Talk:mũrarũ
Any versus A in definition[edit]
In English determiners matter for resolving certain kinds of ambiguity.
"A sort of harmless snake" leaves open the possibility that there is exactly one such "sort".
The alternative wording "any sort of harmless snake" might be correct.
Another more cautious approach would be "any of several sorts/species of snakes".
I suspect that a Kikuyu speaker confronted with a snake in a foreign country that he was told was harmless might then call it a mũrarũ, but I could certainly be wrong about that.
In any event the listing of local species of harmless snakes is very helpful, although some could argue that it would be better in a Kikuyu Wikipedia. I'd appreciate your thoughts. DCDuring (talk) 14:22, 26 April 2019 (UTC)
Somewhat misleading content[edit]
As the headword definition is of a "harmless" "snake", the material on venomous snakes (unless the venom has minimal effect on humans) and on lizards (unless they are legless) seems extraneous. What's worse these elements of the context must be confusing to users. Also, if any of the species discussed are large, they may not be viewed as harmless. There must be some Kikuyu entry that would make a good home for the content. DCDuring (talk) 15:38, 25 March 2023 (UTC)