grammar - たform+こと が/は(particle) ない?

Is it 'みたことがない' or 'みたことはない'? I'm not sure about the particle for this. Can both be used? Or which is better? (And why is it so?)

Thanks!

Answer

This is a good question because quite a few Japanese-learners do use the two as if they were completely interchangeable. They are not.

「みたことがない」

makes a simple and neutral statement saying you have not seen something. You just do not have the experience. If I said:

「パイプオルガンを見{み}たことがない。」

all it means is that I have not seen a pipe organ. Plain and simple. I am not implying anything.

「みたことはない」

, however, implies either:

1) you have not seen A, but you have B (or C)

or

2) you have not seen something, but have done something else (other than seeing) with/about it.

This is all made possible by the use of the contrastive は.

Thus, if I said:

「パイプオルガンを見たことはない。」

I would be implying either:

1) I have never seen a pipe organ, but have seen another instrument.

or, for instance,

2) I have not seen a pipe organ but I have listened to pipe organ music.

The smallest words are often the most important words in Japanese. I am, of course, referring to our particles.

speech talking - 5th part of the shulchan aruch

there seems to be a saying by jews that there is a 5th part of the shulchan aruch (which is common sense) (i do not like this saying)

do/did any respectable Rabbis (Rebbes, Gedolay Hador, Talmiday Hachomim or Rabonim?) say or write this saying? (and by doing so made it a kosher saying)

filters - Mixed time/frequency domain data

I'm afraid this might be a bit of an elementary question, but I'm afraid I'm a little new to this. I've got a system that measures a frequency spectrum to find resonant frequencies. It does this by applying an impulse, and then performs a linear sweep through a range of frequencies measuring the amplitude of the response.

As far as I can tell, this seems to produce data that contains both frequency- and time-domain information, because the frequency being measured changes over time. The results seem to agree with this: the initial impulse decays over "time", with individual excitations being visible at various frequencies. See here for an example (frequency on the horizontal axis, amplitude on the vertical):

I would like to remove from this data the "time" component, leaving just the resonant responses. I have tried mirroring the data, then deconvolving a "top hat" function, and FTing the result, but I am not convinced this corresponds to anything meaningful. Could anyone provide any insight?

grammar - Why using です in katakana?

This question might sound stupid but it got me thinking for some hours. A friend bought me this gel pen from a Japanese store in my country, and it is written in the pen:

かわいいデス

instead of かわいいです kawaii desu.

I do not understand why です is in katakana. I mean, katakana is used for non-Japanese words, as far as I was taught when I was going to Japanese classes.

So I do not understand... Probably it is just because they wanted to do it that way! In that case, sorry for bothering!

Answer

The final part of a Japanese sentence is sometimes rendered in katakana for various reasons. Examples include:

• ごめんネ


• ひどいヨー


• 分かってマス！


• 美味しいデス


• 大丈夫かナ?

In fiction, this typically happens with people who were raised abroad (e.g., 金剛 and 九条カレン) or who have a bit eccentric personality (e.g., 野田恵). In particular, using です/デス everywhere ignoring ordinary grammar is recognized as one of the cute "character-specific sentence-endings (キャラ語尾)"; users of this type of です speak like おはようです, やめろです or がんばるです. So, to be as specific as possible, I think the emphasis on デス in your example is for adding a bit of cute and/or exotic flavor to the otherwise uninteresting sentence.

There are a few real native Japanese speakers who use katakana like this in a casual online chat and such, believing it's interesting, cute, or whatever. It's a matter of personal taste, but it may feel like someone who is trying to make themselves look young.

halacha theory - Can a "brain controlled" prosthetic be used on Shabbat?

New prosthetics are controlled by brain waves which seem to make the prosthetic an extension of the body in an "organic" way, in that we control all of our own limbs through the same brain waves and impulses. [scientists -- sorry, my understanding is rudimentary -- if I am misrepresenting anything, please let me know]

This bit of Purim Torah (with actual sources) seems to point to the idea that telekinesis (movement of an object using the brain) would be allowed on Shabbat, but the question is about moving something external to the body and one opinion questions if using brain waves is k'lachar Yad. Moving a body part is not exactly the same, as brain impulses are the normal way of moving body parts.

This question asks about prothetic limbs in halacha but doesn't address this aspect of controlling their electronics when the electronics are integrated into the body (I learned that attached body parts are not muktza but I don't know when a limb is or is not "attached" enough to become a halachic body part, unlike a car).

So would the electronic body part be able to be controlled on Shabbat by the brain of the "wearer"?

internet - Is there a free copy of this early (earliest?) siddur online?

A footnote in the Rosenfeld selichot book said Rav Amram Gaon was approached by Spanish Jews in the 800's with a request to allow the writing down the daily prayers, something that was prohibited by the gemara (Shabbat 115a).

Is there a copy of this siddur on the web (ideally for free)?

I found what seems to be his siddur for sale here http://www.moznaim.com/siddur-rav-amram-gaon.html

Answer

Seder Rav Amram Gaon can be found on Hebrewbooks.org for free in two pdfs: here and here.

halacha - What is the proper way to enwrap oneself in a tallis?

Before donning a tallis one is supposed to enwrap himself in it and make a blessing. I have seen many different ways of performing this wrapping. What is the correct way to wrap yourself in a tallis?

Alternatively, if there are differing opinions or traditions, what are they, and what are the formal guidelines, rules, or steps within each system?