Stealth cleverness in Wikipedia articles...

[GargoyleWB]

Stumbled across this tidbit, can’t help but think it’s deliberate:

Article on a big scary bird…

“The ability to fly is not a simple question of weight ratios, except in extreme cases.”

Any other fun WikiP treasures that other Dopers know about?

[bleach]

The current version of the wikipedia’s Humpty Dance page only has a single sentence remaining from its former glorious Long Synopsis. The Long Synopsis details a blow by blow narrative of the video.

For example, the lyrics

I’m a freak.
I like the girls with the boom
I once got busy in a Burger King bathroom

are recounted as

“Mr. Hump admits he is a sexual deviant who prefers females with an extremely large posterior, and that he once had intercourse in the restroom of a Burger King.”

[buddha_david]

Whoever wrote the lead paragraphy for the Numero Sign article is clearly an Iron Maiden fan:

“For example, with the numero sign, the written long-form of the address ‘Number 22 Acacia Avenue’ is shortened to ‘№ 22 Acacia Avenue,’ yet both forms are spoken long.”

[MEBuckner]

From the Glasgow Ice Cream Wars:

@Wikipedia

The conflicts, in which vendors raided one another’s vans and fired shotguns into one another’s windscreens, were more violent than might typically be expected between ice-cream salesmen.

[Rysto]

The conflicts, in which vendors raided one another’s vans and fired shotguns into one another’s windscreens, were more violent than might typically be expected between ice-cream salesmen.

[Citation Needed]

[njtt]

@buddha_david

Whoever wrote the lead paragraphy for the Numero Sign article is clearly an Iron Maiden fan:

“For example, with the numero sign, the written long-form of the address ‘Number 22 Acacia Avenue’ is shortened to ‘№ 22 Acacia Avenue,’ yet both forms are spoken long.”

I am not an Iron Maiden fan, so I am not sure what the reference is supposed to be, but in Britain, Acacia Avenue is commonly used as a sort of standard, cliché name for a generic, nondescript residential suburban street. It is used almost in the way that John Doe is used in America for a generic male person, except that it has no official uses, and carries distinct connotations of boringness and conformity. If the name is used in a lyric by Iron Maiden, they certainly did not invent it, and, indeed, were not being at all original in using it. Neither, of course, is the Wikipedia author. (I do not know what the origin is, but certainly it is older than heavy metal music.)

[Edward_The_Head]

@njtt

I am not an Iron Maiden fan, so I am not sure what the reference is supposed to be, but in Britain, Acacia Avenue is commonly used as a sort of standard, cliché name for a generic, nondescript residential suburban street. It is used almost in the way that John Doe is used in America for a generic male person, except that it has no official uses, and carries distinct connotations of boringness and conformity. If the name is used in a lyric by Iron Maiden, they certainly did not invent it, and, indeed, were not being at all original in using it. Neither, of course, is the Wikipedia author. (I do not know what the origin is, but certainly it is older than heavy metal music.)

That maybe, but 22 Acacia Avenue is where Charlotte the Harlot lives and does her business. So I guess it would be the 22 that makes it stand out.

[buddha_david]

@njtt

I am not an Iron Maiden fan, so I am not sure what the reference is supposed to be, but in Britain, Acacia Avenue is commonly used as a sort of standard, cliché name for a generic, nondescript residential suburban street. It is used almost in the way that John Doe is used in America for a generic male person, except that it has no official uses, and carries distinct connotations of boringness and conformity. If the name is used in a lyric by Iron Maiden, they certainly did not invent it, and, indeed, were not being at all original in using it. Neither, of course, is the Wikipedia author. (I do not know what the origin is, but certainly it is older than heavy metal music.)

So “Acacia Avenue” is equivalent to saying “123 Elm St.” in America? That’s cool, I never knew that.

In any case, “22 Acacia Avenue” is indeed a fan favorite, but it’s relatively obscure compared to songs like “Run to the Hills”, etc. So I’m still confident that my original deduction was correct.