Talk:Five Ws

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[edit] How?

how is not a 'w'!!!!!!!!?

It has a 'w' in it though. It's like saying "writing" and "arithmetic" aren't R's - John F

It is spelled whow in this contest.Zginder 20:58, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

In my journalism class, the W's were "Who, what, where, when, why, and how if you spell it backwards." Foobaz·o< 02:26, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] What about "Which"

Would "Which" be eligible as a "Wh" question in this list?

I don't think they're actively taking submissions for new entries. 216.36.188.184 (talk) 23:44, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Fixed a deficiency

Article was missing one of the Ws. I fixed it.

[edit] Why

When I took journalism in high school (1971), we were taught the 4 W's and the H. "Why" was not included because it was considered subjective and not a statement of fact. Apparently journalism has become more subjective since then. Pity.

When I think of 'why', I think more of causality, rather than of a value judgement. So, in a story about the LA Riots, 'why' would address the motivations cited by the rioters, or in a story about some corporate merger, it would focus on the business' plans for the combined company. Sometimes this area skirts close to the area of "should", but a good journalist can describe without bias or subjectivity. Many stories are meaningless without explaining 'why' people have done things, and it seems it can be perfectly objective. --Xyzzyva 22:47, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] No why!

There should be no why. Agreed! Flinders 20:40, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, Uncle G, it's important in this case to remember that this article is dealing with two different but related topics. One is the rhyme, which obviously must include "Why?", because that is indeed what Kipling wrote. The other is the "Five or Six Ws" as taught in journalism of the past and present — and I'm sure there are primary and secondary sources on both sides in that case. What should be done is that people should go find some reliable sources, from 1971 or 2007 or both, as to whether "why" is included in the journalism side of things, and cite them in the article. --Quuxplusone 08:51, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Etymology

It can't be a coincidence that all of these start with Ws, much less that all of them start with WHs and are pronounced like H. Can anyone explain this? Twilight Realm 00:04, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

None of the "Wh" words are pronounced as if starting with "H". Powers T 18:19, 22 October 2007 (UTC)
Oh yeah, I wasn't thinking straight. But my question still stands. And here's something else: in Spanish, these words all (mostly?) begin with "qu-", as in que, qual, quien, etc. Twilight Realm (talk) 01:36, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Not the all begin with Q, the traduction is: Quién, Que, Donde, Cuando, Por qué, Cómo. Sorry if my English isn't very well--88.0.118.140 (talk) 17:57, 9 June 2008 (UTC)