Talk:Roller skates

200,000 calories?

"Burning 200000 calories per hour while skating 6 miles per hour or 600 calories while skating 10 miles per hour."

That makes no sense. Is it supposed to be 200 Calories per hour? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.68.28.17 (talk) 04:45, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

• A food or dietician's calorie is 1000 proper scientific calories. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 12:29, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Redirecting to Inline skates is not good

This was redirecting to inline skates, which is silly because inlines are only one subtype of roller skates. I changed it to point to roller skating for now, as that article is currently the most likely to give the searcher what he/she is looking for. Eventually we should do an article called Roller skates, or at least, a disambiguation page. For now I think this is workable, though. ManekiNeko | Talk 01:09, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

Agreed. Thanks. I updated the Roller Skating page to de-wikify "roller skates", because now it is just a self-reference. --Michael 16:39, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

I think that self-reference has been there for a long time. Thanks for catching it! :) ManekiNeko | Talk 21:21, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

I redirected to quad skates...but perhaps quad should redirect to roller skate or quad skate (singular)?--Hardballhock 05:02, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

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The Definition of Roller Skates in this article is not so good and this seems unfortunately this definition lacks of documented references .

خ - دقيق (talk) 07:32, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

Redirect

Thoughts on making this a redirect to rollerskating? It seems that this was a redirect before, and I don't think we need two separate pages for what would essentially say the same thing. Amphytrite 04:25, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Or better, as a redirect to quad skates. I think that would be best. Amphytrite 07:51, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Move?

• Roller skates → Roller skate — Peter Napkin Dance Party (talk) 22:59, 25 February 2009 (UTC)
• Incomplete. It is impossible to skate with one skate, the singular is a pair of skates. 199.125.109.126 (talk) 03:07, 26 February 2009 (UTC)
  • ref discussion at Talk:Ice skate#Requested move. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 07:29, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

• Support to bring naming in line with Wikipedia:Naming conventions. --DAJF (talk) 02:45, 27 February 2009 (UTC)
• Oppose per Wikipedia:Naming conventions (plurals)#Exceptions: "Cases like The Beatles. Although Paul McCartney is "a former Beatle", so that the singular is used, it is of interest only because of the plural usage."; similarly, one can talk about a "roller skate", but they are only of interest when they are used in pairs. To move to the singular would be to observe the letter of the naming conventions while riding roughshod over their spirit. --Rogerb67 (talk) 04:01, 27 February 2009 (UTC)
• Oppose the normal form is plural. 76.66.193.90 (talk) 05:03, 28 February 2009 (UTC)
• Oppose Renaming this per WP:NC favoring of singular over plural titles is taking rule-following to the absurd extreme. --Born2cycle (talk) 01:03, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

New Discussion about Move

• Support Or Oppose, but we need to pick one As per this discussion, (which resulted in no move from ice skate --> ice skates) over on 'Ice skate' the correct naming convention is to use the singular form. Note this also applies to the article on Inline Skates, which then should also be moved to Inline Skate. Alternatively if opposed, Ice skate should be revisited as a move. However I'll point out to IP 199... above, it is NOT impossible to skate with one skate, I have a disabled friend who can do this, (its complicated but fully possible, and I can do it myself). I realise that this is bringing up an old move request, but roller skates and ice skate should not be different, we need to pick one and go with it.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  10:28, 21 February 2015 (UTC)
• Oppose I didn't put on one skate and then the other, I put on my roller skates. I understand the argument that you can in fact skate with only one skate on, but that's just not how these are thought about. Why did they choose to go with ice skate instead of ice skates? The very first thing the ice skate article says is "ice skates". I feel like, ideally, the roller skating article would be a broad umbrella topic, and it would link to roller skates, inline skates, and other forms of the equipment while roller skating would about the sport or activity. This article would talk about the equipment, in this case being all variations of quad skates. If things were set up that way then the cultural references would need to be whittled down to simply encompass references to the actual equipment. I went and looked at the naming conventions. It says, "Exceptions include nouns that are always in a plural form in English (e.g. scissors or trousers) and the names of classes of objects..." Roller skate is a word in English, but so is a scissor and a trouser. Roller skates are manufactured in pairs, sold in pairs, rented in pairs, and worn almost exclusively as a pair. Lady-Natalya (talk) 06:35, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

the problem is that the articles don't match, I'm not at all invested in which convention we use, just that they are all the same. its just odd and inconsistent.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  00:20, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

The naming convention is clear on this subject (WP:SINGULAR), plurals should only be used when the singular is never used (e.g. scissors, trousers or handcuffs), where is is essentially impossible to talk about a scissor or a trouser or a single handcuff. Yes, roller skates are usually referred to in the plural, however, It is perfectly fine to talk about a single skate (i.e. "My roller skate lost a wheel.") and often appropriate from an encyclopaedic POV (i.e. "The first roller skate was effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade."<--an actual sentence from the lede of Roller skate). I'm going to put an official move request in as it seems that most people previously objected based on it not 'sounding right' or misinterpreting the naming convention. This brings it in line with Ice skate and Figure skate, and i will perform a similar move request for Inline skates to Inline skate.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  00:22, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

Cycle skates

Just saw the youtube video about the 1920s French version here and then saw these photos of modern ones in this image search (also called skate cycle). Plus it also has a youtube video. And a video on similar "Orbit wheel." Plus one version sold here. In case any fans of the sport want to do an article. CarolMooreDC 03:50, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

Requested move 10 November 2015

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved. Clear consensus to prefer the pluralised form as the title. BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 13:17, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

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• Roller skates → Roller skate
• Inline skates → Inline skate

– The naming convention is clear on this subject (WP:SINGULAR), plurals should only be used when the singular is never used (e.g. scissors, trousers or handcuffs); where it is essentially impossible to talk about a scissor or a trouser or a single handcuff. Yes, roller skates are usually referred to in the plural, however, it is perfectly fine to talk about a single skate (i.e. "My roller skate lost a wheel.") and often appropriate from an encyclopaedic POV (i.e. "The first roller skate was effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade."<--an actual sentence from the lede of Roller skates). as for Inline skate, in the lede of that article, the first sentence is "Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating." I think it is clear that "roller skate" (singular) is often used to refer to this device (the lede of both articles prove this), and therefore as per WP:SINGULAR the correct form is the singular. the move of "Inline skates" to "Inline skate" follows logically from this.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  00:49, 10 November 2015 (UTC) --Relisted. Natg 19 (talk) 01:07, 19 November 2015 (UTC) Relisted. Biblioworm 22:19, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

Because it will almost certainly be brought up, yes I am aware of (Wikipedia:Naming conventions (plurals)#Exceptions), however in this case there are only two exceptions allowed: Articles on groups or classes of specific things (which does not apply here), and Cases where the title only exists in the plural. (which I discuss above as also not applying here: indeed, the term roller skate is used in the lede of both articles, proving that this title DOES exist and is used regularly). see also: Ice skate and Figure skate for additional justification.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  01:07, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

• Support. A thorough and accurate reading of current guidelines. oknazevad (talk) 01:39, 10 November 2015 (UTC)
• Oppose. Although supported by a naming convention, the singular name is awkward. The skates are made in pairs, used on both feet.--Zoupan 20:31, 13 November 2015 (UTC)

This article is about the invention, history, technical aspects, and use of the "roller skate". How was that awkward to use in the singular? The naming convention here is clear.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  03:57, 14 November 2015 (UTC)

In fact there are many situations where the plural is both more awkward as well as more wordy. Take the following example, where the plural grammar obstructs creating a concise sentence without wordy grammar:

Traditional quad roller skates have four wheels each, with the wheels laid out in a rectangular configuration, while inline skates have 2-5 wheels each, with the wheels in a single line.

The traditional quad roller skate has four wheels laid out in a rectangular configuration, while the inline roller skate has 2-5 wheels in a single line.

My point of course is that the singular and plural are effectively interchangeable, with some cases being easier to write in the plural, and others easier in the singular. The naming convention is clear on using the singular for the title in these cases.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  03:11, 15 November 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose. Always used in the plural. Well, nearly always. Especially if you remove usage as a verb (you wear roller skates to roller skate). Ice skate should be moved to the plural for similar reasons. The singular "skate" of skates refers to a specific part, not the whole. I think there is some revisionism / hypercorrection undercurrent here in trying to align skates with shoes. --SmokeyJoe (talk) 22:20, 18 November 2015 (UTC)
• Oppose. Always used in the plural. In ictu oculi (talk) 02:54, 19 November 2015 (UTC)

I've given numerous examples above about how the singular is interchangeable in encyclopaedic language, and in fact, used even in the article numerous times, I'm not certain how you can say that it is always used in the plural. Yes they are nearly always used in pairs, but so are ice skates and figure skates, and those articles are both singular name articles. (Note Ice skate was requested to be moved to Ice skates, but failed due to the fact that the convention is the singular. I think the issue is that people here are equating the common usage of language, where we talk about 'my roller skates' with encyclopaedic content, 'the roller skate'. The issue here is also one of consistency, at wikipedia we can't have articles named Roller skates and Inline skates as well as Ice skate and Figure skate, I'm trying to fix this issue by reading the guidelines, and following them, but the issue is that these articles are in the middle of the rules a bit: the singular language can be used to describe them so technically it should be singular, but they are also used almost exclusively as paris. As the crowd over at Ice skate won't accept Ice skates (with good reason as it is technically against the guidelines), we are in a conundrum and I'm not certain how to fix this. Perhaps I should present a move choice for all four articles instead, so that either way, they end up following the same convention.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  03:44, 19 November 2015 (UTC)

It seems that there is No Consensus. Perhaps we should close this discussion and I'll open up a new request soon to move all four articles (roller skates, inline skates, ice skate and figure slake) to the same naming convention. As I'm not sure how to go about doing this, as opposed to a single move, could the first person who sees this and has some expertise on the subject contact me on my talk page, I'll also contact a few people and ask for myself.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  12:28, 22 November 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose. Putting dogma aside for a moment (because it's a terrible idea to always follow it slavishly), common sense dictates that we use the plural since these things always come in pairs. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:38, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
• Support. At first glance might seem a little unusual, but this is clearly the standard Wikipedia practice. Shoe, sock, etc. Jenks24 (talk) 14:43, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Also see Snowshoe, for an example that also is always used in a pair (impossible to implement otherwise), the common argument against the singular.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  03:35, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose. It has nothing to do with whether something can be referred to singularly .(Ever heard of a scissor kick? a pant-suit? It's even conventional in the garment industry to refer to one unit of "pants" as "a pant" and one unit of "panties" as "a panty", to avoid frivolous legal complaints by consumers that the plural indicated they'd receive more than one unit.) It's about whether the subject is WP:NOTABLE only in the plural, and that's clearly the case with skates. Yes, despite the fact that there are some trick athletes here and there who have mastered using only one. The article Shoe should obviously also be moved to Shoes (same wit Snoeshow, Sock, and any similar cases); the word is notable in the singular only in metaphoric, derived constructions, such as the card shoe in baccarat. WP:PLURAL applies to having Cat not Cats and Parliament not Parliaments be the article titles for topics like that which are not naturally plural and only notable in the plural. Ski can remain in the singular, because a wide ski used singularly is actually a popular piece of sports/recreation equipment, at least for water skiing (I've only been snow-skiing once, and know little about it).  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  03:48, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

These arguments are mostly inadequate in making your point. the Scissor kick has absolutely nothing to do with Scissors, and pant-suit became that way due to a convention in english to drop the letter s in plurals in awkward conjunctions like this... seriously try saying 'pants-suit' and you'll see why. Shoe and sock are perfect examples under the naming convention that SHOULD NOT be moved to plurals, and not just because an amputee can wear a single shoe, but simply because it is an object that is notable for what it is, its historical development, and its features; none of which require it to be referred to in the plural, unlike scissors, handcuffs etc. The fact that shoes, skates, skis, snowshoes, ice skates, socks, etc happen to be used most often in pairs is only true because people tend to have two feet. There is perhaps an argument that skates, and snowshoes for example are used exclusively in pairs due to the difficulty of using them with only one foot, however, this argument is grey, and difficult to define, especially as disabled skaters certainly do exist. It is difficult to argue that the title 'Roller skate' is awkward, as the article 'Ice skate' and 'Figure skate' have been singular for ages without problems; that these other articles work just fine in the singular is a perfect argument for transferring this article to the singular, as the naming convention is that if it can be, it should be (with certain exceptions that don't apply to this case). There is a problem with the naming convention rules however, in that they don't make specific reference to how objects commonly used in pairs should be referred, however, we can infer from the title of all the major articles on the subject (sock, shoe, etc) that the singular should be the preference despite them being used in the plural.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  06:05, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose singular is seriously awkward - I don't think WP:PLURAL takes into account things that are nearly universally used in the plural. Roller skate? Seriously? —Мандичка^YO 😜 14:30, 30 November 2015 (UTC)
• Relisting comment. The general opinion here seems to be quite divided, so I've decided to give this RM one more round and relist it. However, I will note that the supporters seem to be basing their arguments in established naming guidelines, and there also seems to be precedent for the singular titling of articles about skates (see Ice skate and Figure skate). To the contrary, I observe that many dissenting opinions seem to center around the fact that it simply "sounds strange". Since RMs are to be closed according to the strength of the arguments (as supported by naming policies and conventions), this RM might very well be closed as moved if the opposition does not present policy-based rationales for their position. Thanks, Biblioworm 22:19, 11 December 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME. The plural [1] is 20 times more common than the singular [2]. Zarcadia (talk) 04:38, 12 December 2015 (UTC)

@ Zarcadia: WP:COMMONNAME does not apply to plural vs singular title choice. That's for cases like Bill Clinton vs. William Jefferson Clinton. Plural vs. singular title choice does not take into account which is 'more popular' or 'more common' in the vernacular, but rather follows WP:SINGULAR and other conventions that I've discussed above. The confusion of plurals with WP:CN is the source of most of the opposition the this move it seems, yet if you read WP:CN you'll find no examples of plural vs. singular, because it is covered under the WP:SINGULAR section in Article Titles guideline page. (Note: EDITED to expand hasty mobile edit)  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  02:27, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME and the fact it sounds utterly stupid, Bean, Flower etc etc all sound normal but this doesn't, Anyway everyone calls them "Roller Skates" so we should too imho. –Davey2010^Talk 18:46, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

@Davey2010 Read the comment directly above yours... I don't even know what to say. You can't cite a policy when that policy doesn't apply to the case.

Go read the rest of the WP:Article Titles page, then scroll down to Article title format and you'll find a section titled 'Use the singular form'. This has a link to another article; WP:Naming conventions (plurals). These are the policies that apply to singular vs. plural titles. Please read these as they are the only relevant policies that apply to this move request.

WP:COMMONNAME is for a completely different set of issues... which you would know if you'd read the relevant policy pages that I've already cited several times previously in this discussion.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  00:47, 15 December 2015 (UTC)

• What would this discussion look like if the nominator's badgering were hidden? --SmokeyJoe (talk) 11:06, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Picture of an inline skate

I think this article should have any picture of an inline skate, there are only about quad skates--Antimundo (talk) 09:33, 15 November 2015 (UTC)

I assume you mean it should have a section devoted to Inline skates? I agree, but it should stay brief and route the reader to the inline skate article.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  12:03, 15 November 2015 (UTC)

Should we merge the article Quad skates?

Should we merge the article Quad skates? or just blank it and turn it into a redirect?

That article is nearly an orphan article, no citations, and is practically a stub. As this article has become the de-facto article for 'quad' roller skates, I would suggest that we squeeze anything useful out of the other article, then turn it into a redirect to this article.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  09:56, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

I proposed the Quad skates article for deletion as it doesn't seem that there is much of use there for a merger.  InsertCleverPhraseHere ^{InsertTalkHere}  07:40, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Skating Tips

A lot of people have trouble skating or doing things on their skates. Lots of people start skating but rely on other objects to help them stop such as poles, benches, trees, etc. Lots of people want to learn more about how to do things on their skates such as me. But when I look on Wikipedia there is nothing helpful on how to do anything.

I read articles and pages on different skates and everything but none of them tell me how to skate better. I look to wikipedia for help and hope to find some but it is a little hard to find any 'How-To' articles and/or pages about anything.

I hope someone can help me because I cannot create an article on something I know little about. Mseale0630 (talk) 21:30, 24 July 2017 (UTC)

I generally don't think of a Wikipedia post as a how-to page as much as it is an about page. But I see that on the running page, you can find a section on good running techniques. So, if someone is inclined and has the references, they could create a similar section here. In terms of creating your own content though, no one on Wikipedia is expected or can use their credentials to create content. It is really about summarizing other reliable sources, so you don't need to have expertise yourself. Bdleaf (talk) 15:38, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

Skates vs Skating

I am planning to remove sections that are about roller skating, the hobby or sport, rather than roller skates themselves. For example, information about the health benefits of skating does not belong in this article about skates in my opinion. Are there objections to this? Jno.skinner (talk) 17:17, 20 October 2020 (UTC)

This article can use some of the new sources I dug up for Inline skates

I've been rewriting Inline skates. I am far from done. See its talk page for my progress.

During this process, I dug up a lot of resources that may be useful for this article, as they share a common lineage. You can look through these new references, as well as new images I uploaded. Many are Plimpton-style quad skates. I also noticed that on Google Books I often found two-wheel skates and quad skates (of course simply called roller skates at the time) advertised in books, journals and magazines together. Where you see me showing inline-like skate pictures from after 1863, you will often find quad-style skate pictures and drawings in the same sources.

I actually have additional materials on roller skates and roller skating. But I am obviously not using these extra resources for inline skates. If anyone ever rewrites this article or roller skating, feel free to ping me. Fred Hsu (talk) 00:50, 8 December 2024 (UTC)