Talk:No man's land

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No Man's Land has more than this definition and the term predates WWI. The term could mean:

  1. An unclaimed or unowned piece of land; a wasteland.
  2. Land under dispute by two opposing parties; especially, the field of battle between two opposing entrenched armies.
  3. Any area into which a man does not venture because of fear or uncertainty; a realm of danger or ambiguity (this definition probably descends from meaning 2).

I suggest this page be moved to, maybe, No_man's_land_(war), and this name be for a disambiguation page. --12.74.169.88

The current version (changed by myself) implements this suggestion. I'm still not sure whether to keep the disambig marker or not... --Joy [shallot] 13:09, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I don't have much confidence in the land mines remark. Man traps yes.. land mines not the greatest problem. --86.207.40.149 18:13, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Land mine

Yes. Land mines were used atleast by Germany and Britain during World War One. Britain produced land mines during WW1 that used poison gas too. PyrE 12:06, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merger

  • Strongly oppose - "the term referring to the unoccupied land between two opposing forces" is not the same as the legal term which allowed alienation of land. Both articles are of sufficient length to stand alone--Matilda talk 21:49, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
  • terra = land (Latin)
nullius = no man's (Latin)
Also see it:Terra di nessuno:

Terra di nessuno (in inglese No Man's Land ) [...]

212.247.11.156 (talk) 23:10, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
  • That the two terms can be translated into one in Italian does not make them synonymous in English --Matilda talk 23:19, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
    • But terra nullius is just Latin for no man's land... (212.247.11.156 (talk) 16:16, 24 March 2008 (UTC))
      • Please check what synonomous means per the link above - they may be the same words - they do not mean the same thing as per the articles. Terra nullius is a legal term and a subject of some importance in the dispossession of indigenous Australians, the description of "no man's land" in this article, ie No man's land is a term for land that is not occupied or more specifically land that is under dispute between countries or areas that will not occupy it because of fear or uncertainty. During war (especially World War I), it is a term used as the area of land between two enemy trenches that neither side wishes to openly move on or take control of due to fear of being attacked by the enemy in the process has nothing to do with the concept of Terra nullius, a term by the way that is never translated from the Latin when used in court cases.--Matilda talk 21:46, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
  • In the absence of further comment I am removing the tags--Matilda talk 21:07, 1 April 2008 (UTC)