Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Mala (Plasticine)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   Delete, misspelling. Nakon 06:00, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Mala (Plasticine)

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When this article was new, I redirected it to Plasticine but the author protested that, under the name Mala, it has special cultural significance and that the article would be about that, so I let it go. Now I see that it says mala is a plasticine-like substance, which I'm guessing is to help justify having this article in addition to Plasticine despite WP:FORK; and despite the affirmation by the two references given that mala is plasticine.

Several weeks later, this article tells us nothing more than that Irish kids use plasticine, they have a local term for it, there's a derogatory term based on it, and one Irishman used it once. This article is in essence a freestanding trivia section. —Largo Plazo (talk) 12:00, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Ireland-related deletion discussions.  -- —Largo Plazo (talk) 12:01, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Visual arts-related deletion discussions.  -- —Largo Plazo (talk) 12:03, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Comment If this is a brand, it might be ok, although it is very hard to see any web refs at all (no, not Male model...). Johnbod (talk) 12:24, 16 April 2009 (UTC)


 *  Delete: Merge per Alison I can't even find one WP:RS for this term. ww2censor (talk) 14:25, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Merge into Plasticine. I can't see any harm in the Plasticine article stating that it is called Mala in Ireland. Snappy (talk) 02:26, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Comment: but there are no reliable source that even confirm it is called that is Ireland. Perhpas someone on the ga can help. ww2censor (talk) 03:04, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
 * But, I used it as a child! Ok, I'm not a reliable source but it's true! Snappy (talk) 06:43, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Comment: I don't see any justification for noting in an arbitrary article the word for the article's topic in an arbitrary language, or any context in which it would make sense to mention it. Would people then go randomly mentioning the Greek word for "paint" in the Paint article or the Pashto word for "clay" in the Clay article? —Largo Plazo (talk) 16:15, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
 * It's not in an arbitrary language. It is an Irish word used in the English language in Ireland. Your mentioning of Greek is irrelevant because they are speaking Greek and using the Greek word for plasticine. In this case, people speaking English are using the Irish word for an object instead of the readily available English one. It's similar to having multiple words in English for one object in different areas, like Petrol/Gasoline or Crisps/Chips/Taytos etc. Snappy (talk) 13:02, 19 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Is Irish any less arbitrarily chosen than any other language? I'm not seeing your point, specially given that we also don't have separate articles, nor should we, for petrol and gasoline or for crisps and chips. —Largo Plazo (talk) 03:58, 20 April 2009 (UTC)
 * The point I am trying to make is that among people in Ireland who speak the English language as their first (and mostly only) language, use a word (Márla) from the Irish language who referring to the object known else where in the English speaking world as plasticine. They could use the word plasticine, they know of its existence but they don't use it. Hence, I don't think it much of a stretch to have one short sentence in the plasticine article saying: "Plasticine is known as Márla in Ireland.". See Sidewalk as an example of the same thing being known by different names in different countries, except in this case they are all in English. Snappy (talk) 06:05, 21 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Comment - it's a misspelling. The word you are actually looking for is "Márla" - see here, and here for more info. I recommend just creating a redir to Plasticine from Márla and adding a brief, one-line entry in the main article - A l is o n  ❤ 04:53, 17 April 2009 (UTC)  (back for a min because I was asked to comment here via gawiki)
 * Yes, you're right! Only realised it now. Brings back lots of childhood memories! Snappy (talk) 06:43, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Indeed!! "Múinteoir - Seán is eating the yellow márla again!!". And of course, mála and mala mean completely different things :) - A l is o n  ❤ 07:03, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Definitely went with Mála, without the "r", in my part of the world. Ah, we knew the simple pleasures of life then, we didn't need high tech gadgets then: we played with our mála and then off to watch Lolek and Bolek. Oh, and that's a Merge here.  FlowerpotmaN &middot;( t ) 23:15, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
 * To the best of my knowledge, Márla comes from the same word used to describe the sticky clay subsoil found in parts of Ireland. The English translation is marl.Sean an Scuab (talk) 10:23, 17 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Delete/Merge if it is not a brand name, just the Irish word. Johnbod (talk) 11:43, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Confusion - Redirect to the correct word/per ...Modernist (talk) 23:09, 17 April 2009 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.