Talk:Long gu

I have undone the recent move and returned it to the original name. Put simply, long gu is the most common name in English. It is almost never referred to commercially or academically as "dragon bone(s)". For example:

• Wu, Qiang; Zhu, YuTing; Shi, Wei; Wang, TianYan; Huang, YaWei; Jiang, DongJing; Liu, Xun (2023-05-01). "A New Data Dimension Reduction Method Based On Convolution In The Application Of Authenticity Identification Of Traditional Chinese Medicine LongGu". Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 2504 (1): 012035. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/2504/1/012035. ISSN 1742-6588. Retrieved 2026-04-13.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
• Xiujia, Sun; Zhan Hua, Li; Yuanze, Gao; Ganesan, Kumar; Jing, Liu; Li, Li; Chao, Zhang; Chen, Jianping (2026). "Long Gu (Os Draconis): Textual research, modern scientific evaluation, and quality control challenges". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 362: 121354. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2026.121354.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: article number as page number (link)
• Oguri, Kazuki; Nishioka, Yuichiro; Kobayashi, Yoshitsugu; Takahashi, Kyoko (2017). "Taxonomic examination of longgu (Fossilia Ossis Mastodi, "dragon bone") and a related crude drug, longchi (Dens Draconis, "dragon tooth"), from Japanese and Chinese crude drug markets". Journal of Natural Medicines. 71 (3): 463–471. doi:10.1007/s11418-016-1062-5. ISSN 1340-3443. Retrieved 2026-04-13.
• Han, Zhang (1 July 2011). "Studies on chemical components and pharmacological activities of Os Draconis (Longgu) and Ostreae Concha". China Journal of Chinese Materia Medica (in Chinese). doi:10.4268/cjcmm20111329.

Commercial sources of long gu I won't link to avoid spam filters, but search for "buy long gu" vs. "buy dragon bones" and you will easily see the difference. wound theology◈ 00:45, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

Also, notice that the sources which prefer dragon bone over long gu are mainly paleontological in nature -- the reason here is mostly rhetorical (even sensational reporting) and wishful thinking: see the project of geomythology which Witton and others have heavily criticized. wound theology◈ 01:03, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

I have reverted your against guideline WP:CUTANDPASTE move. You contradict yourself. You state that It is almost never referred to commercially or academically as "dragon bone(s)"., and then say sources which prefer dragon bone over long gu are mainly paleontological in nature, thereby admitting that "dragon bones" is a common term to refer to the concept at least in some academic literature. I note that a lot of the TCM academic literature uses the term Os Draconis, which literally means "Dragon bone" in Latin, as a name for the substance. Wikipedia:Article titles states that a title should be recognisable, and I think "longgu" fails this criterion for an English speaking audience. Also, the Chinese name is generally (though admittedly not exclusively) romanised to "longgu" not "long gu" as you gave the title. What you have to also consider is that the topic is obscure outside of East Asia, so most of the authors referring to it as "longgu" are Chinese and therefore not necessarily reflective of what the common name for the concept is in English. I would accept a move to Os Draconis, as this widely seems to be used by TCM sources as a quasi English language name to refer to it. Hemiauchenia (talk) 10:34, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

Long gu is not a Chinese name. It is an English transliteration of a Chinese name and is most commonly used in English literature, where "dragon bone" is only used paranthetically, again, see the sources. Os draconis is provided as a pharmacological name, a common practice in modern Chinese materia medica. Being okay with os draconis, but not long gu, is just inane. Neither of these terms are in English by your own stated standards, and one is far more common in English than the other.

Note that the naming conventions make clear exceptions for names that predominate in English-language reliable sources, which long gu fits. Hence yum cha, not Drink tea, and countless other examples. In any case, saying that most of the authors referring to it as "longgu" are Chinese is irrelevant as they are writing in English and provide "dragon bone" as an alternate name.

From a purely practical standpoint, calling it dragon bone" is more confusing for English speakers because it is rooted in the ancient identification which, I should note (again, see the sources) has not been accepted even among the rural Chinese farmers who dig them up for a century. This is easily understood by Chinese-speaking TCM practicioners but not by English speakers. wound theology◈ 16:04, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

"dragon bone" is a literal translation of "龙骨", not some kind of grossly inaccurate western name for the concept. "dragon bones" is relatively WP:COMMONNAME for this concept whether you like it or not, and doesn't mean that people think they're dragon bones. Hemiauchenia (talk) 16:17, 13 April 2026 (UTC)

. Clearly we are at loggerheads over this, so I've made a move request to hopefully get some outside input. Talk:Dragon_bones#Requested_move_13_April_2026 Hemiauchenia (talk) 16:30, 13 April 2026 (UTC)