Aaron Chapman ([info]arono) wrote,
@ 2005-04-25 14:49:00
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Current mood: scivolema / curious

Name the thingy / Nomu la zozon

Ĉu ekzistas vorto por tiu bastono kiun oni metas sur la rultapiŝeton en manĝvendejo por apartigi siajn varojn de tiuj de la apuda kliento? Sveda ĵurnalo Dagens Nyheter lastatempe petis sugestojn de siaj legantoj kaj la respondoj estis multegaj. Ili filtris ilin al la plej bonaj kaj nun sondas por gajnonto. (Mi voĉdonis por mittdittare kiu rekte tradukiĝus al mia-via-ilo!)

Kiel vi nomus tiun apartigilon en Esperanto (or in English)?		Is there a word for the separator that we put on the belt at the grocery store to distinguish our stuff from the next customer's? Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter recently called for suggestions from its readers and the response was overwhelming. They've taken the best ones and are now polling for a winner. (I voted for mittdittare which would translate as mineyourser!)

What would you call that separator in English (aŭ en Esperanto)?

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[info]argilo
2005-04-25 12:51 pm UTC (link)
I once heard a segment on CBC Radio on this very topic. I think it was on Arthur Black's show. Callers came up with all sorts of crazy names for the thing (none of which I can remember, unfortunately) and shared their stories about it. There was quite a bit of discussion about whether or not it is rude to put it on the belt after the person behind you starts putting on their groceries. :-)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]arono
2005-04-25 06:11 pm UTC (link)
Cool! Too bad you can't remember any of them. Rude? That has never occurred to me. I would feel I'm being helpful to the person behind me. After all, they don't want me to end up with their stuff, right?

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[info]argilo
2005-04-25 06:27 pm UTC (link)
I think the idea was that it could be interpreted as "stay out of my space!"

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]goulo
2005-04-25 09:53 pm UTC (link)
It would never occur to me to think of it as rude either. It's just being practical, as well as following the suggested guidelines in the business (which after all requests you to put the separator between your groceries and the next batch)... To me, anyone interpreting that as rude would seem bizarre and just looking for an excuse to get offended, like someone saying "Using your car's turn signal is rude, because you're saying I'm too stupid to figure out that you're turning" or some other such nutty rationalization to get bent out of shape over something.

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[info]elgrande
2005-04-25 01:18 pm UTC (link)
The German "Warentrennstab", even though there seem to be other words for it as well. Normally, nobody seriously uses a word for it, though.

(Reply to this)


[info]sonjaaa
2005-04-25 02:27 pm UTC (link)
I've just posted your question on sci.lang and alt.usage.english. Do you have access to those newsgroups?

Be prepared to receive many answers on there!!

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[info]arono
2005-04-25 06:13 pm UTC (link)
I haven't visited newsgroups in a long time. I guess now I'll have to check them out!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
newsgroups via Google Groups!
[info]esperantomobilo
2005-04-27 12:58 am UTC (link)
Arono: I haven't visited newsgroups in a long time. I guess now I'll have to check them out!

And of course the best way to do it is via http://groups-beta.google.com/ ! ;-)))

Oleg (Jag tycker mycket om Google!)

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(Anonymous)
2005-04-25 05:51 pm UTC (link)
Alinepagemilo.

- nirgle

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[info]arono
2005-04-25 06:20 pm UTC (link)
"Instrument for a paragraph's tendency to pay"?

...or maybe...

"Instrument for another grandson's activism"?

:D

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(Anonymous)
2005-04-26 06:52 pm UTC (link)
Sorry, I should've clarified...

Ali-ne-pag-em-ilo

"The tool used in the tendency not to pay for the other person's stuff."

I don't know about you, but I don't want the next guy's food going on my bill :)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]gute
2005-05-08 04:42 pm UTC (link)
aliul-nepagilo OR aliul-pagpreventilo

might stand a better chance of doing the job the way you want it done, Anonymous, and it's beautiful how they, and your term, too, can be understood to point almost equally to your desire not to pay for the other person AND your desire for them not to have to pay for you! 'Cause after all, you cannot use this thingy to satisfy one of those desires but not the other.

Trust me, Arono understood what you meant, but the succession of roots ali-ne-pag-em-il-o doesn't securely convey what you want it to, even when you make the boundaries between them unmistakable using hyphens, the same way you use, you know, those thingies you put between your stuff and the next person's at the supermarket wait a second...

aĉetotar-limsignilo

is maybe best for describing what the thingy can actually be relied upon to DO. Or, if you and the person you're addressing aren't both comfortable with the semantic fields of

mark-, sign-, signal-,

which are a little different from in English, just enough to be tricky for us, then y'all might be better served by

aĉetotar-limrimarkilo

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]kajiki
2005-04-26 02:33 am UTC (link)
Good to see you're staying updated. It's about time they conclude that discussion now. I've looked at that part of the paper on and off for what has to have been a year now, and every time I've seen that they're still listing people's suggestions for suitable names for "pinnen", which have all sucked.

If I weren't fed up with the meaninglessness of the whole thing, I'd probably participate just to fend off the daily boredom of unemployment...

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