Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 January 17
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January 17[edit]
Spell Chekcer software[edit]
Aside from MS Word, are there any other alternatives to context spell checking? 190.60.93.218 (talk) 17:59, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
- It depends on your operating system, but I know that there have alwasy been excellent spell checkers for MacOS, and I'd assume that there are for Windows 7 or earlier as well. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:50, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
- I looked at Spell checker#Context-sensitive spell checkers which has a few listed in the section. It turns out that Google Docs has context spell checking. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 04:44, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
Polish - Home[edit]
Does Polish have the concept of "home" as not identical to "house"? I'm helping a child learn English, and I'm not sure she understands that "house" and "home" are not quite the same. I'm wondering if I'll be able to present two unambiguously different Polish words for these, or whether I need to put in the time to teach the concepts? 86.140.54.211 (talk) 18:50, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
- Both words are represented as 'dom'. It is funny you should say that because only yesterday I was watching a football game with a girl from Spain, and she said XXX team is playing in the house, meaning 'at home'. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 19:58, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
- Thanks. That's what it looked like from working with her, but I wanted to check because these things can be hard to be sure of without a decent knowledge of the language :) Looks like I have a theme for "where I live" next time. 86.140.54.211 (talk) 21:41, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
- These websites have more general information in Polish about the English language.
- —Wavelength (talk) 21:53, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
- Show her pictures of random houses, and tell her 'this is a house', and then get her to draw her own home, and all the rooms in it, and the family, then tell her this is her home. This is where you live. This is your home. This should work. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 23:41, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
- Except that, unless I misunderstand your point, KageTora, a house is a certain type of building, not just any residence, and that home is the residence of any being, not just yourself, and not even only humans. In the West, the ideal home may be a house, but the two concepts neither necessarily conflict nor overlap. I might also add that I have handwritten document from an ancestor, a Rusyn who wrote using Polish orthography, saying "Ja kupil haus" with the date to refer to when he bought his first private residence in the US. This although the normal term for "home" is, as in standard Polish, etc., dom. μηδείς (talk) 04:02, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- Show her pictures of random houses, and tell her 'this is a house', and then get her to draw her own home, and all the rooms in it, and the family, then tell her this is her home. This is where you live. This is your home. This should work. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 23:41, 17 January 2013 (UTC)
- Many parents have had cause to remind their children that the residence the family shares is the children's home but not their house, and the parents' rules apply, OK.
- Also, A House Is Not a Home, which is probably not suitable for young children. -- Jack of Oz [Talk] 04:15, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- An apartment is never a house, but is someone's home. That's the easiest way to explain the difference. A house is usually a stand-alone single-family dwelling. A home is someone's permanent residence. French deals with the difference rather interestingly: the word for house is "la maison", but home is indicated by the preposition "chez". Thus, the house belonging to Robert would be "La maison de Robert", while Robert's home would be "chez Robert". --Jayron32 05:26, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- And even languages like Spanish do have ways of distinguishing this when necessary, such as the difference between en casa ("at home") and en la casa ("in the house"). One of my favorite lines from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is that of Antonio Banderas's girlfriend, when they are looking at the heroine's apartment to rent, and she says "No es una casa casa." She means it's not a home home, not that it's not a house. μηδείς (talk) 06:10, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- Spanish also has their Latin-baed equivalent of "domicile", but it seems not to be used so much in colloquial speech. English has "home" and "house" which derive from Old English words ham and hus. Those words evolved, but their roots remain in terms like hamlet and husband. Casa is from Latin, and not only means both home and house, it also forms the root of casar, to marry. One who is married is casado, literally "housed" or "homed", although they normally use a different verb for "to house". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:42, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- It should also be noted that Casa and House share a common root, per Grimm's Law. --Jayron32 14:11, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- In Japan, I would give my students an umbrella when it was raining, saying 'mi casa, tu casa'. Work that one out. KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 16:10, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- It should also be noted that Casa and House share a common root, per Grimm's Law. --Jayron32 14:11, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- Spanish also has their Latin-baed equivalent of "domicile", but it seems not to be used so much in colloquial speech. English has "home" and "house" which derive from Old English words ham and hus. Those words evolved, but their roots remain in terms like hamlet and husband. Casa is from Latin, and not only means both home and house, it also forms the root of casar, to marry. One who is married is casado, literally "housed" or "homed", although they normally use a different verb for "to house". ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 12:42, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- And even languages like Spanish do have ways of distinguishing this when necessary, such as the difference between en casa ("at home") and en la casa ("in the house"). One of my favorite lines from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is that of Antonio Banderas's girlfriend, when they are looking at the heroine's apartment to rent, and she says "No es una casa casa." She means it's not a home home, not that it's not a house. μηδείς (talk) 06:10, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- An apartment is never a house, but is someone's home. That's the easiest way to explain the difference. A house is usually a stand-alone single-family dwelling. A home is someone's permanent residence. French deals with the difference rather interestingly: the word for house is "la maison", but home is indicated by the preposition "chez". Thus, the house belonging to Robert would be "La maison de Robert", while Robert's home would be "chez Robert". --Jayron32 05:26, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
- In Russian "home" may be rendered as жилище, жильё, обиталище, домашний очаг. My Russian-Polish dictionary gives "siedlisko, mieszkanie" for them.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 13:44, 18 January 2013 (UTC)
@ Jayron, house may be related to to hide, and if so to hut, both of which are Germanic. The c/h correspondence does make a case of Grimm's Law attractive on the face of it, but the vowel correspondence is unexpected and the origins of casa are unknown. See EO. If they are related and not just a coincidence there may be borrowing through a third source such as the Raetic language. μηδείς (talk) 17:44, 18 January 2013 (UTC)