Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2021 September 13

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September 13

"Stylised as"

I'm curious. Why is the Motörhead article title spelled "Motörhead" but the Adidas article title is spelled with a capital letter? The adidas article refers to the stylization ("stylized as adidas") but the Motorhead one does not. These stylisations (like "pepsi") are a form of branding, but metal umlaut bands get away with having their articles titled like their logos and other entitles do not. (And interestingly the wikitext for the Motorhead article works with and without an umlaut.) Is there any policy about the use of stylisations in article titles? Quilt Phase (talk) 07:54, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

• I found MOS:TMLOWER which clarifies, but my point about Motorhead still stands. Quilt Phase (talk) 08:05, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

And of course, we have an article Metal umlaut. I think the argument is that these letters are not just stylisations, but are actually how the band's name is spelled. However, I agree with you and I think this should be discussed somewhere at a policy level (if it hasn't already been). --Viennese Waltz 08:11, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

Thanks Viennese Waltz. Discussion would hinge on the differences between orthography and typography, as well as common usage. Quilt Phase (talk) 09:07, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

Is OP under the impression that ö is not a real letter? Temerarius (talk) 17:00, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

That's not the point. The ö in Motörhead is not there because that's how the word is spelled. It's just an affectation, done for reasons of style. --Viennese Waltz 19:21, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

You're gonna be mad when you hear about the Beatles. Temerarius (talk) 22:36, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

That was derived in part from "beat". Ed Sullivan subtly referenced that point when he introduced them on his stage for the first time as "The Beat-les", emphasizing the "Beat" part. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:43, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

The previous poster's username is a subtle reference to how it "bugs" people to post unrelated details. Temerarius (talk) 22:32, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

Temerarius is being disingenuous. Clearly "Beatles" is a neologism where "Motörhead" is not. And the article for a band whose name is styled "Møatahed" should arguably be titled "Moatahed". See also Spinal Tap and Grotus. But I'm not gonna die on a hill for all this. It's just a bit fuzzy. Quilt Phase (talk) 21:24, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

Motörhead is spelt Motörhead. DuncanHill (talk) 21:28, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

Why the labrant parents decided to name the newborn baby zealand?

please explain! i dont know what happened to nonbinary baby child named zealand. i think in my opinion zealand labrant's gender is nonbinary because they had a unisex given name, zealand. is there any connection cole and savannah labrant to go new zealand in the hope of finding their future success of newborn baby child in december 2020? or maybe they'll be intersex. Yourairport (talk) 08:00, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

Googling the subject indicates Zealand is a son. There are lots of unisex names out there. This is just one of the more unusual ones, maybe. More common ones are in the lists in Unisex name. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:12, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

In many cultures people can name their kids whatever they please. There doesn't have to be any reason why they name a child something except maybe it just seemed a good idea at the time.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 13:04, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

New Zealand was named after Zealand, an island in Denmark. Lots of people have forenames taken from geographical locations, such as Devon, deriving from Devon. These and many other names are not specific to gender, but that doesn't mean their bearers are non-binary, something that cannot possibly be known about a baby. Intersex is something different, although the two are not mutually exclusive. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.67.3 (talk) 13:41, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

According to the New Zealand article, it was actually named for the Dutch province of Zeeland, but your point is otherwise valid. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:15, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

D'oh! I thought it was Dutch, but got misled by the spelling. In my defence, I've been to several parts of the Netherlands, but not Zeeland. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.200.67.3 (talk) 19:50, 13 September 2021 (UTC)

Apparently they both mean "sea land" (which conceptually works for New Zealand as well), and apparently Zeeland was once spelled Zealand in English. Zeeland of the Netherlands looks like it might be a bit swampy, so maybe not a first choice to visit. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:46, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

In defence of Zeeland, it's a popular holiday destination and includes picturesque towns like Veere. It's a lot dryer now it's protected by the Oosterscheldekering as well as the historic dykes. Alansplodge (talk) 19:52, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

It is not really clear that the Danish name, "Sjælland", means "sea land"; see Zealand § Etymology. An extensive examination of the origin of the name New Zealand can be found here.  --Lambiam 06:41, 14 September 2021 (UTC)

I recall one time when Frank Zappa was on the Tonight Show, and Jay Leno asked him, "Why did you name your son 'Dweezil'?" and Zappa said, "Because I wanted to." That was the end of that discussion. And could be the answer of any parent when asked about a child's name. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 15:49, 13 September 2021 (UTC)