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Word/quotation of the moment:

Astrology has no effect on reality, so why should reality have any effect on astrology? – J.S. Stenzel, commenting on astrological planets that astrologers acknowledge don't really exist

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Do you think the liberals are using these school shootings to further their anti-tragedy agenda? — Col. Erran Morad, Who Is America?, s01e01 yod-dropper — (when you need something that sounds like an insult) ALL keys matter — response to the scale-wandering rendition of the national anthem at CPAC 2021 The Lunatic-in-Charge becomes the Lunatic-at-Large Lame duck à l'orange (AKA canard à l'orange) It is a mortifying circumstance, which greatly perplexes many a painstaking philosopher, that nature often refuses to second his most profound and elaborate efforts; so that often after having invented one of the most ingenious and natural theories imaginable, she will have the perverseness to act directly in the teeth of his system, and flatly contradict his most favorite positions. This is a manifest and unmerited grievance, since it throws the censure of the vulgar and unlearned entirely upon the philosopher; whereas the fault is not to be ascribed to his theory, which is unquestionably correct, but to the waywardness of Dame Nature, who, with the proverbial fickleness of her sex, is continually indulging in coquetries and caprices, and seems really to take pleasure in violating all philosophic rules, and jilting the most learned and indefatigable of her adorers. The philosophers took this in very ill part, and it is thought they would never have pardoned the slight and affront which they conceived put upon them by the world had not a good-natured professor kindly officiated as a mediator between the parties, and effected a reconciliation. Finding the world would not accommodate itself to the theory, he wisely determined to accommodate the theory to the world. — Washington Irving, Knickerbocker's History of New York Pela primeira vez na sua vida a morte soube o que era ter um cão no regaço. For the first time in her life, death knew what it felt like to have a dog in her lap. — José Saramago, Death with Interruptions / Death at Intervals It is now generally accepted that the megaliths that make up Stonehenge were moved by human effort. — as opposed to by what? Anybody who says you only have yourself to blame is just not very good at blaming other people. — It's Happy Bunny When poppies pull themselves up from their roots and start out, one after the other, toward the sunset – don't follow them. — Slavko Janevski, 'Silence' And the dough-headed took their acid fermentation for a soul, the stabbing of meat for history, the means of postponing their decay for civilization. — Stanislaw Lem, Return from the Stars The Church says that the Earth is Flat, but I know that it is Round, for I have seen its Shadow on the Moon, and I have more Faith in a Shadow than in the Church. — (commonly misattributed to Magellan) In the early years of the study there were more than 200 speakers of the dialect, including one parrot. — from the WP article Nancy Dorian Mikebrown is unusually eccentric and not very bright. Astronomers have not noticed any outbursts by Mikebrown. — from the WP article 11714 Mikebrown Ecce Mono Keep Redskins White! "homosapiens are people, too!!" a sprig of spaghetti "I've always had a horror of husbands-in-law." awkwardnessful anti–zombie-fungus fungus "Only an evil person would eat baby soup." (said in all sincerity)

Language maps for Chinese/Mandarin, as seen at Sinophone, Mandarin Chinese, List of countries and territories where Chinese is an official language, etc.

Should Wa State be coloured on them somehow? Double sharp (talk) 08:32, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

If our summary is correct, it's a recognized regional language, not an official or national language, so I'd say no. — kwami (talk) 08:41, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

Well, I found a recent article that has a section on the language situation in Wa State. Our summary seems to be correct: Wa is the recognised national language and the state tries to promote it. However, the de facto situation is pretty interesting: What complicates the use of the Wa language further is that there is not an agreed standard Wa language and standard Wa script: dialectal variations are huge, and three different scripts are used. The standards promoted by the Christian church, by the minority departments of the Chinese government and by the Wa Central Authorities are all different. And even if everyone would agree on a standard language and script, there is yet another problem in the sense that many subjects of the Wa State are not ethnic Wa, but Shan, Lahu and Chinese who do not necessarily understand the Wa language. Given these difficulties, rather than insisting on the use of the Wa language, people often switch into Chinese. Chinese is perceived to be more convenient, given it is taught in many schools, used for business purposes, and as the hegemonic language in the bureaucracies of army and state. That last sentence is also confirmed by earlier material on an official who is employed to translate government pronouncements into Wa – which suggests that they were not in fact originally in Wa. I'm not sure what to call this situation. Double sharp (talk) 14:22, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

I'd say it's the de facto official language, so yes, I agree it should be on the maps. English isn't officially official in the US either. — kwami (talk) 19:22, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

A couple more sources I found don't focus on the linguistics, but make a mention of the language situation. This one writes The working language of the UWSP and UWSA is Mandarin Chinese but with a distinct Wa dialect, most goods come from China, and the currency in use is the Renminbi. (I guess this could very plausibly mean that the Mandarin used by the Wa State is not quite the Standard Mandarin you'd find in official use in China, and is somewhat influenced by the local languages.) This one claims both Mandarin and Wa are de jure official, but it's older (2002), so possibly the situation has changed since then. Anyway, I've added a note to List of countries and territories where Chinese is an official language. (Changing the maps is harder, since Wa State is only de facto independent, and I'd have to draw it specifically.)

I was trying to find information on Kokang (because it's self-governing and has a 90% Chinese majority, so it seemed a possibility worth checking), too. But it's difficult to find such information without understanding Burmese. :( Double sharp (talk) 07:20, 22 July 2023 (UTC)

Map

Please add Andhra Pradesh to this map: https://commons.wikimedia.org/File:Urdu_official-language_areas.png . DareshMohan (talk) 05:42, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

Done. Also reduced the file size by 90% while increasing resolution. — kwami (talk) 06:44, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

"Judeo-Kashani" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Judeo-Kashani has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Anyone, including you, is welcome to comment on this redirect at Misplaced Pages:Redirects for discussion/Log/2023 July 27 § Judeo-Kashani until a consensus is reached. Robert McClenon (talk) 07:40, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

Proportion of French speakers by country

Hi, I would kindly ask you to please add the Aosta Valley on this map, since if the proportion of French-speakers in Italy il -20%, in this region, where the French language is official since 1561, this percentage is +50%. Thanks :) You can reply to me here if needed. 217.126.85.158 (talk) 14:18, 3 August 2023 (UTC)

Hermaphrodite/Intersex

You are of course correct that there is no such thing as a human (or even mammal) hermaphrodite. But as the article stands, we imply that it does, because we don't say anything about intersex. That was what I was trying to rectify but without a citation I accept that it couldn't stand. Have you any sources for medical practice in such cases? 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 15:24, 3 August 2023 (UTC)

@JMF: Possibly. I can't tell how widespread the word ever was in the medical community, but I found

• Alice Domurat Dreger, 1998, Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex

and a reprint from Cytogenetics I, 1962,

• A human intersex ("true hermaphodite") with XX/XXY/XXYYY sex chromosomes

Dreger, which is partially viewable on GBooks, cites medical papers from the 19th and early 20th centuries that use the words "hermaphrodite", "hermaphrodism" and "hermaphroditism" (in English and French) but also "pseudo-hermaphrodism" and "hypospadias" to refer to people with both masculine and feminine sexual anatomy. It reads,

Their unusual anatomies can result in confusion and disagreement about whether they should be considered female or male or something else. These people have for centuries been labeled "hermaphrodites," and since the early 1900s they have also sometimes received the medical designation of "intersexual."

There's also the term "ambisexuality", which doesn't have conflicting uses. But it does seem that the term "hermaphodite" continues to be used for ambisexual humans, despite biologists objecting that it is inaccurate. — kwami (talk) 20:25, 3 August 2023 (UTC)

No doubt whatsoever that the term hermaphrodite was used since ancient times until relatively recently (and probably still is by older medics), to describe people who have atypical genitalia for their DNA gender. "Intersex" is the more accurate term, but whether the symbol ⚥ has been redefined with that meaning is the stumbling block. Citation needed. 𝕁𝕄𝔽 (talk) 20:38, 3 August 2023 (UTC)

McElroy says ⚥ is used for bigender (also androgyne, agender, etc.).

But McElroy is a collection from who knows where, so although they can be used as an initial citation, they don't establish notability.

Also, if "hermaphrodite" was originally used for people, then it's the botanical use that's derived, and it would be odd to now claim that its use for people is incorrect because of that. I've heard people object that "organic" is a misnomer for produce or agriculture because all food is carbon-based and therefore organic by the chemical definition of that term. But it's the chemical definition that's the specialized usage and therefore arguably incorrect, because much organic chemistry does not occur in organisms. One could argue the same for 'hermaphrodite'. — kwami (talk) 20:44, 3 August 2023 (UTC)

There is currently a discussion at Misplaced Pages:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. Thank you. Cambial — foliar❧ 11:45, 13 August 2023 (UTC)