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“In Matlab, a part of Bangladesh with good data, deaths from diarrhoea and dysentery have dropped by about 90% since the early 1990s (see chart).” I just kept
by zaroth 9y ago
“In Matlab, a part of Bangladesh with good data, deaths from diarrhoea and dysentery have dropped by about 90% since the early 1990s (see chart).”
I just kept reparsing and trying to error correct that sentence over and over until it finally sunk in that yes, they are saying Matlab is actually the name of a place in Bangladesh.
- chimeracoder 9y ago> I just kept reparsing and trying to error correct that sentence over and over until it finally sunk in that yes, they are saying Matlab is actually the name of a place in Bangladesh. I'm Bengali, and I looked up the spelling of the name. It looks like it's spelled মতলব, which means it's pronounced more like "Motlobe" (the second "o" is halfway between "lob" and "lobe"). It means "plan" or "project", which I'm guessing refers to some attempt at creating a township at some point (or being named after a place that was). For reasons, Bengali words are often transliterated in the Sanskrit form, which means that the spelling doesn't really always represent their actual pronunciation. (This is why people often have a harder time pronouncing my name when they see it spelled out in English, because the final syllable is transliterated according to Sanskrit, but pronounced differently. It's sort of like -ough as a suffix in English.)
- NPMaxwell 9y agoAnd I can imagine a small techie tourism trade for people who want to say, "Yeah. I've been to Matlab. For two weeks, I breathed it, ate in it, and slept in it."
- ainiriand 9y agoI came back just to say the same! It is fascinating.
- jacobush 9y agoAnd Matlab has access to good data.
- goldenkey 9y agoWell of course it does, it's a lab!
- omeid2 9y agoMore interesting, I believe it is the Arabic word (متطلب) which means Requirement, or possibly Farsi مطلب which means Subject or Question. https://translate.google.com/#ar/en/%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A8 https://translate.google.com/#ar/en/%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%B7%D9%84... https://translate.google.com/#fa/en/%D9%85%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A8 https://translate.google.com/#fa/en/%D9%85%D8%B7%D9%84%D8%A8
- blinkingled 9y agoConversationally it's used more like Meaning. https://translate.google.com/#hi/en/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%AC https://translate.google.com/#hi/en/%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4...
- omeid2 9y agoIn Farsi, it is used similarly, as in Subject Matter/Topic.
- squarerootof-1 9y agoIn Urdu, matlab can mean intent or purpose, probably derived from Farsi.
- smoyer 9y agoI saw the same sentence and immediately thought it was funny (because Matlab with bad data produces poor results). I'm sure that the reporter has no idea there's a software product by that name and so including the fact that this city has good data didn't seem odd at all.