Talk:footnote in history

RFV discussion: December 2019
Rfv-sense: Something of great significance that is given little attention, i.e. is relegated to a footnote in a record of history.

Shouldn't it be the other way: footnote in history is something that is NOT important. An event that becomes a footnote may have seemed important as it happened, but in the long run it proved not to be that. --Hekaheka (talk) 09:21, 21 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Well, doesn't this SoP expression allow readers to make any interpretation they like of both footnote and, for that matter, history? It could be "minor", "definitely requiring a footnote", "consigned to a mere footnote", etc. DCDuring (talk) 09:37, 21 December 2019 (UTC)


 * Ok, I have added a whole bunch of citations to the citations page, grouping them by their perceived importance at the time and their importance as determinants of historical outcome. (You may disagree with some of my judgement calls, but that it pretty much beside the point) It seems pretty clear that the term has absolutely no implications about how significant an event actually is perceived at the time or even how significant it may be in determining long-term outcomes, but only about how much attention is paid to it by those who write history. I think the definition needs rewording to simply say that this term refers to something that is considered a relatively unimportant part of the historic record. Given that this is the second definition of footnote, that would make this SOP. Kiwima (talk) 12:46, 21 December 2019 (UTC)


 * Based on those citations, it should be clear that the present definition cannot stand; just consider the absurdity of this: “While many presidential elections become nothing more than a mere event of great significance that is given little attention in history, the 2008 campaign and election changed history.” It also is a terrible idea to give multiple definitions, “Something of great/medium/little significance ...” So what about this formulation, not depending on an assessment of the actual historical importance: “Something receiving scarce attention in the historical record, being relegated to a mere footnote.”? --Lambiam 15:41, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

OK, I have changed the definition to remove the bit about importance, and added a request for deletion. Kiwima (talk) 22:08, 21 December 2019 (UTC)
 * It is tagged, but not listed. --Lambiam 22:51, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

RFV-resolved Kiwima (talk) 19:56, 29 December 2019 (UTC)

RFD discussion: December 2019–February 2020
This came through requests for validation. Validation check reveals nothing more than a sum-of-parts definition. Kiwima (talk) 22:54, 21 December 2019 (UTC)
 * No OneLook reference has an entry for this phrase. DCDuring (talk) 04:10, 22 December 2019 (UTC)
 * I'd be inclined to keep it as a metaphor (not an actual footnote)). SemperBlotto (talk) 08:48, 22 December 2019 (UTC)


 * Weak keep as a set expression, similar constructions exists in other languages, e.g. German "Fußnote der Geschichte". – Jberkel 09:25, 22 December 2019 (UTC)


 * Similarly in French, note en bas de page de l’histoire. I also lean towards Keep. Interestingly, until recently the variant was far more common: Google Ngrams Viewer. The phrase may have been popularized by ’s 1892 book ; as a book title it was more common than in running text: . (Google Ngrams Viewer shows blips at 1864 and 1882; I have not found corresponding book cites, though.)  --Lambiam 10:53, 22 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Delete, sense 2 at footnote covers it. Not a set phrase in my opinion, just a common use of that sense of "footnote". Found in Google Books by searching "a mere footnote" (it's easier to find idiomatic uses with the "mere"):


 * ...a mere footnote in the Cold War events of 1975
 * ...the place of text in material culture theory is underdeveloped and usually a mere footnote to formulations concerning what is to...
 * Poem thus rendered the Trio's dodecaphony and durational symmetries a mere footnote and distanced Young, in the public mind, from his serialist beginnings.
 * Western philosophy, and by extension Western science, might well be a mere footnote to Plato...
 * A committed writer is not a man; he is a mere footnote to reality. (from H. G. Wells)
 * But rather than consigning the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to a mere footnote to the divided German past...
 * Along the way—as a mere footnote to the real action—this challenge has also created abundant opportunity for officious peddlers of negawatts.
 * Zoe Valiente wasn't sure what the next few weeks would bring: whether it would be a life-altering experience, a mere footnote, or something in between.
 * McLuhan gratefully (and graciously) acknowledged the importance of this meeting directly in talks and writings by calling his work a mere footnote to the work of Innis.


 * Julia ☺ ☆ 06:16, 26 December 2019 (UTC)


 * My feeling is that this is a borderline case, in terms of whether or not it is sufficiently a set phrase. On balance I think probably not, so I vote weak delete. Mihia (talk) 01:16, 12 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete. HeliosX (talk) 22:39, 13 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Delete, SOP. Canonicalization (talk) 12:07, 15 February 2020 (UTC)


 * RFD-deleted. —Μετάknowledge discuss/deeds 20:15, 25 February 2020 (UTC)