[WikiEN-l] Re: River names Oder/Odra and Neisse/Nysa

Wed Feb 19 11:52:13 UTC 2003

>.....
>2. "Odra" is the original and the true 
>name of the river.
>
>I doubt this. I would guess, that the original 
>name was neither Oder nor Odra, but 
>something completely different. There is 
>nothing like a true name. This is the same 
>dispute as for many other placenames 
>(Macedonia, Sea of Japan, etc.)

This is not directed specifically at you Mirko, but;
The idea that there is "one true name" of /anything/ is a total fallacy. Names 
are not intrinsically linked to subjects - all they are, are abstractions 
that the human mind uses in order to index and store data connected to the 
subject. 

So the only "correct" name for a thing in English Wikipedia is what is most 
commonly used and recognized by English speakers.

>I've already told, that I would not mind, if 
>we should decide to use the name "Odra". 
>But I would like to place a decision in our 
>Naming Conventions, so whenever someone 
>changes the name again, we can refer him to 
>that page and simply correct it without 
>having a new chauvinist  outcry.
>
>Mirko.

This is already covered by:
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(use_English) and
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_(common_names)

Therefore, as already has been explained, Oder and  Neisser are the forms we 
should use.

--Daniel Mayer (aka mav)

WikiKarma
Added a bunch of events to [[February 13]]; updated all the year pages and 
many of the other articles linked from that page.