Talk:Pugwash, Nova Scotia

Latest comment: 11 years ago by Favonian in topic Requested move

Untitled edit

There has always been a discussion as to the meaning of the word Pugwash. Some say: deep harbour, or deep water. I have also heard "good harbour". I think the "History of Pugwash" by Smith says: Deep harbour. Is there a speaker of Mic Mac or Algonquin that can settle this matter? --Mf135gas 04:49, 29 November 2005 (UTC)Reply

I asked Patrick Johnson of the Mi'kmaq Resource Centre at the Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia about this, and his reponse is below (November 7, 2005 3:17:04 PM):

"This is very interesting for I don't know if Pugwash refers to water at all. I know that the term Paqweak certainly refers to water and it is Shallow. The it would be spelled in the Smith/Francis orthography would be Paqwek which mean shallow. The term Te'mik means deep water. If it from a different orthography then I could be wrong. There is another term that means lots of (water) Pikwelk."

I believe that the word is refering to the river, and not the harbour. Since Te'mik means deep water, it's hard to imagine how it could of been mutated over time to Pugwash instead of Paqweak/Paqwek. Adam Hartling, 5/23/2006 adam_hartling@hotmail.com


I see once again the battle rages (Noting the most recent revision). I side with Adam's source at the Mi'kmaq Resource Centre, over Smith's book and the Pugwash Conferences website (if it is a Mi'kmaq word, they aught to know!). When I lived in the US, I met an acedemic who was was quite active in the Student Pugwash movement. Despite his involvment in the organisation, he was not aware that there was an actual village called Pugwash. The harbour is deep, but the river is shallow (full of mud flats). More than likely the Mi'kmaq camped near the shallow parts of the river, which were good for fishing and hunting waterfowl. It is quite unlikely that they would have even noticed the deepness of the harbour, as it would have had no impact on their way of life. I say Pugwash=Shallow Water, in reference to the river and associated alluvial areas (near where the mine is now). Feel free to counter... -Steve --Mf135gas 05:41, 3 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

Requested move edit

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: town article not moved, dab page reinstated at Pugwash. It's clear from the discussion that there is no primary topic for this title. Favonian (talk) 20:22, 27 June 2012 (UTC)Reply


Pugwash, Nova ScotiaPugwash – There are no other 'Pugwashes'. Use of the term 'Pugwash' in the names of other things, such as organizations, all refer to the village. Mayumashu (talk) 19:48, 20 June 2012 (UTC)Reply

Survey edit

  • Support. The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs got 4,298 page views in the last 90 days, and Pugwash (band) got 2,492, so they are both more notable than the town, which got 2,183 views. But the conference is already satisfactorily disambiguated, and the band will never get primary topic. That leaves the town as the only plausible choice. Kauffner (talk) 13:16, 21 June 2012 (UTC)Reply
    • If there is, as you admit, no primary topic, then the disambiguation page should obtain the name. —  AjaxSmack  01:15, 22 June 2012 (UTC)Reply
      • Are you claiming that some guideline requires this? Kauffner (talk) 15:35, 24 June 2012 (UTC)Reply
        • It appears you are asking how to determine a primary topic, but since AjaxSmack has linked WP:PRIMARYTOPIC, I'm going to assume you are referring to WP:MALPLACED, which is the common sense guideline that a disambiguation page sits at Foogle, rather than Foogle redirecting to Foogle (disambiguation). 117Avenue (talk) 05:39, 25 June 2012 (UTC)Reply
          • There is no requirement that a base lemma must lead to a DAB if usage is split. Kauffner (talk) 08:34, 25 June 2012 (UTC)Reply
            • What? If usage is split, you have no case for redirecting it to one use. This is all over WP:D. I don't understand your logic. 117Avenue (talk) 03:35, 26 June 2012 (UTC)Reply
              • WP:PRECISION has a section on "natural disambiguation." If it possible to disambiguate the relevant articles without explanatory tags, that it is considered preferable. Kauffner (talk) 04:42, 26 June 2012 (UTC)Reply
  • Oppose per User:Kauffner [sic]. There are other Pugwashes and, derivative or not, the band and conference are at least as notable as a village of fewer than 1000 souls. Instead, move the the disambiguation page to Pugwash. —  AjaxSmack  01:15, 22 June 2012 (UTC)Reply
  • Dabify, I doubt an Irish pop band was named after a Canadian village. 117Avenue (talk) 21:05, 23 June 2012 (UTC)Reply
  • Oppose, 1) There are other Wikipedia articles related to Pugwash, so keep the DAB page Pugwash. 2) The convention has been to use Town, Province to avoid potential confusion for places. I say stick with the convention already in place. Especially in this case, where it is obvious that 'Pugwash' is in use outside of, and unrelated to, Nova Scotia. Turgan Talk 15:30, 26 June 2012 (UTC)Reply
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.