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Looking for information (etymology, list, etc.) for Names(persons) that have evolved into other meanings. For example: John(restroom); Dick(appendage); Peter[ed out] (exhausted); and so on. Must be a reference out there. Thanks in advance for any help. 70.177.189.205 (talk) 01:23, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Colleen isn't a name that came to be the word for a woman; it's the Irish word for girl, cailín, that came to be used as a name - but mostly by Irish immigrants to other countries, not in Ireland itself. +Angr08:34, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
We now know that India and the countries around it actually constitute a subcontinent (or, at least, a distinct tectonic plate). However, the term "Indian subcontinent" predates the acceptance of plate tectonics - it was common in Kipling in the 19th century, back when plate tectonics wasn't even a crank theory, let alone accepted science. So what's the term's origin and history?
Chambers gives the meaning as "a great portion of a continent with a character of its own" - no mention of tectonics. I'll have a look in the OED for some early uses which may help. Off the top of my head, as well as India, both South Africa and Asia Minor may also be called subcontinents. DuncanHill (talk) 09:32, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, and oddly OED has nothing from Kipling, and the first use they have for India is from 1971. Earlier uses are for South Africa (mainly) and South America. There is an 1863 citation from Huxley with an Asian context, but it is unclear which landmasses are meant. I really must see if I can find it used in Kipling, as it could be worth sending in to the OED as an additional early usage. DuncanHill (talk) 09:37, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm now wondering if Kipling did actually use the word in his fiction! I can't find it on a quick search of his works ... apparently he used it in a letter or two - David Gerard (talk) 12:36, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Using the Google News Archives, I see that the word "subcontinent" was originally used in the early 20th century to refer to South Africa. It was first used to refer to India in a 1910 Chicago Tribune article. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:46, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I'm having a slow burning argument with someone over something, and he raises the point that since I am not able to create something like what we're talking about I can't comment on it. An easy example would be "If this programs so bad why don't YOU make a better one?" or "You're no artist, how can you say what is and isn't art" but I can't think of the name of this. Is it actually a fallacy or have I gone wrong somewhere? Gunrun (talk) 10:08, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's a fallacy, specifically tu quoque: "A makes criticism P. A is also guilty of P. Therefore, P is dismissed." The personal qualities of A are irrelevant to the truth or falsity of P - David Gerard (talk) 10:51, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Shouting "Rubbish!" may be more common in colloquial use, but it is useful to know the name of the fallacy and why it's a fallacy ;-) When I hear this particular phrasing of the fallacy, the person making it is entirely serious and thinks it's a good argument - David Gerard (talk) 12:17, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Note that although logcally it remains a fallacy, it is possible in general conversation that the person has a point, e.g. that the person is just being critical from envy of the criticised person's ability. However, in general "well, you do better" is utter rubbish as a refutation. In this particular case, you're a viewer of the art and quite entitled to an opinion as the viewer (IMO, YMMV) - David Gerard (talk) 12:17, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It's rubbish as refutation, but it's not always a bad point. Back when I was an academic, I would frequently get annoyed at books and articles that had been published in which a particular theory or analysis was attacked but no better theory or analysis was proposed. Being a critic is easy; coming up with a new idea that solves the problems you've identified in someone else's work is a lot harder. Of course, that doesn't mean I had refuted the books/articles that served only to criticize and not to propose something new, but I do think it's a fair point that a book that only says "So-and-so's theory is crap" without going on to propose something better isn't really a very successful book. And if I had ever had occasion to publish a review of such a book, it's certainly a criticism I would have made. +Angr15:20, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
It is not a formal fallacy, but you can think of it as a valid argument with a false premise:
If you are not a skilled practitioner, you cannot come up with valid criticism
You are not a skilled practitioner
—————————————————————————————————
You cannot come up with valid criticism
The first premise is false because you don't need to be a cook to be able to judge whether a dish is tasty or not. --173.49.10.146 (talk) 11:43, 12 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Is there a more specific word for work like fan fiction, but not concerned with telling stories so much as elucidating aspects of the original creation? Stuff like speculation on how Star Trek technology works, or trying to bend the Sherlock Holmes canon into a consistent timeline? --Hence Piano (talk) 15:00, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Dunlap A.R.,Weslager C.A. (1958) "Toponymy of the Delaware Valley as Revealed by an Early Seventeenth Century Dutch Map." Bulletin of the Archeological Society of New Jersey. 15-16, pp. 3-4. OCLC5665723.
Weslager C.A. (1954) "Robert Evelyn's Indian Tribes and Place-Names of New Albion." Bulletin of the Archeological Society of New Jersey. 9, pp. 1-4. OCLC35448915.
"A description of the early Delaware Indian communities in New Jersey is found in a letter written by an Englishman, Robert Evelyn, first published in 1641 in an anonymous tract and reprinted in 1648. Weslager uses the 1641 version in his transcription...Evelyn's letter name nine Indian communities in New Albion, the designation for land in New Jersey patented by Sir Edmund Plowden. Weslager places these communities on a map with suggested interpretations of the Indian names."
It may not be so hard if you try one of those external links, particularly the one I suggested above, where you can connect to people who speak the Lenape language. Marco polo (talk) 20:22, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
One more lead - David Zeisberger was supposed to have written the definitive Unami dictionary, and it's available online. You might look there to see if he recorded the word. Note you should check G words as well as K, and ch might be transliterated as tch, tsch, sh, etc as well. Marco Polo's idea would probably be quicker. Best, WikiJedits (talk) 22:38, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
There is also keechi, supposedly meaning "how many?"; and the mech- root seems to mean "much" or "many". This could suggest something like "How many? Many!" If that's right, it might be an exonym used by other Lenape for the group on Cape May. It could even be a European misunderstanding. (I can imagine some Englishman or Dutchman asking in English or Dutch "What is the name of your people?" while some Lenape shouts from behind cover "Keechi?", to which his compatriot standing in front of the ship full of white people answers "Keechi? Mechi!" And the satisfied Englishman or Dutchman concludes "These are the Kechemeche".) However, you really should run this by someone with a command of the language before drawing conclusions. Marco polo (talk) 02:06, 12 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I just got an email from CNET advertising an iPod Shuffle 'knockoff' at $9.16. I have no intention whatsoever of buying it, but one thing caught my eye. Where I come from (UK), 'knockoff' means 'stolen'. I doubt that CNET would advertise cheap stolen goods and I'm guessing that someone at CNET uses this word to mean 'at a discounted price' or something. Which dialect would this be? --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK)20:45, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, it just occurred to me it can also mean 'counterfeit' or 'copy'. I have just looked at the advert on their website (should have done that first), and under the picture it says "It may look like an iPod Shuffle, but it's definitely not priced like one", so I guess that's what it meant. Cheers. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK)20:53, 11 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]