Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2021 January 1

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January 1

Where is the closest Foucault pendulum to the equator that has gone ≥360° to the naked eye?

Solely from Earth's spin and the momentum of a single instance of letting go at the top of the arc. Pendulums that don't exist anymore count. The closest at list of Foucault pendulums is Bogota but it admits it's not complete and doesn't claim unpoweredness or that the momentum can't decay to invisibility before 1 complete rotation. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 17:22, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

Britain's use of the word ALL RIGHT

Why does most British/English people say All right more than OK/Okay? 86.143.98.201 (talk) 20:28, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

OK was first widely popularized by Americans and meant Old Kinderhook which is a small town with a Dutch (Netherlands) name in the state New York City is in. The article states: The term appears to have achieved national prominence in 1840, when supporters of the Democratic political party claimed during the 1840 United States presidential election that it stood for "Old Kinderhook", a nickname for the Democratic president and candidate for reelection, Martin Van Buren, a native of Kinderhook, New York. "Vote for OK" was snappier than using his Dutch name. In response, Whig opponents attributed OK, in the sense of "Oll Korrect," to the bad spelling of Andrew Jackson, Van Buren's predecessor. The country-wide publicity surrounding the election appears to have been a critical event in OK's history, widely and suddenly popularizing it across the United States. It is not surprising that that was too weird for 1800s Brits to adopt. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 20:41, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

Because it's an American expression. Temerarius (talk) 20:50, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

And like most American expressions it has been exported world-wide. I've been saying it all my life, and I know that Britons use it as well. PS. I want to commend the OP for spelling "all right" correctly, rather than using the non-word "alright". -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:57, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

EO agrees with your assertion, while pointing out that it's been around since at least 1884.[1] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 09:11, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

As a viewer of the BBC show "Escape to the Country", I've noticed "OK" frequently. One funny expression they've also adopted on that show is "more bang for the buck", despite the British monetary unit being the pound rather than the dollar. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:33, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

More pound for the pound? Usage example: Black market global south prostitutes give more pound for the pound but are more likely to be forced slaves of horrible men. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 21:52, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

Watching an episode yesterday, both the presenters and the clients were comfortable with "OK". They also used terms like miles and acres. Not a metric in sight! ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:38, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

It could be influenced by the Japanese ōrai, a word whose Wiktionary definition is utterly inadequate: Until rear-view video cameras became ubiquitous, ōrai was chanted rhythmically at drivers of cars in reverse gear, so that they'd feel alright. Meanwhile, OK is an okay ingredient of British English, standing in for US m'kay. -- Hoary (talk) 22:53, 1 January 2021 (UTC)

Inadequate? So fix it. There is also 往来, pronounced the same except for the accent.

No, Lambiam. I plead laziness. -- Hoary (talk) 12:21, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

Alrighty then. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:47, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

The "Oll Korrect" etymology used to appear on the label of OK Sauce bottles, a slightly down-market competitor to HP Sauce. Alansplodge (talk) 15:47, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

EO says that "Oll Korrect" is the origin of "OK".[2] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:03, 2 January 2021 (UTC)

Wiktionary says "Origin disputed" and links to our article List of proposed etymologies of OK, while stating that "the most widely accepted is that it is an abbreviation of oll/orl korrect".  --Lambiam 09:33, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

Wiktionary is every bit as reliable as Wikipedia is. :) ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 11:35, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

So you are prepared to dispute that the origin is disputed?  --Lambiam 23:32, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

I would say that Brits (I am one) use OK just as much as "all right", except in the context of a greeting - is that the context the OP was referring to? As an aside, I have seen more than one American/Canadian expat comment on the British use of "right" as a preface to ending a conversation (as in "Right! Must get back to work now!" or "Right! Well, it's been lovely chatting, but I'd better be going." Apparently this is peculiarly British. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 15:46, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

British flavored. It must be the American media, less things get adopted the other way. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 16:17, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

I'm gobsmacked to hear you say that! ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:27, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

Oi, I didn't say none. Cheerio. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 16:58, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

Well, I'm gobsmacked, too. Surely you meant "fewer". :) -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 18:59, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

Yes right proper grammar: fewer. Pip pip tally-ho. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 19:35, 3 January 2021 (UTC)

This American comes across that usage of "right" quite often (or the same with OK), so I don't find it British at all.--Khajidha (talk) 11:54, 4 January 2021 (UTC)