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 <wikipe...@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 > > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
