Talk:Lewes Bonfire

Refs to follow up

We burn to remember

"The" Lewes Bonfire

Following a short disagreement, the best place to put this is here.

The question surrounds whether the event is called "Lewes Bonfire" or "the Lewes Bonfire". Locally, it never has the definite article attached to it, being "Lewes Bonfire" or just "Bonfire" in the town, but of course WP relies on external sources.

The most relevant one in my opinion, as they have best knowledge locally, is the local paper (The Argus), who consistently use it without the definite article (i.e. "Lewes Bonfire") as here, here and here.

Similarly (although not as externally reliable), all of the Bonfire Society websites use it without definite article.

The other editor in this states that BBC, Guardian etc. use the definite article, but i can't find any evidence of this. They do use the definite article in some sentence constructs such as "the Lewes Bonfire celebrations" or "the Lewes Bonfire processions", (like here) but in those cases, the English usage relates the article to the second part, not to the actual "Lewes Bonfire" piece.

Other external sources such as Sussex Police use it without definite article (like here), as does Lewes District Council (like here).

On that basis, I cannot see any reliable sources which indicate that the definite article should be used.

Regards, OwainDavies ^(about)_(talk) edited at 10:45, 6 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This seems well-cited so I'm happy to retract my previous position - I think I hadn't read my own sources properly. Can't pretend it doesn't look bloody odd, though, and speaking purely anecdotally, as a Sussex local, I've never heard people call it "Lewes bonfire" without the definite article. Popcornduff (talk) 11:19, 6 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The local paper is not the Evening Argus, whose focus is firmly on Brighton; it is the Sussex Express [1], which is based in Lewes. Its usage is almost entirely without a "the"; where a "the" is used it is usually in connection with "celebrations" or similar, as in "the Lewes Bonfire celebrations". Thus the "the" refers to the celebrations, not to Lewes Bonfire itself. I think this can be regarded as far more authoritative than the Argus, and although I'm not going to get into an editing war, I would suggest that you reconsider your usage. Molly Mockford (talk) 14:28, 6 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Who are you responding to, Molly? I've already agreed that it seems the definite article should not be used, contrary to my previous position. If you're responding to OwainDavies, doesn't your argument agree with the current version of the article? Popcornduff (talk) 16:10, 6 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I guess I mis-read! I had been correcting some nonsense added elsewhere about Lewes Bonfire, and I am afraid I must have carried forward my "correcting" mode here. Apologies! Molly Mockford (talk) 18:58, 6 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]