Talk:Favourite

message: Very nice article here. Hopefully it can be linked a lot from other articles, though the current links probably need tidying up to remove dictionary definition entries. Or maybe not. The 'what links here' list looks OK. Carcharoth (talk) 16:49, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks. I just added lots of links (with the "u" & think they are ok (now I have delinked Maggie and the Ferocious Beast - well it might have been relevant).  I've done a bit on the US spelling. "Favorite" + of/and etc is a good search term if you're ever looking for several hundred completely useless articles to prod, I discover. Johnbod (talk) 16:59, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Nice article

message: This article is Briticist.  Why should "Favorite," the American and better spelling, redirect to here?  We should at least have our own page or the only page.  After all, Britain is all but obsolete.  Also this article makes no sense that's not what favorite means.
70.110.143.45 (talk) 23:40, 24 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Briticist

message: I typed in favorite, thinking it would come up a list of favorite animals, shows, movies, or something like that. Instead, I found something about a British soldier.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kmart5 (talk • contribs) 20:56, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: That is puzzling. Who was the British soldier? Johnbod (talk) 20:58, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

text: Yes I tried to add a context- "In a monarchy..." but it was reverted. This is a very specific meaning of "favorite" and like most wikipedia pages needs some kind of context. I will try again and hope to discuss here.Volunteer1234 (talk) 13:52, 24 April 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Your edit was JUST WRONG! The first sentence as it stands is clear enough. It wouldn't have helped people looking for "a list of favorite animals, shows, movies, or something like that" anyway. Johnbod (talk) 14:06, 24 April 2017 (UTC)
replies: text:  It is normal to have a MOS:CONTEXTLINK when a common English word being used in a specific context.Volunteer1234 (talk) 18:44, 24 April 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: You are misreading the policy. The word is not being used in a specific context here; this covers one of the specific meanings it has (like many English words, there are several). As it happens, this is the primary meaning of the word, if probably no longer the most commom. Today that is surely "favourite" as an adjective ("favorite animals, shows, movies...."), but we rarely write articles about adjectives, nor could we in this case.  Johnbod (talk) 18:55, 24 April 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Little Puzzled 

message: I feel most unhappy to have the work of an afternoon practically reverted, although it was excellently sourced. As it stands, this article has a fundamental problem with obsolete cliché as regards the government of Elizabeth I. It is true that William Cecil was a sort of chief minister, but not in the sense that the situation with her "court favourites" was a "different matter". If that ever was historical thinking than it is hopelessly out of date. Even the concept of "faction" at the Elizabethan court before the 1590's, which was very popular with Conyers Read and J.N. Neale in the earlier 20th century, has been shown to be practically rubbish. Cecil and Leicester worked most successfully together, as a kind of tandem (Christopher Hatton, another favourite, also was a most important privy councillor). These men do not deserve only to be mentioned in a curious list, while Cecil (who was certainly not the typical favourite) is the main focus in the text proper. 
There is a lot of newer scholarship on these things. May I quote from Simon Adams (my italics): But Cecil is not the only key figure:...The traditional picture of Leicester as a courtier-adventurer who rose to great heights through the Queen's misguided affection is based on a fundamental misconception. From the earliest years of the reign he was the inheritor of his father's following, and it was this that gave significance to his position as intimate and potential consort. Throughout the first three decades of the reign (until Leicester's death in 1588) the relationship between Cecil, Leicester and the Queen remained more or less unchanged. In the mid 1570s Sir Francis Walsingham and Sir Christopher Hatton...became part of this inner ring, although Cecil and Leicester remained the most important councillors (Adams pp. 17–20)
The most famous scholarship on these topics is:
*Guy, John (ed.): The Reign of Elizabeth I: Court and Culture in the Last Decade Cambridge UP 1995
*Guy, John (ed.): The Tudor Monarchy Hodder Education 1997 
*Adams, Simon: Leicester and the Court: Essays in Elizabethan Politics Manchester UP 2002  
*Hammer, P.E.J.: The Polarisation of Elizabethan Politics: The Political Career of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, 1585–1597 Cambridge UP 1999 
Buchraeumer (talk) 17:38, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: It was not reverted, but moved down to where these figures were already discussed. The text is a overview of the whole of (mainly) European favouritism, and the amount of detail provided inappropriate there - there was already rather too much emphasis on England. The whole point of introducing Cecil here, as you will see if you read the preceding sentences, is that he was "certainly not the typical favourite".  You introduced "factions" here, and Leicester & Essex to the main text.  I still maintain Cecil's position was different; he was very much the Queen's man, and did different sorts of work from Leicester let alone Essex. But by all means suggest an improved version, without adding too much detail to the top section. PS more German favourites welcome - the Habsburgs must have had some?  Johnbod (talk) 18:11, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Cliché in history