Talk:Oscar the Grouch

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This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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Oscar the Grouch

A character from the Sesame Street? I doubt he has slipped into English lexicon --Keene 20:19, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

deleted --Williamsayers79 20:44, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

It most certainly has. Restored and cited. DAVilla 16:03, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

keep - thanks DAVilla. This has reached the level where I regularly hear people allude to Oscar in speach. Major children's character like Cookie monster from the same program. But given this happened all in 1 day, it makes me wonder if Keene and Williamsayers79 were acting a play.--Halliburton Shill 18:31, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm not certain about all of those cites - the second 1989 and first 2002 quotes refer directly to the character, the second 2002 and 2004 quotes possibly do as well, and and unless we want an entry for every character from every popular television program, I think we need to show broader use. The first 1989 quote does this, and I'm not sure either way about the 2003 quote. Thryduulf 17:26, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

The second 1989 is attributive (as is the 2003). I included the others because they're completely out of context. If it's quotations like the first which you like best, I'm sure they're not hard to find. Google books lists 457 hits for the exact phrase. I've never collected quotes faster. DAVilla 17:39, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

So we don't like Greater Manchester because its made up or BS but we can have Sesame Street characters, what is happening here! TIC BTW--Williamsayers79 09:00, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

It's the CFI "attributive use" criterion at work. Words used referentially have a backstage pass in for inclusion that most geographic names do not. Thus, if you can find solid evidence of attributive use, it's in. But for those words that have no such use, we struggle to find some other tack. We really need a comprehensive proper noun policy, but I dread the "discussions" it would spawn. --EncycloPetey 20:33, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

As EP noted and I'm not suggesting that all Sesame Street characters get a pass. Oscar is also not a sum of all parts. As opposed to Big Bird, as I understand it, Oscar is meant to refer to the inherently grouchy. It also has a much longer history and may even be better known than Harry Potter.--Halliburton Shill 23:16, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Wiktionary:Requests for deletion - kept

Kept. See archived discussion of November 2007. 07:05, 4 February 2008 (UTC)