Wikigroaning
English edit
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Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Blend of Wikipedia + groaning. Coined by Jon Hendren in a 2007 post on Something Awful (see quotation below).
Noun edit
Wikigroaning (uncountable)
- (neologism, humorous) The act of comparing two similar Wikipedia articles, one considered generally useful and the other primarily appealing to nerdy interests, and observing that (to one's disappointment) the latter is significantly longer and more professionally written.
- 2007 June 5, Jon Hendren, “The Art of Wikigroaning”, in Something Awful[1], archived from the original on 2024-01-14:
- We go Wikigroaning on the SA forums from time to time and feel confident enough to share the fruits of our latest outing with the public. We're pretty proud of some of these. Enjoy!
- 2008 March 16, Noam Cohen, “Start Writing the Eulogies for Print Encyclopedias”, in The New York Times[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-26:
- The superabundance of less-than-prized information on the site has led to a phenomenon called "wiki-groaning," which involves comparing the length of seemingly disparate articles to humorous effect. Lightsaber Combat beats out Modern Warfare, for example, and John Locke, the character from the TV show "Lost," edges out the other John Locke, whoever he was.
- 2010 September 5, Ced Kurtz, “TechMan: Falling encyclopedia book sales squeeze publishers”, in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette[3], Pittsburgh, P.A.: Block Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 April 2024:
- And then there is the point made by wiki-groaning, the practice of comparing the length of Wikipedia articles to comic effect. For example "Lightsaber Combat" beats out "Modern Warfare."
- 2014, Thomas Leitch, Wikipedia U: Knowledge, Authority, and Liberal Education in the Digital Age, Baltimore, M.D.: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 77:
- It is true, as commentators on Wikigroaning have often observed, that the often ludicrous disproportion of trivial Wikipedia articles does not undermine the authority of more substantive articles because there is no shortage of bytes in the Wikipedia universe.
References edit
- Paul McFedries (1996–2024) “Wikigroaning”, in Word Spy, Logophilia Limited.