User talk:Brett

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[change] TESL students

If you're a TESL student, could you please let me know here:

[change] Present participle vs gerund participle

Hi! I've noticed that you've changed "present participle" to "gerund-participle" on all the pages that I've created. I'm not trying to criticize you, but I'd like to give a friendly reminder that they mean the same thing. I'll start using "gerund-participle" anyway, since it seems to be standard here. — Wenli (reply here) 00:41, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

[change] For the Welcome

Thanks for your message. Much appreciated. :) Green Giant 11:40, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

[change] Administrator

Can you please close or comment on my administrator request. thanks Z 18:10, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

[change] Wanted pages

I've put up a version of recent changes on my website. It hasn't got a lot of the features the MediaWiki one has, but it might be useful. --H2g2bob 02:05, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

[change] Standardization

OK. I guess I got most of the answer to Wiktionary:Simple talk#Standardization. I will use the template - an excellent idea - so it will chage as the template changes. I will not put examples for the variants, as I see the Wenli is not. I still think there should be entries for the grammar forms linked to the template and that the entries should be the phrases as stated in my post. But I'll leave that to the old-timers. Sorry for posting this outside the simple talk, but I was hoping for an earlier response. I'll just carry on.Grapeguy 16:35, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[change] Block

Please block 65.25.105.176. This IP vandal has been creating nonsense pages and removing quick deletion tags. — Wenli (reply here) 04:32, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

[change] Re: Defining style

Thanks for your concern. Personally, I find that using long explanations doesn't really fit a dictionary; if someone wanted a detailed explanation for something, they would visit Wikipedia instead. Also, long explanations can create some wrong assumptions. Take this for example: "If you bother someone, you disturb or annoy them," implies that you can't bother a cat (which isn't a "someone"). That said, I would be happy to write explanations if that's the right thing to do. — Wenli (reply here) 02:18, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Comparative adverbs

Wikipedia has a good explanation. Two examples of comparative adverbs that I can think of are alright and apart. — Wenli (reply here) 01:07, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Interwiki

Might I suggest that you consider adding interwiki to the new articles you are creating on prepositions? My current project is going through the list of Pages without language links and adding interwiki. I was into the C's but now have to start over at A and add interwiki to the 18 preposition pages you created without the links. If you don't feel like it, you are certainly are not obligated to. It is only a suggestion. Thanks. Tygartl1 14:46, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Examples

Thanks for your message. I agree with you but I would like to point out that copying sentences from other sites would probably be considered copyright infringement; we should try to make up our own sentences instead. I will certainly do that! — Wenli (reply here) 00:37, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Dermatologist

I see the dermatologist vandal has moved over here. I would suggest dealing with him firmly and swiftly. We have had various IPs on simple:wiki creating Dermatologist with the content "Fake doctor" since Nov 13. As you can see from the page's history, there are 36 deleted edits. I think you've been more than lenient letting him to continue his vandalous edits here and would now say that it is time to block. - Tygartl1 -talk- 15:14, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Re: contractions vs. negatives

I'm not a linguist, but I've noticed that most dictionaries simply list negative contractions as contractions (e.g. dictionary.reference.com and the English Wiktionary). — Wenli (reply here) 01:30, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

It sounds alright, but do you think that the use of additional terms will confuse new English speakers, as (1) more terms increases complexity, and (2) other dictionaries will list these words as contractions while this dictionary will list them as negatives? — Wenli (reply here) 04:47, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Thanks

Hello. Thanks for the welcome. Those links are helpful. Do you know of any articles that need editing? Dr.Cox 02:57, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Nice catch

Nice catch here. I didn't notice that when I copied it over. I don't know much about IPA, enPR or SAMPA notation (yet!) so until then, you may want to help by checking them over when I add them. Also, if you've got a minute, please check out my new comment on Simple talk. I'd like to get that figured out before I get too far along adding them :-) Thanks. - Tygartl1 -talk- 19:39, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Mass nouns

Thanks for the welcome. I've been working on articles at en.wikipedia among other ill things. Takes more time to research, document and write than dictionary items which have models and templates.

See you corrected my article for activity. Thanks. I wasn't sure how to do that. I was looking for models and came across quite a few strictly mass nouns (at least as they are specified in the Simple defs) which used the noun template, thus giving them plurals. Am I missing something about the grammar, or do we need to clean up these items?

Examples:

I think some of these have fine plurals: they gave it their individual alls; don't put on airs; they carried their bulks back into the ocean; Digestions with restriction enzymes were performed overnight. The others, I agree, have no plurals. For nouns with no plural, use {{noun|abandons|none}}. Contrary is a very odd noun, isn't it.--Brett 13:27, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

I thought about airs, but it needs an additional section with a different meaning from that given. Again with bulks, it is another meaning for a less commonly used countable noun. Digestions does seem to be a plural of digestion in the sense that its used as a mass noun. I don't go along with alls. My wife and I both agreed that it should be 'gave their all'. I found the phrase 'gave their alls' 4 times on the net, but 'gave their all' ocurred 95,000 times. It might be useful to say something about its homophone, all's, for which the apostrophe is sometimes omitted. However, I did learn, contrary to my previous understanding, that mass nouns 'usually' do not have plurals, but can and do on occassion. I think I am, or thought I was, pretty good at grammar, but I am learning more. I'll try to address some of these issues in the examples that I find.Grapeguy 01:28, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Sure, they're a little dodgy. I don't have good evidence for them. Go ahead and list them as having no plural. I'm not sure I agree about mass nouns not usually having plurals. It depends on what you mean by a mass noun. Almost any noun can be used countably or non-countably. In other words, most nouns can have countable senses and uncountable senses.--Brett 02:51, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Re: Plurals

Yes, I agree with you. I was only correcting the format; the previous editor placed a {{mass noun}} tag on the page, so I used {{noun|care|none}}. — Wenli (reply here) 03:28, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] dianthus

I do not know if dianthus is a common noun in English, I mean it is not the case, probable ones could say the species of Dianthus, and so on --Penarc 22:33, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] easy not easier

I think it is not easy define in a second language, false "ami" are common, plurals (also are complicate) and so on, i try with script versus alphabet, but cyrillic script is a noun? or phrase noun?. Regards --Penarc 15:59, 25 December 2007 (UTC) --Penarc 16:00, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Re:container

Hey there Brett. I tried to fix up the example using the noun container, and I think I got it pretty good. What do you think? Razorflame 22:15, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

[change] Stubs

I believe the stub template is best placed at the end of articles (i.e. after the main content and before categories and interwiki). This is because it says the entire article needs to be added to, rather than a specific section. This is standard procedure on other sites which I believe should be followed here as well. If you think it would be beneficial, we could perhaps create a template that says something along the lines of "This section needs to be expanded" (although more simply stated). - Tygartl1 -talk- 16:41, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

OK.--Brett 16:46, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
If you're interested, I have created {{sectstub}} which can be added to a specific section that needs help. I also notice that we have {{stub example}} which can be used if all that is missing in a section is examples. - Tygrrr -talk- 19:46, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
Thanks!

[change] Milestones

I have moved the milestones to the Announcements. Also, it isn't a good idea to pull old conversations out of the archives because you then end up having multiple versions of conversations, and trust me, it's a nightmare to try to clean up. I've done it the one time and I don't want to do it again; it wastes my time. Please just add new milestones to the Announcements page. Thank you. - Tygrrr -talk- 14:39, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

By the way, congrats on finishing the prepositions! - Tygrrr -talk- 14:46, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

[change] Exotic Words

Would it be possible to add exotic words (like sequoia, apteryx, and other such words) to this Simple English Wikipedia if I make the language simple enough? I am a scrabble player, so I know lots of interesting words that I would like to add to this site. Razorflame 21:24, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure why you would want to do that, but go ahead; knock yourself out!--Brett 02:12, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

[change] Question

How is removing the stuff at the bottom the pages considered vandalism? It's a bunch of the same word. It seems rather redundant. 131.123.181.99 17:46, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[change] comparative

Thanks for all the help on comparative. I wanted to get it out there because there are and will be a lot of links to it. I really did try hard to get the whole thing right. I like what you did.Grapeguy 01:08, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

[change] Barnstar

Barnstar Congratulations: You have been given a Barnstar!

For your valuable edits in creating and improving pages. Keep up the good work! - Tygrrr 15:30, 8 February 2008 (UTC)


[change] Three articles

Did I get the formatting right on these three pages that I just created: banzai, barrack, and bateau?

And for bateau, can you make it so that the plural noun says bateaux as well as bateaus? Thanks, Razorflame 20:19, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[change] Warnings

What are the warning templates here on the Simple English Wiktionary? Razorflame 23:09, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

template:testX, where X is 1-5, I think.--Brett 23:10, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Alright. Thanks. Razorflame 23:10, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

[change] Bureaucrat

Congrats on the status change! · Tygrrr... 16:21, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Congrats on becoming a 'crat! Cheers, Razorflame 15:18, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

[change] Revisiting mass nouns

As I'm gong through and making sure that we don't have double parentheses on anything, I'm coming across a lot of pages that where the noun def doesn't use the {{noun}} template. I'm adding it, sometimes leaving it with a plural, sometimes listing it as no plural. I'm not really sure I'm marking them correctly though and would appreciate it if you'd double-check my work. I'm marking all the ones I'm adding it to as "+noun" in the edit summary to make it easier for you to find them. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback for me. Thanks. · Tygrrr... 19:05, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Done. It is a sense of a word, not the word itself, which is countable or not. Also, most nouns, even "non-count" ones, do have plurals.--Brett 19:29, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

[change] BNC1HW template

Hi Brett. Thanks for the comment, but au contraire, my friend, by changing the name of the template, I only made it look better. Because the previous name automatically converts to a redirect, all of the pages will be moved to the new category without any effort on my part. It's just that the page has to update (or be modified) in order for it to show up, and it is taking some time, which bugs me. So I'm changing the pages using the template on a whim, not because it is actually necessary. Additionally, several of the words that should have the template do not. I just added it to most of the days of the week, for instance. That's why there were only 714 words in the category when I moved the template. There are even some that shouldn't have the template that do! These include variants that are not actually headwords, like OK (okay is the real headword). I'm glad to see you're pointing out ways you see for me to work better and save myself effort, though. >) Happy editing! And congrats on bureaucrat status! --Cromwellt|talk|contribs 23:04, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

No, I haven't found where you left off. At the moment I'm only changing the ones that are in the BNC1000 headwords category, which means I'm not even getting all of those, given that as soon as someone else modifies a word there, it is switched to the other category automatically. But I'd guess that I'll find it at some point towards the end, unless it was all random misses. I tend to use okay much more than OK, but the only reason I made that switch is because okay is listed as the headword on the list. Since the cat is only for the list's headwords, okay should be there, not OK. Happy editing! --Cromwellt|talk|contribs 22:23, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

[change] thanks for the welcome

can you help with something. In the same way that the word "lol" can be both acronymic and initialistic, can "omg" be both too? I have heard it being said as "oh em gee" (acronymic), but I have also heard it as "omg" (initialistic), so would it be both? Benniguy 19:56, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Actually, "oh em gee" would be an initialism, "omg" would be an acronym. · Tygrrr... 20:05, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

yup sorry, i got it the wrong way round. but anyway, i think it's both, is it not? Benniguy 20:06, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

To be honest, I'm not sure.--Brett 20:40, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

[change] Nice Job Brett!

Thanks for all of your help on simple wikipedia! We appreciate it very much so keep up the good work! 66.212.155.9 03:02, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

[change] Template change

Hey Brett, I'm not really in favor of the changes you made to the BNC1HW template. When you say it is one of the most common 1000 headwords, that omits the fact that it is from the British National Corpus and that the word "headword" only makes sense in the context of the list. Plus, what are you going to do with the BNC2 headwords template? There may be a better way to say it than the way it was, but this isn't it, IMO. Maybe we could spell out that it is one of the headwords from the British National Corpus frequency list (mentioning that it is from the 1000 most common, maybe). But calling it "one of the most common 1000 headwords" is too vague and non-specific for me. Your thoughts? --Cromwellt|talk|contribs 17:37, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

The BNC, while being British, is probably the most balanced representative samples of English that we have. Certainly, there are words such as quid, which are quite circumscribed in their use, but the vast majority of the items on the list would almost certainly turn up in the top 1000 list from a similar corpus of American English. So I don't think the claim is far from the truth. I also think that, given the fact that we're trying to keep things simple, a lot of further explanation would be counter productive. If people want to know more, they can click through and find out.
The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English says basically what the current template says (though their list is based on a slightly different corpus) and doesn't seem to see any need to quibble. Nor do I see headword being particularly contextually sensitive. All said, if you'd like to edit it, by all means, have a go, but I'm pretty comfortable with it as it is. (You are certainly right, however, that templates for the various lists should be equivalent.)--Brett 18:07, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[change] Your rename request on the English Wikipedia

You have recently requested that your account on the English Wikipedia be renamed to that reserved for your global login. I (or another bureaucrat) was unable to complete this request due to bug 13507. It is now possible for a steward to undo the unification of your login, which will allow this rename to be performed. You can then once again unify your global login once any local renames you need are completed. If you still want me to rename you on the English Wikipedia, please request that your global account is deleted at m:SR/SUL, and (once this has been done) let me know either by commenting on your request or leaving me a note on my enwiki talkpage. If you no longer want that account renamed, could you also get in touch so I know that you don't need me to take any further action. WJBscribe 13:12, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

A steward deleted your global account and I have finished renaming you on the English Wikipedia. WJBscribe 18:02, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

[change] Vandalism in progress

Hi, I saw your name in RC and you seem to be a sysop, could you please block 137.56.155.165 urgently. [[en:User:Conrad.Irwin|Conrad]].[[en:User_talk:Conrad.Irwin|Irwin]] 12:26, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

User:Millosh took care if it. Sorry to disturb you. Conrad.Irwin 12:34, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

[change] Recent articles

Hello Brett,

Sorry for being a bit excited, your remark is of course essential, I will try as much as I can to write articles in a simpler way. As I have written on my userpage, I am no native English-speaker and I base my writing skills essentially on the English I was taught at school or in college, English that is not always that simple. Your advice will be usefull. Thanks. Nebogipfel 05:47, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

  • Hello Brett,

Thank you for your advice, it made me learn quite a lot. Happy editing. Nebogipfel 15:16, 5 August 2008 (UTC)


[change] Re:Welcomes

Hello Brett,

Thanks for information.

Nebogipfel 13:06, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

[change] Bot username rename

Hi, I'd like my bot User:Computer to be renamed to User:タチコマ robot. This rename request is per my wikimedia wide bot username rename. I have decided to have a single username to more efficiently use SUL. Thanks.

  • If this is not the right place to make this request, please move it to the right place.

-- Cat chi? 16:41, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

The user name タチコマ robot is reserved. Before I rename your bot, you'll need to make an edit using that name somewhere to prove that you own it. But, since you're not using the bot at all, why bother renaming it?--Brett 17:48, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
Its my sul account for my bot. I am the one "reserving" it. I am renaming it everywhere - weather I have a bot flag or not. -- Cat chi? 13:43, 13 August 2008 (UTC)
Yes, I understand, but I need you to show me that its yours. If you can tell me that you're going to do something with it (on another site where you already have the name) and then do it, I'll know you actually control it. Otherwise anyone could simply claim it was theirs.--Brett 14:51, 13 August 2008 (UTC)
I suppose you are right. Would m:Steward requests/Username changes#Ownbot @ many wikis be adequate? -- Cat chi? 19:08, 13 August 2008 (UTC)
Done.--Brett 20:13, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

[change] English Wikipedia corpus

Hello! I have answered to your remark here User talk:AKA MBG/English Simple Wikipedia 20080214 freq wordlist, it is passed less than 6 month :) -- AKA MBG 18:16, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

[change] Simple wikt is monolingual

page here So this means SE Wiktionary is only available in English, not French, German, or other languages?

...and I think you meant Simple wiki is monolingual

I think I copied the definition from the English Wiktionary that you removed all the transalation templates from.

Deathgleaner 02:54, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

[change] Block and delete requests

Hi there, I'm an administrator over at Simple Wikiquote. I'm requesting a block of 79.91.227.27 for creating nonsense pages after I issued an only warning. I'm not entirely sure if we have an AIV page here. While your at it, please delete the QD requests. Thanks. By the way, I was just curious of who can become administrators here at Simple Wiktionary. Simple Wikipedia has this "criteria", and I was wondering if we have one of some sort here. Probably just because I would like to be one since I noticed through recent changes this wiki gets a lot of vandalism here and there, and I usually patrol all the simplewikis, especially this one since we only have 3 active ones here. So any further information would be delighted. This wiki looks like it needs more active administrators during different times of the day, and I might be able to fill in. If you have any questions at all regarding adminship for me, I will gladly answer them. Thanks again, RyanCross (talk) 18:11, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Ah, alright, thanks. -- RyanCross (talk) 23:44, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

[change] RE: Wow!

I used a computer program called Auto Wiki Browser. You type in the name of a category and it will scan all the articles in that category for spelling errors. I scanned Category:Nouns. The program is widely used on en.wikipedia. You can download it here. --Andrew Kelly (talk) 10:01, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

[change] defining simply

Thank you for noticing. I reckon that they are perhaps too technical for here now, innit? - some are not even on en.wiktionary yet, so I'll add them there. --Something fishy 12:28, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

[change] welcome

see my talkpage, hersfold StaticFalcon 13:18, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

[change] Pronunciation

You're right concerning include, I made a mistake while typing, but I don't see what's wrong with virtually and celebrity, I don't know IPA by heart but I have some skills at using it, /i:/ is not only longer than /ɪ/, but it is also more closed and tense. Concerning /əʊ/, though written with a single vowel, is not properly a "long o", but a diphtong, not a long pure vowel such as /ɔ:/ (as in thought). Not being a native English-speaker myself, I chose to use /əʊ/ instead of /oʊ/, as well as /ə:/ instead of /ɜ:/ (certainly corresponding to my own pronunciation). I perfectly know pronunciations are multiple, and so are transcription systems (I mainly know IPA), and the importance of distinguishing between phonetics and phonology (using // is strictly phonology). I essentially refer to a bilingual dictionary when I'm not sure, I think it's worth making things quite simple since it is a dictionary and not an encyclopedia, for example just giving UK and US general pronunciations when they differ. I'm ready to debate if any problem occurs. Nebogipfel 09:20, 22 September 2008 (UTC)

  • I just found the page concerning this problem on simple WP. You should look here [[1]], perhaps not a definitive solution but it makes things clearer. What do you think of it? Nebogipfel 13:39, 24 September 2008 (UTC)
    • Looks good to me.--Brett 17:38, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

[change] Strange new entries

Hoi, could you please check, what this IP has written? It seems to me that this guy is first not really writing from a neutral perspective, and that second his entries are not really dictionary entries but rather encyclopedia stubs (or whatever else). (I'm writing to you since you were the last sysop of this wiki who edited. :p ) Best regards, --Thogo 18:23, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

[change] XML dump

FYI: simple.wikt was (finally ...) dumped a few minutes ago. (en:User:Robert Ullmann) Robert Ullmann 09:07, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

[change] Suffix and prefix

Hi Brett, although you agree with me about how to link the pages, I was puzzled by what you said about english not relying on the suffix and prefix. I have only basic language education, but I had a count of suffix and prefix in your reply, on simple talk, of simply recognisable suffix/prefix changes. I counted words over 4 letters in size and re-cogni-s-able suffix and prefix, I got 61 words over four letters and 65 easily recognised suffix and prefix (although sometimes 3 in one word such as "in-defin-ite-ly"). I can see here you are a professor of english, and beleive you that english may be less reliant on these when compared to other language but it seems based entirely on little add ons. (I'm not poking you for a free lesson, just showing the surprise) I was always happier with sums anyway (lol). Yeah but where only tense or context changes they sort of belong together. RTG 16:54, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Hi, it does actually make sense to me, that English may be lesser inclined to suffix and prefix with the word you gave me "aggulginative" as trying to translate German shows a lot of odd 20 letter words. Thanks RTG 16:03, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

[change] New contributor

Hi Brett. I saw your comment over on Wikt. I've often thought about contributing here on "simple", but I am used to making entries "over there" which are generally speaking more complex. So I would like some pointers to 1. good typical entries, and 2. anything you think I should know (given my Wikt and Pedia background), and 3. where should I look to make the most helpful entries. -- Algrif 15:36, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

[change] smoking drug

I vote to delete "smoking drug"-image I mean it is missleading probably ones evoque cannabis for medicine --Penarc 02:46, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

[change] Aspirin (R)

When children have a fever, avoid giving them any over-the-counter drugs that contain aspirin. Syndrom Reye?, otherwise you give paracetamol, surely an hepatotoxic agent I think such a paragraph is purely advertisement --Penarc 02:51, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

[change] colourless

Hi Brett. I was going to add the alternative spelling. But looking at colour I see you use a special template. Can I leave this with you to organise, please? Thanks. -- Algrif 16:31, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

  • Looks good to me. Thanks. -- Algrif 17:31, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

[change] Hi

Hi Brett. I was wondering if you have a template for superlatives and comparatives. Let me know if you get the chance. Thanks, DavidWS (contribs) 17:17, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

[change] Bureaucrat work

I didn't know being a bureaucrat on a small project would be so much work! [2] ☺Coppertwig(talk) 17:41, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Wow!--Brett 19:14, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

[change] dare

I'm planning on making this entry, but I need to know what templates to use. I need to put normal verb form dares, daring, dared and also modal verb form dare, dared, daren't Trouble is, I'm not sure what would be correct form here. Definition and pronunciation seem to be less of a problem than format. ;-) -- Algrif 15:03, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I should've thought of that! -- Algrif 15:53, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

[change] Re: Welcome

Hello Brett, Thank you for the welcome to wikt! I find this a bit more interesting than Wikiquote or Wikibooks, so yes I may become more active here in the future. Once I get used to how it works... Regards, Kennedy 21:24, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

[change] Import needed

I believe I need you, or another admin here to import the article in that RfD. Is this possible? Synergy 03:32, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

[change] user:86.69.154.71

Hello,

Maybe I am wrong but don't you think its kind of hard to block a ip for a month if he creates one test subject? I would have choose a block for a day or three. And make it more and more if he won't stop. But a month is to much in my eyes.

See ya, Abigor 16:56, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Hi,

I think you're right too : I've already seen a lot of similar contributions a few months before such as the "Gsthae with tempo!" trolling, even on Simple Wikipedia : it seems to me that "stab an elephant with a nostril" or "siphoning has no heralds" have been employed many times, I saw the entry "The impertinences of Leon the Podon" has also been deleted three times on Simple WP before being protected, it could be the same vandal than gsthae with tempo! You may also ask for a checkuser to be sure. Nebogipfel 14:14, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

[change] Some blocks

Hi! I got requested on IRC to run some checks of a few new users.... they're all socks of each other, with rather shaky names. The IP underneath is a close match to a range used by a known en:wp sockmaster. So I blocked them all. Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns... thanks! Wasn't quite sure where to bring this. Lar 05:18, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

[change] thesauri

Why there is not link to wikipedia , at thesaurus-page? --Penarc 19:52, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

[change] Re: and deletion tags

I've replied on my talk page about the lower-case business. Just a question, what template do you use for requesting the deletion of a page? I saw a nonsense one earlier and couldn't find the appropriate tag. --Gwib 17:52, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

One last question, what do {{countable}} and {{uncountable}} mean? --Gwib 21:25, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

[change] Thanks

Thanks for correcting the template on undo and on its other forms. I'll remember to use {{verb2}} for irregular verbs in the future. Maximillion Pegasus 04:22, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

I don't think you need to use verb2. I think the verb template works just as well for irregular verbs. You just need to list all the forms. See the last example at the bottom of Template:verb. ☺Coppertwig(talk) 04:41, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
But the verb2 template marks it as irregular.--Brett 04:51, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
Yeah, the {{verb}} template adds the page to Category:Regular verbs while the {{verb2}} template adds it to Category:Irregular verbs. Maximillion Pegasus 15:11, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
Oh. I wonder if I can fix that. Maybe I could change the verb template so that when five verb forms are given, then it puts it in the irregular category. But are there some regular verbs where we have to give five forms?
If that's not possible, then we need to change the instructions for using the verb template. ☺Coppertwig(talk) 02:14, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

[change] Email

Hi there. I have sent you an email. Cheers, Razorflame 19:00, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Did you get the email that I sent you? Razorflame 19:05, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

[change] Twin

Why did you put a use as an adjective in the noun section at twin?

By the way, I suppose you know that if you want you can put up a Mediawiki:Sitenotice to tell people about the closure discussion on meta.

I keep thinking I'm asking you things I might have already asked you a year ago or something. ☺Coppertwig(talk) 02:18, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

A few days ago I read it too fast and for a few seconds I thought it said "There is an obscure discussion on meta"!!
Your message is more positive than the one we had for a long time at Simple English Wikiquote. "This project has been nominated to be closed down. Please comment here." I should have changed that one but didn't think of it or didn't know how or didn't know whether I should. ☺Coppertwig(talk) 01:37, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Bot flag?

Could I get a bot flag here please? I will only be working on interwikis. Cheers, Darkicebot 00:27, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

[change] Interwicket

Thanks again. Not that at the insistence of SpaceBirdy, the bot adds all the iwikis it knows, not just the English reciprocal; so it will be adding a few others as well.

Glad to hear it.--Brett 12:17, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

There's a note atop this page about a "closure discussion"? Are they nuts? We refer children and ESL students to simple all the time. Iwikis to simple from (for example) the Swahili wikt are very, very useful. Robert Ullmann 09:49, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Yes, as far as I can tell, they are nuts.--Brett 12:17, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

[change] Exemplifying

Have I been doing a better job at exemplifying the word in the examples? I have been trying very hard to make sure that I do this.

Also, could you try to come up with an example that exemplifies the use of the word backslash? I tried for about an hour last night to come up with an example that exemplified it, but I was unsuccessful. Maybe you would have better luck? Cheers, Razorflame 19:08, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

In my opinion, your examples seem to be better at hinting at the meaning of the word. Despite that I think they still fail at times to accurately exemplify it. I found the examples for failing and domicile to be very unnatural. Failing is used almost exclusively to refer to someone's character. Something like a pipe would have a failure rather than a failing. Domicile is a formal word and the sentence should reflect that.
I also wonder about the rationale for adding obsolete words when so many very common words are still missing.--Brett 12:54, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
Don't worry, I do plan on getting around to them. I am creating words that interest me currently. Don't worry, I will be helping you guys make the most common words :). Cheers, Razorflame 20:13, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] flowings

I'm sorry, but you are incorrect about the deletion of this article. This article was in fact, a real English word. It is on the English Wiktionary and is also in Google books. Why did you delete it when I found sources that indicate it is a real word? Thanks, Razorflame 20:10, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

If there is an noun entry for flowing, then there should be a noun entry for every verb in the -ing form. It's better simply to think of this as a general property of verbs.--Brett 21:26, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
The English Wiktionary has an entry for this word; why can't we have an entry for this word? I don't see what is wrong with it, IMHO, but if you want to keep it deleted, then I'm cool with that. Just wondering why you deleted it. Cheers, Razorflame 21:32, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

I see the en.wikt entry as an error. There was a discussion in the beer hall there about this very topic, and the consensus was (as I read it) that there is a need to distinguish between genuine deverbal nouns such as building, writing, etc. from gerundial verbs, which are simply present participles being pushed into service as nouns.

I think it would be noisy and confusing to people who want a simple dictionary for every verb entry to have an entry like this. I'd also like to concentrate on useful, core items rather than esoteric trivia. Having said that, of course I'm not the sole arbiter of what appears here, and if you recreate the page, I will not delete it.--Brett 23:43, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Just as another question, but why are you deleting valid definitions from words like you just did with husbanded? The entry on the English Wikipedia clearly states that it can also be an adjective, but again, if you view it as an error, then I am fine with the removal. Cheers, Razorflame 00:13, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it is another error. Still, I didn't delete the definition. I moved it to the correct category. You can't say that something is very husbanded or more husbanded than x or that something became husbanded. This shows us that husbanded is the past participle of the verb husband, not an adjective.--Brett 00:21, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
Ok, I understand why you made that change, then :). Good catch :). I will refrain from adding these to pages that are already verbs, then, in the future because of the likelihood that it is indeed an error. Cheers, Razorflame 00:24, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, it's more on a case-by-case basis. There are lots of adjectives that look identical to past participles. Words like excited, interested, focused, etc.. Try them with very and with became. If they work with either, then they probably exist as adjectives and verbs. If they work with neither, they're probably only verbs.--Brett 00:38, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Ok, thanks for the help :). Cheers, Razorflame 00:40, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

I see you've put a # back in the first line of husbanded. I'm not really sure what to do here. The reason I took it out is that it indicates that 1 and 2 are separate senses of the word, which they are not. In the past we simply haven't had definitions at all on the inflected pages unless the inflection leads to a different part of speech or has an idiosyncratic meaning that is not used in the other forms of the word. I'd say take out the # or the definition.--Brett 00:47, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

I'll take out the definition then. Cheers, Razorflame 00:49, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] RfAs

Hi there, Brett. Is there a set amount of time that an RfA lasts here on the Simple English Wiktionary? If there is, could you please let me know how long the usual RfA lasts as stated in policy? Also, while it isn't that big of a deal, you are the only active bureaucrat on this site, which means, while I know you do like to vote in RfAs, that as the only active bureaucrat here, you should probably not vote in RfAs because if you were to vote and then promote the user, it could look like a COI (conflict of interest), or it could also affect your neutrality on the request. Just a thought.....Razorflame 00:20, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

No set time that I know of. I'll refrain from voting if you'd like.--Brett 00:23, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

You don't have to if you don't want to. I would actually appreciate it if you were to vote as it would give me a better understanding of what I need to fix for possible future RfAs. Cheers, Razorflame 00:25, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] automobile

Hi there, again. The English Wiktionary for the page automobile says that there is a verb tense for this word, but it says that it is dated. Does that mean that we should just leave it out of this Wiktionary until later, or add it now? Just want to make sure before I go changing anything. Cheers, Razorflame 00:52, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Does it strike you as something that a beginning user of English would find useful?--Brett 00:54, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
Not really, which is why I decided to ask you about it first. Cheers, Razorflame 00:55, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
Then I'd say don't bother.--Brett 01:00, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
Ok. I won't bother adding in dated or archaic definitions from now on, or definitions that I do not believe are common enough for this Wikipedia. Thanks, Razorflame 18:01, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Notes

Thanks for showing me the workings of this Wiktionary. I feel that I have a fairly good grasp of all of the things that are the inner workings of this Wiktionary.

Also:

  • I will put references on talk pages from now on.
  • Are lava, pimpmobile, and magma simple enough now?
  • What defines a transitive verb?

Thanks, Razorflame 21:08, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

I really appreciate your positive approach to learning all this stuff.
I think the three words could still be simpler.
A transitive verb is one that takes an object. An object is usually a noun phrase that directly follows the verb. If the sentence is made passive, the object becomes the subject of the passive sentence.
Transitivity is a property of a verb sense rather than of the verb itself. In other words, some senses may be transitive, while others are intransitive. Some verbs take predicate complements rather than or as well as objects. If you're not familiar with the difference, they can appear very similar. The main difference is that a predicate complement can be an adjective, but an object can't. These verbs are called linking verbs and are not transitive.
  • He met the president. [object]
  • *He met happy.
  • He became president. [predicate complement]
  • He became happy.
I hope that helps.--Brett 12:12, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
Yep, it does. Thanks for the help, and I am glad that my positive approach is a good thing. Thank you for the compliment! Cheers, Razorflame 00:43, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Concerns

Hi there Brett. I have a few concerns about this project that I would like to voice to you:

  • I do not believe that this project should have only one active bureaucrat. I think that there should be multiple bureaucrats (at least 2) so that they can check each others' decisions and so that there are bureaucrats that are more readily available.
  • The ratio of active administrators to inactive administrators should be reversed. There should be more active than inactive administrators on this site. This could probably turn away potential new editors, and as a Wikimedia Wiki with very few active editors, we need all the new editors we can get at this point in time.
  • I am unsure about whether or not we have enough active editors to keep this project afloat at this point in time. I have contacted a few people about this and asked them if they could become more active on this project, including one of the administrators currently listed on the list of administrators (Coppertwig). I hope to be able to jumpstart this project with new editors soon. I am trying all that I can to get more people to edit on this site, but it hasn't been going very well. Any ideas?

These are just some of the concerns that I have about this project at this point in time. Do you agree with me on this, and do you have some concerns of your own, maybe? Razorflame 03:45, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

More people at all levels in the project would certainly be nice. I don't see any concern about keeping the project afloat though. It will muddle on as it has even without much input.--Brett 12:04, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
I agree with that statement. I noticed Tygrrr being active over on the Simple English Wikipedia earlier today, so I invited him over here :). I know that this project will be able to stay afloat now, but I really would like to see more active editors on this site :). Cheers, Razorflame 17:20, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Question

Hi there Brett. My RfA has now been open for 5 days now and has 5 supports with no opposes. Other RfAs have been closed earlier than mine, so I was just wondering when you are planning on closing it. Also, when you create new pages in the future, could you be so kind as to include at least the interwiki to the English Wiktionary please? Thanks, Razorflame 17:18, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

I know including an interwiki link seems like a small thing, but frankly, I'm busy enough as it is. A bot can do that much more efficiently than I can, and I'd rather use my time for more demanding work.--Brett 18:31, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
Sure thing. I would not mind doing this for you :). Cheers, and thanks for closing the RfA. Cheers, Razorflame 18:35, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
I don't think you need to put in interwikis. I think bots do that. ☺Coppertwig(talk) 01:29, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Open proxies

Should I go through the Simple English Wikipedia's block log and block some of the open proxies that have been blocked over on the Simple English Wikipedia using the basis that open proxies are not allowed to edit and are automatically blocked on other Wikipedias, or should I not do that and wait for them to edit? Just a question, because I do not know what to do about it at this point in time. Cheers, Razorflame 18:44, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm afraid I don't know enough about open proxies to give you a useful answer. How many are we talking about? The block would still allow user name creation?--Brett 18:47, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
Only the few that were blocked on the Simple English Wikipedia within the past week. Open proxies should not be allowed to create new accounts because nearly 100% of edits from open proxies are vandalism, so if we were to allow account creation, then it would allow for the vandals to start creating new accounts to continue vandalizing. Hope this helps you understand. Razorflame 18:51, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
But are those IP addresses not also available to legitimate users? I'm not sure about other project, but here almost 100% of the vandalism is anonymous. I don't think I've ever seen one of these vandals actually create an account after having their IP address blocked.--Brett 18:58, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
Yes, they could potentially be used by legitimate users, but the chances of that happening are very slim. Most other Wikipedias and Wiktionaries prevent account creation from open proxies, but if you want, I can keep account creation open for those users. Cheers, Razorflame 19:00, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
I think it'd be more useful to block them as they come. I have no idea how to determine whether an IP is an open proxy, so if you have a way to be sure, I'd be fine with you blocking and allowing account creation. If allowing account creation causes problems, we can always adjust accordingly. As Brett said, the (overwhelming) majority of our vandalism is from IPs. But like I said, I don't think it's a high priority right now to duplicate all of SE WP's open proxy blocks here. · Tygrrr... 19:25, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
Agreed. In general, open proxies are generally blocked for a period of one year. Most of the time, they are closed over the period of that year. I just got done unblocking a whole bunch of IPs that were open proxies from 3 years ago. They are no longer open proxies, and therefore, don't need to be indefinitely blocked anymore. We can always reblock them as they return (if they do). Cheers, Razorflame 19:40, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] fatherland

A question: The English Wiktionary entry for this article says that it is an uncountable noun and doesn't have an article for fatherlands. Is this yet another mistake, or are they correct? I looked up fatherlands on dictionary.reference.com and the Merriam Websters dictionary sites and both came back with fatherlands not being a word, so should this entry be countable or uncountable? Wanted to ask you this before I made the change again. Cheers, Razorflame 18:57, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Few dictionaries will list plurals, so that doesn't help. MW is a dictionary for native speakers, and, as such, doesn't include countability. Their Learner's dictionary does, as do the others I mentioned. If you check them, they'll tell you that fatherland is usually singular. This means that it is indeed countable. If you can use the word with a/an, each, every, then it's countable.--Brett 19:03, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
More on countability here.--Brett 19:07, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
Well, the words that you provided (a/an, each, every) help quite a lot. I will use those words with an entry that is a noun to help me tell if it is a countable or uncountable noun from now on. Cheers, Razorflame 19:19, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Pakistan editor

What ever happened to this editor and his edits? Was he blocked? Have the formatting and POV issues created by this editor been taken care of? I'd hate to have them all still sitting there in the form that they were in when I was last here, so I could start cleaning them if they're still bad. Secretly, I'm hoping to hear that it's all taken care of. ;-) · Tygrrr... 19:54, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes, blocked and cleaned up, at least what I can find, though some stray pages do seem to be still turn up from time to time.--Brett 19:57, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Range 79.85.113.x

Hi there Brett. I noticed a while back, you blocked this range (79.85.113.0/24) for excessive vandalism, and after reading that, I checked how many different IP addresses have been blocked for vandalism using that range. I came up with around 35-40 IP addresses. I think that we should possibly consider a longer term range block that extends over the entire range (/16). Of course we would allow account creation, but because of the amount of long-term vandalism we have gotten from that range, I think that it would be best to block them for a period of about a year or so. What are your thoughts on this? Razorflame 16:44, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't have strong feelings about it. I'd probably leave it as is, but if you have good reasons for changing it, I'm not adverse to that.--Brett 18:40, 6 February 2009 (UTC)
It would effectively block around 65,556 IP addresses from editing, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it will block 65,556 users. We could also do several smaller ranges. For now, though, I would have to agree with you...I think it could be left alone for now until we get some more vandalism from this range, and when we do, we could decide then if we should block the range or not. Razorflame 18:44, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Mass deletions

Sorry if I concerned you with the mass deletions that I did last night. I went through the logs and found a lot of unnecessary redirects that weren't really needed on the Simple English Wiktionary, so I went through and deleted them all. Razorflame 22:10, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Getting started

Hi Brett. I'm Yotcmdr, former admin at SEWP (where I'm active) and thought I might come and give you guys a hand here at Simple English Wiktionnary. I just wanted to know were I should start, if there was anything that needs doing in particular... I thought I'd come to you as you're the person I've seen editing the most here. Thanks, Yotcmdr 19:20, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

There is a list of words called the BNC1 list of words (link can be found in the recent changes box) Wiktionary:BNC spoken freq 02 that is a list of words that need to be created on here. Hope this helps :). If you need anymore help, feel free to ask me or any other user on here :). Cheers, Razorflame 20:36, 9 February 2009 (UTC)
I'm working on the BE1500 list. You're welcome to help me with that if you feel like it. ☺Coppertwig(talk) 01:31, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Barnstar

Barnstar Congratulations: You have been given a Barnstar!

For all of your hard work here, I hereby award you this barnstar! Cheers, Razorflame 17:00, 10 February 2009 (UTC)


Certainly well deserved. Why didn't I think of giving him one? ☺Coppertwig(talk) 00:25, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Question

What's the correct way of saying the difference between the different headings such as noun and verb? Sense, form? Thanks, Razorflame 17:53, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

If you're distinguishing between noun, verb, etc, this is traditionally called part of speech, but most linguists would call it (lexical) category. Within a given headword, then, you would have entries for various categories. Within the categories, each number denotes a different sense of the word. The boxes at the top show the different inflectional forms of the word. And related words lists the various words that are derived from a common stem. Does that cover everything?--Brett 18:19, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
Yep, thanks, Razorflame 18:35, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Thanks

Thanks for your welcome note. Mmxx 15:55, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Welcoming users

Here on the Simple English Wiktionary, I think that we should only think about welcoming new users if they make any edits to the mainspace. That is currently what the Simple English Wikipedia does with its new users, and I think that it would be a great idea to have us do it as well. Cheers, Razorflame 23:11, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

...because...?--Brett 12:04, 12 February 2009 (UTC)
Just a suggestion; you don't have to follow it if you don't want. Cheers, Razorflame 14:25, 12 February 2009 (UTC)
I understand that. Right now, I don't see any reason for it, but I may be overlooking something and was hoping you might explain.--Brett 16:12, 12 February 2009 (UTC)
Nope, there is nothing that you are overlooking. Never mind. Cheers, Razorflame 16:35, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

If a user has a global account, and just looks here (no edits), automatically a user account is created. If we then post a welcome message, they might get an email saying that their talk page on this project has been edited. They might wonder whether it just happened that way or whether people can see that they've looked at the project. That happened to me when I looked at Wikibooks: see wikibooks:simple:User talk:Microchip08#Thanks for the welcome!. I got an email saying that my talk page had changed. (Maybe I have set my preferences to do that. I forget.) Anyway, after that happened, I decided that I think it's better not to post welcome messages to users who do no edits. Certainly they're welcome to visit the project. I won't complain if others post welcome messages. ☺Coppertwig(talk) 19:10, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I see. Would that get them to maybe come back or scare them away?--Brett 19:12, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Your block of SB39Bot

Hi there, Brett. Could you plesae unblock SB39Bot? I have reviewed the interwiki links that it has added, and they were all appropriate (in my opinion). He has requested to me over IRC that it be unblocked. Thanks, Razorflame 15:43, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Actually, Brett is correct. All of the links should be in English. Unlike Wikipedia where the interwiki lead to what the page is called in other languages (i.e. the translation of the word in other languages), on Wiktionary the interwiki should all be of the same word, no translation, no spelling changes. For example es:dog would say, in Spanish, 'dog is the English word for perro '. If you notice, dog has everything as language:dog, not es:perro, etc. Make sense? Therefore SB39 is adding the wrong links. Also, it should be flagged before it can be run here and that hasn't been done yet. Once SwirlBoy has made the appropriate changes he can run some tests here and then get a flag from Brett if the tests work and the bugs seem to be fixed. · Tygrrr... 16:04, 20 February 2009 (UTC)
I'm sorry for butting my head into where it shouldn't have been in the first place. I will try very hard not to do this in the future. Thanks, Razorflame 19:59, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] RfA ready for closure

Hi there Brett. It has been seven days since the opening of Maximillion Pegasus's RfA and I just wanted to let you know that it is ready for closure. Unless someone has any particular objection about you doing that, of course :). Cheers, Razorflame 22:17, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi, I just wanted to let you know the request has been open for 10 days. Regards, Maximillion Pegasus 19:31, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] feed

Sorry about that. After I added that, I thought that I should probably have removed it, but I wasn't sure, so I just left it to let you decide. Unfed is most likely an antonym of fed, right? Thanks for the clarification, Razorflame 19:58, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes.--Brett 20:01, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for the clarification! Razorflame 20:08, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] refuse

Should I make more entries for words like I did with refuse? Would that be more helpful to this project? Thanks for the help in advance, Razorflame 15:03, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes, personally I think that would be most helpful.--Brett 15:07, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Requirements for administrator

Hi there Brett. As I stated on Wiktionary:Administrators, I really see no reason why we need to put it off until later. I think that we should discuss what our Criteria for Adminship should be here on the Simple English Wiktionary. Please see the proposal that I will write shortly. Cheers, Razorflame 18:49, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

[change] Removing adjectives

Hi there Brett. Could you please bring up the removal of adjectives on the talk pages of the entries to which you are deleting the adjectives from first before going ahead and removing them, because I believe that some people would disagree with the removal of them, especially from blazing and fined, but especially blazing. Blazing can be used to define something as being very fast, e.g. blazing fast internet, or blazing fast service...therefore, an adjective part of speech for that entry makes sense. Thanks, Razorflame 15:18, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

[change] folk

Hi there Brett. Category:Nouns is not needed on this page because Category:Countable nouns is a subcategory of Category:Nouns, so it is redundant to include folk in Category:Nouns, because if it is already in a subcategory of Category:Nouns, then technically, it is already in Category:Nouns. Cheers, Razorflame 02:58, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, this is technically true. But all other nouns get put in the noun category directly. Why treat folk differently just because I needed to edit the header template?--Brett 11:59, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
I'm not treating it special. If you think that it belongs in the Noun category directly, then we can change the template on the page from Countable nouns to nouns. Cheers, Razorflame 19:28, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

The best solution would be to change {{noun2}} so that there can be 2 possible plurals so that we don't have to substitute {{noun}} and change the singular. I don't have time to look at the template right now to do it, but if someone else has time, they can go right ahead. · Tygrrr... 03:38, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

[change] Re: Yam

Most of the fixes are Yes check.svg Done. There's an article on the genus Dioscorea on the English Wikipedia. Should that be mentioned? --Dylan620 Speaketh · @ en.wikipedia 13:57, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

[change] Transwiki

Hi Brett,

Where could I go to ask for transwiki rights over here? I'm an admin over at Simple WP and it would help me to have transwiki over here so that I could clear our back log of DicDefs.

Or alternatively, a willing admin over here to put aside a space of time to help out :).

Regards,

Bluegoblin7 11:53, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi, I'm afraid the only way I can give you that is to make you an admin here. I don't have the power to make you an importer. Before you put a lot of work into transwikis, you may want to have a look at this discussion.--Brett 12:38, 4 May 2009 (UTC)
Hmm... well i'm not after "free" rights so i'm happy to go through an RfA. Or I could request transwiki at Meta if there was some discussion to link too. I don't mind either way. Thanks for the link, I would of course follow Wikitionary guidelines etc and not just "transwiki and leave". It's likely they will be done in batches as and when I get time. Regards, Bluegoblin7 13:02, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

[change] Bot

I changed the bot to avoid adding audio when word has different pronunciation when used as different parts of speech. --Derbeth talk 09:14, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Ok, my bot finished the work. It has added about 540 audio files. --Derbeth talk 09:36, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

[change] Attributive nouns

A couple of questions for you:

  1. Did I use the right classification on ceramic, in particular #3? en:wikt has that def as an adj, but it seemed more of an attributive noun to me.
  2. Shouldn't {{attrib}} place the word in Category:Attributive nouns instead of Category:Attributive adjectives? It would seem that the template would most often be used to make the distinction between attributive nouns and adjectives. Also, the phrase "attributive adjectives" seems somewhat redundant as most adjectives are attributive, no?

Your thoughts on this matter would be appreciated. Thanks! · Tygrrr... 17:07, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Materials are difficult. Most of the syntactic tests I can think of provide ambiguous results or don't apply. Given the -ic ending, I'd be tempted to put it as an adjective, but I think argument could be made for either.
For {{attrib}}, I think we may need two templates. There is a sizable group of adjectives that refuse to appear predicatively, at least in some senses. One that I did recently is mere, and presidential is one that is sense specific. On the other hand, I can't think of any nouns, off the top of my head, that funtion only as attributive modifiers, though certainly there are specific senses of nouns that come up only in that function. Perhaps the answer is to change the template to describe the function rather than the category: "attributive modifier" rather than "attributive adjective" or "attributive noun".--Brett 19:06, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
I think 2 templates and 2 categories might be more useful to users than 1 template that places both nouns and adjectives in a general "modifier" category. To be clear, things that I would think belong in an "Attributive noun" category would be things like materials (ceramic, copper, etc), strange colors (dandelion, strawberry, almond, etc), perhaps nationalities (Dutch, American,etc) and some others we've come across in the past (begineer, capillary, etc)--basically words that are often used attributively but do not fit all the rules to qualify as a true adjective. Or am I misunderstanding the intended usage of this template? · Tygrrr... 16:45, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
Currently almost everything with the template is an adjective, but, yes, I think there are some nouns that might benefit from being labeled attributive. You list sounds like a good start. One template or two? I don't have strong feelings one way or the other, but the current situation doesn't work, as you've pointed out.--Brett 18:49, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

[change] Changing username: MathCool10 to MC10

Could you make the username change as shown above to unify SUL? Thanks. MathCool10 04:03, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

[change] Am I doing ok?

Hi. I'm sure that you've noticed me making a bunch of articles recently. I'm just wondering if there's anything I can improve on, or any mistakes I'm making often? Thanks. Mm40 22:48, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

[change] Quick deletion

Please give a reason for nominating User:I-210 & User talk:I-210 for quick deletion.--Brett 10:38, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

I don't hope that you think that I nominated those two pages. I don't support the deletion of user pages, but if they are blank they can be deleted. Aspecially if the user themself ask for it. Carsrac 16:24, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

[change] Oops

[3] :) Rocket000 09:07, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

[change] ally

I took the plunge and created my first Simple entry. Could you take a look and make sure I did it O.K.?

Thanks in advance!

Ruakh 02:47, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

[change] Census

Started a census here. Please sign. Regards, Pmlineditor 17:15, 17 July 2009 (UTC).

[change] Talkback

I've replied on my user talk. Yotcmdr 21:38, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

[change] Request

Hey Brett, would you mind checking my additions to fucking. I'm not sure the parts of speech are accurate, the definitions would ideally be a little simpler, and I'm just not sure I did it right. I used en:wikt as a basis for what I've added. I'd appreciate it if you'd check it out. Thanks! · Tygrrr... 21:52, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I think that's pretty much spot on, Tygrrr. It's an expletive, as such, it generally indicates the speaker's attitude much more than any specific properties of the head it modifies.--Brett 23:53, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

[change] RFA

Hello! Just wanted to say that the RFA is no open for 7 days. Probably yo want to close it. Thanks. Barras || talk 12:28, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

I'll give it a couple of more days.--Brett 19:42, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
Ok, thanks, even if I think there will be no more votes. Barras || talk 19:44, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
Barras, here on the Simple English Wiktionary, people usually have their RfAs open for longer than the seven days that is established over on the Simple English Wikipedia. That is because Brett wants to give all the people the possibility to vote, even though that possibility is slim, he still wants to leave it open for a long enough period of time for them to possibly vote because not everyone here votes or even edits that regularly. Hope this helps, Razorflame 22:57, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

[change] Funs

Hey there Brett. Last night, I was thinking about deleting funs because it did not sound like an English word to me, however, I was unsure about it, so I decided to leave it and let someone else who knows more about the situation or possibility of it being a word to resolve that issue. I see that you have deleted that page, which is what I was leaning towards last night. Anyways, just wanted to let you know, Razorflame 13:29, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks.--Brett 13:42, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

[change] Barras' RfA

Please close the RfA. It should have been closed at 10th (7 days from 3rd). Thanks, Pmlineditor  Talk 17:20, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

There is no such policy here.--Brett 17:41, 13 August 2009 (UTC)
Ah, I see. So we wait till we reach consensus? Pmlineditor  Talk 17:47, 13 August 2009 (UTC)
Generally, the time seems to be about two weeks. Feel free to propose a more formal system if you wish.--Brett 19:36, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Just to say, the two weeks are over. Best --Barras || talk 15:03, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

[change] Y'all

Hi Brett! I need some help with correct formatting of an article. Can you please have a look at this? Thanks Barras || talk 19:36, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

[change] Hi!

Hi Brett,

Thanks for your comments on my talk page. Forgive me - Wiktionary is a new project to me! I come from a Wikinews background - en:n:User:Skenmy is my main userpage. I'm enjoying contributing to the Simple English Wiktionary so far, though! Are there any areas you think I should focus on, or tasks that need doing? I've been using the Accelerated JS to create pages so far - and creating the odd word here and there. --Skenmy 09:52, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

[change] RE

No problem. I was talking to a friend on MSN, he told me about the vandalism on here and asked for my help. Just thought to lend a helping hand.--WillC 12:53, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

[change] RE:

no problem :)--  † CR90  22:33, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

[change] Rollback request

I may become more active on this project, so I would appreciate it if I (contributions here) was granted rollback. I have rollback at the Simple English and regular English wikipedias. Cheers, Mm40 23:46, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Yes check.svg Done. Cheers, Razorflame 14:08, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

[change] Removal of noun from bullying

Just to tell you, I added the noun section from the enwp version. Was this info on enwp wrong? Regards, Pmlineditor ∞ 15:57, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Not everything on the English Wiktionarys' entries are worth adding to our entries. In this instance, it shouldn't be added because it is just a definition of the action of the verb, which does not make it a noun, so there is no reason to have a separate definition for the noun. Razorflame 16:20, 16 October 2009 (UTC)
Ok, thanks for clarifying. Pmlineditor ∞ 16:21, 16 October 2009 (UTC)
No problem. Brett is still free to clarify it more or to explain it differently, as this is his talk page, so keep an eye out for anything else that he adds to what I said. Cheers, Razorflame 16:24, 16 October 2009 (UTC)
Yes, what Razorflame said.--Brett (talk) 21:20, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

[change] -adverb?

Hi there!

I need it only for my understand: Why have you this adverb removed. At least enwikt says that this is also an adverb. Shouldn't our entries not be complete? Regards Barras (talk) 13:28, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

The English Wiktionary is not always correct in their entries. Many of their entries need fixing to make them correct. Yesterday does not have an adverb according to several online dictionaries. Razorflame 13:35, 30 October 2009 (UTC)
Although many dictionaries list it as an adverb, this is based on flawed grammatical analysis. It assumes that anything that answers the question question 'when' is an adverb. In fact, nouns often answer this question (e.g., I'll see you next week.). More examples at Talk:tomorrow.--Brett (talk) 12:36, 31 October 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for the explaination. Barras (talk) 12:49, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

[change] Less common synonyms

Hi there Brett. You recently told me that we should only use simple, non-complex words as synonyms. I don't agree with you entirely on this. While yes, we should be focusing on the simpler side of things, we can also better help our English language learners learn new, more complex words by including a few uncommon synonyms as well. This includes synonyms such as adder, serpent, and viper for snake because if we include such more complex words in the synonyms, then we help our English language learners know that those words mean the same thing as the less complex word, and in essence, will learn a more complex word in the process. This might not always work, but I think that it would be word a try. That is the reasoning behind using such complex synonyms. Furthermore, I understand that treacherous is a complex word, but then again, if it is wikilinked, then chances are that if a user doesn't know what the word meant, he could click on the word treacherous and find out what it meant. That is my reason for including complex words in definitions, because they could learn more complex words by clicking on the wikilink. Cheers, Razorflame 22:05, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Razorflame, this appears to make sense, but as someone who works with language learners daily, I can tell you it's not the way it works. Native speakers typically use synonyms for variety and to find the mot just, but language learners use synonyms to understand the meaning of the word they're looking up. When students in my classes use thesauri like Roget's, which are written for native speakers of English, the results are disastrous. There are few thesauri for language learners, but those that are popular (e.g., The Oxford Learner's Thesaurus) are popular because they understand this and don't present words that the learners can't use. If they truly want more complex words, they can go to en.wiktionary.--Brett (talk) 12:40, 28 November 2009 (UTC)
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