{"id":33,"date":"2005-02-07T04:24:16","date_gmt":"2005-02-07T08:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wikipedia-the-history-of-a-name\/"},"modified":"2005-02-07T04:24:16","modified_gmt":"2005-02-07T08:24:16","slug":"wikipedia-the-history-of-a-name","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wikipedia-the-history-of-a-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Wikipedia: the history of a name"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Here is a bit from a comment I left on David Weinberger’s blog the
\nother day, after I had mentioned that Wikipedia takes no article and JD
\nLasica<\/b> had commented that, according to the [last item in the
\nMiscellaneous] FAQ<\/a>, both “Wikipedia” and “the Wikipedia” were acceptable uses. I realize, on rereading what I wrote, that I nevertheless managed to fit the phrase “the Wikipedia” a few dozen times into my post. Except for those special-cases, I never concatenate the two words, honest.
\n<\/p>\n

“The English Wikipedia” may be the preferred colloquial usage, and “the wiki ‘pedia<\/i>”
\nmay amuse the mind and roll off of the tongue, but “the Wikipedia” is
\nrarely correct in any sentence, and never when referring to the
\nWikipedia project as a whole, with the proper noun as the object of the article.<\/font><\/p>\n

The FAQ answer you linked to above has hardly been copyedited since the silver-tongued<\/a> Stephen Gilbert placed it into the Wikipedia Overview FAQ<\/a>
\nv.1 in 2002, at which time the Wikipedia community had yet to rule out
\nthe idea of being “the” wiki encyclopedia, justifying the name rather
\nthan claiming it. <\/font><\/p>\n

The
\ntruth is, other wiki ‘pedias may appear; since the original question
\nwas posed, the community has reached consensus, in the minds of the
\nWikipedia phalanges and in the Wikipedia articles<\/a> you read today, on the article-free name.<\/font><\/p>\n

The
\ncircle of articulate digerati who have recently preferred the “the
\nWikipedia” to the “Wikipedia” option, however, highlight the urgency of
\nthe struggle for nomenclatural justice.<\/font><\/p>\n

I have updated the Wikipedia FAQ<\/a>
\nto clarify and rectify the reality of the matter, and trust that the
\n“the” the Wikipedia-loving fans of the aforementioned circle have grown
\naccustomed to, will in the near future fade into the recesses of the
\npast.<\/font><\/p>\n

Firstly, if you read closely the answer in the FAQ link above (which is
\nhow it stood before I updated that answer), it is clear that the
\nauthors of that answer were a bit confused by how to identify the
\nobject of a definite article. <\/p>\n

Secondly, I’ve clarified that answer now to reflect current community consensus; at least I can stem confusion from one source. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it is true that there are a dwindling number of Wikipedians who still say “the Wikipedia”, thinking of it as the <\/span>Wiki
\nencyclopedia.  And this is an interesting etymology.  Yet if
\nWP ever becames one of many such projects, perhaps a neutral wide-net
\nencyclopedia in a sea of tightly-knit, opinionated community
\nencyclopedias, it would be silly for it to then change its name.
\nMoreover, if Wikipedia just means an encyclopedia using a wiki, anyone
\ncould come along and create “the Minnesota Militia Wikipedia”, which
\nwould irk me, personally.  So I have a private vested interest in
\nnipping that one in the bud.<\/p>\n

I’d be a grammar nazi with your <\/span>organization’s
\nname, too… if your style-convention pages were publicly
\neditable.  Just leave me your docs URL in a comment.  ^ ^<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a bit from a comment I left on David Weinberger’s blog the other day, after I had mentioned that Wikipedia takes no article and JD Lasica had commented that, according to the [last item in the Miscellaneous] FAQ, both “Wikipedia” and “the Wikipedia” were acceptable uses. I realize, on rereading what I wrote, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-33","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}