Talk:overground

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Latest comment: 1 year ago by TheDaveRoss in topic RFV discussion: August–November 2022
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RFV discussion: August–November 2022[edit]

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Can we verify that the word overground, with a small o (rather than the proper noun Overground), is used as a noun sense referring to the trains running overground?

I have only heard of the use of this word as an adjective, as in the phrase overground train or similar. --Miklcct (talk) 10:43, 9 August 2022 (UTC)Reply

Well, it has a plural so it must be a noun. One citation added so far. Equinox 12:57, 9 August 2022 (UTC)Reply
The soaps in the shop come in two varieties, scented and non-scented. The scenteds sell much better than the non-scenteds. Look ma, I made some nouns! - TheDaveRoss 13:38, 9 August 2022 (UTC)Reply
Unless we start adding plurals to {{en-adj}}, yes, you did. Same thing with verbing nouns: the different forms necessitate different POS. - -sche (discuss) 17:05, 9 August 2022 (UTC)Reply
Or, and hear me out on this, grammar exists. Nouns being used attributively are not adjectives, adjectives being used nominally are not nouns, and nouns being used verbally are not verbs. As far as I can tell everything is an adverb, adverbs are very complicated. - TheDaveRoss 18:33, 9 August 2022 (UTC)Reply
It is not a question of the metaphysical reality of nounhood, adjectivity, or verbitude for a given usage. It's a question of whether uncommon, incidental usage of a term outside its main PoSes is worth tracking. Almost all English words can be used out side their principal PoS. Is it really worth it to trivially reword adjective definitions as noun definitions just to memorialize such de minimis usage? DCDuring (talk) 02:50, 10 August 2022 (UTC)Reply
What an idiotic comment :D Equinox 17:14, 9 August 2022 (UTC)Reply
I do what I can. - TheDaveRoss 18:45, 9 August 2022 (UTC)Reply


@TheDaveRoss: This leaves the valid, attestable plural overgrounds orphaned, with no singular. This should not have failed, IMHO. Absurd. Equinox 00:43, 23 November 2022 (UTC)Reply
@Equinox Just find one more cite and restore it then! It failed because it has two cites and the bar is three. I think it is silly to add every part of speech to every entry to reflect common grammatical transformations, but that is just my opinion. Clearly you and -sche and likely many others disagree. - TheDaveRoss 16:34, 29 November 2022 (UTC)Reply
Well, cited and restored accordingly. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 16:48, 29 November 2022 (UTC)Reply
@TheDaveRoss: I think words are words. "Overgrounds" is a word because it's a noun and it has a plural and we might talk about the British and French overgrounds, and compare them. On the other hand, "whereuntos" is not a word because "whereunto" is not a noun and cannot have a plural. Simple as. Equinox 05:39, 13 December 2022 (UTC)Reply
I agree that words are words, the question is always what is lexical and what is grammatical (and, I suppose, what is encyclopedic). If "overground" has become a noun in London it should be included, but merely being able to apply common grammatical transformations is not enough to show that a word exists. - TheDaveRoss 13:21, 13 December 2022 (UTC)Reply