# Wiki vs. Wikipedia **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 11, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310 "2011-10-11T15:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cryptic\_C62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cryptic\_C62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptic_C62)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/1 "2011-10-11T15:44:10Z")
I often hear/see people abbreviating “Wikipedia” to “wiki”. Do people not realize that these two terms have different meanings? Or do they realize and not care? I’ve always thought that “WP” is the most logical abbreviation, and it is indeed what most Wikipedians use when we have our conniving dastardly conversations. For those who aren’t already aware, a wiki is a type of website that facilitates creation and editing of documents by multiple users. Wikipedia is one example of a wiki, but it was not the first and is certainly not the only. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/2 "2011-10-11T15:50:32Z")
> [@Cryptic\_C62](#): > > Or do they realize and not care? Bingo. If I say “I looked it up on the WP” people will look at me like I have a 3rd eye. If I say “I looked it up on the wiki” everyone knows exactly what I’m talking about. And if I say “I looked it up on the wookie” everyone leaves the room. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/3 "2011-10-11T15:56:31Z")
“Wiki” is what people are shortening Wikipedia to; “wiki” is the generic name for such websites. The fact that many people do not realize that there is a difference, compounded by the fact that you can’t hear the difference in capitalization when speaking, does not change this fact. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/4 "2011-10-11T16:06:37Z")
Whatsit covered it. I would add that “wiki” means “Wikipedia” when not otherwise modified by “a”, “the”, “my”, “the Buffy”, etc. And, I don’t think a lot of people are aware of the idea of wikis separate from Wikipedia/Wikia/etc. What I don’t get is why Google hasn’t yet figured out what Wikia is yet. It always changes it to wiki when I use it in searches and I have to click the link that says “I meant what I wrote, don’t second guess me.” ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/5 "2011-10-11T16:12:58Z")
> [@Cryptic\_C62](#): > > Or do they realize and not care? That’s me. I see it as kind of the reverse of the phenomenon in which the generic name for an item is replaced by a brand name – “it isn’t a Q-Tip, it’s a _cotton swab!_ And it isn’t a Kleenex, it’s a _facial tissue!_” Here, because Wikipedia is by far the most familiar wiki, the generic name has trumped the brand name. And we all know what someone is talking about when someone copies and pastes something from “wiki” (or “Wiki”). Even the Google understands when you type in a term and then “wiki,” as the first search item is invariably from Wikipedia. I associate “WP” with being either Word Perfect or the Washington Post (though the latter may more accurately be shortened to “WaPo”). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/6 "2011-10-11T16:25:56Z")
For reference, [here’s Wiki on wikis.](http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiWikiWeb) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/7 "2011-10-11T16:28:45Z")
Here’s an idea: call it Wikipedia. Not everything has to be in text message shorthand. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/8 "2011-10-11T16:45:57Z")
A co-worker assumed that WikiLeaks was just people putting up state secrets on Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/9 "2011-10-11T16:53:08Z")
I know the difference. No, I don’t particularly care. I use “the Wiki page” when talking about a page on Wikipedia and “the page on the \ wiki” when talking about a page on an independent wiki. Wikipedia is sufficiently long enough to be cumbersome when used frequently, especially when my mind _wants_ to shorten it to Wiki. ---
**Author:** ![Cryptic\_C62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cryptic\_C62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptic_C62)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/10 "2011-10-11T17:50:59Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > A co-worker assumed that WikiLeaks was just people putting up state secrets on Wikipedia. Gah, this is the worst! What boggles my mind is when _journalists_ write about Wikipedia and WikiLeaks as though they are run by the same people. Whatever happened to fact checking? It takes two seconds to figure out that Julian Assange and Jimbo Wales are not, in fact, the same person. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/11 "2011-10-11T18:00:53Z")
We must be the exception. When I say “Wiki”, I mean our local workgroup’s wiki page, on which we describe the latest issues related to the projects we are working on. E.g. “I just put the latest code requirements on the Wiki.” It’s on our company’s intranet. ---
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/12 "2011-10-11T18:45:44Z")
Wiki has become idiomatic for Wikipedia. Just like being an anti-semite, means you dislike Jews. Arabs are Semetic but an anti-semite doesn’t mean you dislike Arabs. It’s a term that has become idiomatic. What most people don’t realize is not only are there wikis but there are a bunch of different wiki software. Wikipedia uses mediawiki, but there is Tikiwiki, Pmwiki, DocuWiki and a host of other softwares ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/13 "2011-10-11T18:55:02Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Not everything has to be in text message shorthand. o no u did’n! ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/14 "2011-10-11T19:11:12Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Bingo. If I say “I looked it up on the WP” people will look at me like I have a 3rd eye. If I say “I looked it up on the wiki” everyone knows exactly what I’m talking about. And if I say “I looked it up on the wookie” everyone leaves the room. They leave the room because you are obviously lying in that you are still in possession of your arms and therefore did not look anything up on a wookie. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/15 "2011-10-11T19:28:37Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > What I don’t get is why Google hasn’t yet figured out what Wikia is yet. It always changes it to wiki when I use it in searches and I have to click the link that says “I meant what I wrote, don’t second guess me.” A quicker way is to put a plus sign directly before the word, which forces Google to look for that exact spelling. e.g. hovercraft +wikia ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/16 "2011-10-11T19:32:56Z")
> [@AndyLee](#): > > Wiki has become idiomatic for Wikipedia. Just like being an anti-semite, means you dislike Jews. Arabs are Semetic but an anti-semite doesn’t mean you dislike Arabs. It’s a term that has become idiomatic. This. Kinda like when Brits refer to the “telly,” or Americans refer to a “semi.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/17 "2011-10-12T07:39:56Z")
I think it’s just because Wikipedia is just the most important and most popular wiki. It’s just the default. I also think Wikileaks is a misleading name. But it did accept anonymous contributions when it was first created, and then continued to use Mediawiki as its content manager for a long time after that. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/18 "2011-10-12T07:46:14Z")
You are technically correct of course, but as everyone else has noted, language – and especially noun/phrase-usage – is what it is. Also, just for another very similar example: when you are writing here to this site on the “internet,” which [internet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internetwork) is it, exactly, that you are using…? 🙂 But nobody objects to “The Internet” any more, do they? ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wiki-vs-wikipedia/599310/19 "2011-10-12T08:02:20Z")
Wiki is a lot quicker to say than double-you-pee!