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September 8

Petsuchos

In Age of Mythology, there is a mythical unit that represents the deity Sobek referred to as Petsuchos. According to the unit's infomation file, "Petsuchos" is supposed to be a Hellenistic transcription of an Egyptian word meaning "he who belongs to Suchos/Sobek". Now I've been trying to piece together the etymology for myself, but the closest I've managed to come up with is the mashup of ἕπετο (hépeto, derived from ἕπομαι (hépomai), using the meaning "I belong to, am inseparable from") with Σοῦχος (Soûkhos), which doesn't seem remotely natural, seeing how corrupted hépeto seems to be in order to approximate pet-, but then again, I barely know a single thing about Ancient Greek syntax (let alone Modern Greek syntax). Something that might be closer is πετάω (petáo, "to fly/throw"). The only mention of "Petsuchos" I could find on Wikipedia alone is that it is one of many localised dialect names of Sobek ("At Karanis, two forms of the god were worshipped: Pnepheros and Petsuchos. There, mummified crocodiles were employed as cult images of Petsuchos"). The other languages of the Sobek article mostly mention the names of some rulers who incorporated Sobek into their names (Sobekhotep ("Sobek is satisfied"), Sobekemsaf ("Sobek is our protection"), Neferusobek ("The beauty of Sobek"). Outside of that, not much luck, as any non-AoM website I can find keeps referring to the decorated crocodiles that live in Crocodilopolis as just "sacred crocodiles", "incarnates of Sobek", "embodiments of Sobek", "Sobek's children", or some other variation.

Any help would be appreciated. --72.234.12.37 (talk) 03:17, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

If this is indeed a Hellenistic transcription of an Egyptian word, it is pointless to look for Greek roots. Egyptian is an unrelated language. Egyptian pt, conventionally transcribed as pet, means "the sky, heavens", which is not what you are looking for if the information provided by the unit is correct. A hieroglyphic rendering of the name would settle this, but unfortunately the only known renderings are in the Greek alphabet (Πετσοῦχος or Πετεσοῦχος). Perhaps the prefix P3-tj of demotic P3-tj-Sbk referring to the same deity^[1] gave rise to the transcription Πετ(ε)-. In late Egyptian p3 or pꜣ is just a determiner, like English the, while tj means “you”, so this does not immediately bring us any further. However, pꜣwtj means “primaeval (god)”, which may be applicable to our divine crocodilian. --Lambiam 07:55, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This reference work may be relevant: [2] --Amble (talk) 23:39, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, then the component -tj- or -dỉ- is rḏj, also seen in Wiktionary's pꜣ-dj-Bꜣstt, literally "the given of Bastet". We also see the (Late Egyptian) transcription -dj- here. --Lambiam 10:30, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Apologies, I think I meant to say something similar when I typed "transcription", but I don't know how to describe exactly what (I might be thinking of transliteration). To be more clear, of course I know that Egyptian and Greek are unrelated, but I was intentionally looking through Greek words because I figured that "Petsuchos" is not exactly the Hellenistic rendering, that is just the Latinisation of said Greek rendering. So I'm trying to amateurishly reconstruct what the original Greek could've looked like, and then pick out the Egyptian from there. Like, having a view of how the Egyptian name possibly evolved into the Latinisation, based on the game's given information.

Basically I'm playing a little etymology game, using Apep/Apophis as an example: Latin Apophis, ← Ancient Greek Ἄποφις (Ápophis, influenced after ὄφις (óphis), ← Egyptian ꜥꜣpp (aapep, of course several pronunciations depending on time period and local dialect)

So for Petsuchos, I've got: Latin Petsuchos (Petsuchus?), ← ancient Greek ἕπετο??/Πετε? + Σοῦχος (pete- approximation + Soûkhos), ← Egyptian pt or p3-tj + sbk (petisobek)

Amble's link referring to Petesouchos and the similarity to that Bastet name might as well be the closest we're gonna get to a proper bridge between the Egyptian and the Latin. I just have some doubts its as simple as Πετεσοῦχος because I know that plenty of Egyptian names do not phonetically resemble their Greek or Roman names at all, or they barely do. --72.234.12.37 (talk) 23:56, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Tarmac scam

Hi, I've just finished an article on the tarmac scam or "tarmacking", a fraud method used quite widely in Europe, particularly by Irish traveller gangs, so I was wondering if there were any Wikipedia articles on the scam in other languages. I've got a list of names for the scam in Italian, French and German but haven't turned up Wikipedia articles in those languages-I don't suppose anyone can find any that should be linked to this one? Blythwood (talk) 23:38, 8 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In New England, these are called "Gypsy Paving" scams. See Here for examples of that usage. There's a particular well-known family in the area known for it, see here. They've been well known in this regard at least since I've been a kid back in the 1980s. --Jayron 32 12:06, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Jayron32, excellent, thanks! I know traveller groups consider that word offensive so don't plan to put it in the lead of the article, but I've added a redirect and might mention it lower down. Blythwood (talk) 16:00, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'm guessing Pikey paving pimps is also not on the cards either, then? Martinevans123 (talk) 16:14, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) I do recognize its offensiveness, but it is the term d'art for the phenomenon, especially in parts of New England (Southern New Hampshire/Eastern Massachusetts) near where I grew up, even today. --Jayron 32 16:15, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Today I learned that term is a French word. —Tamfang (talk) 00:21, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Jayron32, thanks again! It's hard to find information about this because of the number of alternative names, and because "tarmacking", one common term for it, is often the word for the legitimate activity. I was wondering if you knew of any good sources dating it back to the 1980s or even earlier in your area? I can find a British source from 1994 which writes about it as common knowledge and one reported court case from 1989 that covers a lot of jobs that must have happened over a reasonable period, but I can't find any earlier sources. Blythwood (talk) 04:41, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Newspapers.com is a good resource. Here is a bunch of articles from the 1980s on various paving scams. --Jayron 32 12:16, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

September 9

Is this an Italian insult?

I do not speak Italian. An editor said "Ma va a quel paese, va!" to me on their talk page. Can I please get a translation and/or explanation of the idiom? Thanks. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 00:16, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

If Google Translate can be trusted, it means "go to that country", an apparent euphemis for "go to hell". Does that fit? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:51, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, that is about what I gathered, Bugs, but I am hoping for the input of a native or very fluent Italian speaker, who may be able to elaborate. Mild insult or forceful insult? Connotations? And so on. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 04:38, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'm certainly not native, but I spent a year in Italy. My impression is that it could be mild or strong, depending on context. An equivalent version is va' in Egitto, "go to Egypt", not sure why. It could be a minced oath for either va' all'inferno, "go to Hell", as Bugs suggests, or vaffanculo, which is vulgar and usually fairly strong.

By the way, the apostrophe at the end of va' — and it is an apostrophe, not an accent — is required for the imperative form. Otherwise it would mean he/she/it goes to Egypt. --Trovatore (talk) 07:00, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Just occurred to me, in the context of an argument, it can mean something like "I can't believe you would say something so silly". --Trovatore (talk) 07:14, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Can you comment, ARoseWolf? I just remembered that you speak Italian. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 05:27, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Wiktionary has an entry vai a quel paese, a considerably milder dismissal than vaffanculo. --Lambiam 10:10, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Its a mild rebuke of sorts but that really depends on the perception of the person. Its very similar to "Go to hell" but looking at context may just mean "Go away". --ARose Wolf 10:15, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

If its a native speaker which I assume it is then it most likely means something like "Get out of here with what you said." Its very mild though. If they wanted to insult you they would have said something more sternly worded. --ARose Wolf 10:19, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Cullen328, I might add, I believe you handled the situation very well. This is one of the reasons that my Papa wouldn't let us speak Italian or Hebrew in public. If you don't speak or understand the language then it can be misconstrued easily, especially if reliant on an online translator. Plus it's just rude, something I didn't understand then but I do now having grown up a little. --ARose Wolf 11:32, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'm kind of a native speaker, as other said it's an euphemistic insult, it's not really constructive, but I guess it's quite mild, with some possible regional/contextual variation. There is a song sung by Alberto Sordi named probably "E va'...E va'..." that can be found also as "Te c'hanno mai mannato a quer paese"; it's a bit in Rome dialect and plays on the difference between the literal and figurative meaning. Guess nowaday it's a bit unusual and may indicate a more strong effort to not be offensive, but it's hard to judge out of context (some italians also have the wrong cocept that they can insult foreign people in italian without consequences, when a lot of not italian speaking people know only italian insults/swear words; this can be entartaining if you are not in their company). 31.26.85.7 (talk) 03:34, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

SI prefix for 10^27

Given how long it has been since 2007 (the year of the CGPM that extrapolation suggests is when new SI prefixes should come out) and the lack of practical need, it appears that there never will be an official SI prefix for 10^27. Anyone who disagrees?? Georgia guy (talk) 20:37, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

What is an "SI prefix"? When I see "SI" I think Sports Illustrated. <-Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots-> 21:36, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried looking for SI prefix? --Lambiam 21:53, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

An OP throwing initialisms around should not assume everyone knows what they mean. <-Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots-> 02:01, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Everyone with a basic science education will known about the SI, the question was obvious. Don't put the blame for your own ignorance on the OP. Fgf10 (talk) 06:12, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In America, we consider the metric system to be ignorant. <-Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots-> 06:26, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Given the CGPM acronym near the start of the question, either you deliberately diverse the talk from its intended topic or you decide to comment on a subject you have no idea about. Either way the America's ignorance about the topic (even if it was true) does not suffice as an explanation. --CiaPan (talk) 15:52, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

We used strictly the metric system in science classes. Centimeters, grams, etc. Nothing was ever said about SI or CGPM. It was "the metric system". <-Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots-> 17:39, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Relevantly--Shirt58 (talk) 05:29, 12 September 2021 (UTC).[reply]

We have to call it soccer because we already have a football. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 06:21, 12 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict) See metric prefix - the term "SI" stands for Système international d'unités. Alansplodge (talk) 21:55, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Without crystal ball, we cannot predict whether a practical need will arise. Apart from any "practical" need (who determines that?), the physical sciences routinely consider physical quantities whose magnitude exceeds 10²⁷. But even assuming an indefinite lack of a need, pronouncements regarding whether no reigning standards body ever will decide to assign another prefix require a combination of predicting, speculating and opining, none of which are suitable at the Reference desk. --Lambiam 22:04, 9 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Scientists encounter quantities in the order of 10⁴⁰ to 10⁵⁰ (mass of a galaxy, power output of a black hole merger), but only the prefixes in the range 10^-15 to 10¹⁵ are in common enough use that the average scientist knows them. Most of the time scientists just use scientific notation. Prefixes in the range 10²⁷ to 10⁴² could be used, but it seems unlikely they would be widely used.

BTW, I think that in daily life prefixes for 10^-4 and 10⁴ would be handy, but those were abolished. Like, a fuel consumption of 1 litre per 100 kilometres equals 1 square decimillimetre or whatever prefix that would be. Doing that in square millimetres of square micrometres just doesn't give nice numbers. I would even be happy with prefixes for 10^-5 and 10⁵. Those would be more useful than 10³⁰. PiusImpavidus (talk) 09:14, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The prefix myria- for 10⁴ was abolished, but I've never heard of one for 10^-4 having existed. If you do, please cite. --184.144.99.72 (talk) 19:05, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

On our "Metric prefix" article it says `Other obsolete double prefixes included "decimilli-" (10^-4), which was contracted to "dimi-" and standardized in France up to 1961.' (with sources) -- AnonMoos (talk) 22:42, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Anyone who disagrees??" is an invitation for discussion or debate. We don't do that here. If you want to know the standard SI set of prefixes, you've been told where to find those. If there are SI prefixes you think should exist, but don't, this isn't the place to bring that up. It is also not the place to solicit random opinions on the current state of being. --Jayron 32 12:05, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I'm merely saying I'm surprised that they don't exist yet. I know the standard set. Georgia guy (talk) 12:23, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
What do you want us to do about it? I highly doubt that anyone here is a member of the CGPM and has any means by which to propose changes to SI. --Jayron 32 13:37, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]
And "I'm surprised" is not a request for information. --184.144.99.72 (talk) 19:05, 10 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

September 11

What is the word order of math?

What is the word order of, lets say 2+3? Object-Subject-Verb?179.186.34.232 (talk) 15:23, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

What do you mean by "word order"? "2 + 3" is not a sentence. <-Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots-> 15:27, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In "Two plus three equals five" the subject is "two plus three", the verb is the word "equals". and the "five" is the complement. Georgia guy (talk) 16:00, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This question reminded me of a query from a student one time, ostensibly about addition and grammar. He asked, "which is correct to say, 6 plus 7 is 12 or 6 plus 7 are 12?" Without missing a beat, I replied, "neither, because 6 and 7 add up to 13." --Kinu ^t/_c 04:23, 12 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

2+3=5 is, indeed, a sentence. It does not follow the rules of grammar and syntax which arise in a natural language. As BB is a person totally illiterate in the language of mathematics (see their comments on the metric system or infinity) their drivel should be ignored.

See the article Language of mathematics for further references. -- Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM

At least I sign my posts. And the OP didn't ask about 2 + 3 = 5, he asked about 2 + 3. <-Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots-> 17:37, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

179.186.34.232 -- The terms "subject" and "object" are rather irrelevant to math notation, but there are "operators" (functions) and "operands" (arguments to functions). In conventional simple math notation, an operator symbol for a two-argument function usually appears between the symbols for its two arguments (as in "2+3"), but in Polish notation, the operator symbol appears at the beginning, and in "reverse Polish notation" (often implemented in calculators in previous decades, and in the FORTH and PostScript programming languages), the operator appears at the end. AnonMoos (talk) 22:30, 11 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bingo. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:56, 12 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In Bingo lingo that would be one little duck and a cup of tea.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:42, 12 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yahtzee! ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:12, 12 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In Yahtzee, 2+3 would make a full house. --T*U (talk) 13:57, 12 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In the English phrase "two plus three", my guess would be that "two" and "three" are nouns and "plus" is a preposition. Wiktionary confirms my hunch as regards plus. --Trovatore (talk) 17:14, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Real dictionaries disagree as to whether "plus" in that usage is a preposition (e.g. Macmillan, Merriam-Webster) or a conjunction (e.g. American Heritage, Collins). For what it's worth, I say it's obviously a conjunction since it can be replaced by "and". --184.144.99.72 (talk) 21:57, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

September 13

What does "denying" refer to?

Medvedev shattered Novak Djokovic's Grand Slam with a straight sets victory in the US Open final here Sunday, denying the world number one a record-breaking 21st major men's singles title.

What does denying refer to? Did Medvedev deny world number one rank in Tennis? Rizosome (talk) 01:41, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Djokovic is ranked number one in the world and has 20 major wins. Medvedev beat him, thus "denying" him that 21st win. Commonly-used sports terminology. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:46, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

See deny sense 5, on Wiktionary: "(sports, transitive) To prevent from scoring." Grammatically, though, the use in the quoted sentence is ditransitive, like sense 3 on Wiktionary. The sense is then, "To prevent from obtaining". --Lambiam 07:44, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

description au couteau

Here and there within the article Stephan Vanfleteren, readers may chortle (or despair) at my mistranslations from French. The translations are in the main text; the originals are in the notes. My French is appalling and I tremble at the thought of the mistakes I might have made. (Improvements are of course welcome.) In one place I know I'm a bit lost: the source talks of a description au couteau de Theofiel. Looking at the relevant photographs within the relevant book, I imagine that a description au couteau might well be an incisive portrayal, but it could be a painful portrayal or something else. Comments? -- Hoary (talk) 09:17, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I guess nothing to do with l'eau Cointreau then? That's my French exhausted, sorry. Martinevans123 (talk) 09:27, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

That's a rather tough passage with some deliberately flowery language you tried to translate, so it's no surprise you found it a challenge. In any case, in this case "au couteau" would mean something like "using very broad strokes". The metaphor is that the artist - Vanfleteren - was deliberately using an imprecise instrument (a knife) to produce what would normally be polished sculpture, leaving all the imperfections apparent. More generally, the quoted passage emphasizes the fact that Vanfleteren is not trying to embellish his subjects in any way in order to emphasize that they are men who lead or have led hard lives. I'll see if I can improve your wording a bit. Xuxl (talk) 12:27, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Xuxl. These are indeed men who have led hard lives, or anyway that's the way it appears from the photographs. And none more so than Theofiel, photographed (the book's captions say) from 2004 to 2006. He's a (prematurely?) old man, with a very pronounced stoop, and long, greasy hair. In some of the photographs he's working; in others, he seems to have collapsed, sometimes amid the detritus of what I presume is his own life. None of the photographs of him appears within Vanfleteren's selection from Belgicum, but a look at this selection may help all the same. Incidentally, I do like the term capharnaüm. -- Hoary (talk) 12:45, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Capharnaum is a biblical term originally, and it has come to mean a large mess of objects piled on every which way. It apparently can be used the same way in English (according to Capernaum) but I'll confess I've only ever seen it in French. Xuxl (talk) 17:14, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Merriam-Webster does indeed have an entry for the word. I'm a little tempted to reintroduce it to the translation, but doing so would primarily obfuscate, so I'll refrain. -- Hoary (talk) 23:09, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The couteau used for painting is a couteau à peindre, in English a painting knife. --Lambiam 19:55, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, good. So something like "laying it on with a trowel", perhaps -- though if so, this would grossly exaggerate. But luckily Xuxl has already done a good job. -- Hoary (talk) 23:09, 13 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I thought about a painting knife before reading the original paragraph as well, but it doesn't really work with the text. The author is speaking about carving a portrait with a knife instead of proper sculpting tools. Xuxl (talk) 12:04, 14 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

More of a hatchet job then? Martinevans123 (talk) 12:38, 14 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

How does the notion of sculpting enter? The author uses the neutral term description. This is about photographs.^[3] --Lambiam 06:38, 15 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Here we have a text explicitly linking description au couteau with couteau de peintre:

Hélène Zimmer a le don de la description au couteau, couteau de peintre à la James Ensor : une bigarrure expressionniste, hantée par des grotesques formidables.

(Hélène Zimmer has the gift of description with a knife, a painter's knife à la James Ensor: an expressionist variegation, haunted by formidable grotesques. -- from Google Translate)

This is about the use of language in Hélène Zimmer's novel Vairon. The similarity with Vanfleteren's haunting in-your-face portraits of Theofiel may be that these can, perhaps, in the view of the author also be labelled as "grotesque" and "expressionist". --Lambiam 06:57, 15 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

September 14

Differences in examples

Hello all from a Jonas Brothers fan! :D. I hope you are OK. Could anyone explain me the difference between:

- Malala Yousafzai like many other girls in Pakistan... or Malala Yousafzai such as other girls in Pakistan.

Which one would be correct in English? I thank you deeply!. (I won't be thanking you in writing to not make this thread long but I deeply thank you all in advance). Have an excellent day. CoryGlee (talk) 11:53, 14 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I could handwave about possible differences (the first is less formal, and might or might not benefit from a comma after the name, the second does not make grammatical sense in isolation, but might within a longer sentence) but I think we need more context. Can you requote with more text before and after? {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.67.3 (talk) 18:09, 14 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Let's use the bland VP "enjoys tennis". For me, all three of the following are fully grammatical and fully idiomatic:

Malala Yousafzai, like many other girls in Pakistan, enjoys tennis.
Like many other girls in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai enjoys tennis.
Malala Yousafzai enjoys tennis, like many other girls in Pakistan.

Each says that the other girls are similar to her. The obvious interpretation of "Malala Yousafzai such as other girls in Pakistan" is that the other girls are examples of her; but they can't be, so replacing "like" in any of those three example sentences with "such as" would bring a bizarre result. However, as a number formerly known as another number has suggested above, it might be possible to imagine acceptable sentences including the string "Malala Yousafzai such as other girls in Pakistan". (I haven't thought about it carefully.) -- Hoary (talk) 23:38, 14 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In my slothery I have noticed many instances of as with where like would be at least as good, and suspect that people have been given the idea that like is somehow vulgar. —Tamfang (talk) 01:37, 15 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I'd use "such as" in this order:

Many girls in Pakistan, such as Malala Yousafzai, enjoy tennis.

Here Malala is one of these Pakistani girls. In this case you can also use "like":

Many girls in Pakistan, like Malala Yousafzai, enjoy tennis.

More in general, when "like" introduces an example (or a more specific subgroup), it can be replaced by "such as". But when it widens to a larger group, or notes a similarity with a different entity, you cannot make this replacement:

Serena Williams, like her sister Venus, has held all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles simultaneously. Y
Serena Williams, such as her sister Venus, has held all four Grand Slam women's doubles titles simultaneously. N

--Lambiam 06:29, 15 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

September 15

Yaroslav Rakitskyi spelling

moved from the Entertainment reference desk

Watching the Chelsea vs Zenit Saint Petersburg yesterday, I noticed that one of the Zenet players, Yaroslav Rakitskyi, spelled his name "Rakitskyy" on his shirt (his official Instagram account also spells it this way). When his name appeared in an on-screen caption, it was written Rakits'kyy. What is the function of the apostrophe in this case? (By the way, our article spells his name at least 3 different ways, none of which are as on his shirt). BbBrock (talk) 12:23, 15 September 2021 (UTC). Edit, apologies I posted this in the wrong section and I'm not sure how to move it BbBrock (talk) 12:25, 15 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The apostrophe stands for the Cyrillic letter ь, whose purpose is to indicate that the preceding consonant, ц (ts), is soft (palatalized). To move a comment, you simply delete it and repost it in the correct page, ideally making that clear with edit summaries or notes on one or both pages. --Theurgist (talk) 12:38, 15 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks for the reply. I was worried this was a dumb question, but it was actually a far more interesting answer than I expected. And thanks for moving my question! BbBrock (talk) 14:29, 15 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]