Talk:mass shooting

RFD discussion: May–June 2019

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mass shooting

SOP. 2600:1000:B127:DCB2:F8C7:15E6:42AE:2ABF 10:48, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

• The word mass has multiple meanings. So keep. SemperBlotto (talk) 10:49, 3 May 2019 (UTC)
  • I wouldn't push for deletion, but this argument is shit, as usual. Chignon – Пучок 11:57, 3 May 2019 (UTC)
• Keep per Semper. Not quite the same as mass murder. DonnanZ (talk) 11:49, 3 May 2019 (UTC)
• A definite keep (per SemperBlotto). --Robbie SWE (talk) 12:12, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

Delete. Once again Blotto uses the fallacious polysemy argument which goes against Wiktionary policy (note our example of "brown leaf" as deletable, yet "leaf" can be a page of a book). Equinox ◑ 13:46, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

Yes, mass has multiple meanings, but that's not what makes this unclear (the recent atrocities in Sri Lanka could be construed as "mass bombings" in at least two different ways, but that's exceptional). The main difficulty in parsing this is the result of the grammatical construction: neither the attributive noun modifier (it's not an adjective) nor the verbal noun it modifies are inflected, so there's no way to tell subject or object unless it's inherent in the noun or verb- and in this case, it isn't. The question arises: is the mass shooting or being shot? Are we talking about a very large firing squad, or a large group of victims? In practice, though, the first scenario is rare and unlikely, so without context indicating it, it should be clear that we're talking about the other one. I'm sure it would be possible to come up with a number of such constructions using a variety of verbs. As a side note, I think those who want to use the "multiple meanings" argument should spell out enough of the alternate interpretations to show that confusion is at least plausible. Chuck Entz (talk) 19:07, 3 May 2019 (UTC)

The current definition is SOP, but also wrong (or, really, imprecise). We should improve the definition and keep. It would not be a mass shooting if a person killed their spouse and then themselves, for instance. I know that the criminal definition varies by jurisdiction, and that there are varying examples of it being used for shootings of different "sizes" and durations, but we can be clearer than we are to show that there is idiomacity. - TheDaveRoss 19:27, 15 May 2019 (UTC)

• RFD kept and definition expanded. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 03:44, 6 June 2019 (UTC)