Talk:dash cherry

RFV discussion: July–October 2022
"The red rotating light put on a police car's dashboard to indicate an emergency." I can't find anything on this. (If it's real, does it mean the light is lifted up and placed on the dashboard, or that it is always fixed there and is merely lit up in emergencies?) Equinox ◑ 21:47, 3 July 2022 (UTC)


 * Two books by the same author:, . I couldn't find anything else. 98.170.164.88 07:52, 5 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Reddit: . 98.170.164.88 07:55, 5 July 2022 (UTC)
 * Those things are called cherries, try a google image search for "police cherry" Drapetomanic (talk) 14:39, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
 * If that sense of can be cited, dash cherry then becomes SOP. I see someone has just added it, defined as "cherrytop", with one cite. This, that and the other (talk) 10:57, 8 October 2022 (UTC)

moved to RFD: WT:RFDE This, that and the other (talk) 03:38, 14 October 2022 (UTC)

RFD discussion: October 2022–January 2023
noun sense 9 + noun sense 9. Was previously at RFVE, but the relevant sense was later added to cherry, making this SoP. This, that and the other (talk) 03:36, 14 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Keep per WT:FRIED. The meaning of this term is not at all obvious at first glance, even if and  both have relevant senses. Binarystep (talk) 07:58, 14 October 2022 (UTC)


 * A red rotating light mounted on a car's dashboard rather than the roof? Really? Is the term even used? No GBS hits for this sense. --Lambiam 10:28, 15 October 2022 (UTC)
 * They're not mounted necessarily, they are used in unmarked cars and pulled out of the glove compartment in emergencies. Drapetomanic (talk) 00:06, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
 * The 2002 Mofina citation does imply that this is associated with unmarked police cars. 98.170.164.88 03:50, 29 October 2022 (UTC)
 * I don't think whether this is SOP is the issue, but whether it exists at all. I can't find a single mention in a Google Web search! Equinox ◑ 10:40, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
 * I can’t find anything on Twitter either. I’ve created Citations:dash cherry and added one citation mentioned in the RFV chat but I can’t access the other book to find the passage to cite and it’s debatable whether the Reddit cite counts. Seems fairly SOP anyway, so might as well delete. The citation I’ve added could always be moved to cherry to support the corresponding new sense there (where I’ve added another cite). --Overlordnat1 (talk) 13:06, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
 * No hits on Amazon either. I can still see this being real, but in many locations the color intended for volunteer firefighters and such is amber, not red, so if people are using red ones it would only be in certain locations (apparently Alabama allows red, for example) and therefore the expression will be geographically limited. — Soap — 14:06, 23 October 2022 (UTC)
 * "I can’t access the other book to find the passage to cite": Added. 98.170.164.88 03:44, 29 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Send to RfV. This doesn't become an RfD problem unless the thing actually exists. bd2412 T 06:00, 22 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Keep but send to RFV - I agree this isn’t obvious at all (so if it does exist we should keep it). The question of whether it does exist is a question of finding citations. Theknightwho (talk) 17:03, 22 October 2022 (UTC)
 * RFV; I'm leaning towards "keep" if it's attested, but if there are a lot of "___ cherry" terms, I'd reconsider. - -sche (discuss) 03:29, 29 October 2022 (UTC)


 * I found two uses for "dashboard cherry light" on Google Books (and also on IA). There are also a few uses of "dashboard cherry" without "light". As for the specific form "dash cherry", I'm not sure it's attestable outside of the Mofina cites and Reddit. I'm not seeing much in the usual places. 98.170.164.88 03:57, 29 October 2022 (UTC)


 * RFD-kept: no consensus for deletion. --Dan Polansky (talk) 15:42, 4 January 2023 (UTC)

RFV discussion: January–February 2023
Was in RFD and people said send to RFV. Here it is. --Dan Polansky (talk) 15:41, 4 January 2023 (UTC)


 * I found two cites at Google Books, but both by same author. One is in entry. DCDuring (talk) 16:07, 4 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, the Mofina citations have been known about since July when this was originally sent to RfV. It has since been sent to RfD, and then re-sent to RfV. And so far they've been the only durably archived ones found. I just added a few non-durably-archived ones to the Citations page; they're all I was able to find online. I think we need a two-week discussion to finally settle this if no more durably archived citations turn up. I'm not sure 1 durable + 4 non-durable uses total in existence would be judged by the community as sufficient. 70.172.194.25 18:55, 4 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Why aren't cites put in the entry when found? Even if the entry fails this RfV, the cites may become useful in similar future discussions, when more cites may become available. DCDuring (talk) 22:18, 4 January 2023 (UTC)
 * If the entry fails RfV, then all that will remain is the Citations page and the Talk page anyway, so I don't see how putting stuff on the main entry is necessarily better in that regard. In fact, the Citations page may be better in this regard; IIRC there have been cases where I've gone to great lengths to find and format citations, then the entry failed RfV and was deleted, and the closing admin didn't copy them over to the Citations page. Anyway, feel free to move them around. If this passes, I do think that the best few quotes should be on the main entry, and then followed by seeMoreCites with a link to the not-so-good ones like the Twitter quote, etc. 70.172.194.25 23:11, 4 January 2023 (UTC)
 * It keeps more things visible during the discussion and afterword on the talk page. Why make people jump around when they don't have to. Links are great, except when one doesn't need them. DCDuring (talk) 16:38, 5 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Im still skeptical that this product even exists, whatever its name, and wonder if the author of those books simply made a mistake. I share the doubts of the person who posted in an earlier discussion, since volunteer firefighters and the like will typically put their lights on the outside of the vehicle, or if that is not possible, will use LED lights fixed to the windshield so that they face only outward. I cant imagine with a straight face trying to drive a car while a "cherry" on the dashboard is continually rotating and taking me from bright light to darkness and back every half a second.  Even if it were made to stop rotating, it would still be much smarter to put LED lights on the windshield, so that the driver won't see anything at all, whereas with the cherry, even if it doesnt rotate, there will be a bright reflection where the light hits the windshield.  — Soap — 13:55, 5 January 2023 (UTC)
 * They're definitely real, you can buy them online (e.g.) and the Wiki article for even discusses it ("Interior lighting is available in a variety of form factors ... [e.g.] ‘cherry’ or oscillating ‘teardrop’ lights mounted on the dash"). "Dashboard" or "dash" can also refer to things mounted on the windshield, e.g. "dashcam". —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 14:14, 5 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Thank you, for the prompt reply. Yes, that's a much more sensible design than what I was picturing. I withdraw my objections. — Soap — 15:27, 5 January 2023 (UTC)


 * To sum up, we still only have 1 independent, durably-archived cite here. Several non-durably-archived sites have been found, but would need a vote. Anyone willing? This, that and the other (talk) 12:33, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

Looks to be ✅ at Citations:dash cherry. Ioaxxere (talk) 23:15, 9 February 2023 (UTC)


 * Two of our three print sources are by the same author, and so far as I know we count that as a single source. The rest are from Reddit and Twitter. That said, if this comes to a vote, despite my earlier skepticism, I'm convinced now that it's a rare but real term, and that it means the same thing every time it's used, so it's not sum-of-parts or whatever we call it when a word is repeatedly coined ad-hoc with no consistent meaning. — Soap — 03:26, 12 February 2023 (UTC)

You're right, in that case RFV Failed. Ioaxxere (talk) 18:51, 20 February 2023 (UTC)