non outgassing minor planet is a description of course but the word used by scientists and other people familiar with the subject matter is asteroid beyond this just because a description is accurate doesn't mean it's good non sandwich or non elephant would obvious be correct descriptors but would also be horribly misleading it's your own conclusion non outgassing minor planet is a good or appropriate descriptor this could even be true it's not whether or not an object is currently active is not the distinction being drawn in the literature of course but it's still your own opinion and hijacking wikipedia to publish your own opinions is still not appropriate d hijacking wikipedia seriously but thank you for finally actually responding non elephant is vague whereas non outgassing arguably better rephrased to not known to be outgassing is a specific non vague term used to refer to a characteristic so your comparison does not hold the problem with parrotting specific words for specific instances is that it creates a non uniformity in the meaning of the words and hence creates unnecessary ambiguity and unnecessarily decreases clarity now asteroid has always been a word without an exact definition but has come to be increasingly referred to those minor planets out to the orbit of jupiter see asteroid this is also the agreed upon use on wikipedia other minor planets have also occasionally been referred to as asteroid especially those that were discovered early such as hidalgo the first minor planet discovered with a semi major axis beyond jupiter's and asteroid is sometimes also used to include all minor planets including e g all kuiper belt objects it is not or to avoid referring to these as asteroids or refers to the actual content not the specific terms used nor the specific punctuation of terms see e g this discussion moreover this term is easily avoided by using more specific and better defined words which increases the informative value to our readers anyway