Talk:Somalis
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Issues that motivated my recent edit
Yesterday, I edited paragraphs in the § Cuisine section to fix their tone and make them less verbose. Later, another editor reverted me and asked me to [e]xplain what was wrong with the section that needed text removed. So here we go:
| − | Somali cuisine | + | Somali cuisine draws from Arab, Indian, and Italian flavours and is a direct result of Somalia's history of trade and commerce.
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Verbosity aside, phrases like rich tapestry are associated with LLMs such as ChatGPT, which tend to use this metaphor on many occasions.
Original text
The essential components that form the foundation of Somali dishes encompass staples like rice and pasta, along with an extensive selection of meats ranging from lamb to beef and chicken. Aromatic spices such as cumin, cardamom, and coriander are frequently utilized to infuse dishes with tantalizing flavors.
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My revision
It encompasses staples like rice, pasta, meats such as lamb, beef and chicken, stews, traditional flatbreads, and pastries, as well as canjeero/lahooh, a variation of fermented pancake-like flatbread that is savoured in Somalia and its neighbouring countries like Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Yemen. Aromatic spices such as cumin, cardamom, and coriander are frequently utilized to add flavors to dishes. |
Adjectives like impressive, delectable and delightful are subjective, opinion-expressing descriptors which may not be appropriate to use in Wikipedia's voice.
Statements that go "not only that, but also this" also tend to be associated with LLMs. The prose with the tapestry metaphors was introduced earlier this year, so LLM use may have been a possibility. If this assumption turns out to be wrong, then the text may just appear to potentially pass a reverse Turing test (or Gnirut test) as I like to say.
Other paragraphs I tried to fix for tone and length | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| − | Tea and | + | Tea and coffee are also really popular. Among the early adopters of coffee consumption were the Somalis, who were the first individuals documented to have enjoyed this drink. Additionally, Somali merchants were some of the first to export coffee beans.
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"They have the historical distinction of being among the first to do this" is a rather verbose way to say "They were among the first to do this". – MrPersonHumanGuy (talk) 11:34, 16 August 2025 (UTC)
- PS: Now that I think about it, I could've removed the line breaks from between the top 3 paragraphs (for clarity, I mean the paragraphs on my version of the text) so they could've been a single paragraph. The section would've had 5 paragraphs instead of 8. – MrPersonHumanGuy (talk) 14:56, 16 August 2025 (UTC)
- @MrPersonHumanGuy Thank you for the explanation. I edited the cuisine section to shorten and fix the verbose wording that could have been written by a LLM. I also added some sources and rearranged the paragraphs, so hopefully it's now fixed. Limegreencoral (talk) 17:55, 16 August 2025 (UTC)
- @MrPersonHumanGuy Thank you for the explanation. I edited the cuisine section to shorten and fix the verbose wording that could have been written by a LLM. I also added some sources and rearranged the paragraphs, so hopefully it's now fixed. Limegreencoral (talk) 17:55, 16 August 2025 (UTC)
Somaliland in the infobox
Despite the dubious status of Somaliland as a de facto independent state distinct from Somalia, should it be included in the infobox? Leierkasten II (talk) 13:48, 1 December 2025 (UTC)
On Somali etymology
Traditionally, Somali society was divided into three main occupational groups: the Tumaal, who were skilled in metalwork and handicrafts (from tumid, meaning “hammering”); the Biimaal, who worked in agriculture (from biyo, meaning “water”); and the Soomaal, who lived in arid, pastoral environments (from Sool, referring to a dry, xeric landscape). Abraylumi (talk) 21:54, 17 January 2026 (UTC)