Talk:Lake Como
From Academic Kids
About the name in English: I find that "Lake of Como" is the most accurate, and it is the literally translation of the Italian name "Lago di Como". Looking for it on Google I also found "Como Lake", but it misleads into thinking that "Como" might be the name of the lake itself, while it's not, it's just the main town on the lake's shores.
And its real name "Lario" is used very rarely, so I don't think it should be used, I'm placing a redirect for it now. Laz 23:19 20 Jun 2003 (UTC)
- I know it isn't a perfectly accurate translation, but in English, the lake is known as "Lake Como" (59,400 Google hits on English-language pages (http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=10&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=Lake+Como&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=lang_en&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=off)) not "Lake of Como" (1,960 hits on English-language pages (http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=10&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=Lake+of+Como&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=lang_en&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=off)). As this is the English-language Wikipedia, the convention is to give thing the most common name used in an English-language context. Therefore, I'm moving this to Lake Como. --Camembert
- As you wish, but I'm still deeply convinced that this is a big mistake and it misleads people into thinking that Como is the name of the lake, while it is not at all. Google hits give the most common name, and this generally works for our purposes; but if the most common name is wrong, IMHO a good Encyclopedia should point it out and list the correct name. But I'm sure not going to argue anymore about this, we're not here to argue. I'll leave it up to someone else. Laz 12:40 21 Jun 2003 (UTC)
- If you want to explain details about the lake's name, pointing out that in Italian the lake isn't called "Como" as such, then great - do so in the article. But the title should be the most common name used in an English-language context (see Wikipedia:Naming conventions (common names)). Incidentally, the Columbia, Macmillan and Hutchinson encyclopaedias all call this "Lake Como", as does the Penguin Encyclopaedia of Places. --Camembert
- I was thinking the same thing actually... a note similar to Kings Cross station's one. Ok, thanks for the tip. Laz 13:08 21 Jun 2003 (UTC)
When I saw "Lake of Como" I said "Whaaa!? Who let the Italians run amuck!" :-) It may be a fine literal translation, but "Lake of X" is extremely uncommon, Lake of the Woods is the only one that comes to mind. To borrow a line from books on software localization, one should give precedence to native speakers' ideas about what sounds right. Stan 05:49, 11 May 2004 (UTC)
- Ok, I moved Lago di Como back to Lake Como. -- User:Docu
"From running a search on Google one might conclude that "Lake Como" is much more common, in English, than "Lake of Como"." - I removed this note because Google results are rather ephmeral and not necessarily a reliable source either. People who are that interested should come read this talk page. Stan 16:32, 11 Jun 2004 (UTC)
