Talk:2012 Swiss referendums

A fact from 2012 Swiss referendums appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 3 May 2012 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that voters in Zurich, Switzerland, approved the creation of "sex boxes"?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2012/May. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Swiss referenda, 2012.

Wikipedia

Switzerland Low‑importance

	Switzerland portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Switzerland, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Switzerland on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SwitzerlandWikipedia:WikiProject SwitzerlandTemplate:WikiProject SwitzerlandSwitzerland articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Politics Low‑importance

	Politics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of politics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PoliticsWikipedia:WikiProject PoliticsTemplate:WikiProject Politicspolitics articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Elections and Referendums

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Elections and Referendums, an ongoing effort to improve the quality of, expand upon and create new articles relating to elections, electoral reform and other aspects of democratic decision-making. For more information, visit our project page.Elections and ReferendumsWikipedia:WikiProject Elections and ReferendumsTemplate:WikiProject Elections and ReferendumsElections and Referendums articles

Title[edit]

Since WP:OTHERCRAPEXISTS is not a valid arguement (goes for the one on the referendum page and the electoral calendar). OED gives this. Our article give s BOTH at referendum (which doesnt cite the quote in the lead and the article uses referenda all over the place). Further see (for counter points). \If ‘referendum’ means ‘referral’, then ‘referendums’ – by its inherent definition – pluralises the actual act of voting, according to the Oxford English Dictionary anyway. Using ‘referendums’, therefore, implies having several ballots on a single issue. --> which says "The alternative – the attempt to pluralise a Latin word that can’t be pluralised, turning it into ‘referenda’ (just like ‘memoranda’) – implies the other option: the idea of having separate ‘referrals’, i.e. for separate measures." and the plural IS the case that it is for seperate measures.(Lihaas (talk) 13:00, 14 March 2012 (UTC)).[reply]

The first link you provide is not the OED - it is a company trading on a similar name, possibly to make people think they are the OED. As for the third link which you are using to justify your stance, you have conveniently omitted its final sentence: "So – ‘referendums’ or ‘referenda’? As it turns out, it’s all really just a matter of preference." Although there are no doubt a few exceptions to the rule, Wikipedia has always used referendums. I myself originally used referenda on here until it was pointed out to me by another editor that it was incorrect. Number 5 7 08:53, 20 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I mentioned the usage of rferendums too. But you were correct...even the WP article doesnt differentiate or point to referendums(Lihaas (talk) 10:24, 1 May 2012 (UTC)).[reply]

I have now moved it to "referendums" on the basis that there are numerous ones to be held on different dates during the year. Number 5 7 17:05, 14 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]