Talk:N/A

Why I've created this page
Looking at Disambiguation pages with links, Na was listed as having 505 incoming links. Looking at these, the majority were from N/A or n/a, linked from tables in miscellaneous WP pages. Rather than unlink all of those, and unlink them again when created in another set of pages, it seemed more sensible to create this page, so that people can find out what "N/A" means without being referred to the whole Na page, and to reduce the number of "links to dab pages" pointing to that page.

"N/A" is shown on Na as having one other sense, so I've included that too.

So I hope no-one will propose deleting this page because "WP is not a dictionary", or because it's not a properly formatted dab page. Editors are inevitably going to continue to add "N/A" to tables and "helpfully" link it - this page offers a more sensible target for those links.

There are now fewer than 100 pages linking to Na, and they all seem to be either talk pages or lists of acronyms etc. PamD (talk) 11:51, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I've now come back to the page while stub-sorting, as it's been automatically tagged as a stub because it's short. I've tagged it as a dab, in a slightly WP:IAR way, to prevent it being re-tagged as a stub. It's useful, please let it exist! PamD (talk) 13:06, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

Vandalism
Looks like everything is cleared up! I think too many people tried to revert at once... --Nidht (talk) 22:56, 13 November 2008 (UTC)

Not "Neurotics Anonymous"
The info re Neurotics Anonymous has been removed, as it seems to conflict with what they use on their own website, which is "NA" (without the slash). See http://www.neuroticosanonimosusa.com/neurotics.html. --Kentmoraga (talk) 21:30, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
 * On their main page, their logo uses the N/A. You will also want to check the references here. -- Scarpy (talk) 20:58, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Directions for expansion
Here are two questions that can be answered to significantly expand the coverage of this page: Cheers! bd2412 T 04:59, 8 March 2011 (UTC)
 * 1) How and when did the modern use of "n/a" originate?
 * 2) What other initialisms or terms have been used historically, and in other languages, to convey the same meaning?

oops !
While "n/a" or "N/A" may be a *common abbreviation for "Not Applicable", etc., it's an incorrect abbreviation. The reason is that the "/", which is called a virgule, represents - in this case - the word "or", as an ampersand [&] represents the word "and", so that "n/a" is actually read as "n or a". A correct abbreviation for "Not Applicable" is either "N.A." or "NA". — Preceding unsigned comment added by Oldprof39 (talk • contribs) 14:08, 8 August 2013 (UTC)

Non Assumpsit
There is a very important legal usage of the term n/a which is Non Assumpsit which could perhaps be considered for inclusion on the main page by whoever has access. The meaning is as follows - "The general issue in the action of assumpsit; being a plea by which the defendant avers that “he did not undertake” or promise as alleged." which effectively means "I did not contract with you" - source http://thelawdictionary.org/non-assumpsit — Preceding unsigned comment added by 5.65.17.79 (talk) 22:15, 28 December 2013 (UTC)

This is 100% correct. In fact it is more correct than "not applicable". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:243:C200:5DC9:4430:2593:A049:152D (talk) 23:00, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

update
add some item Composcompos12 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 16:20, 6 November 2015 (UTC)

N/A should also mean nothing
if it means not applicable isn't it also nothing? Therefore I think nothing should be added to what it means. Xxxsupermanisbadass (talk) 04:40, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

Move request to N/A
The correct spelling of this abbreviation is in fact "N/A" rather than lowercase "n/a." It is "N/A" at the Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations, which is already linked in the Article. The Mysterious El Willstro (talk) 02:05, 6 March 2017 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Vocal cords which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 13:14, 7 July 2018 (UTC)

Original research
This article mainly consists of an analysis of primary sources, which is contrary to WP:NOR. Encycloon (talk) 11:55, 11 May 2019 (UTC)
 * A document can be a primary source with respect to one kind of information, and still be usable for a source for other kinds. However, I will work on this. bd2412  T 13:07, 11 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: I have removed raw Google Books searches as sources. bd2412  T 21:59, 11 May 2019 (UTC)
 * If there is no specific identification of a statement in the article still alleged to be OR, I will remove the tag. Cheers! bd2412  T 05:32, 24 September 2019 (UTC)

Requested move 6 August 2020

 * 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 after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: Consensus to move page. (non-admin closure) —  Young Forever (talk)   22:46, 13 August 2020 (UTC) Moved  — IVORK Talk 23:23, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

N/a → N/A – Per the rationale proposed by User:The Mysterious El Willstro a few sections above, this appears to be an initialism, and is listed as a capitalized title, "N/A", in the Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations. BD2412 T 22:22, 6 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Support per nom. El Millo (talk) 22:40, 6 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Support per nom.--Ortizesp (talk) 14:00, 7 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Support per nomination, El Millo and Ortizesp. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 03:54, 8 August 2020 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Church and State which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 07:33, 16 April 2021 (UTC)


 * You can ignore this as this page was added into the requested move in error. ~ Aseleste  (t, e &#124; c, l) 12:20, 16 April 2021 (UTC)