Talk:Years Past Matter

"Past" in the title

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

confusion is deliberate. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 08:38, 18 September 2015 (UTC)

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Which part of speech does the title treat the word "Past" as? Is it a preposition, verb, adjective, or other? --George Ho (talk) 23:55, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

Is an RfC really necessary for this? I don't see a debate anywhere. Anyway, I'd say that it's acting as a preposition, maybe an adverb, as in "Years Beyond Matter". See wikt:past. Eman235/talk 03:30, 27 August 2015 (UTC)

Is it meaningful to ask the question is this form with this kind of 'clipped' English? This kind of use is often intentionally ambiguous (or even meaningless). I guessed correctly that this was an album title and your underlying question is P or p. I can only advise that (like it or not), since use is ambiguous we have to follow general use in sources, which tends to capitalise, sometimes dubiously. Pincrete (talk) 07:37, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

@Eman235: adverb describes or modifies a verb. Exempli gratia I love you dearly. @Pincrete: all right, which part of speech do you think is "Past" used as? --George Ho (talk) 16:23, 1 September 2015 (UTC) (My mistake; switching pings)

George Ho, I didn't say I didn't know what an adverb is, I asked whether it was meaningful to ask the question in such 'clipped' and ambiguous constructions. Pincrete (talk) 16:34, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

@Pincrete: Oops, I didn't realize I pinged in wrong places, so I swapped the names to intended question. In other words, see the latter question. --George Ho (talk) 16:38, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Well you have to 'translate' to even ask the question. Does it mean 'Years that have already gone by are important?', is it describing 'Years that are beyond our concern' … … does it mean … ??? . Or is it constructed to be 'catchy' but meaningless? I know what policy is and I agree with it, but fans don't like policy! Pincrete (talk) 16:46, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Or does it mean, "this album is an aural representation of what it would be like, years after physical matter has ceased to exist"? Or is it "Years' Matter from the Past for soothing headaches"? I think it's best to just capitalize it. Eman235/talk 21:05, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Pincrete, I'm not discussing the meaning of the title. I was asking the use of mere "Past". Is "Past" a preposition, a noun, an adjective, or what within the title? George Ho (talk) 21:43, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Quoth Pincrete: you have to 'translate' to even ask the question. Meaning, in order to tell what "past" is acting as, you have to know what the statement means. Eman235/talk 21:51, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Eman235, my thoughts entirely, George Ho, I don't know, not because I don't understand parts of speech, but because I suspect these titles are intended to baffle minds like ours. Here's one for you "Foot heads arms body.", Where's the verb? (it's a famous headline).Pincrete (talk) 22:10, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

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The above discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

Requested move 28 November 2015

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: Withdrawn. (non-admin closure) George Ho (talk) 00:27, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

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Years Past Matter → Years past Matter – The other discussion focused on whether to treat "past" as a preposition. However, the result was "confusion is deliberate." In the light of recent requests at Talk:Four past Midnight, we must revisit the issue of treating "past" as either a preposition or any other part of speech. If "past" in this title is the preposition, then it should be lowercased per MOS:CT, especially when "past" is a four-letter word. George Ho (talk) 06:04, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose. I agree with the commenters in the previous RfC. This use of "past" is ambiguous, probably intentionally. Is it an adjective, modifying "years", or is it talking about years beyond or after matter? I don't know. Nothing in the article clears it up. So there's no basis to move. Dohn joe (talk) 01:49, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
• Oppose - AFAIK, the part of speech of the word past is ambiguous, therefore, the article should be kept where it is. --Jax 0677 (talk) 20:30, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
• Oppose Previous discussion summed it up quite well. --Starcheerspeaksnewslostwars^{Talk to me} 17:33, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

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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 or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.