[Foundation-l] Why "Wikipedia" and not "the Wikipedia"?

[Unionhawk]

Let's just cut to the point; it's pretty much the same reason we don't
abbreviate as wiki; just thinking about somebody calling Wikipedia "the
Wikipedia" makes my head hurt...
--Unionhawk

On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 11:37 AM, Michael Snow <wikipedia at verizon.net>wrote:

> Ziko van Dijk wrote:
> > Hello,
> > Could someone explain to me why "Wikipedia" is without definite
> > article? In English you say "the Britannica", so why not "the
> > Wikipedia"? I am wondering that also in German Wikipedians and
> > non-Wikipedians tend to drop the article, although we say "der
> > Brockhaus".
> >
> Actually, singular proper nouns commonly do not take the definite
> article in English. I would not say "the Britannica" anymore than I
> would say "the Wikipedia" (or, as noted, "the Encarta"). This particular
> case may indicate a difference between British and American English
> here, I'm guessing from the other comments.
>
> There are some situations where you would use the definite article for
> singular proper nouns, such as with some geographical names, or when the
> name is actually a combination of common and proper nouns. Thus, I might
> refer to "the Encyclopedia Britannica" because it's "the encyclopedia"
> and "Britannica" identifies which encyclopedia I mean.
>
> --Michael Snow
>
>
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