- Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (talk|edit|history|logs|links|watch) (XfD|restore)
Suitable as a {{wiktionary redirect}} as a page repeatedly created but has no encyclopedic value. May be fully protected if necessary. feminist 03:27, 24 May 2017 (UTC)
- This DRV seems to be an appeal of the 2016 deletion discussion at WP:Articles for deletion/Sesquipedalophobia, closed by User:MBisanz. The Wiktionary entry is at wikt:hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. EdJohnston (talk) 04:11, 24 May 2017 (UTC)
- Does this really need a DRV? Given that the option of a wiktionary redirect wasn't discussed, and (given how little known such redirects are outside of RfD), probably not available to the participants as a possibility in the first place. Anyway, I don't think this should be retargeted to wiktionary, as readers searching for this word are better served by the search results, which consist in two entries: Self-referential humor (where Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is given as an example) and the spelling variant Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (which is a wiktionary redirect and as such could guide users to the relevant wiktionary entry). – Uanfala (talk) 20:56, 24 May 2017 (UTC)
- The title's salted, so it needs discussion somewhere. DRV isn't any less reasonable a place for it than WP:RFPP. —Cryptic 22:51, 24 May 2017 (UTC)
- Wiktionary redirect sounds very reasonable to me. My prior involvement with this was closing a (now very old) RfD that deleted a large number of stupid and/or obscure phobias with unhelpful redirects that weren't mentioned in the target article. This isn't an encyclopedic topic, and is unlikely to be covered as anything other than a joke, but it's well served by the Wiktionary page. ~ mazca talk 23:27, 24 May 2017 (UTC)
- I am unconvinced that the word actually exists, assuming that a "word" means not just a sequence of letters that somebody has made up, but something which is actually used in real language. A Google search turns up blogs, Twitter, wikis, etc, and online dictionaries, all defining the "word" or commenting on its existence, but I have not found even a single example of anyone actually using the word, nor even of anyone referring to any example of the word being used. At least some of the hits have used either Wiktionary or Wikipedia as their sources, and in view of the lack of any examples of actual use it is highly likely that all of them ultimately derive from such unreliable sources as Wikipedia, blogs, etc. I will not be totally upset if the outcome of this discussion is that the page is restored as a link to Wiktionary, but I think it is better not to do so, because my belief is that for Wikipedia to give any support at all to such a fake "word" is unhelpful. The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 15:56, 25 May 2017 (UTC)
- If you search for Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia insted (notice the extra p in the middle) you get a somewhat higher number of results, but again there are pretty few of them pre-2000. And of course it's not a word the people normally use, it's a made up word, yes, and one that has been made up specifically as an example of self-referential humour. And that's what it's known for. – Uanfala (talk) 19:38, 25 May 2017 (UTC)
- Yes, I did search under both spellings, and it is more than just "not a word the people normally use": can you give me one example of anyone ever actually using it? The editor who uses the pseudonym "JamesBWatson" (talk) 08:50, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
- I don't think anyone here claims that the word is used non-self-referentially. But that's beside the point. – Uanfala (talk) 12:21, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
- Here is a 1980 book source about "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia":
- Coon, Dennis (1980). Introduction to Psychology: Exploration and Application (2 ed.). St. Paul, Minnesota: West. p. 455. ISBN 0829903038. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The book notes in a footnote: *Obviously by combining the appropriate root word with the word phobia, any number of unlikely fears can be named. Some are acarophobia, a fear of itching, zemmiphobia, fear of the great mole rat, nictophobia, fear of backing into doorknobs; phobosophobia, fear of fear; and hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, fear of long words!
Cunard (talk) 01:01, 30 May 2017 (UTC)
- Would be reasonable as a soft redirect to a sister project due to it being a topic with a less-than-encyclopedic scope that has been repeatedly recreated. — Godsy (TALKCONT) 09:04, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
- What a joke. A non-existent word being suitable as a redirect, whether soft or hard, merely on the basis that someone tried repeatedly to push it into Wikipedia? Keep deleted with prejudice. Bishonen | talk 11:56, 26 May 2017 (UTC).
- @Bishonen: I can't view the deleted history. Was the page repeatedly recreated by the same user or IP address or different IP addresses? If so, I'll reconsider. — Godsy (TALKCONT) 12:10, 26 May 2017 (UTC)
- Does anyone object if I temporarily restore the article for study by DRV reviewers? Since 2006 there are about 100 edits, with plenty of vandalism and joke edits, and occasional good-faith ideas. If we are mainly concerned about abuse, then leaving the article deleted with the title permanently protected against recreation is about as useful as replacing it with a protected redirect to Wiktionary. EdJohnston (talk) 04:09, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
- Tempundeleted for review (and semi-protected). -- RoySmith (talk) 17:24, 27 May 2017 (UTC)
- Restore as a soft redirect to wikt:hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. Here are some sources I found about the subject:
- Coon, Dennis (1980). Introduction to Psychology: Exploration and Application (2 ed.). St. Paul, Minnesota: West. p. 455. ISBN 0829903038. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The book notes in a footnote: *Obviously by combining the appropriate root word with the word phobia, any number of unlikely fears can be named. Some are acarophobia, a fear of itching, zemmiphobia, fear of the great mole rat, nictophobia, fear of backing into doorknobs; phobosophobia, fear of fear; and hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia, fear of long words!
- Blows, William T. (2016). The Biological Basis of Mental Health (3 ed.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 356. ISBN 1317479025. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The book notes: Ironically, the word for 'fear of long words' is hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.
- Korgeski, Gregory (2009). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Phobias. New York: Penguin Group. p. 209. ISBN 1101149434. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The book notes: Words, long (hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia) Fear of very, very, very long words. This term is interesting and there are various histories of it given, but the etymology is clear as river mud. Take a deep breath: hippopoto- refers to back to hippopotamus, which has been used as a basis for words meaning large since the mid-nineteenth century (in the word hippopotamine); this itself comes from the Greek term for hippopotamus, which was literally river horse, or hippo- (horse) combined with potamos (river). Monstros in the middle is from the Latin monstrum for large or evil omen. Sesquipedal means a foot and a half long word, from the Latin sesqui meaning one and a half and pedal from the Latin pes, meaning foot—then of course, we add the 'o' as glue and the -phobia, and there it is. Easy as pie! It is, of course, a joke term, despite the fact that there are probably many students who do fear having to learn to spell very long words.
- Sahakian, Barbara; LaBuzetta, Jamie Nicole (2013). Bad Moves: How decision making goes wrong, and the ethics of smart drugs. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 56. ISBN 0191645532. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The book notes: Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia | Long words
- Latta, Sara (2013). Scared Stiff: Everything You Need to Know About 50 Famous Phobias. San Francisco: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 97. ISBN 1936976501. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The book notes: Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (fear of long words): Well, this may be a real phobia of spelling bee contestants, for whom the name itself would give nightmares.
- Kress, Jacqueline E.; Fry, Edward B. (2016). The Reading Teacher's Book of Lists. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons. p. 178. ISBN 1119080932. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The book notes: hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia—fear of long words
- Burnett, Dean (2016). Idiot Brain: What Your Head Is Really Up To. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 55. ISBN 0393253791. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The book notes: This process implies that literally anything can become the focus of a phobia, and if you've ever seen a list of existing phobias this seems to be the case. Notable examples including turophobia (fear of cheese), xanthophobia (fear of the color yellow, which obvious overlaps with turophobia), hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (fear of long words, because psychologists are basically evil) and phobophobia (fear of having a phobia, because the brain regularly turns to the concept of logic and says, "Shut up, you're not my real dad!").
- Lawrence Jr., Calvin (2015-11-13). "Friday the 13th Fears (Paraskevidekatriaphobia) and Other Unpronounceable Phobias". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2017-05-30. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The article notes: Sesquipedaliophobia is the fear of long words, which has morphed into the contrived hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. By either spelling, of course, sufferers would have been hard pressed to read beyond the headline of this article.
- Tearle, Oliver (2014-10-10). "The Longest English Words to Ever Appear in Literature". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 2017-05-30. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The article notes: There is a word for those who are scared of long words. It is the suitably long ‘hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia.’ There is also a word for somebody who is fond of using long words: sesquipedalian. It stems from the Latin for ‘a foot and a half,’ and was first used to denote someone who is given to longwordiness in Elizabeth Gaskell’s 1853 work Cranford (or at least this is the earliest instance the Oxford English Dictionary has yet managed to unearth).
- Shuey, Karen (2016-05-21). "Berks speller taking national competition in stride". Reading Eagle. Archived from the original on 2017-05-30. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
The article notes: Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia. This could be one of the words that Caroline Allen will have to spell at the Scripps National Spelling Bee next week in Washington. But don't worry. If it comes up, she knows it. "It might actually be my favorite word because it means a fear of long words," she said. "How funny is that?"
Cunard (talk) 01:01, 30 May 2017 (UTC)
- The word "hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia" has been discussed in seven reputable book publishers:
- West
- Routledge
- Penguin Group
- Oxford University Press
- Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- John Wiley & Sons
- W. W. Norton & Company
- Cunard (talk) 01:01, 30 May 2017 (UTC)
- Endorse. Already decided at AfD that it is not an encyclopedic topic. There is currently one mention of it in the article Self-referential humor. Redirects and soft redirects interfere with searches. Soft redirects of mainspace titles to Wiktionary are not a good idea. --SmokeyJoe (talk) 05:02, 30 May 2017 (UTC)
- I think the sources Cunard listed are enough for meeting WP:N as an article, but probably not enough (IMO) to overcome WP:NOT issues. That said, the redirect seems quite reasonable, but I can't find a guideline that talks about mainspace titles being redirected to Wiktionary. Is there such a guideline? Hobit (talk) 16:26, 30 May 2017 (UTC)
- Soft redirect to Wiktionary. We do not have encyclopaedic content about this topic and there is consensus that we don't want an encyclopaedia article about this topic. There is strong evidence that readers are looking for content at this title on Wikipedia. Wiktionary has relevant content, so why on earth would we not point people there? Our primary goal is to educate people, and in this case a soft redirect is the best way to educate people. If vandalism is a concern then the soft redirect can be (semi) protected just like any other page. Thryduulf (talk) 02:02, 31 May 2017 (UTC)
- I wouldn't want to point readers to wiktionary because in this case the search results are more useful than a redirect. – Uanfala (talk) 10:08, 31 May 2017 (UTC)
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