Talk:Cock Lane ghost/Archive 1

Archive 1

Professional writing style

As for the article, I have edited some of the style to make in more encyclopedic. I believe this to be an excellent article, factually, but a few things need to be changed.

Good job to whoever wrote this, and again for the person above, the idea of the Wikipedia is that you may add or subtract whatever you see fit from the article

Bizznot 14:10, 4 June 2007 (UTC)!

Just edited out the "sex and murder" line at the opening. Whoever re-wrote the article did a great job, congrats.

Bizznot 14:15, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

It's all obviously an April Fools Joke —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.115.167.222 (talk) 06:39, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

It is not. Mr Stephen (talk) 07:01, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Congratulations IP, you've responded to a 4 year old post. -- 李博杰  | —Talk contribs email 07:15, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Significant expansion

I've been working on an expansion of this article in my sandbox, here. I thought I'd post it up to get any response. If people are happy with the additions, I can copy the material across. Very little has been removed from this article as it now stands. There is some hidden text that I have to work on, mainly around contemporary reports of the story. Parrot of Doom (talk) 10:41, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Well since nobody replied, I'll copy it across now. Parrot of Doom (talk) 22:13, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Userer or usurer?

The article refers to Kent as a "userer"; shouldn't that be "usurer", one who engages in usury?  – ukexpat (talk) 18:22, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes, that's correct, I'll change it now. Thanks for spotting it, along with the other errors you found! It'll teach me to edit on my laptop in the dark... Parrot of Doom 19:14, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Notification of a TFA nomination

In the past, there have been requests that discussions about potentially controversial TFAs are brought to the attention of more than just those who have WP:TFAR on their watchlist. With that in mind: Fuck: Word Taboo and Protecting Our First Amendment Liberties has been nominated for an appearance as Today's Featured Article. If you have any views, please comment at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests. Thank you. — Cirt (talk) 17:24, 1 November 2014 (UTC)

Just to say...

Another reason why I love Wikipedia. Well done everybody. Gareth E Kegg (talk) 00:02, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Much agreed. The caption on the main page is particularly awesome. Qrsdogg (talk) 00:40, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

I wonder how this article title will be represented in newspapers tomorrow=P.Smallman12q (talk) 00:54, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Locations

In 1762, East Greenwich was in Kent. It did not become part of London until 1888. Mjroots (talk) 05:09, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Thankyou for that, I've updated the article accordingly. Parrot of Doom 07:57, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Er...

Yes, very clever April Fools Joke for a couple seconds. I guess we can forget about ever being taken seriously as an information source but at least a few people are getting a jolly good chuckle. Night Ranger (talk) 01:06, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

This article is completely factual. Everything is sourced and falls within all Wikipedia guidelines.--Found5dollar (talk) 01:37, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, in the same way that The Guardian can forget about ever being taken seriously [as a news source, or Google as a serious business. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 02:03, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

WP do this every year (see also 'Did you know...'). Entirely factual, funny, and cleverly done. Tobz1000 (talk) 03:07, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Fanny scratching? Really? Come on now, grow up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.239.159.6 (talk) 14:45, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Slang, British vs. American

• A British, Irish and Australian vulgar term for the external genital organs of a female (vulva).
• An American slang term for the buttocks.--DThomsen8 (talk) 11:47, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

You forgot also:

• dial
• A tin for holding anything to be drunk; a mess-kettle.
• ...The word formed by the initials of First Aid Nursing Yeomanry accommodated to the form of the name Fanny....

• And, of course, that Fanny was a common enough name, and is still used today. Parrot of Doom 11:53, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

• In this context, it's just shortened version of Frances...how could anyone possibly assume anything else? I wonder what the etymology of the other meanings of the phrase is? It's interesting that it has different connotations on different sides of the Atlantic. Bob talk 12:10, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

The OED gives fairly good breakdowns of the slang variant, fanny in US English is first used in 1928 - " B. Hecht & C. MacArthur Front Page ii. 115 Parking her fanny in here." but in British English is used in 1879 - " Pearl I. 82 You shan't look at my fanny for nothing." So we can see that Frances Lynes would not have associated her sobriquet with anything other than Frances. Parrot of Doom 13:07, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Ah but as we know, dictionaries take their etymology 'start' dates in these cases from the first written example, as obviously speech wasn't recorded. You can be guaranteed the slang terms for front/back bottoms were around a lot earlier than 1879 UK/1928 US. 86.152.241.66 (talk) 15:33, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

The term may be related to the book Fanny Hill, which is from 1748. -- Buzz-tardis (talk) 16:12, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Another great article: "tanquam ex ungue leonem"

Well done, MF & PoD! Best regards,  Kiefer.Wolfowitz  (Discussion) 01:55, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes, excellent. This must have been a LOT of work! Bigmac31 (talk) 17:41, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

PoD deserves the credit for the article, but the salacious blurb was all mine. I'll take whatever hits there are for that, but I won't lose any sleep over them. Malleus Fatuorum 02:03, 1 April 2011 (UTC)