Talk:Melange (fictional drug)

Requested move, July 21, 2015

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: no consensus. The dab change in the proposal confused things. Maybe relist and notify one of the projects for greater exposure? — kwami (talk) 18:19, 6 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Melange (fictional drug) → Spice (Dune) – Spice. Dune. The two go together like salt and pepper, peaches and cream, Garfunkel and Oates. My spellchecker doesn't even have "Melange" in it, so it and I are either illiterate or we just missed this name, even after long ago reading the book and watching the film. Thought of putting this up for a requested move after a discussion at Robsinden's talk page where, after a lifetime of ignorance, an editor finally told me what Spice is made of (Am I the only one who didn't know!)! Randy Kryn 2:47, 21 July 2015 (UTC) Relisted. Jenks24 (talk) 14:52, 30 July 2015 (UTC)
 * You haven't really explained your justification for this proposed move.&mdash; TAnthonyTalk 03:14, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Common name would cover it. Recognizability and naturalness as well. Proof of it being the common name, I have none, and maybe "Spice Melange" is the common name. Sometimes something seems obvious, and it may be or may not be. Since this has never been fully discussed on this talk page a move request at least opens up a forum for that conversation. Randy Kryn 3:56, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Melange should be in your dictionary... so the "fictional" disambiguator is useful. I'm agreeable to any name, though spice melange may be most natural (and apparently 'official'). I would agree that "spice (fictional drug)" is marginally more recognizable than "melange (fictional drug)". --Izno (talk) 11:48, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
 * , does 'Spice Melange' make more sense? I only read the first two books and saw the movie a long time ago, so am not overly knowledgeable about the canon. Thanks. Randy Kryn 12:26, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
 * You're pinging incorrect. You need to produce a link to the user name/user talk page when you make your edit. This isn't the only place I've noticed. --Izno (talk) 13:00, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I'm certainly code-challenged, and have seen several different types of pings but still can't always recall the code sequence. Is my fix the correct way to go? Randy Kryn 13:54, 21 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Any way to produce a link to one of those two pages is fine so long as you do so in the same edit that you signed with. u works, ping works, User: works, User talk: works... there are of course many others. --Izno (talk) 14:03, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

I think I'm de facto King of the Dune nerds here (or at least the most active editor remaining) LOL, so I just did a cursory search of both "melange" and "spice" in my e-books of the original six novels and found a couple of interesting things. For one, Frank Herbert seems to never use the term "spice melange" (though Brian Herbert does in his intro to God Emperor). But Frank sometimes writes phrases like, "the source of the spice, melange" or "the geriatric spice, melange", which to me equates grammatically to "the origin of the beverage, Mountain Dew".

However across the six novels he uses "melange" and "spice" pretty interchangeably. Overall he uses "spice" (440 times) more than "melange" (300 times), but while melange is almost always used by itself, there are many instances of "spice agony", "spice addiction", "spice mass" etc. So I kind of feel like they're pretty equally used in the text.

That said, I have to admit that at first I rankled at the idea of the move, but in thinking about it, "spice" does feel like the more familiar term. That is, spice (fictional drug).&mdash; TAnthonyTalk 01:11, 22 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Nice research. If you're for Spice (fictional drug) then I'll add my Support to that phrasing. And according to your research maybe the bold links in the first sentence of the page should be redone (especially 'spice melange' as the formal name) (struck out the sentence, I see you've done this already, may the spice be with you). Randy Kryn 9:33, 22 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Oppose - Nice proposal. It might meet the guidelines, but there can be a character called "Spice" in Dune, even if nonexistent. And I don't think "Spice (Dune drug)" make things easier. "Spice (fictional Dune drug)" would be nice, but I'm uncertain. --George Ho (talk) 00:53, 28 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Come on, George. Choosing disambiguation based on nonexistent topics is absurd. Is Gridlock (Doctor Who) a bad title just because there could one day be a Doctor Who character named Gridlock? --BDD (talk) 20:17, 29 July 2015 (UTC)
 * For what it's worth, "spice" is used as term for drugs in some Star Wars media; it's a bit unclear to me whether it's supposed to represent a single drug or not. But I think this is far and away the primary topic for "Spice (fictional drug)", whether that's the title or just a redirect. The Star Wars usage is probably an homage. --BDD (talk) 20:17, 29 July 2015 (UTC)
 * It might be an homage, but the Kessel spice run is all over the place in Star Wars (and is the run that one of the protagonists so famously got pulled over on by an Imperial cruiser, losing his cargo, making a certain Hutt unhappy with him, and you know the rest of the story). --Izno (talk) 22:45, 29 July 2015 (UTC)
 * The spice that BDD is mentioning is this spice. --Izno (talk) 22:51, 29 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Oppose. The proposed is too generic and recognized as this topic only within an established context of the work of fiction.  :Even within the fiction, it is "the spice", not a proper name but an allusion to something extremely well-known.  Melange is the in-universe proper name.
 * "Spice" is not in your dictionary because of Dune.
 * The current title is perfect. --SmokeyJoe (talk) 00:25, 30 July 2015 (UTC)


 * Oppose per Izno and SmokeyJoe. Best, FoCuSandLeArN (talk) 19:11, 30 July 2015 (UTC)
 * I suppose the oppose has it. Melange might be the proper name, but I don't think it's the common name. If both were referenced in a sentence to an average Wikipedia reader it seems "Spice" would be the name they'd recognize. Just a guess though. Through this and a previous discussion I learned what the spice is made of, and that's enough for one foray into the realm. Thanks for the conversation here. Randy Kryn 21:40, 30 July 2015 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.