Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2018 November 30

= November 30 =

References proving notability of an artist - an illustrator
Hi, to prove notability of an artist who is an illustrator, can I use his signed works in copyrighted books, articles in Urban Post and magazine articles as references? Thanks in advance, Vinvibes
 * Please see the notability criteria at WP:ARTIST.--Shantavira|feed me 10:15, 30 November 2018 (UTC)


 * Checked - actually my mistake. It is not Urban Post, but Palm Beach Post, which is a newspaper. I am hoping that it will be counted as noteworthy owing to being a well-known publication. Thanks for your response -- Vinvibes|talk 08:45, 9 December 2018 (UTC)

Where on the internet is a good place to ask questions about the WWI era?
I've stupidly decided to write a novel set in early 1914 Europe (nothing fancy, a self-pubbed horror/mystery novel) and as it turns out, the further back you go the more incomprehensible the world is. I have plenty of seemingly irrelevant questions which could be answered by a significant amount of research OR I could just ask the good-natured nerds who live and breathe this stuff and who I know must be out there on the internet somewhere. (Were the police in Alsace in 1914 likely to be native French speakers or German imports? What kind of sidearms were issued to the French Foreign Legion? Where can I find an exact timetable for the Orient Express in that year? Et cetera, with doubtless many more to come.) Is Quora probably the best bet these days? Dr-ziego (talk) 15:06, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * This is as good a place as any! As for the Alsatian police, as our article Alsace-Lorraine points out, "various German dialects were spoken by most of the population of Alsace and Moselle (northern Lorraine)". I recall that in Three Men on the Bummel includes a comment on the lines of "a third of the people were offended if you spoke to them in German, a third if you spoke to them in French, and the other third were offended if you spoke to them". DuncanHill (talk) 15:55, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * According to this, the Orient Express didn't run from 1914 - 1919 due to the war. -- Jayron 32 16:08, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * I expect it ran in the most of 1914 that was before the War though. DuncanHill (talk) 16:09, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Well, half of 1914. According to the article I just linked, it clearly states that it stopped running in July. -- Jayron 32 16:11, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Not "most" then but "more than half". Whatever, it does not make a request for a 1914 timetable either invalid or unanswerable. DuncanHill (talk) 18:12, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * I never said that it was. You just said that.  -- Jayron 32 19:35, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * List of infantry weapons of World War I may be helpful as well. -- Jayron 32 16:11, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Try The Great War Forum. Another useful resource (but focused on the British experience) is The Long, Long Trail. Alansplodge (talk) 17:02, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * If you're looking for train timetables, it looks like Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide might be your best bet. The online preview doesn't go far enough to get to the train tables, but that edition is from 1913, and if you're willing to shell out 13 quid for the Kindle version, it may actually help you with a WEALTH of background knowledge for your story, not just the OE timetables.  -- Jayron 32 19:46, 30 November 2018 (UTC)

Wouldn't it be easier to put the story in a timeframe you do have knowledge of, or an interest in researching? You're giving every opportunity for making errors through your lack of knowledge, because with some things you will just (sorry to "Rumsfeld" you) not know you don't know that you're making an error. --Dweller (talk) Become old fashioned! 15:34, 3 December 2018 (UTC)

On the variability of geographic names
A question above about Xenere in Iraq reminded me of this. A human settlement or geographic feature may be known by unguessably different names in different languages, and in addition may be renamed over time. I recall reading about a global project to create a comprehensive map or database, such that when an emergency occurs, all parties can know where to send the relief. What is the name of this project? --Carbon Caryatid (talk) 21:45, 30 November 2018 (UTC)


 * Sounds like what3words, which advertises that it can be used for humanitarian and emergency services, although just about any geocoding system would fit the bill. Reschultzed&#124;&#124;&#124;Talk&#124;&#124;&#124;Contributions 03:37, 3 December 2018 (UTC)


 * Thank you. I was aware of W3W, which is a recent commercial venture. I was trying to recall something else - probably pre-dating W3W, and probably non-commercial (academic or NGO or UN???). It was a specific project, to gather all the names - in whatever languages - that people actually use for a given location. E.g. the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Any other ideas? --Carbon Caryatid (talk) 18:19, 6 December 2018 (UTC)

Name-dropping in a Canadian novel
A novel by Robertson Davies mentions the quintessential London umbrella shop, James Smith & Sons, in the first chapter, possibly the first page, as a way of characterising the protagonist as that sort of Anglophile. The shop was not, IIRC, named, but perhaps its location on New Oxford Street was. What novel was it? --Carbon Caryatid (talk) 21:50, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * Are you thinking of "A Spy Among Friends"? It's mentioned in the James Smith & Sons article, but by a different author RudolfRed (talk) 21:56, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * I've re-written that section, to clarify that A Spy Among Friends is a recent British biography. What I am looking for is a late C20 Canadian novel. --Carbon Caryatid (talk) 18:33, 6 December 2018 (UTC)