User talk:J Crow

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[edit] Welcome

If you are interested in phonetics, you might want to check out Wikipedia:WikiProject_Phonetics. I'll include some welcome information below. Nposs 06:38, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

Welcome!

Hello, J Crow, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question and then place {{helpme}} after the question on your talk page. Again, welcome! 

[edit] Major League Soccer

Thank you for your contribution to Major League Soccer. As an ESL teacher, I normally balk at anyone who would discourage people from taking a more descriptive view of language. In the case of the word "underwhelming," however, I need not get into any such debate on standard or non-standard English. You may kindly look at http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/underwhelming and find that the word does, in fact, exist as a transitive verb. By taking the -ing participle form of the word, you have an adjective just like "interesting" or "frightening." As a result, I have undone your edit, but nonetheless look forward to your future contributions through your interest in MLS and American soccer. Thanks! --Roehl Sybing 12:43, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

'Underwhelm' indeed found in Merriam-Webster Online
While I appreciate your tendency to balk at people who discourage descriptivism in language (although I might balk at the idea, rather than the person), I encourage you to consider the following:
  • Dictionaries are are descriptive volumes by definition, nonetheless, not every word found in a dictionary is appropriate for an encyclopedia. Good dictionaries contain obscene language as well as non-standard but popular neologisms, but neither should be included in an encyclopedia. See WP:TONE.
  • While Merriam-Webster defines the word without any further notes, www.dictionary.com defines 'underwhelm' and points out that it's usage is informal, refer again to WP:TONE.
I am not interested in engaging in any sort of edit-war over such a trivial matter, so I am not going to undo your revert. But I would encourage you to look into the matter further, and perhaps seek the opinions of other editors. I believe you'll find that they'll confirm my original hypothesis: 'underwhelm' is creative, but non-standard English that has it's place in our language, but not our encyclopedia. Joshua Crowgey 09:02, 2 July 2007 (UTC)
Comparing a word to an obscenity or a neologism is an affirmative argument, requiring significant support before WP:TONE is invoked. But more importantly, your entire "original hypothesis" rested on the notion that the word did not exist in the dictionary, when in fact there are entries on two separate dictionaries, and one of them does not even confirm your notion. --Roehl Sybing 23:05, 2 July 2007 (UTC)
Your response is a misrepresentation of my argument. I am not suggesting that 'underwhelm' is obscene; I do suggest that it is a neologism (first coined in the 1940s or 50s according to the sources I've found). Principally though, I'm suggesting that it is an informal, facetious word that does not belong in an encyclopedia article. As a reference you may enjoy this essay on the history of the word. Another source for you could be the entries for overwhelm and underwhelm found in this online etymology dictionary.
Please don't misrepresent my original hypothesis. I am not asserting that the word does not exist. I do not assert that words not found in the dictionary do not exist (dictionaries are always one step behind a living language). I do assert that not all words found in dictionaries belong in formal writing. I do assert that 'underwhelm' is a fun, creative word, formed by analogy to overwhelm (which was itself formed by analogy to whelmen of Middle English) and that, like the proverbial 'ain't', it very much exists, but is non-standard and informal. I'm happy you like this word so much, please seek the advice of other editors regarding its usage in Wikipedia. Joshua Crowgey 00:17, 3 July

[edit] Multiple Thats

Hi! It definitely wasn't me. I found it a long time ago, it might have been from "Metamagical Themas" by Douglas Hofstadter. But yes, it's a really nice example of many thats. Dan Beale 12:33, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Where do you want your barnstar

I have given you a barnstar for winning the contest. Copy and paste it where you want on your userpage. Thanks.

The Excellent Userpage Award
For your exellently balanced userpage and winning the Wikipedia:Best User Page Contest, we give you this barnstar. Marlith 23:27, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Account request

Hi, sorry for the long delay; regarding the account you requested, can you remember what IP address you were using when you requested the account or the name of the account you requested? Tra (Talk) 21:16, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Hello, thanks for getting back to me. I don't have the IP (as my IP is variable) but I do have the account names. I'm looking to start an account at J_Crow or JCrow OR jcrow as this is how I'm generally known on the web. There is an account Jcrow, but it's inactive since its inception some years ago. I'd like to stop using my real name, and move to my web alias. Can you help? Joshua Crowgey 06:58, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
OK, I've found what happened to your request.[1] I'll copy it here with e-mail and IP addresses removed:

I have another wikipedia account with over 500 edits. Nonetheless, my account name is under my real name and I'd like this account because it's not my birth name but bears a resemblance to it. There is a jcrow account which was created in dec. 2005 but never used. If you have the time to leave me a message on User_talk:Joshua_Crowgey when you create the account I'd be obliged (I don't check that hotmail account too often.) Thanks so much. WP:LOVE

Note: You could request usurpation of the Jcrow account (capitalization of the first letter is irrelevant), as the user is completely inactive. Or else you can ask to have your account name changed to J_Crow or J_corw. Od Mishehu 09:00, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
Basically, what you need to do is go to Changing username and make your request there, since this will mean that your existing contributions will also be moved over to the new account name. Tra (Talk) 12:45, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WP:BUPC

The championship is here. Come and play. Marlith T/C 22:57, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photos

Glad to be of help. By the way, at Wikipedia:WikiProject Seattle there is a place to request photos. - Jmabel | Talk 07:22, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Thank you for playing

The Excellent Userpage Award
You were a judge and finalist of the Best User Page Contest! Congratulations! Marlith T/C 03:36, 7 August 2007 (UTC)


Hello J Crow, and thank you for playing the WP:BUPC. In the Tournament of Champions you pulled of a nicely done 2 points with a healthy number of supporters. Thank you and congraturations. Marlith T/C 03:36, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wow.

I love what you did to that userbox. Thank you for helping me. --Pupster21 Talk To Me 11:35, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Portal:Linguistics

Portal:Linguistics is open for business if you wanna head over after your wikibreak. Msanford (talk) 17:50, 2 February 2008 (UTC)