:10, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
See also in my humble opinion. Alansplodge (talk) 11:14, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
... which has the initialism IMHO. The Urban Dictionary even claims there's one that's not so humble - IMNSHO - though I've never seen it used. Clarityfiend (talk) 11:20, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I have seen IMNSHO used. --Khajidha (talk) 11:42, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I have seen both IMHO and IMNSHO used quite a lot. JIP | Talk 12:42, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
My recollection from the 90s is that IMHO was most prevalent, with IMO being a minority player. IMNSHO was an obviously humorous extension. Matt Deres (talk) 18:56, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Fanspeak is full of examples of IMAO ("in my arrogant opinion") counterposed to IMHO, both in fanzines and (nowadays) online. --Orange Mike | Talk 02:14, 10 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Pluralised groups in Irish English edit

Does Irish English follow the British English pattern of pluralizing groups: such as "the clan were living in Dublin" vs. "the clan was living in Dublin"? Are there exceptions to this rule where the verb might sometimes be singular instead? Elizium23 (talk) 12:03, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know about Irish English specifically, but both British English and American English have both "formal agreement" and "notional agreement" -- they just distribute them a little differently. The Wikipedia article is Synesis (a word which I'm not sure I've ever heard before, and which I doubt is in common use among linguists). AnonMoos (talk) 14:20, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Pancake sentence points to Zeugma and syllepsis- --Error (talk) 00:03, 8 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
"Irish English's writing standards align with British rather than American English" according to our Hiberno-English article. Alansplodge (talk) 11:08, 8 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Can someone here please translate the legend in this map from Spanish to English? edit

Here is the map itself:

 
A map of the First Indochina War, in Spanish.

68.228.73.154 (talk) 19:42, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

  1. "French control until 1954"
  2. "Viet Minh control:"
  3. "through since late 1947"
  4. "through since late 1950"
  5. "beginning in 1954"
  6. "French Indochina"
  7. "Internal borders" Elizium23 (talk) 19:46, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Is the translation for the map legend the exact same for the German version of this map?
 
A map of the First Indochina War, in German.
68.228.73.154 (talk) 20:42, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, pretty much so. JIP | Talk 21:51, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
An independent translation of the German:
  1. under French control until 1954
  2. under the control of the Viet Minh
  3. –since the end of 1947
  4. –since the end of 1950
  5. –beginning of 1954
  6. French Indochina
  7. Borders within Indochina
I think the Spanish lines 3 & 4 also mean "since the end of 1947|1950". And where the Spanish legend has "1947–1954", the German is more verbose: "Course from 1947 to 1954".  --Lambiam 22:09, 7 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Correct. "Since late 1947" and "since late 1950", as well as "since early 1954." I'm a native Spanish speaker. Moony483 (talk) 18:19, 10 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]
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