Talk:Pussycat

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved. Arguably more of a 'no consensus', but either way this page ain't going anywhere for the time being. Jenks24 (talk) 14:36, 16 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Pussycat → Pussycat (disambiguation) – Move over redirect. I believe that 'cat' is the WP:PRIMARYUSAGE of the word 'pussycat', and indeed the page currently begins, "Pussycat is a common term for a cat. Pussycat may also refer to:" This means that the bare term should be a redirect and the disambiguation page should have a parenthetical. See my additional comments below. Relisted. Jenks24 (talk) 15:23, 8 June 2014 (UTC) Cnilep (talk) 01:44, 29 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

(As proposer:) Based on the current content of the disambiguation page, I thought that this move should be uncontroversial. However, a commenter at the aborted discussion here said, "So what you're saying is that there should be a disambiguation page for the term 'Pussycat', but Pussycat should link to something else instead? I think that would be unnecessarily confusing."

It is not uncommon for the bare name to redirect to something other than the disambiguation page when there is a primary topic. For example:

Corporate redirects to Corporation; Corporate (disambiguation) is separate
Garibaldi redirects to Giuseppe Garibaldi, not Garibaldi (disambiguation)
Panchayat redirects to Panchayati raj, not Panchayat (disambiguation)
European Cup redirects to UEFA Champions League, not European Cup (disambiguation)
Tombstone redirects to Headstone, not Tombstone (disambiguation)
Colonial America redirects to Colonial history of the United States, not Colonial America (disambiguation)

etc.

My assertion – with which others may disagree – is that cat is the primary usage of the word pussycat, and thus the primary topic. Therefore, I think that the disambiguation page should be moved to Pussycat (disambiguation), over the current redirect. Cnilep (talk) 01:44, 29 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose This is an encyclopedia, not a dictionary. The childish sense cat is unlikely to be what a reader seeks as "pussycat". The dab page needs to be reformatted as a dab page with no primary topic~~, and could usefully have a Wiktionary link added~~. PamD 05:04, 29 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, just realised that the longstanding Wiktionary link wasn't showing up in Mobile editing. PamD 08:12, 29 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose per PamD and WP:PRIMARYTOPIC which says: "much more likely than any other topic, and more likely than all the other topics combined—to be the topic sought when a reader searches for that term". People who can write and use an encyclopedia are far more likely to search for "cat" than "pussycat" if they want cat, so it's not important that cat may be the most common meaning. PrimeHunter (talk) 11:30, 29 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Support - cat is a far more notable term than absolutely anything else listed here. Red Slash 16:11, 30 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

But that's not the point: what matters is what someone searching for "Pussycat" is likely to be looking for. As this is a grown-up encyclopedia, not one aimed at small children, the reader is unlikely to be looking for cat if they search for "Pussycat". PamD 16:45, 30 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm curious why you are so confident that people using a word mean something other than the common meaning of that word? I could be convinced of PrimeHunter's assertion that this meaning is not "more likely than all the other" possible referents, but I am somewhat baffled by PamD's assertion that people are unlikely to intend Felis catus. Cnilep (talk) 04:01, 2 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It isn't a question of what people mean when they use the word in conversation, but what they are looking for when they use it to search an encyclopedia. Would you suggest that Mummy should redirect to Mother? PamD 05:21, 2 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

You'd better not click on Mum or Mommy; it may shock you. Cnilep (talk) 23:50, 2 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Primary meaning isn't always primary topic; see Alleyway for an example. I'm not sure about the primary topic for this but I had guessed that this would be a disambiguation page or the band, and maybe it will be difficult to determine. Of the examples above, at least one (Tombstone) should be a disambiguation page. Peter James (talk) 19:32, 9 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose as PamD. In ictu oculi (talk) 01:14, 10 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.