Language desk
< February 1	<< Jan \| February \| Mar >>	February 3 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Language Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

February 2

Spelling of La Guardia

At the German Wikipedia we are wondering how Fiorello La Guardias surname should be spelled – as one word with camelcase G or as two words? The articles of the English Wikipedia tend to the spelling with two words, however some official documents and websites such as the report of the La Guardia Committee [1] and the website of the LaGuardia Foundation [2] spell his name as a single word. Which one is right and does it matter at all? --BlackEyedLion (talk) 08:55, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I'll quote footnote number 2 of the La Guardia article: "He signed his surname as a single word with no space between the "La" and the capitalized "G" which follows, but also with no space between his initial "F" and the surname; in his lifetime his surname was almost always written as two words". Lectonar (talk) 09:27, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Note that our spelling of LaGuardia Airport is inconsistent, although it's theoretically possible the WP:COMMONNAMEs are likewise inconsistent. See also this web page. ―Mandruss ☎ 13:43, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The terminal building itself spells it with the LA and the GUARDIA separated.[3] Likewise the grave markers.[4] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:23, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Interestingly, that picture of the terminal building seems to be "Hedging its bets" on the correct spelling. There's a one-panel space between the "La" and "Guardia" and a two-panel space between the "Guardia" and "Airport", indicating that perhaps they weren't sure themselves and split the difference. --Jayron 32 16:17, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Likewise, the marker shown here uses a half-space between the La and Guardia. --Jayron 32 16:18, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Compromise in signage, interesting concept. Good eye. LaGuardia is more legible (parseable) than LAGUARDIA, so the half-space looks to be a substitute for camel case. ―Mandruss ☎ 16:49, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I have often seen that half-space used in names starting with "La" or "Le" meaning "The" in their original language. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:38, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia does not have that option, typographically speaking. Half-spaces are not available. --Jayron 32 23:44, 2 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

We do have a thin space available, which can be added by using the HTML code   or the {{thinsp}} template—cf. LaGuardia and La Guardia. I wouldn't recommend using it in this instance, though. Deor (talk) 00:28, 3 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

On my monitor, thinsp and a normal space render exactly the same way. --Jayron 32 15:59, 4 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Is that a case of extraordinary rendition? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:07, 4 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It is helpful to the reader when neologisms such as "camelcase" are Wikilinked to an explanatory article such as Camelcase. Google book search only shows this neologism showing up in the late 1990s so it is unreasonable to assume everyone knows what the hell you are talking about. Edison (talk) 05:28, 3 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I'd never heard of it and had to look it up. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 20:59, 3 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, I'm a little surprised that anyone who's comfortable with computers wouldn't have heard of CamelCase (as I usually see it called), but I'll file that data point away. Here's one in return: The early iterations of wiki markup used CamelCase instead of the double-square-brackets as a trigger for an internal link. I guess back then, LaGuardia would have been automatically wikilinked, whether you wanted it to be or not, which is presumably one of the reasons this convention was dropped. I believe it may still be in use in some variants, such as TWiki, which may still be in use internally in some companies. --Trovatore (talk) 21:08, 3 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

By the way, while it's of relatively recent origin in the history of the English language, I would not refer to "CamelCase" as a neologism. Rather, it's a technical term, from software engineering, for a naming convention that had to be called something. What might be a little unusual is its back-application outside of programming, to English typography in general. --Trovatore (talk) 21:34, 3 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The website of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates LGA, uses LaGuardia. So does the website of the The City University of New York, of which LaGuardia Community College is a constituent school. The City of New York website seems to use La Guardia most often, especially with respect to the man himself, but also LaGuardia (particularly in reference to the community college) and even an odd Laguardia or two. StevenJ81 (talk) 19:34, 4 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It's LaGuardia. Credentially relevant, but also the worst song ever. μηδείς (talk) 02:53, 7 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]