As people who had ever spent a night in a U.S. hotel or motel and are curious enough to look into nightstand drawers know, there is a Bible published by Gideons International in each room.

Among other things, it contains translations of the verse John 3:16 in 27 languages understood by more than three quarters of the world's population. I find some of the choices a little peculiar. Do you?

http://www.sporcle.com/games/leob/Gideons_languages

Hello dear guys!

I need some urgent help. Would you be so kind to translate the following phrase into Swedish?

"I know that you've loved me since you were a child and I'm really grateful for that. I wish all your dreams come true. You are a very gifted person, an outstanding girl. Hope you get everything you want. Love, N."

Thank's in advance!

renaissance2010
Turning to photography as a creative outlet during a valiant fight with breast cancer at age 34, renaissance10 survived and set up a photo contest to help raise funds for the Lavender Trust, a nonprofit that provides information and support to younger women with breast cancer. In the first two years, the competition brought in over £65,000 (that's $107,260.73 U.S.!), with entries from 130 countries last year. Renaissance10 recently joined LiveJournal to meet other passionate photographers and find supportive friends.

curiouscupcakes
Holy buttercream frosting! If you have a sweet tooth for sugary goodness or a wandering eye for whimsical confection, this is pure ecstasy iced in deliciousness. Hailing the beloved cupcake as the artisinal canvas of choice, you'll enjoy recipes, photos, and bountiful tips to bake up a batch, whether your taste leans toward French classics or funky and flavorful.

mission101
With New Years in the offing, it's an ideal time to reflect on past accomplishments, make peace with disappointments, and refocus the lens on future goals. This community welcomes you to create a bucket list of 101 things you plan to accomplish in the next 1,001 days. Offering support, guidance, and inspiration, this is a great way to jumpstart those pesky resolutions.

I have translated some puja from sanskrit, but a text has comments in Nepali.
Can any one help me with translation from Nepali to English?

( the comments in Nepali )

Hello fellow Linguaphiles,

I was told that the Armenian for thank you was shnorhakalutyun (transcribed), and that perhaps it was a loanword or something like that. Does anyone know its etymology and what it means literally in the language it was presumably borrowed from?

Not wishing to affront the chaste sensibilities of this community, I have confined my comments on the draft OED entry for the verb felch to this posting on my blog. Your comments and inquiries are most welcome there.

Hi there,

I need help please - I need to call somebody in Japan. Can you please translate the following into romanji, please? I can only read hiragana/katakana, not kanji.

Thanks so much in advance!!

Here goes:

1. Sorry that I have to call you this early.

2. Has the parcel I sent arrived?

3. Is Koji in?

4. I tried to call him, but he didn't pick up his phone.

5. I really, really need to talk to him. Please help me.

Those would be all. Thanks so much once again!

вы меня извините, но я снова с бизнес-моделями :)
очень хочется новый альбом любимой З!

такая мысль:

раз уж у нас такой напряг с лэйблами и артистам приходится изыскивать финансирование на запись логично, если поклонники окажут посильную помощь. причем не точечно, а массово.

я думаю, что если даже 20 000 поклонников Земфиры сбросятся по 5 евро - уже 100 штук.
как раз хватит (впритык) на запись альбома в нормальной студии с более-менее продюсером средней руки.

есть такая штука SELLABAND.COM - там поклонники поступательно собирают по 30-50 тысяч евро для малоизвестных артистов. Как только сумма набрана, артист отправляется в достойную студию с неплохим продюсером и пишет альбом. Альбом пишется от трех до 12 недель.
Все внесшие оплату вперед за будущий альбом получают копию и процент от продаж диска.

мы бы могли привлечь какого-нибудь мобильного оператора для сбора денег по всей России.
что стоит бросить на оглашенный на оф-сайте Z мобильный номер 220 рублей?

как думаете, реальная тема? смогли бы поклонники Земфиры мобилизоваться и собрать бюджет на запись альбома?

p.s. там у них на SellABand.com так собирают себе на альбом PUBLIC ENEMY. но они собирают 250 000 - пока только 75 00 набрали

I realize that < ll > is pronounced differently in different countries where Spanish is spoken. I'm wondering whether -- within any given dialect -- it is always pronounced the same, no matter where it is in a word, or whether even within a given dialect < ll > might be pronounced differently from word to word (ie if the ll in 'calle' might be pronounced differently than the ll in 'llueve').

I'm traveling to (Buenos Aires) Argentina soon so I'm most curious about that dialect, but any information would be great.

Thanks in advance! Happy holidays!

 I've been studying Mandarin Chinese for two and a half years now through the Integrated Chinese series, but I don't feel as if I'm progressing very quickly in the language. I feel as if, after all this time, I should be able to read a newspaper article and be able to get at least the gist of it, but here my skills are stuck in recognizing only the characters every now and then and not actually understanding what's being said.

Does anyone have any tips on how to progress more quickly? Any recommendations for learning materials, perhaps?

I'm hoping this hasn't been asked before (this is my first post to this community, and I'm a little nervous,) but does anyone here know the difference between the German verbs 'zerbrechen' and 'brechen' (I'm not sure but I think I've seen this with zerfallen and fallen as well)?

In doing some informal rehearsing the other day, we were all saying things similar to this:

"First I say, 'In the name of our Lord, I, gordoom, promise that I will one day blah blah blah, by the faith that is in me.' And then you say, 'In the name of our Lord, I, dustthouart, in the form and manner wherein blah blah blah, by the faith that is in me.' Then the priest..."

Also found in this example from the BBC miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice:
Mrs. Bennet: "'My dear friend,' there now! 'Dine with Louisa and me today... la-di-da, la-di-da, la-di-da... as the gentlemen are to dine with the officers.' - Oh, that's unlucky! Still you must go and make what you can out of it."

Another use, commonly encountered in linguistic pursuits, is in filler for templates such as... actually I can't think of any in English right this moment, but I can think of some in Chinese, such as 以什麼什麼為主. In writing this would usually be 以......為主. Which is "take... as primary" literally, and would be said aloud as "take what what as primary." In English I would say "something something" for this kind of filler. In both languages, the "what what" and "something something" are said quickly and kind of blur together.

Another one of these "speech replacement words" in English is "yadda yadda yadda", from (I assume) Yiddish.

1. Is there an actual linguistic term for this phenomenon?
2. What words or phrases do people use in other languages for this purpose?

OK, I've been feeling kind of dumb about this, and wondering if I'm alone: until this year I had never heard that any Christians had a problem with using "X-mas" as opposed to "Christmas". Apparently it is seen as "taking Christ out of Christmas".

Am I alone in my cluelessness? Or are there places where it's not an issue? One explanation I read was that it only became a problem as fewer and fewer people were taught classical languages at school, but that's been the case for decades, so I'm not sure why it would suddenly be a big deal in the last ten years or so. Which is apparently the case, though like I said, it's news to me.

?




ETA: I should add that I do know that X-mas has been used for centuries, and that X is the symbol for the Greek letter Chi, first letter of Christ's name. What I was asking had more to do with how long it's been considered offensive and anti-Christian, presumably by people who have no idea that the X actually refers to Christ.

     Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates them - and good wishes to all the rest!
There's something I have been thinking of recently and I wonder if you could please help me find the right answer. Over the past years, I've noticed that characters in many English/American movies (or literature) are called Mr./Mrs., which is followed by the first letter of their name, often in a humorous way, for example in the movie 1776::
    T. Jefferson: "But I burn, Mr. A!"
    J. Adams: "So do I, Mr. J!"
Also, I noticed it also appears when a one character harbours romantical feelings for another one, such as Ms. Lovett who would sometimes call Todd Sweeney "Mr.T".
    Such form of address is certainly not popular in my native language (Czech) and even seems slightly weird to me, yet I really find it interesting, so can anybody please tell me a bit more about it? Are there more situations when you use it? Does it have a history? Does its origin come from some particular book or something else? Thanks! 

a question for commuters using regularly the underground (the tube, subway) in the UK, the US, Canada and other English-speaking countries. I wonder if there is a common question you'd use when travelling on a crowded train to find out if the person/people who is/are closer to the doors is/are going to leave the train at the next station or otherwise let you through? Can you think of any? Thanks in advance!

EDIT: if you have something to say about other means of transport (buses, trams, etc.), go ahead.

The etymology of 'yule' is said to be obscure. Any interesting theories on the origins of this term?

Hello, all! I just got into an argument about whether or not "pleaded" is a word and was ganged up on so badly that I need to find an answer!

Earlier, a few people and I were sitting around and the claim was made that "pleaded" is not a word. So, I figured I would look "plead" up in the dictionary, and sure enough "pleaded" is an accepted form of "plead." Somehow, it being in the dictionary was not good enough for these people!

I just read here that "pleaded" is the preferred form, however WikiAnswers is definitely not how I am going to resolve this argument.

What I am looking for is some sort of peer reviewed explanation for why and how "pleaded" became/is a word (because...the dictionary isn't good enough...?)

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you!