Comments on: Pass the Chile

By: Julian Locke

Julian Locke — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:44:03 +0000

Dear Ginkgo100, I have edited numerous Wikipedia pages, but I’m sure you’ll appreciate that my efforts cannot amount to more than a drop in an ever-expanding ocean. Your reference to “Fertilisation” and “Fertilizer” highlights the very problem I was trying to address. While Encyclopædia Britannica has set a standard and kept to it, Wikipedia’s approach cannot fail to lead to conflicts and contradictions. Nevertheless, I am greatly enthusiastic about the project, and I wish it lasting success. I just wish more people would take the time to edit articles in which they find errors, be they factual, grammatical, or whatever. There’s no shortage of corrections to be made, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.

By: Ginkgo100

Ginkgo100 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:04:28 +0000

Wikipedia uses the variant of English spelling appropriate to the subject. For British things, like articles relating to the U.K., it uses British spellings, while for American things, it uses American spellings. For articles on subjects that don’t really have a nationality, it uses the spelling used by the first major author of the article. For example, there is are articles titled “Fertilisation” and “Fertilizer.” The first uses British spelling; the second uses American spelling.

Chiles are an American food, so it uses the American spelling. Actually, chile is a loanword from Spanish, so that would be the spelling that Wikipedia prefers. Chilli is a variant spelling I have seen in some sources influenced by British English, but in Spanish it would be pronounced “chi-ji” or “chi-yi.” The double-L is actually considered a separate letter in Spanish!

If you see grammatical errors on Wikipedia, consider fixing them. Each page has a tab at the top that says “Edit,” and each section has a link at the top right so you can edit just the section. You don’t even need to have an account to edit most articles.

By: Julian Locke

Julian Locke — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:07:07 +0000

Can somebody help me? I’m looking for a lost L in “chilli”. The O.E.D. gives “chilli” as the main spelling, while “chile” (plural “chiles”) is given as an alternative. The variant “chili” is marked with an asterisk, which I believe indicates a non-naturalized form (in this case, the American spelling). Meanwhile, Wikipedia, with its regrettable but inevitable American dominance, prefers “chili pepper”, offering “chilli pepper”, “chilli”, “chili” and “chile” as alternatives. (I do wish the founders of Wikipedia had followed the eminent tradition set by the Encyclopædia Britannica, the oldest English-language encyclopaedia still in print, which has kept its British spelling to this day, even though it moved from Scotland to the U.S.A. more than a century ago, and has had numerous, mostly American, publishers since then.)

PS The Wikipedia entries for “Chili Pepper” and the related “Scoville scale” make interesting reading. Don’t rely on Wikipedia for helping you to learn English, though. It’s chock-full of grammatical errors.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:27:01 +0000

As a New Mexican, the eternal question is “red or green chile?”

By: Francisco Luciano Fernandes

Francisco Luciano Fernandes — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:03:52 +0000

Gentleman,

I regret not to be a native speaker, that’s way I didn’t respond to you early.
We comit mistakes even in Portuguese language, that is badly spoken and written.
Please appologise my erros here now.
It would be a great sin not to thankfull you with your contribution. Since I’ve been connected to you, I’ve learned to much and ready to write without stoping!…
But… Just in… Por…por Portugueese!
Please help to creat a blog!

Best regards.