1

There is a very specific professional term for the occurrence of a newspaper referencing itself as a source (e.g., in an historical report), and while I knew it in college, it has been apparently been overwritten in my brain with lyrics from The White Stripes. Does anyone know this term? It is a single word, ending in -y, probably beginning with auto- or pro-.

  • It apparently requires a subscription. Most online dictionaries do not allow "browsing" in the way you are referencing it (yes, I realize, it makes them horrible dictionaries). My Merriam-Webster desk reference does not contain the term. –  Mar 17 '18 at 19:06
  • EnglishLanguageAndUsage.SE has a tag specifically for single-word-request and such a "search for a single word" is off-topic here on Writing.SE, which is why I am voting to migrate the question to ELL.SE – Secespitus Mar 18 '18 at 09:32
  • Asking about words is off topic for writing? Doesn't that present somewhat of a conundrum? –  Mar 18 '18 at 22:21
  • 1
    No, it doesn't. This site is about "How to write?"-questions, not "What to write?"-questions and you are asking "What word can I use to describe ?" Furthermore this site is meant to be a site about the craft of writing in general, not specifically about the English language, whereas EnglishLanguageAndUsage.SE is specifically about English. As you are searching for a specific English word to describe something ELL.SE is the correct site and the single-word-requests tag is the correct tag for this question, not Writing.SE – Secespitus Mar 19 '18 at 08:29
  • 1
    I think this is a discussion better had on Meta, and would encourage you to make a Meta post about this and tag me in it. I'm an active SE user, hence the association bonus, and I disagree with your idea to migrate the question to another site. You haven't named a single SE site, you've named two. One is a Meta (English Language and Usage), which isn't appropriate, and one is for English Language Learners, which is offensive (I'm a native speaker). I'm flagging your comments to ask that they be removed from my post. –  Mar 19 '18 at 08:40
  • Sorry about the confusion, I meant English Language and Usage with the abbreviation, not English Language Learners. As every site on the network ELU does have a Meta site, but it's not in general a Meta site. If you want discussions from the Meta from Writing.SE I can direct you to Is this question asking for a single word on-topic? and Writers.SE On-Topic summary and New rule on what to write questions – Secespitus Mar 19 '18 at 08:45

0 Answers0