Talk:Michael Gross (swimmer)

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due to his super long arms which gave him a total span of 2.27 m

According to German Wikipedia it's 2.13 m. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.178.149.189 (talk) 23:56, 3 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The name is actually Groß, not Gross (see German Wikipedia). The letter "ß" can be substituted by "ss" when it can't be helped, but here it should be possible to spell it correctly. 80.132.240.173 (talk) 21:34, 30 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

• Mild oppose The German "ß" is uncommon in English usage. It should be mentioned in the lead, but otherwise... I find myself conflicted, here, because I tend to prefer the native usage over a forced conformity. TREKphiler ^{any time you're ready, Uhura} 15:41, 6 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
• Mild oppose I think the case by Dirtlawyer below is sound and that using Gross is the proper thing to do on the English wikipedia, even though personally I mildly prefer using the "ß". Gap9551 (talk) 19:36, 6 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The German double-s character is not used in standard English; this is an English language article. Per the relevant section of the Wikipedia Manual of Style (see WP:DIACRITICS), unless reliable English language sources use the German character, standard English characters should prevail. I will go further and suggest that unless a majority of reliable English language sources use the German character, the name should be rendered in standard English characters.

IMO, the proper way to handle this matter is to render the subject's surname in standard English characters first, but also in the foreign characters in the introductory sentence of the lede, as we typically do in other English language biographies of foreign persons where the spelling of the name varies from English to the subject's native language. The redirect page should be reformulated in the German characters to redirect to an article title in standard English.

I have not been a past contributor to this article; my interest has been prompted by another editor's changes to swimmer articles that link to this one. To the typical English language reader, the German double-s character is confusing and contrary to the way the authoritative English language sources cited above (Britannica.com, The New York Times, official English language Olympics website), among many others, most commonly render the subject's surname in English language articles about him.

A quick review of this talk page clearly establishes that the previous 2008 consensus was to render the subject's surname in standard English. In the absence of a new consensus established on this talk page, I will revert the unilateral 2011 page move and spelling change in ten days. I will not, of course, interrupt or preempt a productive talk page discussion if one is ongoing at that time. Let's keep in mind that the question is not what the correct spelling of the name is in German; per WP:MOS, the question is how reliable English language sources most often render the name in English language publications. Let's do our homework and keep the name-calling to a minimum, please. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 15:01, 6 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The question, as far as I can see, is whether the name is rendered as Groß or Gross in English-language articles about him. I'm not talking about a list of participants, but an actual article written about the person. I find it hard to believe that articles written for a non-German audience would use the eszet. As such, the "Use English Names" criterion would suggest "Gross" as the proper article name. VanIsaac_WS 22:05, 6 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The MoS for personal names is not as helpful here as one might expect. It says “Most recent personal names have but one correct spelling”, though. That statement would prefer native “Groß”, of course.

The guideline “Use English” has this to say, “German proper names should be treated with care, and attention to English practice” and might be more in favor of “Gross”.

As someone with an umlaut in his surname, I personally find it offensive to have it being written ‘ae’ or, worse, ‘a’ by someone who has (or somewhere where there are) the technical means available to write it correctly. Others might not feel as strongly about the issue, though. Things are a little bit different when we’re not talking about names from the same script.

Anyhow, you should probably seek guidance on the Talk page of either of the MoS articles, although MoS tends to settle on fowl compromises. — Christoph Päper 07:04, 9 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

If you'd really wanted a concluding decision, you'd informed the person who performed the preceding move (me) or at least referred to my reasoning. Interestingly, this interview's leading section suggests that he has officially changed his name to "Gross". However, at least the IPA transcription should be added, because the double-s usually indicates short vowels in German, especially so since the German orthography reform of 1996. --Axolotl Nr.733 (talk) 18:57, 20 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Michael Gross 1985 Paraguay stamp.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 10:45, 8 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]