Talk:Angels and Airwaves/Are vs Is

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[edit] Are vs. Is

Someone (an anonymous user?) kept editing this page to change "Angels and Airwaves are" to "Angels and Airwaves is". To my knowledge "Angels and Airwaves are" as a usage is correct because the band's name is plural and I cannot even imagine that it is correct to say "Angels and Airwaves is". Next time this page is reverted as "Angels and Airwaves are" to "Angels and Airwaves is", I am going to add dispute sign. For the last time, "Angels and Airwaves are" as a usage is correct because the band's name is plural and I am really getting tired of changing it. Alex 101 20:49, 5 January 2006 (UTC)


I'm not the guy who keeps changing it, but this has me pretty curious. I don't think it really makes a difference, they're probably both right. The first example I could think of off the top of my head is Mothers Against Drinking and Driving. MADD "is" a non-profit organization. Mothers Against Drinking and Driving "are" a non-profit organization. The first refers to the group as a single thing, the second refers to the people in the group. Both would probably be correct. In this case are we talking about the band or the people in the band? It's pretty much the same thing so I don't think it matters. I also just looked at what other people have written for the articles of other bands with these kind of names, some have "is", others have "are". Doesn't make a difference. --Z2000 03:20, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that people in the UK use "are" and people in the the USA use "is" for groups. So both and neither are correct, technically. Crazyale 00:01, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

I really think it should be "is," not "are." Angels and Airwaves is not plural. It is a proper noun referring to a single entity, in this case a band, and therefore "is" should be used. Using a different word, like has, you can see the usage again. You would say "Angels and Airwaves has become quite popular among blink fans," not "Angels and Airwaves have become..." This same idea should be used with is/are in this context. Drewface 00:59, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

That's you think or your opinion, Drewface, but, for sure "are" is right not "is". So leave it that way, you little vandal. The reason why "are" is right is because the word Angels is plural (as in more than one angel) and Airwaves (as in more than one airwave) is plural. Without the "s" it makes it singular (proper noun). Again, leave it like this: "Angels and Airwaves are", not "Angels and Airwaves is". If this page is vandalized again Drewface, a dispute or request for page protection will be filed! Alex 101 05:39, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
So leave it that way, you little vandal. -- isn't that mistreating a person? You should be more polite.--Greedy 16:35, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
First off, I NEVER vandalized this site. Yes, the words angels and airwaves are plural within themself, but when they are used as the title of anything (could be a movie, band, book, magazine, persons name, etc), they are referring to a SINGLE entity. Think of something like "The Outsiders." (I'm referring to the movie here.) If you were talking about this movie, would you say "The Outsiders are a great movie?" NO. You would say "The Outsiders IS a great movie." Same concept applies for the name of this band. Angels and Airwaves IS the name of the band, and because it is the name of the band, the phrase, when used in this context, refers to a singular entity, and is therefore singular itself. I won't switch it to is right now, because you'll probably go and report me or something, but it really should be "is." Drewface 17:07, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Drewface is right, hopefully the people who keep changing it back will learn to speak proper English; until then not much we can do. GrahameS 18:25, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Now we know why Alex 101 isn't a administrator. Very immature. --Tykell 23:16, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
And now you should stop edit warring, Tykell. I'm getting very sick and tired of this, you are breaking the three revert rule. Don't you understand what "stop" means? Alex 101 23:19, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
So are you, buddy. Broke it first as well I might add. The rule doesn't just apply when you want it to. --Tykell 23:25, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
And I asked you stop edit warring. It's annoying now knock it off. I'm getting sick and tired of it. I'm not going to stop reverting unless you do it first. Alex 101 23:29, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
"Now we know why Alex 101 isn't a [sic] administrator. Very immature." Your little edit war was very immature, but that quote was over the top. There are plenty of mature users who aren't administrators. Many of them have simply been on Wikipedia for too little time. Some of them don't want to be administrators. I was a non-admin for half a year before I finally decided to self-nominate, and got a 100% support rate. JIP | Talk 18:36, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
It should clearly be referenced as "Angels and Airwaves IS" as the sentence is only referring to the band as one entity. The plural form would only be put in place if the statement was referring to a group or collection of bands. In that case the plural form would be appropriate. As it stands, the is form should be considered to be correct. --JaysCyYoung 23:52, 21 February 2006 (UTC)


I think that both ways are proper in this case, but I think that this discussion is stupid, immature and full of shit. So, I just want to keep me hands out of this. I call upon the people here to act maturely and to stop talking bullshit and get on with embettering the article, FFS!!! Painbearer

this is the lamest edit war i've ever seen, and i've been around for over two years. for the record, on the issue of whether "are" or "is" should be used (the issue that was apparently so important that it required ALL CAPS DEATH THREATS), the article on American and British English differences says:

In British English, singular nouns that describe multiple people are often treated as plural, particularly where one is concerned with the people constituting the team, rather than with the team as an entity. The singular form is usually used in American."

and even gives a band as an example of this usage:

British English: "The Clash are a well-known band." American English: "The Clash is a well-known band."

the Wikipedia Manual of Style has a great deal of well-thought-out advice on how to decide which variety to use. —Charles P._(Mirv) 01:22, 22 February 2006 (UTC)


Good find, Mirv. According to what the Wikipedia Manual of Style has to say, I think American english (that means "is," not "are") should be used for this article. I think this because: 1. This is an American band based out of California, and 2. The rest of this article is written in American english If this was a British band, I'd vote to use "are." It seems that the majority of the people here are either for using "is" or don't care either way, so, once again, I say we go with "is." Drewface 01:36, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Are" IS right not "is" - please stop changing it!

Sorry to disagree with you all (especially you Drewface) but "are" is right, NOT "is". I'm sorry but this page has to stay like this: "Angels and Airwaves are" from now on. I have a few sources that say "Angels and Airwaves are" and I would be happy to prove that "are" is right right now if that means stop vandalizing this page. Hope you'll be surprised by what you see, Drewface:

So are you happy now? See what did I tell you, "are" is right not "is". Anyone who changes "are" to "is" for one last time deserves to be reported for vandalism (especially you Drewface). Alex 101 23:51, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

There are more Google hits for "Angels and Airwaves is" than for "Angels and Airwaves are", although neither one is very significant, as nor is the band. User:Zoe|(talk) 00:23, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but to my knowledge "are" is right NOT "is". Does that mean we can change it? No! Alex 101 00:25, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
"are" would be right if it were a british band, but it's not. did you read the stuff Mirv posted at all? just because a bunch of websites make the mistake of saying "are" doesn't mean it's right. Drewface 01:41, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
An anonymous IP (69.12.166.47) that matches up with Alex 101's editing habits is reverting this change, citing it as "vandalism, after it was instated on a general consensus. I have reverted it back assuming that it is the correct version since the majority agreed upon it. Is this vandalism? --Stukov 08:27, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
Actually no, "is" is not correct. And yes your edits are vandalism. 69.12.166.47 15:06, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Sex Pistols, Ramones, and The Dandy Warhols, among others, use 'are' and 'were' when referring to the groups. Unless you guys are going to start expanding your edit war to those five pages, it should be 'are' on this page, as well. tv316 15:20, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

I've put up a dispute tag so this can be resolved, since the majority seems to agree that it should be "is". Further looking into this situation, I have discovered Alex 101 is circumventing his block via the IP 69.12.166.47, and should not have any leverage in this discussion. As well, tv316's examples, except for the last two, are irrelevant since they are British bands so there is some justification to use British English. --Stukov 19:44, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
haha. this is crazy. i never thought this "war" would go on so long. i'm done changing it back to is for good, i'll let the rest of you fight it out. however, i will let it be known one last time that i feel it should be "is," not "are," based on the information provided in previous arguments from both myself and others. this is an american band, and therefore american english should be used. anyways... have fun guys! Drewface 22:44, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Thank goodness someone is intelligent enough to use "is"—there are a few of us out there! Just because a band's name ends with "s" doesn't mean it's plural! I had a war with this back in January because several ignorant people weighed in and decided that a band's name ending with "s" should be plural. Alex 101 changed all of my copyedits back to "are" when it should be "is." I agree with Drewface 100 percent, "is" is correct! I feel much better that I am not the only one going around changing "are" to "is" for American bands. Just because other articles use "are" doesn't mean they are correct—very few people know how to use collective nouns correctly! —RJN 10:04, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

I can't believe that this is an argument. Its simply UK vs US english. It's the same deal when refering to large companies. "Wendy's are based in .." vs "Wendy's is based in" UK refers to all the people in the company (are) while the US refers to it as a legal entity (is). Same with music. Jamesinclair 04:12, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

"Is" is right because Angels and Airwaves is one (1) band. The Ramones use "are" because there is more than one Ramone.

[edit] The Is and are thingy

You know to be quiet honest who realy cares about if its "Angels and Airwaves are" or if its "Angels and Airwaves is" the point is that this discussion page should not be about puntution or spelling or any bull$#it like that.The point is that it should be about releases and other headlined news not wastes of space like this.

The argument about "is" vs "are" has to do with making the article proper from a literary standpoint, which is part of what the talk page is here for: to give a place for people to discuss technicalities (spelling?) of the article. I do feel, however, that there is a lot in the above section that could be removed, and think that if someone could organize the opposing arguments in a cleaner layout it would be very helpful. Maybe I'll handle it sometime soon if there are no objections from anyone. Drewface 22:50, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

Wow congrats on the stupidest argument i have ever witnessed in my entire life....ARE any of u in the know when it comes to the song "The WAR" has anyone heard about it being released...if so where?

ROFL

Amen.