Talk:Belching

Requested move 21 August 2017

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: not moved DrStrauss talk 11:41, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

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Burping → EructationEructation – "Eructation" is the technical term for burping, and other articles on bodily functions are at their official names: urination instead of "peeing", defecation instead of "pooping", and flatulence instead of "farting". Many reliable sources do also use the term "eructation", so the fact that this page is at "burping" seems like an anomaly. 65HCA7 11:24, 21 August 2017 (UTC)

• Oppose burping is not slang and occurs even in medical texts. In ictu oculi (talk) 12:38, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose. Per policy, we prefer common names over technical ones, and eructation, though the correct technical term, is not common. It's also different from urination, defecation, and flatulence, which are more commonly known and used. ╠╣uw [talk] 14:30, 21 August 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose per In ictu oculi and Huw. —Roman Spinner (talk)(contribs) 04:08, 22 August 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose per above. Seppi333 (Insert 2¢) 20:21, 22 August 2017 (UTC)
• Comment: Pinging In ictu oculi, Huw, Roman Spinner, and Seppi333. The following are all reliable sources that use the term 'eructation'.

1. : "Belching can be embarrassing, but eructation (the medical term for burping) is rarely a sign of anything serious."
2. : throughout
3. : "During the Middle Ages eructation in man was an audible expression of appreciation..." and others
4. : throughout
5. : throughout, never even uses "burping"

I could go on, but my point is that "eructation" is clearly not some stuffy formal term nobody ever uses. It is a widely used term, and even Urban Dictionary of all sites has a definition of it. Otherwise, we could argue that, for example, "pooping" is the common name for defecation and thus that article should be moved there. (Besides, this reliable source does use the terms "poop" and "pooping".) I fail to see anybody's logic here. 65HCA7 11:46, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

Sure but the register of "burping" is simply acceptable and normal. It's a bodily function that doesn't carry the same opprobrium as the others you've compared it with. Hence it is the normal term. In ictu oculi (talk) 12:09, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

In ictu oculi: I don't know where you're from, but where I live (and have my whole life), eructation does carry similar opprobrium as urination, defecation, and flatulence. Burping, like the others, isn't discussed in polite company or in public, and it isn't done in polite company or in public either. Actually, urination and defecation are dealt with by excusing oneself to the bathroom, and flatulence and eructation just don't happen. People who burp freely in public or who didn't say "excuse me" are simply rude, and now we're going off topic.

As for it being the "normal term", vastly more people use the terms "poop" and "crap" than feces, more people use "pee" than urine, and more people use "fart" than flatus/flatulence. "Pee", "poop", "fart", and "burp" are similar and comparable terms. 65HCA7 13:33, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

In the five cites listed above, 1) from Prevention (magazine), explains the term, 2) from Study.com also explains it ("What Is Eructation?"), 3) from Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences knows its intended readership, 4) from BendoMD.com explains it in the lead sentence "Eructation (belching)" and 5) from the scientific database SpringerLink also knows its audience.
In the same manner that we submit WP:COMMONNAME in similar discussions, we would rely upon standard sources, primarily newspapers, for common terms. While words such as "peeing", "pooping" or "farting" would be most likely heard in an informal conversation, newspapers stories which have need to report on such subjects would almost certainly (depending on the newspaper) use "urination", "defecation" or "flatulence" which, unlike "eructation", are terms familiar to nearly everyone. Since burping / belching are extremely common terms and frequently occur in print, while "eructation" is a term which is most likely unknown to 99% of the English-speaking population, the title of this article needs to be either Burping or Belching, taking into account whatever specific differences exist between the two.
Finally, while on the subject of common terms, while newspapers commonly use the term "heart attack", two WP:RM discussions {November 2011 and November 2012} have not produced a consensus to move Myocardial infarction to Heart attack.
Let this discussion stand for the record and, since Wikipedia will be around for centuries or even millennia, a subsequent discussion on this subject can call upon this one for guidance. —Roman Spinner (talk)(contribs) 14:36, 23 August 2017 (UTC)

• How about belching? bd2412 T 13:37, 23 August 2017 (UTC)
• Oppose proposed move. "Burping" is more of a WP:COMMONNAME than the proposed move location. Steel1943 (talk) 22:15, 25 August 2017 (UTC)

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The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

"Vomit burp" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Vomit burp has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 April 30 § Vomit burp until a consensus is reached. Steel1943 (talk) 22:12, 30 April 2025 (UTC)

"Mouth Noise" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Mouth Noise has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2025 April 30 § Mouth Noise until a consensus is reached. Steel1943 (talk) 22:18, 30 April 2025 (UTC)

Requested move 22 July 2025

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) Jeffrey34555 (talk) 19:27, 5 August 2025 (UTC)

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Burping → Belching – Page was moved previously to Burping with no discussion. nGrams has shown belching to be more in use since before page name was moved. Almost all reviews and papers use the term 'belching'. Burping is the colloquial term, and as 'heart attack' is the common term for myocardial infarction it is not the page name. Iztwoz (talk) 08:54, 22 July 2025 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 15:36, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

• Comment it was initially created in 2004 as burping, and stayed that way until 2008 when it was moved to beltching by @Oyuke then back to burping by a relatively new user @Dashie in 2013 -- Later that same year a RM was proposed to change it to Eructation as the technical term (akin to myocardial infraction). where is was opposed and not moved, and remains at burpting to this day. TiggerJay (talk) 05:13, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

Which is why it is being suggested now. The proposed change to eructation was not approved - 'belching' did not come into this discussion apart from one comment that belching be used instead.--Iztwoz (talk) 09:47, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Medicine has been notified of this discussion. TarnishedPath^talk 15:35, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

Oppose Support per WP:COMMONNAME, ngrams gives burping a 10x lead Kowal2701 (talk) 20:13, 29 July 2025 (UTC)

@Iztwoz - given the link to the ngrams above, can you please provide a reference to your claim above which is in direct contrast to the one provided by Kowai here? A quick look at the references on this page show only a slightly preference to belch vs burp (14 to 10 articles) - which is quite difference from your statement of "almost all"... TiggerJay (talk) 04:44, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

ngrams ref answered; if you go into each ref the vast majority use belching. Iztwoz (talk) 09:08, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

@Kowal2701, the link you have compares capital-B belching against lowercase-b burping. Try this link. WhatamIdoing (talk) 04:49, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

!, thanks WhatamIdoing, changed my !vote Kowal2701 (talk) 07:35, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

I don't know how universal my experience is, but when I was little, burping was a somewhat impolite but necessary thing that bodies occasionally did, and belching was when the menfolk made more noise than necessary and not nearly enough polite words afterwards. This may be in the range of "Horses sweat and men perspire, but ladies glow", but ladies never belched. Consequently, the current title may feel less slangy than the proposed title – at least to people of a certain age.

That said, Merriam-Webster appears to believe that belching is the primary term. WhatamIdoing (talk) 05:01, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

A possible comparison of page names is flatulence over the common term of farting.Iztwoz (talk) 09:15, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

Comment: To the extent that we might rely on ngrams, the conclusion is not necessarily clear – here is burp,belch,burps,belches (case insensitive), or perhaps lowercase-only since there are some proper names with Burp, BURP, Belch, etc. Adumbrativus (talk) 03:13, 1 August 2025 (UTC)

As pointed out above Merriam-Webster does not use burping as a synonym for the primary term of belching or eructation. The word 'belch' is aligned to the translation of 'eruct' whilst 'burp' is an imitative word as is 'fart'. The fairly recent listing of 'belching disorder' does not offer 'burping disorder' as an aka. Iztwoz (talk) 07:59, 1 August 2025 (UTC)

Support because belching is a more common term except for in informal language. Cyrobyte (talk) 07:44, 4 August 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.