UniLang

I've decided to open a thread of my own so that I can better keep track of my questions and look up the answers when I need to.

So, here's the first question:

What do you call the minimum grade needed to pass an exam?

I don't know that we have a more concise way of referring to it than that. Other terms in common use seem to be "lowest passing grade" and "minimum marks required for passing".

What's the most correct form for the title of this thread?

all language edition
all-language edition
all languages edition
all languages' edition

they all sound kind of funny to me but I guess the one that sounds most appealing to my ears is all language edition. Although it should probably be multilingual edition or any language edition. But what sounds good to me, could sound terrible to someone else.

Ok, thanks I've changed it to multilingual edition.

So, a question about tenses:

is it's the first time + simple present always wrong? E.g: it's the first time I drive a Bugatti. I know it should be it's the first time I've driven a Bugatti, but is the simple present really never acceptable? Not even in colloquial speech?

The simple present there feels marginal, like there might be some specific case where it works, but I can't think of it. You can use the simple present in the opposing construction: "That's the last time I drive a Bugatti". Usually, that's a declaration; you're deciding that you won't do that again.

Can the adjective stand-alone be used in any fields? I'm asking this because consulting a few on-line dictionaries, one could believe this adjective can only be used to refer to computers.

IpseDixit wrote:Can the adjective stand-alone be used in any fields? I'm asking this because, after consulting a few on-line dictionaries, one could believemight think this adjective can only be used to refer to computers.

I Googled it just now for examples and while the majority refer to computing (e.g. "Stand-alone DSL", "stand-alone server") several do not (e.g. "stand-alone dental coverage" [medical care], "stand-alone Star Wars movie" [entertainment], "stand-alone credit course" [education]). I definitely don't associate it with one field in particular.

Thanks!

IpseDixit wrote:So, a question about tenses:

is it's the first time + simple present always wrong? E.g: it's the first time I drive a Bugatti. I know it should be it's the first time I've driven a Bugatti, but is the simple present really never acceptable? Not even in colloquial speech?

Dormouse559 wrote:The simple present there feels marginal, like there might be some specific case where it works, but I can't think of it. You can use the simple present in the opposing construction: "That's the last time I drive a Bugatti". Usually, that's a declaration; you're deciding that you won't do that again.

If you said "The first time I drive a Bugatti I always feel like eating a sandwich" I would interpret that as "every time I drive a new Bugatti for the first time I feel like eating a sandwich". Also, when you said that you would say "The first time I have driven..." I'm not sure that's right. I would say "the first time a I drove..." if I wanted to discuss the very first ever time I was the driver of a Bugatti, "the first time I have driven. .." only sounds idiomatic in the sentence "This is the first time I have driven a Bugatti in ages" or similar.

Ciarán12 wrote:If you said "The first time I drive a Bugatti I always feel like eating a sandwich" I would interpret that as "every time I drive a new Bugatti for the first time I feel like eating a sandwich". Also, when you said that you would say "The first time I have driven..." I'm not sure that's right. I would say "the first time a I drove..." if I wanted to discuss the very first ever time I was the driver of a Bugatti, "the first time I have driven. .." only sounds idiomatic in the sentence "This is the first time I have driven a Bugatti in ages" or similar.

So what tense do I have to use when I'm doing the action in that moment for the first time, and not for the first time in ages, but actually for the first time?

IpseDixit wrote:So what tense do I have to use when I'm doing the action in that moment for the first time, and not for the first time in ages, but actually for the first time?

Present perfect sounds acceptable to me in this context. Like I can imagine a talking head on car show being shown driving a Bugatti and saying something like, "This is the first time I've driven a Bugatti and I feel like eating a sandwich." Present progressive works, too: "I'm driving a Bugatti for the first time and I feel like eating a sandwich."

What's the difference between a louver and a shutter?

IpseDixit wrote:What's the difference between a louver and a shutter?

"Louvers" are "a series of sloping overlapping slats or boards which admit air and light but exclude rain etc." They can be placed on any kind of opening. That is, one can have louvered doors, louvered shutters, louvered drains, etc. If you speak of "a louver", what I picture is a fixed louvered cover that fits over a window opening. It might or might not be possible to adjust the space between the slats, but the entire array is locked in place and can't be easily removed.

Window shutters, however, are distinguished by being mobile. They can be exterior or interior, louvered or solid-panel, etc. Whether functional or completely decorative, they are usually side-mounted. One type of functional shutter, however, is vertically mounted: the roller shutter. This consists of a overlapping slats which roll up when not in use. (They are not a louver, however, since there is no open space between slats; it's either all the way down or all the way up.)

Got it. Thanks!

Interestingly enough, in Italian:

louvered shutter = persiana (Persian)
roller shutter = saracinesca (from Saracen)

I've never thought about this before.

IpseDixit wrote:louvered shutter = persiana (Persian)
roller shutter = saracinesca (from Saracen)

And what do you call "Venetian blinds"?

linguoboy wrote:

IpseDixit wrote:louvered shutter = persiana (Persian)
roller shutter = saracinesca (from Saracen)

And what do you call "Venetian blinds"?

Tenda veneziana (Venetian curtain) or, more commonly, just veneziana.

Anyway, to be more precise, roller shutter is called saracinesca when made of metal and is used for garages and shop entrances, whereas the one for windows is called avvolgibile.

Never heard avvolgibile... I call that serranda (both the saracinesca and the one used for windows).

In another post I wrote:

"It's Tuesday, March 3 and I still don't see the results."

But then I thought that maybe I should have written "I still haven't seen"... which one is better?