Talk:Swear jar

Proposed merger

I agree with the proposed merger into swear box – they're the same thing. I think swear box should be the primary title, with a redirect from swear jar: although the meaning of swear jar is obvious, I'd never heard that term before today (unlike swear box, which I've known for years and which I think is the usual one in UK). Narky Blert (talk) 22:57, 24 February 2015 (UTC)

What about google hits? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 11:29, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

Merged: uncontroversial proposal. I have merged swear box into swear jar as at the time of writing swear jar had been visited 780 times in the last 30 days and swear box had only been viewed 186 time in the last 30 days. Ebonelm (talk) 17:40, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

Hmmmmm, not exactly by the book, but it would probably have ended up that way. @Phoebe:, @Narky Blert:, @Sealman:, are you all okay with this? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 23:46, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

@Anna Frodesiak: Fine by me, the merger is the biggie not the name of the primary article. Narky Blert (talk) 00:20, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Fine with me. I think that "swear jar" is less ambiguous, but either term is OK. Reify-tech (talk) 00:28, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Fair enough. I agree. And of course it was a good faith redirect. I just thought that in fairness, I ought to let the involved parties know. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 00:39, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks! And fine with me; I was just trying to clean up old merge proposals :) (perhaps a future section could be about different terminology in different parts of the world!) -- phoebe / (talk to me) 19:57, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

Name of article

@Narky Blert:@Anna Frodesiak:@Ebonelm:@Sealman:@Reify-tech:@Phoebe: I've added some Google ngram evidence on the frequency of the terms swear box/jar, and "swear box" has a much much longer pedigree (back to 1890) and is far more commonly used worldwide. "Swear jar" appears to be unknown in the UK (according to ngrams, but also Narky's comment above), and jar/box are about equally common in the US/UK as of 2008 (most recent reliable ngrams data). So I would recommend moving to swear box. --Macrakis (talk) 15:50, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

• I have no strong feelings. I have a mild nationalistic preference for "swear box", but will go along with any consensus. As I said in that earlier discussion - was it really 5 years ago? - the important thing is that all the information is in one place. If a move is made, it should be a technical WP:ROBIN swap to preserve page history.

My favourite compromise article name may be soft drink; which probably leaves both Americans and Europeans feeling mildly unhappy, because it's a second-best choice everywhere. Narky Blert (talk) 17:16, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Agreed about how to swap.

Re soft drink, I am confused. The article seems to be specifically about sweetened, carbonated drinks. My understanding (supported by the OED) is that a soft drink is simply a cold non-alcoholic beverage, including fruit juice, ayran, iced tea, etc. -- that is, drinks suitable for children and teetotalers. Not quite sure whether mineral water, milkshakes, and non-alcoholic beer count.... --Macrakis (talk) 20:15, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Practical issue

There are huge practical issues with this concept not addressed at all and this makes one doubt if this is actually practiced by people in real situations or just a metaphor. Firstly, you would need a setting where people are talking to each other regularly and not doing their own businesses. Secondly, it must be guaranteed that someone supervises this for a long-term period. Thirdly, the swearer may not carry the adecuate coins with them at all times. If it's just any amount of money, it also loses its purpose.--2001:16B8:3159:7100:F80B:8E20:2981:55FF (talk) 00:02, 7 December 2020 (UTC)