Talk:John Macarthur

Capitalization

Per this book, Macarthur himself spelled his named "M'Arthur" or "MacArthur"; and "Macarthur" (no capital) is a later development. It is not really an "deviation" from history, I suppose. More like a footnote on spelling and capitalization. Haha. -- Strangerface 06:23, 24 August 2010 (PDT)

Character

One more thing. Should I remove the "Colonial-Secretary" bit from the billets section? I got that from the historical record, but obviously NN didn't keep to it. So I'm not sure it's true anymore.

Also, when I initially started this page, I was reading ToS and Laurence seemed well-disposed to Macarthur, particularly after having dinner with his wife. However, at the end of the book he compares Macarthur to Bonaparte, saying they are "cut from the same cloth" so obviously after the second rebellion, Laurence starts to think less of him. I don't think is a good association. I'd like to fit this into the biography somewhere but not sure how. -- Strangerface 06:29, 24 August 2010 (PDT)

Australian subcategory

I can't find the page, but I seem to remember a debate a while back towards what we should call characters who inhabit Australia in the series. The argument against using "Australians" was that the landmass wasn't officially called that at that point - it wouldn't be officially chosen as the name until 1824, prior to that, either New Holland or Terra Australis was used, with New South Wales referring to the British Colony - plus the characters weren't Australian by birth.

Re-reading Tongues Of Serpents and seeing John MacArthur declare himself "First Minister of Australia" got me thinking. This shows that Australia has been chosen by the locals as the name for their country (so it's another case of history happening a bit differently and perhaps earlier in time), so they could be considered "Australians". However, to ease confusion, I suggest we:

• Add a new subcategory; "Australian", and add the majority of the Tongues Of Serpents characters to it.
• Use multiple subcategory links to indicate a person's ethnicity. For example, John MacArthur would link to the subcategory for British and Australian, Jia Zhen would link to the subcategory for Chinese and Australian, etc.

Thoughts? Almaron 22:41, 6 November 2011 (MST)

I added the Australian subcategory, but I think we need to be cautious of confusing nationality with ethnicity. On a case by case basis it may be appropriate, but for the most part it's probably something we should steer clear of, IMO. Categories are primarily for the purpose of grouping similar things together and helping readers find them. -whitearrow 22:54, 6 November 2011 (MST)