Talk:Epstein

RFD discussion: March–December 2020

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Epstein

RFD-sense of "Jeffrey Epstein". CFI does not clearly protect or proscribe content like this. My view is that not every notable, or rather notorious individual belongs in a dictionary. We might as well add a royal bevy of Henries. ←₰-→ Lingo ^Bingo _Dingo (talk) 19:48, 22 March 2020 (UTC)

Deleted out of process. I think the term has acquired a hot-word meaning, something like “child molester who is enabled by the high and mighty”: “How many more Epsteins are out there?”; “And if we don’t deal with this fundamental fact, there will always be more Kochs, more Epsteins, and all the other depraved elites who would happily commit us to extinction if it means another dollar”; “no doubt there are many more Epsteins around”.  --Lambiam 12:29, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

And restored again.  --Lambiam 11:13, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Hm. We do have 'generalized' senses at Eichmann and Hitler. It does seem like a grey area, since many famous people's names are used (and theoretically any could be used) to refer to their characteristics. "Boris Johnson is England's Trump" or vice versa, and how many more Trumps will arise in America in the future, etc; or, on Google Books I see someone writing that "it scares me that there aren't more Obamas in Congress." (We have both the president and an adjective sense at Obama, besides the surname sense, which seems questionable.) - -sche (discuss) 20:13, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

I am not recommending that we add this generalized sense before it has stood the test of time; it was just an observation that might be of interest.  --Lambiam 11:25, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Delete. There are many notable individuals who may be referred to as Epstein; one has marked, but almost certainly quite temporary, notoriety; soon it will be more likely the surname used in isolation refers to some other individual.  --Lambiam 11:25, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

• Delete for the reason given by Lambiam. — SGconlaw (talk) 07:19, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
• I was inclined to support deletion, but my test did not get me very far: Poppers, Einsteins, Newtons, Eichmanns, Hitlers, Epsteins at Google Ngram Viewer. Another test looks more promising for deletion, suggesting low notability: Adolf Hitler, Karl Popper, Isaac Newton, Jeffrey Epstein at Google Ngram Viewer. I feel indecisive and may switch later. In general, let us keep some senses for specific individuals like for Einstein and Hitler. --Dan Polansky (talk) 15:14, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
• Delete. I'm OK with references to individuals at Einstein, Hitler, Picasso, Gandhi, Stalin, and Mao, or even first-name references like Britney and Aretha, but I just can't see Epstein as having reached the one-name recognizability of the aforementioned surnames (and two first names). If someone were to say "Hitler", everyone would think of Adolf Hitler, whereas, quite frankly, if I were to see the name "Epstein" in isolation, the first person to pop into my mind would be Sir Jacob Epstein. Khemehekis (talk) 03:22, 8 July 2020 (UTC)
• Delete. If people are one-wording him frequently in a decade or two, reconsider. Vox Sciurorum (talk) 13:10, 17 December 2020 (UTC)

  Deleted.--Jusjih (talk) 06:21, 22 December 2020 (UTC)