Forum:Place names

Forums: Index > Watercooler > Place names

Background information

• In regards to place names, we need to discuss this. Please ignor whether or not the actual articles are created.

Regarding articles, we have the basic continents:

• North America (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• South America (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Australia (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Europe (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Asia (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Africa (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Antarctica (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)

And we should all be familiar with these.

We also have country articles:

• Untied States (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Australia (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• England (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• New Zealand (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)

And we should all be familiar with these, and we generally know which continent they are located. etc.

We also have several divisions of country articles and categories:

• New York (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Pennsylvania (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Georgia (U.S. states) (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• New South Wales (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• North Yorkshire (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Västmanland (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Gotland (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Gelderland (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Baden-Württemberg (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)

and the thousand of others...

And just by looking at them, we know which country they are located in. But actually, not really.

New York, Pennsylvania, and Georgia are in the USA, New South Wales is in Australia, North Yorkshire is in England, Västmanland and Gotland are in Sweden, Gelderland is in the Netherlands, and Baden-Württemburg is in Germany.

I know all the U.S. states, a few Canadian provinces, a few German states, one Dthc province, a couple of Swedish provinces, and some English and Irish counties. I had to look up information on New South Wales for this post. I now know that New South Wales is located in Australia.

New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New South Wales, and Baden-Württemberg are states, North Yorkshire is a county, Gotland and Gelderland are provinces.

Note: Georgia is also the name of a country.

Okay, now let's move on to the next devision.

• Albany County, New York
• Winterswijk, Gelderland

Yeah, not everyone is going to know which country these are from.

Okay, I'm going to stop before anyone gets confused. The next edit I will post a possible solution. -AMK152^{(talk • contribs}) 16:22, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Possible solution

• Possible solution: Use country name in place name

We'll use our examples from before:

Instead of using these:

• New York (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Pennsylvania (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Georgia (U.S. states) (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• New South Wales (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• North Yorkshire (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Västmanland (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Gotland (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Gelderland (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Baden-Württemberg (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)

We should use these:

• New York, United States (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Pennsylvania, United States (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Georgia, United States (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• New South Wales, Australia (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• North Yorkshire, England (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Västmanland, Sweden (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Gotland, Sweden (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Gelderland, Netherlands (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Baden-Württemberg, Germany (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)

Then we can go on to use:

• Chautauqua County, New York, United States (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Bacon County, Georgia, United States (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Västmanland County, Västmanland, Sweden (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Visby, Gotland, Sweden (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Winterswijk, Gelderland, Netherlands (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)
• Heidenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (Born in..., Died in..., Married in..., etc.)

etc.

-AMK152^{(talk • contribs}) 16:22, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Laborious solution without a real problem?

I'm waiting to hear what the problem is. Why should you or anyone be so concerned that you don't know which country a place is in, that you want everyone to type it out and/or use a complex piped link every time they refer to it? Some people with less general knowledge than you have might be similarly concerned that they don't know where a particular country is. You said about countries "we generally know which continent they are located" - yes, "generally", not universally. Nobody at any level of general knowledge can expect to know everything about this wiki. You should be able to see what country a place is in (or what continent a country is in) as soon as you look at its page. And if you don't want to bother looking at its page, you can't claim to be really interested in any solution to the alleged problem in respect of that place. How far do you want us to go? - Ruislip, West London, England, United Kingdom, British Isles, North-west Europe, Northern Hemisphere (formerly in the County of Middlesex, South-East England, Europe...)? Robin Patterson 03:30, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Not that far. Just adding the country name to it. I started to do that, but then I believe it should be standardized. I'd prefer to use "Born in Gelderland, Netherlands" rather than "Born in Gelderland." Also, I'd prefer to use "Born in Georgia, United States" rather than "Born in Georgia (U.S. state)." It makes sense including the country name. It makes sense for one method to be used. -AMK152^{(talk • contribs}) 03:51, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps the not know the country name is not a huge problem. But this would solve some disambiguation problems, and be made more specific. -AMK152^{(talk • contribs}) 03:52, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Plus, this would help when I develop a system that makes more sense for place categorizations on the info pages. Instead of using state, county, and town. Since not all countries have states or even counties. -AMK152^{(talk • contribs}) 03:54, 15 July 2008 (UTC)