Talk:Grey-bellied dunnart

message: Can I suggest that this page be moved to Grey-bellied Dunnart per strong national ties to the subject, as it is found only in Australia? Australian English uses "grey" instead of "gray". Frickeg 05:12, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Hay mate, I'm a skip too and I learnt gray at school in Melbourne, so I dont know about the Aussie English stuff. Enlil Ninlil 07:44, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, MSW3 lists it as "Gray" not "Grey", and that section of MSW3 was written by Colin Groves, a Brit living in Oz. If you think he's wrong, go ahead. - UtherSRG (talk) 10:48, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: You were really taught "gray"? I was always told that that was American English, as shown by spelling differences. Thanks, I'll get it moved. Frickeg 07:26, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

text: MSW3 is an American publication (even though I'm aware that this particular section was written by an Australian scientist), and thus uses American spelling. The Manual of Style has this to say: "An article on a topic that has strong ties to a particular English-speaking nation uses the appropriate variety of English for that nation." I think it is fairly obvious that an animal found only in Australia should use the Australian variety of the spelling, which is "grey". Note Grey Heron, African Grey Parrot, Grey Wagtail, Grey Partridge, Grey-headed Flying Fox. Therefore I very strongly feel that this page belongs at "Grey-bellied Dunnart". Frickeg (talk) 23:24, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I have to agree with Frickeg on this one, the spelling of the country should be the one used. Enlil Ninlil (talk) 03:05, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I respect that this species is Australian and would therefore expect to use the Australian spellings, but the scientific classification (including the common name) usually attempts to be consistent across the board.  I have been going through all of the mammal articles (haven't gotten to the aforementioned flying fox yet) and moving them in accordance with MSW3, including grey/gray moves (birds are a different taxonomic beast altogether so I would prefer not to use them as comparison in this situation). Therefore, in the article name, I highly prefer using the MSW3 common name, and then using any local names or alternate spellings in the lede.  Please note, I did add the alternate spelling "Grey...." to the lede sentence. My point is, that the MOS is regarding a specific topic, but species articles are not individual articles, per se, as they are all part of a series of articles within the genus/family/order/etc., and articles within said series should remain consistent. Hmmm.... Rgrds. --Tombstone (talk) 13:48, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I in no way question your good faith here, and I acknowledge that the move was made without discussion accidentally, but I think that a unilateral decision to implement a certain spelling is premature. As I said before, it is important to remember that MSW3 is an American publication. As this species is found only in Australia, it is surely as illogical to use the American spelling as it would be to use Australian/British spelling in an article on the American Bison or, indeed, George W. Bush. I personally can see no problem with Grey-headed Flying Fox and Eastern Gray Squirrel using different spellings. The alternate spellings do redirect, after all. Frickeg (talk) 00:11, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

text: Of course. Note that I can imagine that you'd run into a fair bit of difficulty if you'd reached, say, Eastern Grey Kangaroo first. If you're standardising common names for MSW3, just be aware that in some cases - Mahogany Glider and Common Planigale spring to mind - there have been detailed discussions that have resulted in a deviation from MSW3. Good luck with the rest of the standardisations. I think most of the marsupials are done. Frickeg (talk) 01:48, 4 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Naming