Talk:Saab 35 Draken

Kite and dragon
The article lead is written using the common English expression of things. In this, "Draken" is generally translated as "Dragon", with "Kite" less often used. Therefore, "Dragon" should be mentioned first. In the section on Naming, it appears to be derived from "Kite" and the double-meaning was then adopted, so the literal translation "The Kite" should be mentioned first. &mdash; Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 13:15, 8 March 2024 (UTC)


 * Dragon is the Swedish word for both kite and the mythical creature (compare with the color orange and the fruit orange) and in this context the name refers to the former first and the latter secondly (dragon is technically a bonus meaning). The aircraft was named after its appearance to a kite and thus kite takes precedence over dragon in either case, no matter which is the most common meaning when translating to English outside the topic in question. In Sweden, the Saab 35 rarely see any association with the mythical creature in general (i can only recall one ever being painted with a dragon). Like its predecessors and successor, the Saab 35 was named figuratively: Saab 29 looked like a barrel, the Saab 32 prototype had a nose antenna resembling a lance, Saab 35 looked like a kite, Saab 37 had canards (french for duck) and was thus named after the tufted duck (with the bonus meaning of thunderbolt).--Blockhaj (talk) 13:37, 8 March 2024 (UTC)
 * English readers are more familiar with the translation as "Dragon". This is what the lead should pick up on. Perhaps you have difficulty appreciating this point because you are not a native English speaker? &mdash; Cheers, Steelpillow (Talk) 13:51, 8 March 2024 (UTC)
 * What English readers are familiar with is utterly irrelevant: The name is derived from the scaled down test platform that got its name from the kite-like appearance. Since authorative sources takes precedence over popular ones, and the Swedish ones originating from SAAB, FMV and Flygvapnet are quite clear on the subject, those have precedence. Thus the primary translation is The Kite (note the definite form having a specific meaning in aircraft naming) with the secondary translation being The Dragon.
 * BP OMowe (talk) 20:06, 10 March 2024 (UTC)