Talk:Major general

Mg, MG etc.

Hi Howard, I was just going to do this myself, but then I thought I should check in with you first. Unless I'm much mistaken, "Mg" so capitalized always suggests only one thing: magnesium. The element is rarely (and never correctly) abbreviated "MG" any more than sulfur is abbreviated SU. The "MG" in MG cars is always two capitals. Also, "MG" immediately suggests MG cars, at least to my mind.

So here's how I think it should go: the Mg page redirects to Magnesium. The MG page is a disambiguation page, which has a pointer first and foremost to MG cars, and then also major generals, with a link to Magnesium and a note that it's capitalized Mg.

Hope this isn't too confusing...I'm ill today, I'm afraid... --Larry Sanger 13:45, 22 September 2008 (CDT)

Er, wait...I forgot about milligrams. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mg --Larry Sanger 13:48, 22 September 2008 (CDT)

Hope you feel better. There are some case sensitivity issues, which perhaps you fixed. When I wrote "Major general" as an article, doing a "GO" to "MG" took me, somewhat surprisingly to magnesium. Given that reality, it seemed that the software didn't know the difference between Mg and MG. Clearly, we want Mg only to go to the element.

I'd normally write the abbreviation for "milligram" as mg, so we seem to have MG, Mg, and mg. I can't think of anything that would be mG, but at this point I would not be surprised.

How does one address a major general in a car of the appropriate brand? Howard C. Berkowitz 13:50, 22 September 2008 (CDT)

The software can distinguish between Mg and MG, so the unexpected result of your "go" experiment must be because someone had set up the MG to erroneously redirect to magnesium. On the other hand the software cannot distiguish between "Mg" and "mg". Chris Day 13:54, 22 September 2008 (CDT)

Do I hear, singing in the background, someone we want as an author.

I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I’ve information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;
I’m very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I’m teeming with a lot o’ news –
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.

Howard C. Berkowitz 15:31, 22 September 2008 (CDT)