Talk:once upon a time

Is there any reason why the ellipsis is required in the title. It is well known that this expression does not stand by itself, but then the same could be said about any other adverbial phrase at the beginning of a sentence. People are unlikely to know that the ellipsis should be included when searching for the term. I propose to move it accordingly. Eclecticology 09:19, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * Deleting the ellipsis and moving the page. -- Paul G 17:27, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)


 * I thought the Chinese example would give one clear reason for keeping the ellipsis. I included it because this phrase seems more like half a sentence to me rather than a set phrase that would fill the part of verb, noun, etc on its own. Hippietrail 20:52, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Suggestion: split into two translations
The heading for the current single translation is "traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales". However, the only example sentence given is for a different usage than this, something like "a point sometime in the distant past". The translation is likely different for these two in many cases, since like the page states, many of them literally mean "There once was..."

E.g. in Swedish:
 * det var en gång (fairy tale beginning)
 * en gång i tiden (distant past)

155.4.163.73 19:10, 3 October 2023 (UTC)