Talk:Shrek

RFV discussion: September–November 2020

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Shrek

No citations currently present at all. Tharthan (talk) 02:18, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

I've found one, which isn't great: "I don't want my sister to see you look like a mess, like an ugly Shrek". Other G.Books searches like "a real Shrek", "absolute Shrek", "you Shrek" don't seem to turn up anything relevant. Equinox ◑ 13:56, 29 September 2020 (UTC)

I've found a second cite by searching for "ugly Shrek" on Usenet. Two down, one to go. Khemehekis (talk) 02:54, 5 October 2020 (UTC)

If it comes down to only three citations being found (with the two mentioned above making up two of those three), I would definitely contest the citation that Equinox found, for reasons that are probably quite clear to anyone who reads that citation. Tharthan (talk) 06:38, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

Why? It says "an ugly Shrek", suggesting that there could be multiple Shreks. That's true for a figurative common noun but not for the proper noun: there is only one actual Shrek. Equinox ◑ 05:31, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

I admit that you could read it like that, but "like an ugly Shrek" could also simply be redundant and/or poorly phrased on the part of the author. Shrek is inherently ugly, and the author may have simply intended to say "I don't want my sister seeing you look like Shrek". In contrast, the Usenet citation is more believable (in that it is referencing a common noun). The only thing that might potentially point to the Fear to Lose citation using a common noun rather than simply using a simile that is comparing to the proper noun is that Shrek (the character) is an ogre, not a dishevelled person, nor a human down on their luck, nor someone suffering from the effects of drugs (or whatever it is that is going on with the individual being spoken to in the book). Tharthan (talk) 10:09, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

@Tharthan: I don't particularly want to defend this citation because it's stupid Shrek pop culture nonsense, but I do feel we should be consistent about these things. You're saying "perhaps they meant to say X" but they didn't say X, they said Y. You can't manipulate someone else's grammar just bceause you hate Shrek! Equinox ◑ 02:23, 19 October 2020 (UTC)

I have added two more citations. I consider this cited Kiwima (talk) 00:52, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 21:20, 7 November 2020 (UTC)