Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 September 4

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September 4[edit]

Ceasing trading[edit]

In en:gb, doesn't "cease trading" basically mean the same thing as "go out of business" in en:us, i.e. the establishment is no longer in operation? Little Chef has an image with a bizarre caption, "This Little Chef has now closed and ceased trading"; for an American store to "close and go out of business" is redundant, so unless I'm misunderstanding the UK term, "close and cease trading" is likewise redundant. Nyttend (talk) 13:03, 4 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It clarifies that the closure is permanent: a shop could close for refurbishment, with the intent to reopen after a short period. It would suffice just to say "ceased trading" - but there are sure to be some people who find that concept too complicated to understand.Wymspen (talk) 14:26, 4 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, here in the US to say they would "cease trading" sounds like they are no longer trading stocks on the stock exchange. Perhaps they have bought out the stockholders and have gone private. I would just say they are "closed permanently". StuRat (talk) 15:26, 4 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Do Americans really talk this way? Companies don't trade their own stocks - they're not allowed to. They can, however, seek authorisation at the general meeting to repurchase a small number of shares which they either cancel or hold in treasury. If a company goes private the owners buy out the shareholders with their own money - they're not allowed to use the company's assets to do it.
There's a shop in South Woodford with a notice saying it is closed. It has certainly ceased trading, apart from the shop furniture being on sale at discount prices, but it hasn't gone out of business because the notice also says that the staff have moved to the Epping office and will be happy to see the customers there. 86.168.124.54 (talk) 16:12, 4 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
You can't just lock the doors and run away if your business isn't doing well. As a minimum, you have to finalise your accounts and settle your taxes - there may also be assets to be disposed of and creditors to pay. The point where you stop actually doing business is when you "cease trading" or "stop trading" [1] as HM Revenue and Customs now call it, but the company can't close until everything is settled. Mighty Fine Words and Smashing Expressions: Making Sense of Transatlantic English by Orin Hargraves (p. 66) directly equates "ceased trading" in the UK with "gone out of business" in the US. My opinion is that to "cease trading" is a specific legal part of the process of "going out of business". Alansplodge (talk) 23:03, 4 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Clearly you can, but that doesn't mean there won't be consequences. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:34, 5 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • This was brought up in the last year. Basically in Ameica, to "cease trade" is to end business, while to "ceases trading" is to exit a specific market. Look up AT&T which ceased trading after the Lott/Ebbers fraud, but which never ceased trade, given it was bought out by Bell South. μηδείς (talk) 23:27, 4 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • To get at the root of the issue, Americans don't call exchanging money for goods "trading", we call that "purchasing"/"buying" or "selling", depending on the POV. Here in the US "trading" would mean exchanging stocks for money, or exchanging two items, neither of which is money, for each other. That is, bartering. StuRat (talk) 18:11, 6 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
  • When I was a small child I heard them saying on the radio how many "shares were traded" that day, but this made no sense to me, since, to me, "share" was a verb only. So, I decided they must have a weird accent and be talking about "trading chairs", like 1 large chair for 2 small chairs. :-) StuRat (talk) 18:14, 6 September 2016 (UTC) [reply]
According to this [2] the word "trade" has the same meaning in America as it does in Britain:
  • The Bankruptcy Code provides certain rights to trade creditors to reclaim goods that they sold to the debtor within 45 days before the bankruptcy filing (section 546(c), Bankruptcy Code). ...
  • Examples of preferential transfers include:
  • Late payment or varying the historical payment schedule of trade debt. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.168.124.54 (talk) 13:28, 7 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
The terms used in bankruptcy code are not the terms used in common language. Americans would certainly not say "I'm going to the store to trade", and it sounds like that's what they might say in the UK. StuRat (talk) 15:25, 8 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
I rather doubt that. -- Jack of Oz [pleasantries] 18:55, 8 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Neko in Japanese[edit]

I asked this before but it got removed, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't break the rules though since Wikipedia has articles on fuck and pussy, etc so curse words are not forbidden. So I'm asking it again, if there is something wrong with this please explain why instead of just deleting it without explanation.sa

The Japanese word for cat is "neko". In Japanese can neko be used in the same way as "pussy" in English? By this I do not mean "pussy cat" but as a word for a womans vagina. For example, "he wanted to put his penis into her neko" (ぼくわのにくはめるねこ). Would that sentence work in Japanese? — Preceding unsigned comment added by DiamondTanko (talkcontribs)

No. According to our article and Urban Dictionary (neither of which are reliable sources - confirmation of this usage would be useful), it can also mean "catamite", but not "vagina". Tevildo (talk) 18:09, 4 September 2016 (UTC) -- (Courtesy link added: 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:ED78:2C1B:802D:2371 (talk) 20:18, 4 September 2016 (UTC))[reply]
EDICT, which is usually reliable, has "bottom, submissive partner of a homosexual relationship". But not "catamite", so I removed that from the Wikipedia page. -- BenRG (talk) 03:59, 7 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
"Neko" doesn't have that meaning as far as I know, but (o-)meko does. -- BenRG (talk) 03:59, 7 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]
Also note that that Wiktionary entry says "Used mainly in Kansai area", so that one might also want to peruse the rather wide range of synonyms presented therein. Double sharp (talk) 16:12, 9 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Citing an AP Image for APA Format[edit]

Hey, I have access to AP Images through my school and am trying to use this image in an APA formatted project. I am having some trouble figuring out how to cite the image. I have attempted to look online, but I'm not seeing anything concrete. Any assistance/help along with credentials or a resource link would be greatly appreciated. I am currently a Masters of Science student so I need to make sure I do this correctly. Thanks in advance!

http://imgur.com/gallery/8XeCl — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.188.99.13 (talk) 20:54, 4 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

For those of us attempting to follow along, presumably this relates to citations formatted in APA (American Psychological Association) style for Associated Press images. 2606:A000:4C0C:E200:ED78:2C1B:802D:2371 (talk) 22:18, 4 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]