Why I hate contractions

[Sam Spiteri]

Hi All,

 

I wonder how many people can figure out what“こぴぺする”means.

 

I ran into it while doing an IT related translation.  I think I am fairly familiar with IT terminology but the above contraction took me about 5 minutes to figure out.  I might have been quicker if it had been written in katakana but at any rate I wasted 5 minutes on something I could have typed out in under 5 seconds if it hadn’t been a contraction. 

 

That’s why I hate contractions!

 

-Sam Spiteri

[Richard VanHouten]

"Copy-paste"じゃないか。

[Sam Spiteri]

Give the man a cigar! It's copy and paste. Maybe I had a brain freeze
because of the hiragana, thinking that it was a 'real' Japanese word instead
of gairaigo.

-Sam Spiteri

-----Original Message-----
From: hon...@googlegroups.com [mailto:hon...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf
Of Richard VanHouten
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 1:15 PM
To: hon...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Why I hate contractions

>
> -- Deleted---
>
>
>

"Copy-paste"じゃないか。

[Gururaj Rao]

How about ノブレー?

Hint: Often used in a watery place.

Gururaj Rao

--
honya...@gmail.com
Website: http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/transtech/
Blog: Translator's Tools: http://honyakusha.blogspot.com/

[Alan Siegrist]

Gururaj Rao writes:

> How about ノブレー?
>
> Hint: Often used in a watery place.

I managed to figure out こぴぺー without a problem, but I am completely
baffled by ノブレー. Google doesn't even provide any hints. It certainly
cannot be a Noblet bass clarinet...

Puzzled,

Alan Siegrist
Orinda, CA, USA

[Simon Currie]

コピペ is almost always katakana, so it looks odd in hiragana, but it
does get some google hits.

ノブレー, no brain storming?

When I entered my former job straight out of an overseas university,
ブレスト had me baffled the first time I heard it :P

Simon Currie

2008/4/24 Alan Siegrist <AlanFS...@comcast.net>:

--
-------------------------
Currie.jp Translation Services / Currie.jp 翻訳サービス
Simon Currie (クーリー才文)

si...@currie.jp
050-1384-8290 (home/office)
070-6484-9854 (mobile)
http://www.currie.jp
-------------------------

[Gururaj Rao]

On Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:32:30 +0900
"Simon Currie" <simon....@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> コピペ is almost always katakana, so it looks odd in hiragana, but it
> does get some google hits.
>
> ノブレー, no brain storming?

Alan wrote:
>I managed to figure out こぴぺー without a problem, but I am completely
>baffled by ノブレー. Google doesn't even provide any hints. It
>certainly cannot be a Noblet bass clarinet...

The hint was a watery place.
We use this term practically everyday during our swim training at the
pool when we swim either the whole lap (25 m) or half a lap (12.5)
without breathing.

Yes, its short for "No Breath"

Cheers.

[Daniel Day]

>
> How about ノブレー?
either brake fading or brake ineffectiveness on wet pavement?
I would be hopelessly stuck without your hint.
Dan Day
Corbett, Oregon, USA

[Alan Siegrist]

I wrote:

> > I am completely baffled by ノブレー.

But Gururaj Rao kindly releases me from my bafflement:

> The hint was a watery place.
> We use this term practically everyday during our swim training at the
> pool when we swim either the whole lap (25 m) or half a lap (12.5)
> without breathing.
>
> Yes, its short for "No Breath"

Arrgh. Those contractions drive me crazy.

But I think you tried to pull a fast one on us. Naughty, naughty, Guru. ;-)
If the following site is to be believed, it should be written ノーブレ:
http://www.aqaexe.com/06ss/201.html
| 呼吸（ブリージング）をしないでクロールのことを，ノーブレ・クロールといいま
す。

The position of that elusive ー mark makes all the difference...

Best regards,

[Stephen Suloway]

I give up.

Gururaj Rao wrote:
> How about ノブレー?
>
> Hint: Often used in a watery place.

So, can anyone suggest any recent dictionaries or online glossaries
of contractions?
(Is our resident katakana expert lurkingly reading this?)

I have the 1993 日英略語・略称辞典 (A Dictionary of
Abbreviations and Truncations) by Motwani, which remains occasionally
useful.
(Hereafter referred to as 略典。。。＜g＞)

I think 15 years is a long time in the contraction coinage field....

TIA

+++++
Stephen Suloway

[Gururaj Rao]

Well, I don't know. My colleagues at the pool pronounce it with the long
"レー" and I didn't check up a dictionary. I'll ask them about it; but
you're probably right. Breath by itself in Katakana does not have the
long sound. I went by my ear.

Cheers,

[Alan Siegrist]

Gururaj Rao writes:

> > If the following site is to be believed, it should be written ノーブレ:
> > http://www.aqaexe.com/06ss/201.html
> > | 呼吸（ブリージング）をしないでクロールのことを，ノーブレ・クロールと
> > | いいます。
> >
> > The position of that elusive ー mark makes all the difference...
>
> Well, I don't know. My colleagues at the pool pronounce it with the long
> "レー" and I didn't check up a dictionary. I'll ask them about it; but
> you're probably right. Breath by itself in Katakana does not have the
> long sound. I went by my ear.

These things sometimes morph over time. Perhaps it was originally supposed
to be ノーブレ but people found ノブレー easier to pronounce so it stuck.

Stranger things have happened.

Cheers,

[Warren W Smith]

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Siegrist <AlanFS...@Comcast.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 PM 6:53
To: hon...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: Why I hate contractions

Gururaj Rao writes:

> How about ノブレー?
>
> Hint: Often used in a watery place.

I managed to figure out こぴぺー without a problem, but I am completely

baffled by ノブレー. Google doesn't even provide any hints. It certainly
cannot be a Noblet bass clarinet...

Puzzled,

[Peter Durfee]

On 08/04/24 2:11, "Sam Spiteri" <sa...@comcast.net> wrote:

> I might have been quicker if it had been written in katakana but at any rate
> I wasted 5 minutes on something I could have typed out in under 5 seconds if
> it hadn’t been a contraction.

If you spend a week in a Japanese business environment this is something
you'll hear probably a dozen times; not at all unusual.

The hiragana might make it tricky, but sticking them into Google gets "did
you mean コピペ?" right up at the top. Click that and you get the hits
including the Wikipedia page here:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/コピー・アンド・ペースト

Another search for 略語辞典 found things like this site, which you might
want to bookmark:

http://www.mikasa.onsaikan.com/ryakugo/

No love here for the hiragana version of こぴぺ but the katakana one is in
there.

--
Peter Durfee
du...@gol.com
Tokyo

[Edward Lipsett /t]

On 08/04/24 2:11, "Sam Spiteri" <sa...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> I wasted 5 minutes on something I could have typed out in under 5 seconds if
> it hadn’t been a contraction.

This is hardly a problem unique to Japan, though, although yokomoji types do
it a bit differently. Try putting this in English:

A SMART VCSEL for a PIXEL
The material is grown by MOCVD, MOVPE or MBE, or PEMBE, but never by MCVD,
consists of p-n layers of GaAlAs/GaAs or GaInAsP/GaAs/InP and even GaAlNAs
somewhat similar to HEMT but in fact it is a cross between a CHINT and
NERFET, but should never be confused with HE2PRAM, MOMOM or MOMS, THETA and
FAMOS which are based on either ballistic transport or real space transfer
in LDS and LDD. It can have MQWs like HBTs or MSMs. It's optical
characterisation can be carried out using SPC, PITS, DLTS, PL and HEPL
techniques. Electrical characterisation is done by measuring MT, SdH, HS I-V
and T dependence of QM and TM. It can find applications in OTDM, WDM and
BDD. It can be operated in RIFAT CW or PS mode. A DBR or two can be
incorporated into the structure to achieve spectral purity higher than those
in DFBs of FPs or conventional VCSELs. It can be incorporated into a NOLP or
any OEIC to find applications in PIC, PCM and PMD and OTDM, SONET and SAGCM
applications are more difficult to justify especially in the current climate
of rejection of novel devices by established manufacturers. We beleive that
SRS measurements are not possible due to high SNR in the SLMFD. PON and AONW
applications are equally possible if it were to be made into a STM where STS
measurements are easier. WDMAN applications look promising. However, WGR and
XPM and TCP and IP applications do not look that encouraging.

From http://www.britneyspears.ac <http://www.britneyspears.ac/>

----------
Edward Lipsett, Intercom, Ltd.
translation @intercomltd.com
Publishing: http://www.kurodahan.com
Translation & layout: http://www.intercomltd.com

[Doreen Simmons]

Gururaj Rao sid, apropos of ノブレー:>The hint was a watery place.
>We use this term practically every day during our swim training at the

>pool when we swim either the whole lap (25 m) or half a lap (12.5)
>without breathing.
>

>Yes, it's short for "No Breath"

Similarly, in choirs we may ask the conductor "kanbure de yoroshii desuka?" (sorry I don't
seem able to get kana on this borrowed PC); it's short for 'cunning breath' -- that is,
sneaking a breath in the middle of a long line, rather than breaking the line to take a noticeable breath.

Doreen the queen of sneak

Doreen Simmons
jz8d...@asahi-net.or.jp

[sls]

アイライディズカインノブニュージャパングリー。

It's so much easier to read than those darned kanji...

Regards: Hendrik

--

* http://www.nihon-honyaku.com/ *

--

[David J. Littleboy]

From: "Alan Siegrist" <AlanFS...@Comcast.net>

>>
>> Yes, its short for "No Breath"
>
> Arrgh. Those contractions drive me crazy.
>
> But I think you tried to pull a fast one on us. Naughty, naughty, Guru.
> ;-)
> If the following site is to be believed, it should be written ノーブレ:
> http://www.aqaexe.com/06ss/201.html
> | 呼吸（ブリージング）をしないでクロールのことを，ノーブレ・クロールといいま
>
> す。

FWIW, our CEO, who is Japan's top butterfly swimmer in two events (world
ranking 5 and 6) and the #2 in another (in her age group, of course),
reports that you are correct.

David J. Littleboy
dav...@yes.I.am.bragging.com
Tokyo, Japan

[Gururaj Rao]

Yes, I did say so too. That Alan was probably right - since I went by
ear and some of them seemed to say "nobur-eh" stretching the "eh" part.

>David J. Littleboy
>dav...@yes.I.am.bragging.com

Gurur...@might.just.start.bragging.soon.but.in.a.smaller.scale.com :)

[Simon Currie]

I'm sure someone who studied linguistics will come up with a good
explanation. Kinda like how ん is either an "n" or "m" depending on the
sound that comes before it.

2008/4/24 Gururaj Rao <honya...@gmail.com>:

--

[Michael Santone]

When Gururaj wrote "watery place", I naturally assumed he was hinting
at the "water trade", and starting thinking about what sort of ノブレー

On 4月24日, 午前7:43, Gururaj Rao <honyaku...@gmail.com> wrote:
> How about ノブレー?
>
> Hint: Often used in a watery place.
>
> Gururaj Rao
>
> --

> honyaku...@gmail.com

[Michael Santone]

When Gururag mentioned a "watery place", I thought of the "water
trade", and started thinking about what ノブレー things might be going on
in Kabukicho (where I lived in the early 80s, not knowing that there
was no Kabuki there, or anyone interested). Breathless indeed.

Michael

On 4月24日, 午前7:43, Gururaj Rao <honyaku...@gmail.com> wrote:

> How about ノブレー?
>
> Hint: Often used in a watery place.
>
> Gururaj Rao
>
> --

> honyaku...@gmail.com