English questions

[Raphael]

How is the "v." in the name of court cases in most English speaking countries pronounced?

[Travis B.]

How is the "v." in the name of court cases in most English speaking countries pronounced?

/ˈvɜrsəz/ or /ˈvɜrsəs/; I personally have the former.

[Raphael]

Thank you!

[Moose-tache]

In the US, it is usually pronounced [vi], in reference to specific court cases, especially famous ones. You've probably noticed this is the one situation where versus is usually spelled "v" instead of "vs." When it is "vs," it is almost almost pronounced as the full /vrs@z/. Curiously, in colloquial use, it is common for Americans to spell "vs" and say /vrs@z/ when talking about minor court cases, probably because they are unaware of the legal practice. But "vs" is never pronounced /viz/ and "v" is never pronounced /vrs@z/.

"Have you guys heard about Roe Vee Wade?"
"I have to appear in court for the case of me versus the burglar."
"I saw a movie called Kramer versus Kramer."

I would bet $100 that anyone who says "Roe vurrsezz Wade" is someone who would misspell it as "Rode vs. Wade" if asked to write it down.

[Raphael]

Oh, thank you, too!

[Raphael]

Hm, now I wonder if any other English speakers could enlighten me about whether Moose or Travis is closer to the mark on this.

[zompist]

Wikipedia says both 'vee' and 'versus' are heard in the US.

Astonishingly, the English are said to say "against" in criminal cases, and "and" in civil ones, though they write "v."

[Raphael]

Oh, that's interesting. Thank you!

[Moose-tache]

Does anyone have a link to a concise explanation of secondary stress in English?

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Hm, now I wonder if any other English speakers could enlighten me about whether Moose or Travis is closer to the mark on this.

I would consider Roe v. Wade "properly" pronounced with the full "versus" (interesting aside — in gaming, this is also often, incidentally, analogised to a verb — probably misheard as verses, with the back-formation verse meaning "fight, do battle with"; I think it sounds very silly, though) but simply pronouncing the name of the letter is also common and unremarkable. In daily speech, they tend to be in free variation.

[Raphael]

Content warning: sexualized violence
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Why does English use one and the same word for a horrible sexualized crime and a mostly harmless plant?

[linguistcat]

Content warning: sexualized violence...
(See above post)

From a cursory search of the etymologies, the plant's name comes from a Latin word for turnip, rapa/rapum and cognate with Greek rhapys.

The term for sexualized violence comes from Middle English rapen or rappen. And while it did at the time also have the modern meaning, more commonly had the meaning of "abduct, kidnap, take (someone) by force" and likely came from Latin rapere, of the same meaning as the Middle English.

So, basically, random happenstance that two very different words became similar over time. Maybe a new tern will in time be given to the plant or the act.

[Raphael]

Thank you!

[Raphael]

What's the standard English term for the process of getting sand (for industrial uses and stuff like that) from a sand quarry? Is that called "mining", or something else?

[Travis B.]

What's the standard English term for the process of getting sand (for industrial uses and stuff like that) from a sand quarry? Is that called "mining", or something else?

In English mining sand is, well, called sand mining.

[Raphael]

On the one hand, that's perfectly logical - but on the other hand, on some level it somehow doesn't make sense to me, because, well, my mental image of a stereotypical "mine" involves much more solid materials than sand.

[Travis B.]

On the one hand, that's perfectly logical - but on the other hand, on some level it somehow doesn't make sense to me, because, well, my mental image of a stereotypical "mine" involves much more solid materials than sand.

Of course, one should not forget usages such as bitcoin mining, which does not involve physical mining per se at all. However, one could consider that a special usage.

[bradrn]

So, basically, random happenstance that two very different words became similar over time. Maybe a new tern will in time be given to the plant or the act.

Well, I’ve only heard of the plant as ‘rapeseed’, and Wikipedia agrees, so this could be considered to have already happened.

[zompist]

So, basically, random happenstance that two very different words became similar over time. Maybe a new tern will in time be given to the plant or the act.

Well, I’ve only heard of the plant as ‘rapeseed’, and Wikipedia agrees, so this could be considered to have already happened.

Actually in North America we already have a new name for rapeseed: canola. (Which comes from 'Canada' + 'oil'.) In theory it only applies to the oil, but it's used for the plant now as well.

[bradrn]

So, basically, random happenstance that two very different words became similar over time. Maybe a new tern will in time be given to the plant or the act.

Well, I’ve only heard of the plant as ‘rapeseed’, and Wikipedia agrees, so this could be considered to have already happened.

Actually in North America we already have a new name for rapeseed: canola. (Which comes from 'Canada' + 'oil'.) In theory it only applies to the oil, but it's used for the plant now as well.

Wait, ‘canola’ and ‘rapeseed’ are the same thing? I never knew. I’m a lot more familiar with the former name than with the latter, though.

EDIT: Actually, it looks like they aren’t the same thing at all; ‘canola’ can come from several different Brassica species, while ‘rapeseed’ is from Brassica rapa alone.