College Name Mistakes... looking to fix on Wikipedia

[ASTalumna06]

Through a Google search, I found a Facebook group called "Standford University students". There are over 2,000 members. When I clicked on the page, there was a giant seal with the correct spelling staring me in the face.

This makes me sad.

[ta kala]

People misspell "Pittsburgh" all the time as "Pittsburg."

And I am always the annoying alum who asks for it be changed. A quick search on wikipedia for "University of Pittsburg" reveals about 60 results.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by TonyB06

But it's CARN-a-gee Hall, not Car-NAY-gee Hall, right?

My ex-wife is from Cleveland. I still laugh at the story of the first time I drove to Cleveland to visit her during a college break. Carnegie Avenue is a major street there and she'd given me directions to meet her at a restaurant on that street.

Well, I found Carnegie Ave. ok, but had to call her and ask directions. Me: "Hey, I'm on Carnegie. Where is this Car-Nay-gee Avenue you're talking about??"

To this day, I can tell if someone is from Cleveland or not when I hear them pronouce "Car-Nay-gee/CARN-nay-gee." Every Clevelander I've ever heard pronounces it Car-NAY-gee Ave.

Yes "CARN-a-gee" Hall....

[naraht]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Personally, I'd assume that a school like UNC Charlotte or any other major university has someone monitoring its Wikipedia page, and that if they wanted it changed they would have already taken care of it. Correcting references elsewhere might be one thing, but I don't think I'd correct something like that in the page on UNC Charlotte itself.

Just my $0.02.

Well, that is part of the issue. By Wikipedia's Conflict of Issue rules, the people *least* appropriate to change the wikipedia page about UNC Charlotte are employees of UNC Charlotte. Though if you declare your conflict of interest, you can be OK. Preferred for an employee would be to edit the talk page with the preferred changes and have someone unrelated make the changes..

Not equating the two groups but, I wouldn't want the preferred people to keep the page about Westboro Baptist to be the members of the church...

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Many colleges and universities have people who correct this.

Just like many GLOs, companies, and (inter)national professional organizations have people who make corrections wherever necessary.

Wikipedia has specific rules to try to limit this (Exxon-Mobil employees have a conflict of interest in editing the page about Exxon-Mobil). Does it happen anyway, yes. Can an author be banned for doing so, yes.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by ta kala

People misspell "Pittsburgh" all the time as "Pittsburg."

And I am always the annoying alum who asks for it be changed. A quick search on wikipedia for "University of Pittsburg" reveals about 60 results.

If you'd like to fix those, then go ahead. Or I can put in on my list. And there is a Pittsburg State University in Kansas, I wonder how often people spell that with an h.

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by PersistentDST

Yep. It's all about linguistics. I tend to say Car-Neh-Gee. And yes...that is how Clevelanders say it (although I'm not from there).

You can always spot a native by how they pronounce Carnegie and IF they can pronounce Cuyahoga.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

You can always spot a native by how they pronounce Carnegie and IF they can pronounce Cuyahoga.

In Pittsburgh, you can tell a native by *either* properly pronouncing "Monongahela" *or* by giving up and saying "The Mon, the Al and the O".

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by naraht

Well, that is part of the issue. By Wikipedia's Conflict of Issue rules, the people *least* appropriate to change the wikipedia page about UNC Charlotte are employees of UNC Charlotte. Though if you declare your conflict of interest, you can be OK. Preferred for an employee would be to edit the talk page with the preferred changes and have someone unrelated make the changes.

But you're not talking about things like public perceptions of UNC Charlotte (or Westboro Baptist) or other matters about which insiders might lack objectivity or evenhandedness. You're talking about correcting the name of the institution in the article about the institution. If the entry doesn't bother UNC Charlotte, why should it bother anyone else?

And just to go a bit further on UNC Charlotte specifically, the Wiki entry on that school has the following as the first sentence:

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, also known as UNC Charlotte, UNCC, or Charlotte, is a public research university located in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States.

That is accurate. Whether it's the school's preference or not, and whether it is how the school refers to itself or not, it is known by many as UNCC. In fact I'd hazard a guess that UNCC is how people in North Carolina are most likely to refer to the school. [ETA: On re-reading, I caught that you've basically already said this. Sorry.]

Much further down in the article this can be found:

University name
The official name of the university is "The University of North Carolina at Charlotte." "UNC Charlotte" has been accepted as a shortened version of the name and the athletic department has used "Charlotte" since 2000.

UNC Charlotte's branding guidelines are cited for this statement.

So, it looks like they've got it covered.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by ta kala

People misspell "Pittsburgh" all the time as "Pittsburg."

And I am always the annoying alum who asks for it be changed. A quick search on wikipedia for "University of Pittsburg" reveals about 60 results.

This one is a little more understandable, though. There are many cities and towns named "Pittsburg" across the US. I actually camped out in Pittsburg, NH on senior prom weekend

Still, I understand the frustration!

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

This one is a little more understandable, though. There are many cities and towns named "Pittsburg" across the US. I actually camped out in Pittsburg, NH on senior prom weekend

Still, I understand the frustration!

I had a friend who refused to accept that my university was in Champaign, not Champagne.

[honeychile]

FYI, the reason was Pittsburgh, PA has the H at the end is a tribute to the predominately Scots-Irish heritage of the founders. In the late 1800's, the post office tried to turn all city names ending in -burgh into the more Germanic -burg, and Pittsburgh, PA went along for a few years. Then those wild and crazy Scots-Irish got all feisty and demanded that they get their H back.

To my knowledge, it's the only city that demanded the H, yet even as I type this, I know that somebody will prove me wrong.

I have been known to yell at the television when some former jock says, "Mo-Non-Ga-HEE-La". It's like finger nails on the chalk board to me!

[naraht]

Originally Posted by honeychile

FYI, the reason was Pittsburgh, PA has the H at the end is a tribute to the predominately Scots-Irish heritage of the founders. In the late 1800's, the post office tried to turn all city names ending in -burgh into the more Germanic -burg, and Pittsburgh, PA went along for a few years. Then those wild and crazy Scots-Irish got all feisty and demanded that they get their H back.

To my knowledge, it's the only city that demanded the H, yet even as I type this, I know that somebody will prove me wrong.

I have been known to yell at the television when some former jock says, "Mo-Non-Ga-HEE-La". It's like finger nails on the chalk board to me!

I've always heard "Mo-Non-Ga-HAY-La"....

[TonyB06]

Originally Posted by naraht

I've always heard "Mo-Non-Ga-HAY-La"....

Joe Namath is from Beaver Falls, Pa., and he pronounces it
"Mo-Non-Ga-HEE-La." If it's good enough for Joe Willy, it's good enough for me.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by honeychile

FYI, the reason was Pittsburgh, PA has the H at the end is a tribute to the predominately Scots-Irish heritage of the founders. In the late 1800's, the post office tried to turn all city names ending in -burgh into the more Germanic -burg, and Pittsburgh, PA went along for a few years. Then those wild and crazy Scots-Irish got all feisty and demanded that they get their H back.

Of course, the Scots would have pronounced -burgh as "bərə/boro," not "burg."