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Maybe we could get a little pronounciation guide? I have been given to understand the spelling is the same in both French and German, but the pronounciation of course different. Is there a Flemish version of the name as well?
83.250.135.25 (talk) 15:16, 10 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Oreo Priest, you changed my explanation of City Rights because in your POV (that of a native English speaker living in Brussels) City Rights makes more sense. I can assure you that the term, City Rights as applied to cities in the Low Countries is unknown to most English speakers. It needs a short explanation. By the way, I lived in Belgium during most of the 1970s, have a tri-lingual Belgian wife of 35 years, go to Belgium almost every year to visit with my French and Flemish speaking in-laws, and have two children who were brought up speaking French at home (particularly difficult in the US). I can assure you that my 300 million English speaking compatriots and my neighbors to the North do not know what the term, City Rights means and that it is peculiar to the Low Countries. I ask you to undo your reversion. I frequently edit articles on Belgium with an eye to expanding the language to help people who do not know Belgium as well as you and I do. So, PLEASE no more reverts to my expansions.Laburke (talk) 04:30, 19 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Laburke. I'm puzzled that you seem to be so upset. As for the term 'city rights', this is the first time I've ever heard it in a Belgian context, and I'd heard it long before. See the lead of Manchester, for example, where it isn't explained but instead is linked. I am one of your neighbours to the north, by the way, and even if what city rights are is not widely known among the general public (nor is the existence of Eupen for that matter), I'm sure if you wander over to the history department of your university you'll find a broad knowledge of what they are.
The reason I changed your language was that "Eupen obtains the type of rights accorded to a city within the Low Countries" is a strange sentence that isn't really to the point IMHO. I think linking "city rights" (i.e. my version) is more elegant. I think that if anyone is unsure of what they are, they can click through to the article on them, and even if they don't click through then I'm not sure that your version is any more informative. On the whole though, your edits were very good, good work! If you feel strongly about this, go ahead and revert my edits, but for the reasons I described I think the current version works better. Cheers, Oreo Priesttalk16:56, 19 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
One of the strengths of Wikipedia could be that neither do you have to walk over to a History Department when you read a strange phrase like City Rights, nor do you have to follow every link if a short explanatory phrase is nearby. There are too many times when I've had to follow layers of links, each of which gave too much detail. I was upset because once again someone reverted an entire phrase when I was trying to give an explanation. My style may be a bit awkward at times, since French and English are bouncing around in my head. Perhaps you could supply a short explanatory phrase? BTW, there might be more people who are interested in Eupen than you think. The defence of Eupen and the Elsenborn Ridge was crucial in stopping the German advance to the north. It would have been a disaster if they got by the Elsenborn Ridge. It was really much more important strategically than Bastogne. Laburke (talk) 02:24, 20 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
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