I'm running into an increasing number of mentions of Wikipedia in pop- cultural contexts these days. Two recent examples:
In Simpsons Comics #117, there is this exchange:
Lisa: Say, aren't you Hank Scorpio, the criminal mastermind?
Hank: I prefer the term "Entrepreneurial mastermind", but yes, that's me.
Lisa: You blackmailed the federal government into giving you control of the American east coast. Now everyone thinks you are dead.
Hank: Aren't you adorable? We're all about to be shot as escaped prisoners, and you're reciting my entry in the Wikipedia. I hope you're proud of her, Homer. She's great!
The other was on a recent Colbert Report on Comedy Central, where Colbert was talking about Sigmund Freud, and proudly announced that he had prepared for the segment by reading Freud's *entire* Wikipedia entry, even the accurate parts.
I think Wikipedia has achieved the pop-cultural status of being suitable for mention in humorous (and not entirely flattering) contexts; it seems to have a connotation something like "I've achieved a shallow, superficial, and quite likely inaccurate understanding of a subject the lazy way... and I'm damn proud of it!"
On 5/11/06, Daniel R. Tobias dan@tobias.name wrote:
Hank: Aren't you adorable? We're all about to be shot as escaped prisoners, and you're reciting my entry in the Wikipedia. I hope you're proud of her, Homer. She's great!
I think Wikipedia has achieved the pop-cultural status of being suitable for mention in humorous (and not entirely flattering) contexts; it seems to have a connotation something like "I've achieved a shallow, superficial, and quite likely inaccurate understanding of a subject the lazy way... and I'm damn proud of it!"
I also notice that in popular usage, it's often "the Wikipedia", whereas we tend to just say "on Wikipedia".
Steve
On 5/11/06, Steve Bennett stevage@gmail.com wrote:
On 5/11/06, Daniel R. Tobias dan@tobias.name wrote:
Hank: Aren't you adorable? We're all about to be shot as escaped prisoners, and you're reciting my entry in the Wikipedia. I hope you're proud of her, Homer. She's great!
I think Wikipedia has achieved the pop-cultural status of being suitable for mention in humorous (and not entirely flattering) contexts; it seems to have a connotation something like "I've achieved a shallow, superficial, and quite likely inaccurate understanding of a subject the lazy way... and I'm damn proud of it!"
I also notice that in popular usage, it's often "the Wikipedia", whereas we tend to just say "on Wikipedia".
Steve
I see this all the time too, and I can't understand it, people don't say "I looked it up in the Encyclopedia Britannica", they say "I looked it up in Encyclopedia Britannica". It's really quite strange that they wouldn't use the same construct for wikipedia..........
--Oskar
On 5/11/06, Oskar Sigvardsson oskarsigvardsson@gmail.com wrote:
I see this all the time too, and I can't understand it, people don't say "I looked it up in the Encyclopedia Britannica", they say "I looked it up in Encyclopedia Britannica". It's really quite strange that they wouldn't use the same construct for wikipedia..........
But they would say "I looked it up in the encyclopaedia" - maybe they think "wiki" is just some weird web term, so it would be like saying "I looked it up in the weblopaedia" or something. Rather than realising there is *one* Wikipedia. ?
Steve
"Steve Bennett" wrote
But they would say "I looked it up in the encyclopaedia" - maybe they think "wiki" is just some weird web term, so it would be like saying "I looked it up in the weblopaedia" or something. Rather than realising there is *one* Wikipedia. ?
The French, sticklers for definite articles, say 'sur Internet', where we say 'on the Internet'. Don't expect logic. BTW I thought wiki was a Weird Web Term. Roll on the real WWW (World Wide Wiki).
Charles
On 5/11/06, charles matthews charles.r.matthews@ntlworld.com wrote:
The French, sticklers for definite articles, say 'sur Internet', where we say 'on the Internet'.
Yes, I've never quite understood that one.
Steve
for those who can read French, there's a beginning of answer here : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet#Terminologie
g.
On 5/11/06, Steve Bennett stevage@gmail.com wrote:
On 5/11/06, charles matthews charles.r.matthews@ntlworld.com wrote:
The French, sticklers for definite articles, say 'sur Internet', where
we
say 'on the Internet'.
Yes, I've never quite understood that one.
Steve _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@Wikipedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
Guillaume Paumier wrote:
On 5/11/06, Steve Bennett stevage@gmail.com wrote:
On 5/11/06, charles matthews charles.r.matthews@ntlworld.com wrote:
The French, sticklers for definite articles, say 'sur Internet', where we say 'on the Internet'.
Yes, I've never quite understood that one.
for those who can read French, there's a beginning of answer here : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet#Terminologie
For that matter, see also: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:%C3%80_propos#En_fait_c.27est_le...
The French are weird...
G'day Steve,
On 5/11/06, Oskar Sigvardsson oskarsigvardsson@gmail.com wrote:
I see this all the time too, and I can't understand it, people don't say "I looked it up in the Encyclopedia Britannica", they say "I looked it up in Encyclopedia Britannica". It's really quite strange that they wouldn't use the same construct for wikipedia..........
But they would say "I looked it up in the encyclopaedia" - maybe they think "wiki" is just some weird web term, so it would be like saying "I looked it up in the weblopaedia" or something. Rather than realising there is *one* Wikipedia. ?
Imagine, decades from now, the fans of other web encyclopaedias saying things like "those guys are SO arrogant. What gives them the right to say that they are *THE* Wikipedia?"
Mark Gallagher wrote:
G'day Steve,
On 5/11/06, Oskar Sigvardsson oskarsigvardsson@gmail.com wrote:
I see this all the time too, and I can't understand it, people don't say "I looked it up in the Encyclopedia Britannica", they say "I looked it up in Encyclopedia Britannica". It's really quite strange that they wouldn't use the same construct for wikipedia..........
But they would say "I looked it up in the encyclopaedia" - maybe they think "wiki" is just some weird web term, so it would be like saying "I looked it up in the weblopaedia" or something. Rather than realising there is *one* Wikipedia. ?
Imagine, decades from now, the fans of other web encyclopaedias saying things like "those guys are SO arrogant. What gives them the right to say that they are *THE* Wikipedia?"
Because Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation. We should be defending our trademark as vigorously as possible.
G'day Alphax,
Mark Gallagher wrote:
G'day Steve,
But they would say "I looked it up in the encyclopaedia" - maybe they think "wiki" is just some weird web term, so it would be like saying "I looked it up in the weblopaedia" or something. Rather than realising there is *one* Wikipedia. ?
Imagine, decades from now, the fans of other web encyclopaedias saying things like "those guys are SO arrogant. What gives them the right to say that they are *THE* Wikipedia?"
Because Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation. We should be defending our trademark as vigorously as possible.
See, historically, when a joke has fallen flat, there has still been one person who got it. That person is usually named "Alphax". Damn it.
Now I'll need a new Official Interpreter. Any volunteers?
On 12/05/06, Mark Gallagher m.g.gallagher@student.canberra.edu.au wrote:
Now I'll need a new Official Interpreter. Any volunteers?
Do we get to twist your words about so they have completely different meanings and generally put a bit of spin and controversy in your speeches?
Rob Church
On 5/11/06, Oskar Sigvardsson
I see this all the time too, and I can't understand it, people don't say "I looked it up in the Encyclopedia Britannica", they say "I looked it up in Encyclopedia Britannica". It's really quite strange that they wouldn't use the same construct for wikipedia..........
Many times people stick "the" in front of things they don't understand and sometimes are a little afraid of. The best example I can think of offhand is Denzel Washington referring to "the AIDS" throughout the movie Philadelphia.
Daniel R. Tobias wrote:
The other was on a recent Colbert Report on Comedy Central, where Colbert was talking about Sigmund Freud, and proudly announced that he had prepared for the segment by reading Freud's *entire* Wikipedia entry, even the accurate parts.
What I found interesting is that one wouldn't get the joke if one didn't already know that WP has highly variable quality. While clearly Colbert's writers are familiar with WP, I wonder how many of the viewers were puzzled by the reference.
Stan
On 5/11/06, Daniel R. Tobias dan@tobias.name wrote:
I'm running into an increasing number of mentions of Wikipedia in pop- cultural contexts these days. Two recent examples:
In Simpsons Comics #117, there is this exchange:
Lisa: Say, aren't you Hank Scorpio, the criminal mastermind?
Hank: I prefer the term "Entrepreneurial mastermind", but yes, that's me.
Lisa: You blackmailed the federal government into giving you control of the American east coast. Now everyone thinks you are dead.
Hank: Aren't you adorable? We're all about to be shot as escaped prisoners, and you're reciting my entry in the Wikipedia. I hope you're proud of her, Homer. She's great!
The other was on a recent Colbert Report on Comedy Central, where Colbert was talking about Sigmund Freud, and proudly announced that he had prepared for the segment by reading Freud's *entire* Wikipedia entry, even the accurate parts.
I think Wikipedia has achieved the pop-cultural status of being suitable for mention in humorous (and not entirely flattering) contexts; it seems to have a connotation something like "I've achieved a shallow, superficial, and quite likely inaccurate understanding of a subject the lazy way... and I'm damn proud of it!"
-- == Dan == Dan's Mail Format Site: http://mailformat.dan.info/ Dan's Web Tips: http://webtips.dan.info/ Dan's Domain Site: http://domains.dan.info/
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