Talk:Elk (disambiguation)/Archive 1

"Elk in its old British & Irish sense, i.e. Whooper Swan"
Really? Can anyone produce any evidence for this meaning of elk? I think it's spurious, and should be deleted. Or, if not, can more information be provided? Is it just a regional name? An archaic name? A literary name? Used in both Britain and Ireland? Hugh2414 08:56, 8 December 2005 (UTC)


 * It's in the OED - elk = old word for whooper swan or goose. Snalwibma 21:18, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

Full stops at the ends of the lines?
I know the MOS says not to put a full stop (period) at the end of each line in a disambig list, but the top list on this page is a bit more than a standard list of alternative meanings It contains whole sentences (in one case, two sentences in a single item). I think it would be better with terminal full stops. But I'm not going to lose any sleep over it! Gnusmas 13:22, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree, and returned the periods to the top list. Gjs238 22:11, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Elk (disambiguation)
I strongly object to the renaming of Elk as Elk (disambiguation) and what appears to be the beginnings of moving Red Deer to Elk (or is it intedned that Red Deer to Elk should remain as virtual duplicates?). Elk has several meanings, of which Cervus elaphus is just one. Red Deer is the internationally agreed name for this species. I will undo all MONGO's messing-up of this area, assuming anyone agrees with me. Gnusmas 08:22, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
 * The decsion to divide the articles Elk and Red deer was decided recently due to new DNA evidence and long discussions on the article talk page at Red Deer. The new Elk article is fine, and I am going to be working on the Red Deer article to make it species specific.--MONGO 08:30, 8 November 2006 (UTC)


 * OK - maybe I was a bit hasty. I have now seen the stuff at Talk:Red Deer (which I have not been watching, because my interest is in elk (Alces alces) not Cervus elaphus. BUT: I still don't think it's right to take the name "elk" for the American species. In Europe elk is Alces alces. I suggest "American Elk" or "Canadian Elk" or "Elk (American)" as the name for the new article. WP:Disambig says that "When there is a well known primary meaning for a term or phrase (indicated by a majority of links in existing articles and consensus of the editors of those articles that it will be significantly more commonly searched for and read than other meanings), then that topic may be used for the title of the main article, with a disambiguation link at the top" (emphasis added). I strongly dispute the notion that this covers the case of "elk". If you are going to move it, then you must discuss it with the elk-watchers, as well as the red-deer-watchers. Gnusmas 08:40, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Sorry for any upsetting that has ocurred. I just went and fixed a pile of redirects so these articles should work out correctly now. About 300 million people know the Elk as what is the Elk in North America and eastern Asia. The word elk was a misnaming by early settlers from Europe to N. America since they thought the creature looked more like a eurpean elk or Moose as it is called in N. America...so the name has stuck here fro better or worse..screw up on the part of the early settlers I suppose. The Moose article is under that title, not Elk as it is called in Europe. I will do all I can to make each article as species specific as possible, but as time goes on and editors work on the individual articles, hopefully they will all look very different in their wording.--MONGO 08:56, 8 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I try not to let these things get to me, but, yes, it is a bit upsetting to find that the N. American usage of the word is suddenly considered the "primary" one! 300 million English speakers in N. America think of C. canadensis when they say "elk" - but what about the many more people in Europe and beyond (not all of whom speak English as their first language, but many of whom use the English Wikipedia) for whom "elk" is Alces alces? Calling the article about A. alces Moose makes sense because A. alces is clearly the primary meaning of "moose", and there's no argument about that. Nor is there any argument about the content of the new article and the amended Red Deer - they are looking good! The issue here is rather different: it is not "what is C. canadensis called in English?" but "What species is an elk?" - and I think you are simply wrong on the "primary meaning" issue. I will now shut up and go away, and see if anyone else has anything to say! Gnusmas 09:07, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Please continue this discussion at Talk:Red Deer - the above text has been copied to there
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Gnusmas (talk • contribs) 09:12, 8 November 2006 --Jerzy•t 06:46, 27 September 2011 (UTC)
 * The moved discussion, and responses to it, now reside at Talk:Red_deer

Requested move

 * Elk → Elk (Cervus canadensis) and Elk (disambiguation) → Elk - (Discuss )

Notice of this requested move has been placed on Requested moves. --Una Smith (talk) 18:05, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Elk which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RM bot 09:45, 15 December 2010 (UTC) --Jerzy•t 07:05, 27 September 2011 (UTC)
 * The link above is correctly coded but (unhelpfully, since it is unlikely to fall in the middle of the browser's display of the WP-page's text, until more sections are added) piped to conceal the full page&section title, Talk:Elk.