Talk:Tuatara

This section is exactly same as from the reference:

"Tuatara" was the Journal of the Biological Society of Victoria University College and later Victoria University of Wellington. It was published between 1947 and 1993; the 82 issues report on important New Zealand biological research, and feature articles and illustrations on a variety of topics from botany and zoology to marine ecology and biodiversity. A full digital archive is available here courtesy of the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.71.48.158 (talk • contribs)

Kia ora @Marshelec and @CamAnders - as a NZer who doesn't really mind either way, just want to add that I would consider 'an island in the Cook Strait' just as correct as 'an island in Cook Strait'. I.e. both of you were acting in good faith. Adding this here in case it comes up again. TreeReader (talk) 03:13, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

Adding on to this, MOS:COMMONALITY suggests that "When more than one variant spelling exists within a national standard variety of English, the most commonly used current variant (across all varieties of Standard English) should usually be preferred, except where the less common spelling has a specific usage in a specialized context, e.g., connexion in Methodist connexionalism."

In this case, that would suggest that "an island in the Cook Strait" would be preferred as it is standard in both New Zealand English and other national varieties. --CamAnders (talk) 06:28, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

I hear both but I think just "Cook Strait" is more common and is even used in the article Cook Strait. Having a "the" sounds almost like an error to me. I wouldn't say that MOS:COMMONALITY applies because it's saying that terms where only a fraction of the English speaking world understand should be avoided (such as crore, jandals, spectacles, etc). I doubt any fluent English speaker is going to understand what "the Cook Strait" means but not "Cook Strait".

If we're going to ignore which is more common and just look at the manual of style, then I think MOS:RETAIN would apply here the most. It says that When an English variety's consistent usage has been established in an article, maintain it in the absence of consensus to the contrary. Before this little (pointless) edit war began, there was no "the", so it should be removed. ―Panamitsu (talk) 07:19, 10 September 2025 (UTC)

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