Talk:Thalweg

Is "thalweg" misspelled?
"Thalweg (an English word compounded from the German elements Thal — since Duden's orthography reform of 1901 written Tal — meaning valley, and Weg, meaning way) is a misspelled term adopted into English usage for geography and geomorphology."

Is grammatically equal to

"Thalweg ... is a misspelled term ..."

I presume that the English language stole it from the Germans prior to the spelling reform; that means that "thalweg" is no more a misspelling than any of the numerous English words we got from the French before they changed THEIR spelling. Moreover, even if it had been mangled on the way over, the mangled English spelling would STILL be correct -- as long as one was writing in English.

For instance, the English word "sergeant" (stolen from the French) didn't somehow become misspelled when the French decided later that they wanted to spell it "sergent" instead.

Feel free to disagree, but I think a dialog at this stage might benefit people wishing to edit on this point. If I am misinterpreting the insertion of "misspelled" I would also like to know. 24.118.231.95 01:40, 31 March 2007 (UTC)


 * We'd better check the usage in modern publications before the article is renamed, but the spelling Talweg reflects the correct pronounciation and thus makes more sense. --Schlosser67 (talk) 14:43, 30 May 2016 (UTC)

another meaning?
I linked this on Pemberton Pass because I've heard that pass described as a thalweg' but the definitions I see here don't quite fit with waht I thought it meant, i.e. as a physiographic "shape"; not thte line of a valley bottom, but a deep "valley-way" through the mountains; "a valley that is/forms a road/route", I think usually in terms of a sequence of two or more drainages (as is the case at Pemberton Pass); the Rocky Mountain Trench perhaps might qualify, but Eagle Pass definitely fits the same mold. Anyway I'm sorry I don't have a citation for this, I'm surprised it's not in OED, which is hteo nly link here; I'll keep my eyes open. I'll also dig up a representative picture or sample topo map for Pemberton Pass as maybe there's a beter term to describe the valley's shape/style/type....Skookum1 (talk) 03:37, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

Deleted pronounciation
The (correct) pronounciation is given in IPA nomenclature already, and with German as my mother tongue I have a hard time seeing how "Talweg is pronounced in German as talvay . Weg in German is pronounced vay" (inserted by an IP address from Connecticut) could be understood in any way to give the right information. Seattle Jörg (talk) 06:30, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

"instream", "esteem"
This sentence
 * In concurrence with the placement of boulders along a thalweg, the placement of boulders along an instream to form man-made sills also helps to slow the sedimentary erosion and deposit of running water sources, while keeping the esteem (fishing, local wildlife, and recreation) and natural resources of the running water source intact.

uses "instream" as a noun, but there's no support or definition for that in the article that it links to. And this use of "esteem" is totally unclear.

Thnidu (talk) 09:31, 11 September 2016 (UTC)

Rolling ball analogy
I agree that the rolling ball analogy is probably more confusing than illuminating. For me, "all paths of steepest descent converge on the thalweg" makes the concept clear at once, but then I've enough math training to understand "path of steepest descent". Let's think about how to better illustrate this. Perhaps in terms of a hiker looking for the fastest way down? (But that's often not the safest way down ...) Kent G. Budge (talk) 14:04, 1 August 2022 (UTC)

Lede is barely literate
Needs a rewrite. Springnuts (talk) 01:59, 28 December 2023 (UTC)