User:PedanticallySpeaking/RefDesk

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by PedanticallySpeaking (talk | contribs) at 17:10, 9 December 2004 (→‎H.W. Fowler: bennet). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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This is an archive of questions and answers I've posted at the Reference Desk. In the interests of brevity, I have omitted most replies from others except where necessary for context or when I found their replies particularly interesting. Please post any queries to me at User talk:PedanticallySpeaking.

"Registered Republican"

This should perhaps be at Requested articles instead, but I'm not sure about the right lemma:

In the USA, what exactly does it mean to be(come) a registered Democrat or registered Republican, as in Bill O'Reilly was a registered Republican? (I sort of know, but am not sure enough to write it myself.) It's an expression not widely known outside of the US, so an article or an appropriate redirect would definitely be appreciated. Sorry if I overlooked an existing one. regards, High on a tree 01:06, 7 Aug 2004 (UTC)

In Ohio, where I live, there is no such thing as a "registered" Republican or Democrat. When you register to vote you do not state a party affiliation, unlike states such as Kentucky or Florida. One is officially "non-partisan" until voting in a party primary. A voter who votes in a primary then reverts to "non-partisan" status if he doesn't vote in the primary again within two years, I believe. (This is why about three-fifths of Ohio voters are officially "non-partisan" despite the dominance of the two major parties.) And even if one is listed as "Republican" or "Democratic" a voter is free to vote in the other party's primary by asking for the other ballot on primary day. That said, this is Ohio's unique system and other states' practices are completely different.PedanticallySpeaking 16:51, Aug 13, 2004 (UTC)

Thanks to everybody for their well-informed answers. It seems things are a bit more complicated than I thought - there are actually states where one has to state a party affiliation when registering to vote for, say, the presidential election? And registration for the primaries is always handled by a state election office, not by the party itself?

As Finlay said, it would be a pity if the information above would not make it into the article space. I would suggest creating registered party affiliate (U.S.) or something like that, and having registered Democrat and registered Republican redirect to it (since the latter are the terms most likely to be sought after). I'd prefer someone knowledgeable to write this up, but if nothing happens, I will try my best and summarize the above sometime during the next weeks. regards, High on a tree 23:21, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Romeo and Juliet?

I can't think of a better way to word this question, so I hope it makes sense: What is the name of that piece of music that is used stereotypically or satirically for people falling in love on TV? For example, it was in the first episode of South Park, and it's in commercials all the time (I saw it on some car commercial recently). I hope this question is not too vague :) Adam Bishop 22:28, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)

  • Could it be the Love Theme from Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet? That's played all the time in movies and tv, usually as two lovers run towards each other in slow-motion? PedanticallySpeaking 19:40, Aug 26, 2004 (UTC)

Henry Baldwin

The illustration on Henry P. Baldwin, a Senator from Michigan, which is on the Bioguide site appears in my Oxford Companion to the U.S. Supreme Court as that of Justice Henry Baldwin. The illustration on the Supreme Court Historical Society site could be the same fellow. Can anyone clarify?PedanticallySpeaking 17:31, Aug 19, 2004 (UTC)

Huh. The Bioguide entry for Senator Baldwin has that picture, but no picture for Justice Baldwin. Either they looked virtually the same, or, more likely, some intern put that photo in the wrong place. Unfortunately, I can't clarify more than that. You might have to contact the Supreme Court site and or the Bioguide people to get it checked out. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 18:27, 2004 Aug 19 (UTC)
Yesterday I e-mailed the Heather Moore, the U.S. Senate Historical Office's photo historian, to enquire about this discrepancy. If I get a reply, I'll post it here on on the two Henry Baldwin's pages. In the interim, if anyone knows anything, please let me know. PedanticallySpeaking 14:55, Aug 31, 2004 (UTC)
I've contacted Heather Moore, photo researcher at the U.S. Senate Historical Office, and she e-mailed me on August 31, 2004, to say she'll look into this. PedanticallySpeaking 14:15, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)

H.W. Fowler

The entry for Henry Watson Fowler says he was born in Devon, but my Cambridge Biographical Dictionary says Tonbridge, Kent. Can anyone clarify? PedanticallySpeaking 15:25, Aug 26, 2004 (UTC)

Chambers Biog. Dict. and Britannica Online agree with you, so I'm going to correct the article. --Heron 15:34, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Mayor Robert Bennett

I'd like to break up the existing Robert Bennett article, which presently covers three gentlemen (him, a senator from Utah, and a governor of Kansas). Can anyone tell me Mayor Bennett's middle name or birth/death dates so I can differentiate him from the others? Ave! PedanticallySpeaking 15:51, Aug 30, 2004 (UTC)

Television Markets

Do we have pages anywhere that list the counties in each television market? PedanticallySpeaking 17:01, Oct 12, 2004 (UTC)

Mopery

I'm looking for a legal definition of the word "mopery." I'm disinclined to put full faith in the current contents of the article Mopery without a little more proof, as I think that information originated in the movie "Revenge of the Nerds." Joyous 05:15, Nov 27, 2004 (UTC)

  • Black's Law Dictionary (7th ed.) contains no entry for the word and it does not appear in the index of the Ohio Revised Code. There are two definitions in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th ed. (2002): "1. Mopish behavior; a fit of moping" and "2. Loitering or other petty lawbreaking, esp. when used as an excuse to arrest or harass someone. US." PedanticallySpeaking 16:56, Nov 27, 2004 (UTC)
  • When I was covering the criminal courts in Chicago back in the 1960s, mopery with intent was the term applied to the general case of rounding people up to clear the streets for one reason or other, but there was no such law on the books in Chicage. That is, it was a joke. We also used the term Mickey the Mope as a general name for routine, low-grade criminal defendants. I am betting that mopery is not on the books anywhere, despite testimony to the contrary above. It is possible that some policeman didn't know it was a joke either.
Mopery does not appear in the OED. It is given as a synonym for vagrancy in Websters 3, as meaning "mopish behavior", or a slang expression for "violation of a minor law or imaginary rule" in the Random House Unabridged. Nor does it appear in my original 19th century edition of American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster, LL.D. Noah defines a mope as "a stupid or low-spirited person, a drone", which goes along with my Mickey the Mope above. Ortolan88 00:57, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
  • PS - Going to fix the article soon. Ortolan88 17:46, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Has anyone besides Margaret Mitchell and Harper Lee won the prize for a first novel? PedanticallySpeaking 16:50, Nov 27, 2004 (UTC)

  • I thought Jhumpa Lahiri's book was a collection of stories, not a novel. PedanticallySpeaking 17:49, Nov 29, 2004 (UTC)
  • Could be. I did a pretty quick scan of the list. --jpgordon{gab} 15:28, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)

UK Buildings with `CD`

--80.3.160.5 19:30, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)What do the initials `CD` mean when carved on a building, normally followed by a date, in England. (UK)

Bob

Hrm. Knowing the dates generally associated would make it easier, or the buildings; do you have an example? CR would probably have been Carolus Rex, signifying King Charles, but I'm not sure about CD. Shimgray 21:01, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I've had Cromwell Defender suggested, but not sure about that. If you know where the inscription is, it may also help to work out what it means. Shimgray 21:10, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Hmm - it would help to know the sort of building, where it is, and the date. Rather more prosaically, could the "C" stand for "construction/constructed" (or something similar in Latin) and/or the "D" for "date" or "datum" or "during"? Or could it be the initials of the architect, builder or owner? -- ALoan (Talk) 12:48, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
  • It might be something in Latin, but usually the word "Fecit" is used to identify the creator or the person who comissioned an artwork or structure. The Trevi Fountain in Rome says "Fecit" the name of the pope that had it built, and a date. I checked the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary and the only "CD" abbreviation that might appear on a building was "Civil Defence". PedanticallySpeaking 17:57, Nov 29, 2004 (UTC)
  • I would suggest a more prosaic origin -- "Cd" as a very abbreviated form of "Constructed". While I have never seen that particular abbreviation, I think it may be likelier than the alternatives. Jwrosenzweig 22:41, 29 Nov 2004 (UTC)
  • I agree some more context, such as the region of England or time frame would be helpful (or even a photo). It might be a mason's mark which were frequently a combination of initials (but usually in a discrete position on the building) [1]. CD would then be a mason working in your area. Alternatively it could be a fire mark to indicate that the building had fire insurance in the 18th/19th century. But these were usually metal plaques and more elaborate. For examples [2]. I also recall seeing chiseled marks which may be related to datum points for the Ordnance Survey, these tend to be near ground level, but I can't find any references for them. (In any case, there's two obvious missing articles for someone). -- Solipsist 19:08, 30 Nov 2004 (UTC)
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