Miscellaneous desk
< February 19	<< Jan \| February \| Mar >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Miscellaneous Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

February 20

Waking up enemies right after you knocked them out with non-lethal weapons?

Is it realistic or even possible to have enemies you just knocked it unconscious (e.g. with less lethal weapons) become neutral to you or even friendly after you waking up them? 2001:448A:3070:DB69:F404:6F51:8A54:6CB8 (talk) 04:46, 20 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Brain injury can have varying results. Note that sleep, from which someone can be woken up, is not the same as unconsciousness. Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:45, 20 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Did you consider them your enemies because they were doing things you didn't like, or because they behaved in an actively hostile manner specifically to you, so that you might reasonably infer they considered you their enemy? And if the latter, was it personal, or was it because you kept them from achieving a goal? Finally, are they aware you, being driven by enmity, are the proximate cause of their being knocked out? I can imagine various combinations in which the person regaining consciousness has no motive or reason to harbour bad feelings towards you. Or perhaps they are Christian anarchist followers of Jesus of Nazareth, turning the other cheek.
Consider also what happened during the "Christmas truce" of 1914, when soldiers who the day before had been trying to blow each other's brains out, stopped fighting and fraternized in a most cordial way, showing that the overt hostility was not motivated by personal feelings. ‑‑Lambiam 09:49, 20 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Possible, yes. Realistic, no. Clarityfiend (talk) 21:54, 20 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Opposite of an open floor plan?

In architecture, is there a specific term for the opposite of an open floor plan? 2601:646:8082:BA0:818D:3BA7:F927:FC03 (talk) 13:23, 20 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"A closed floor plan, also known as a traditional floor plan..." --136.56.165.118 (talk) 14:30, 20 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, that's what I wanted to know! "Traditional floor plan" sounds just about right! (Of course, as far as Western architecture, it actually so happens that the open floor plan is older than the "traditional" one -- it was the norm through much of the Middle Ages, whereas internal subdivision of buildings into smaller rooms was only made possible in the late medieval period with the invention of the chimney, and the hallway wasn't invented until the late 16th century!) 2601:646:8082:BA0:873:4E54:584:2983 (talk) 02:53, 21 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]