Talk:Tilting at windmills

Comment
This is great... I hope Wikipedia will keep up with introductions idioms and their sources. Thanks.

Repetitive
This paragraph is repetitive and reads poorly: ''The phrase originated in the novel Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. The phrase is sometimes used to describe confrontations where adversaries are incorrectly perceived. The phrase is sometimes used to describe courses of action that are based on misinterpreted or misapplied heroic, romantic, or idealistic justifications.'' I propose changing it to: "The phrase originated in the novel Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. It is sometimes used to describe confrontations where adversaries are incorrectly perceived or courses of action that are based on misinterpreted or misapplied heroic, romantic, or idealistic justifications." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.24.82.223 (talk) 21:26, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Book quote
Although Cervantes' book is clearly long out of copyright, the English translation used here may or may not be. At the very least, credit should be given to cite which translation (and translator) is being used. WikiDan61 ChatMe!ReadMe!! 13:13, 24 January 2014 (UTC)

"importune"
In the second paragraph of the introduction to the article, the word "importune" appears, used as an adjective. I cannot find a dictionary that describes the word as an adjective; it is only ever described as a verb, "to importune". I suspect that the sentence in which it appears here, "It may also connote ... for a vain goal", is lifted straight from The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, as per footnote #1, and may be a misquote, because "importunate" would be the correct word in this context. Does anyone have access to this dictionary to check it? The preceding sentence reads a little weirdly as well, so I am wondering whether this has been lifted from that dictionary as well. --P123cat1 (talk) 22:46, 31 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I think you're right. 2601:600:8500:B2D9:BD13:40C7:4AD3:EFE1 (talk) 21:50, 9 October 2015 (UTC)


 * I also find this word problematic. "Importunate" is more accurate, but frankly, both words are too obscure: they make it harder to understand the sentence, which I think works against the goal of an explanatory article. I would suggest that this word be changed to something simpler and easier to understand.Chillowack (talk) 04:53, 25 December 2018 (UTC)

straw man distinction
These appear very similar so I added each to the other's see-also. I can see a distinction between the two but am not confident I can accurately describe it. Does anyone have any insights about the differences in ideas? It could possibly make a good section some day and I think discussing those differences and similarities would help give a better idea of what each is. Ranze (talk) 13:13, 19 October 2014 (UTC)
 * Relevant: http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2134 and also http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2819 2601:600:8500:B2D9:BD13:40C7:4AD3:EFE1 (talk) 21:50, 9 October 2015 (UTC)

World of Warcraft ability
There is a spell "Tilt at Windmills", that requires the user to be a death knight. However, it's an uncategorized spell, while all abilities available to players are classified as either a class ability or a class talent. There is also no entry for this spell name on the most popular WoW wiki, so it didn't exist in the past and was just removed. An ability, or maybe talent (it can change) with a similar effect does exist for death knights. So it's just a beta or test ability, similar to a large of number of abilities that are named "Copy of Frostbolt" or something. 2601:600:8500:B2D9:BD13:40C7:4AD3:EFE1 (talk) 21:50, 9 October 2015 (UTC)