Talk:Kafkatrap

Not a Proper Noun

There are a few uses of the term "kafkatrap" in this article in which capitalize the word, despite not being at the beginning of a sentence. While the name of Franz Kafka, for whom the term is named, is a proper noun, the term "kafkatrap" is not. When Eric S. Raymond coined the term, he did not capitalize it.

Please respect the rules of grammar and the author who coined this term, and stop capitalizing this term, except when the rules of grammar dictate otherwise. It is not a proper noun. 2603:9000:8D07:AAB0:DCA4:6AC6:1705:E514 14:43, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

You are confused. Not all capitalised words are proper nouns. For example, "two Mondays in a month": "Monday" here is a common noun, despite the capital. Our entry is fine. Equinox ◑ 14:53, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

No, your entry is not fine. The person who coined the term does not capitalize the word. There is no rule in place that dictates "kafkatrap" needs to be capitalized. The word Monday, by the way, is an adverb being used as a noun. As the spelling remains unchanged, of course you would retain the capitalization when you use it as a noun. You're wrong. Accept it. Fix it. End of. 2603:9000:8D07:AAB0:DCA4:6AC6:1705:E514 20:27, 20 March 2021 (UTC)

The way to resolve this is to look for uses of the term in various works and see if it is exclusively uncapitalized or appears both with an initial capital letter and without. If the latter is the case, then the entry is fine. We are a descriptive dictionary and base our entries on common usage, even if this may differ from how the coiner of a term may have first used it. (Equinox’s point is simply that just because the word is capitalized doesn’t mean it is a proper noun; common nouns can be capitalized as well.) — SGconlaw (talk) 04:19, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

Absolute nonsense. "Two Mondays in a month": Monday cannot be an adverb in my given example. Adverbs don't have plurals! Get a clue. The entry is correct and will stay as it is. Equinox ◑ 08:56, 21 March 2021 (UTC)

With all due respect, Equinox, you need, more desperately than you need oxygen, to get over yourself. Your entry is not fine. Not just for the capitalization, but also because the word is not hyphenated. And further compounding the rife mistakes on this horrible, horrible, horrible blog entry (Face it; this is a blog, not a wiktionary.), you're also overlooking that there are three distinct types of kafkatrap: the model A, model C, and model P. Did any of you even bother to look at the blog entry of the person who actually coined this term? I'm guessing not one of you did. The capitalization is wrong, the hyphenation is wrong and you have only (somewhat accurately) defined the model A variant and not even looked at the model C or the model P. (Queue Equinox's hissy fit. "I don't care how the person who actually coined this term defined it! I am far and away more intelligent that he is, and as such, I will redefine his coinage how I see fit! Because my way is far, far better! So, there!") 2603:9000:8D07:AAB0:7591:F41D:8E07:2087 00:34, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

I am surprised this was chosen as Word of the Day with only one citation, and that from the person who coined the term. We're not given evidence whether the word is usually capitalized or not. —Mahāgaja · talk 06:54, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

I agree, poor and potentially controversial choice. – Jberkel 08:21, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

It would be nice if more complete entries were nominated, but I suspect it would be difficult to ask editors to do that. In the past I tried to add quotations to entries before they were featured as WOTD but it's just too much work – I can do it for some entries but not every one. You are all most welcome to help with that. — SGconlaw (talk) 09:17, 26 April 2021 (UTC)

{{fwotd-nom}}, used for foreign words, gives you a little nudging warning in red to remind you to cite your nomination. I actually thought that was mandatory for WOTDs (since they're meant to show the best side of Wiktionary), and if not it should be.__Gamren (talk) 15:27, 26 April 2021 (UTC)