# Wiki: common noun; Wikipedia: proper noun **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 11, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255 "2006-08-11T04:31:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![onedayfishsale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onedayfishsale/32/4398_2.png) [@onedayfishsale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/onedayfishsale)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/1 "2006-08-11T04:31:32Z")
This bugs me, especially from a group of pedants like us. So, let’s all stop provoking my ire in this way. Please use the word _Wikipedia_ when referring to that oft-cited _wiki_. Thank you for your attention. Hugs and lollipops. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/2 "2006-08-11T04:45:27Z")
> [@One Day Fish Sale](#): > > So, let’s all stop provoking my ire in this way. Where’s the ire? I see no ire… ---
**Author:** ![onedayfishsale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onedayfishsale/32/4398_2.png) [@onedayfishsale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/onedayfishsale)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/3 "2006-08-11T05:01:01Z")
> [@LunaV](#): > > Where’s the ire? I see no ire… Damn. Thought I could get away without a proper flame. In that case: What the _HELL_? You incompetent cite-bots! Figure it out. You wouldn’t cite a book by using a line that looks like this: > [@](#): > > There’s a reference to this in Book. You are hereby suspended from any commentary on the English language until **I see** some **proper use** of **NOUNS**. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/4 "2006-08-11T05:15:13Z")
But…it’s wiki. It’s not bound to mere earthly rules. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![onedayfishsale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onedayfishsale/32/4398_2.png) [@onedayfishsale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/onedayfishsale)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/5 "2006-08-11T05:23:41Z")
I’ll create [my own earthly rules](http://www.google.com/search?q=wikiality), thankyouverymuch. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/6 "2006-08-11T05:32:01Z")
Sorry. You lose. From the Wiki article on [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki): > [@](#): > > **Development of Wiki** > According to Cunningham, ideas of wiki can be traced back to a HyperCard stack he wrote in the late 1980s. In the late 1990s, wikis were increasingly recognized as a promising way to develop private- and public-knowledge bases, and this potential inspired the founders of the Nupedia encyclopedia project, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, to use wiki technology as a basis for an electronic encyclopedia: Wikipedia was launched in January 2001; it originally was based upon UseMod software, but later switched to its own, open source codebase, now adopted by many other wikis. In the early 2000s, wikis were increasingly adopted in the enterprise as collaborative software. Common uses included project communication, intranets and documentation, initially for technical users. In December 2002, Socialtext launched the first commercial open source wiki solution. Open source wikis such as **Wiki** and Kwiki grew to over 1 million downloads on the Internets repository by 2004. Today some companies use wikis as their only collaborative software and as a replacement for static intranets. There is arguably greater use of wikis behind firewalls than on the public internet. However, this has not been yet proven. So, we must wait and see. (bolding theirs) You will note that the capitalized Wiki is used explicitly as an abbreviated form or nickname for the specific web site that embodies the wiki (not capitalized) approach to sharing information on the web. Any number of people refer to using “Webster’s” to identify the source of various word definitions without explicitly referring to either the 1822 or 1843 editions of An American Dictionary of the English Language or even to one of the several dictionaries published by Merriam-Webster. Unless you happen to catch a poster citing a web site using the wiki format that does not happen to be a site sponsored and maintained through Wikipedia, the use of the capitalized short form is actually more appropriate than using the more generic word. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/7 "2006-08-11T10:05:05Z")
Why the pitting? There are Wikis all over the place, like the [Memory Alpha](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Main_Page) Star Trek Wiki, it uses the Wikipedia layout and linking to produce a Star Trek information source. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/8 "2006-08-11T13:16:05Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Why the pitting? There are Wikis all over the place, like the [Memory Alpha](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Main_Page) Star Trek Wiki, it uses the Wikipedia layout and linking to produce a Star Trek information source. geek 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/9 "2006-08-11T14:05:43Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > geek 😉 😃 Not as much as the BCS organisation who advertise through Google, “Join BCS, its wiki’d” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/10 "2006-08-11T14:16:03Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > Why the pitting? There are Wikis all over the place, like the [Memory Alpha](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Main_Page) Star Trek Wiki, it uses the Wikipedia layout and linking to produce a Star Trek information source. It would be the contention of **One Day Fish Sale** that [Memory Alpha](http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Main_Page) would be a lower case wiki, not an upper case Wiki. Since the word wiki was coined as a term (common noun) to describe a particular method of presenting and maintaining information on the web, then references to individual sites employing that methodology should not have that term capitalized. Thus, Memory Alpha and Wikipedia should each be idenitified as a wiki (lower case). Unfortunately for **One Day Fish Sale** , those who maintain Wikipedia use the shorter form as a name when referring to that site, so the pitting suffers from a lack of genuine support, however, **One Day Fish Sale** could actually triumph in the persnickety purist department when you choose to use a capitalized word, Wiki, in reference to Memory Alpha where the word wiki has no meaning as a name. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/11 "2006-08-11T14:31:26Z")
> [@LunaV](#): > > > [@One Day Fish Sale](#): > > > > So, let’s all stop provoking my ire in this way. > > Where’s the ire? I see no ire… Isn’t there a rule against yelling “ire” in a crowded forum? ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/12 "2006-08-11T14:34:16Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Sorry. You lose. From the Wiki article on [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki): (bolding theirs) > > You will note that the capitalized Wiki is used explicitly as an abbreviated form or nickname for the specific web site that embodies the wiki (not capitalized) approach to sharing information on the web. That passage seems to refer to a specific wiki engine software, just like Kwiki mentioned in the same sentence. I don’t see how it could refer to a site (let alone Wikipedia) in that context. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/13 "2006-08-11T16:36:53Z")
All I know is every time I hear that word, I start hearing DJ record scratching in my head. _Gank chicka waurnt chicka wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki gank chicka waurnt chicka…_ ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/14 "2006-08-11T16:59:07Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > All I know is every time I hear that word, I start hearing DJ record scratching in my head. > > _Gank chicka waurnt chicka wiki wiki wiki wiki wiki gank chicka waurnt chicka…_ Hee! That’s wiki-t Wiki-t wiki-t whack! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/15 "2006-08-11T19:49:54Z")
> [@kellner](#): > > That passage seems to refer to a specific wiki engine software, just like Kwiki mentioned in the same sentence. I don’t see how it could refer to a site (let alone Wikipedia) in that context. OK. Chalk that up to my ignorance that there was actually a software product named Wiki. On the other hand, I would still hold that Wiki is a legitimate nickname for Wikipedia (as used in common internet exchanges) and that while it would be more appropriate to say “I looked _x_ up on a wiki,” removing the indefinite article when referring to the specific Wikipedia site still calls for a capitalized version of the nickname: “I looked _x_ up on Wiki.” Without the indefinite article, the presumption is Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/16 "2006-08-11T21:55:01Z")
> [@One Day Fish Sale](#): > > I’ll create [my own earthly rules](http://www.google.com/search?q=wikiality), thankyouverymuch. Did you know the population of African elephants has tripled over the past five years? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2006, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/17 "2006-08-11T23:10:32Z")
Haven’t we already done this? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/18 "2006-08-12T23:40:04Z")
I’d settle for people being able to figure out the difference between _an_ internet(work) and _the_ Internet. Heck, I’d settle for people knowing the difference between the Internet and the Web. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/19 "2006-08-13T15:25:27Z")
Actually, I use ‘wiki’ as a verb, meaning ‘to look something up on Wikipedia.’ (Does placing a preiod or comma inside quotation marks look wrong to anyone else?) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255/20 "2006-08-13T15:26:34Z")
Crap. That was me, not **'punha**. Forgot to log him out and login as myself. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-common-noun-wikipedia-proper-noun/368255.md?page=2)