Talk:Heimlich maneuver

Spelling

Several editors have been doing mass changes in connection with the spelling of the word "maneuver" I would suggest that we are seeing UK vs US and classical vs modern styles. Let's stop the editing on this long enough to settle on one style. Pzavon 16:56, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

I'll add a note to keep it to British-english. Coulomb1 (talk) 12:40, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

I would politely disagree that this article is written in British English. I don't notice prominent British spellings aside from Manouvre, which was not the first spelling, nor the most common spelling in the history of the page. It seems only in the past two years that the article has carried the 'o' spelling for any substantial period. The Engvar policy notes a preference for regional spellings to be used in connection with their subject. The Heimlich Maneuver is named for a US doctor, so it's not surprising that sister project Wiktionary lists "Heimlich Maneuver" as the primary spelling and "Heimlich Manouvre" as an alternate form. Wikipedia Commons uses the category "Heimlich Maneuver". Similarly, all but one of the cited sources on the page use "Maneuver". I think that the US spelling is much more appropriate here. Maltice (talk) 22:02, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

Edit: Corrected own spelling mistakes relevant to argumentMaltice (talk) 22:05, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

"Manouvre" is unattested. "Manœuvre" is the correct French spelling. According to the English Wiktionary, "manœuvre" is in English a dated spelling of "manoeuvre". Under the latter, the Wiktionary says Commonwealth standard spelling of "maneuver". So AFAIK, "manoeuvre" (Commonwealth) and "maneuver" (US) are both possible (depending on which regional spelling we want to use), but not the spelling "manouvre" which you mention, but which, BTW, I can't find in this article. — Tonymec (talk) 23:39, 21 November 2025 (UTC)

Yes, please pardon my mistake there, "manoeuvre" is the spelling used currently in the article that I was objecting to Maltice (talk) 05:29, 22 November 2025 (UTC)

Requested move 17 April 2026

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. There is a clear consensus among participants that "Heimlich maneuver" satisfies WP:COMMONNAME as the most recognizable term for this subject. There is a strong consensus for the American English spelling ("maneuver"). There is a clear understanding per WP:RETAIN that the original non-stub version of the article utilized American English, and per MOS:TIES, the subject is inherently tied to an American inventor. (non-admin closure) Itcouldbepossible ^Talk 09:21, 11 May 2026 (UTC)

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Abdominal thrusts → Heimlich maneuver – Abdominal thrusts less used and understandable term. Most people around the world call it Heimlich maneuver. Shultc (talk) 11:27, 17 April 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. Jeffrey34555 (talk) 15:35, 24 April 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. TarnishedPath^talk 10:03, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: per MOS:RETAIN, the target would have to be Heimlich manoeuvre, I think. Arnav Bhate (talk • contribs) 20:09, 17 April 2026 (UTC)
• Support move to Heimlich manoeuvre per MOS:RETAIN. Support Heimlich maneuver. Definitely a more recognisable and common name. After reading others' arguments, and realising that Heimlich is American, I think the article should probably be written in American English. {{GearsDatapacks|talk|contribs}} 21:05, 17 April 2026 (UTC)
• Comment: Does the Manual of Style not suggest prioritizing article titles that do not use a particular variant of English? I've personally not heard the term "Heimlich maneuver" before. "Abdominal thrust" does not contain any British English-specific words in it, whereas obviously there are disagreements about how the word "maneuver" should be spelled. I personally think the title is fine as-is, but I'm not going as far as an oppose because I don't know if the MOS guideline I may be remembering actually holds in this particular instance. — rae^5e <talk> 06:32, 20 April 2026 (UTC)
  • From WP:TITLEVAR: Very occasionally, a less common but non-nation-specific term is selected to avoid having to choose between national varieties: for example, soft drink was selected to avoid the choice between the British fizzy drink, American soda, American and Canadian pop ... I would say that doesn't apply here, as the engvar-specific names are only spelling changes, not totally different terms. For me, "Heimlich manoeuvre" is the only term I've ever heard to refer to it, but I guess that's not the case for everyone. {{GearsDatapacks|talk|contribs}} 07:32, 20 April 2026 (UTC)

Support: Clearly superior in terms of recognizability. ⹃Maltazarian ^{ᚾparley$\lor$investigateᛅ} 10:09, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

To whom? Clearly, you say, hence the need to present no evidence. YorkshireExpat (talk) 12:55, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

Relisting comment: Maneuver or manoeuvre? Jeffrey34555 (talk) 15:35, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

• Support using "maneuver" and would support changing the spelling variant to American for the body text as well per MOS:STYLERET. The first non-stub version, back in 2003, had "maneuver" as the primary spelling I know this is marked as British spelling but it's named for American and the ngrams for Heimlich manoeuvre,Heimlich maneuver in their British corpus shows maneuver only slightly below manoeuvre. I can't see any other British-specific (or American) spellings (but may be missing some) in the article and word choices don't seem particularly British. Skynxnex (talk) 20:10, 24 April 2026 (UTC)
• Neutral, but oppose switching to US spelling because AFAIK once a particular spelling is established in a given page, a very good reason is required to change it, and I don't see such very good reason mentioned above. — Tonymec (talk) 20:34, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

But the established spelling is typically determined from the first non-stub version, which is discussed above. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 22:29, 24 April 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose The Red Cross and other medical organizations haven't called it the Heimlich for 20 years now . Even if this name is recognizable, it's not universal and the general descriptive term should be used. But if moved it should be "maneuver" since he was American. The manoeuvre spelling has only been in place since last November, and maneuver was established for most of the page's history. Reywas92^Talk 00:50, 25 April 2026 (UTC)
• Oppose per MOS:COMMONALITY. YorkshireExpat (talk) 10:39, 26 April 2026 (UTC)
• Neutral but oppose move to American spelling per WP:RETAIN. -- Necrothesp (talk) 11:00, 28 April 2026 (UTC)
• Support Per WP:COMMONNAME. It should be moved to the American spelling as massively more commonly used, overriding RETAIN completely and without a doubt. Further, it seems to have only been recently been moved to the British spelling, so RETAIN wouldn't even apply in this instance. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 22:55, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Note: WikiProject Medicine has been notified of this discussion. TarnishedPath^talk 10:05, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

• Support per Zxcvbnm and Skynxnex. WP:RETAIN does not hold here for "manoeuvre", the original and de-stubbed versions are American using "maneuver", as is Heimlich (MOS:TIES). Not sure when it became British, but should revert back to American. DankJae 12:38, 2 May 2026 (UTC)
• Support. It would be silly to move it to a British spelling (manoeuvre) when it's named after an American doctor. Jessintime (talk) 16:52, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

  Heimlich was an American? Huh. Didn't know that. Certainly don't think we should move it to manoeuvre with that in mind. ⹃Maltazarian ^{ᚾparley$\lor$investigateᛅ} 18:38, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

  Yeah, and it's only ever performed in America, obviously. YorkshireExpat (talk) 12:57, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

  I feel this has turned into an argument over British and American spelling over what's the best title for the article. YorkshireExpat (talk) 12:56, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

• Support move to Heimlich maneuver. Zacwill (talk) 17:18, 2 May 2026 (UTC)
• Support per nom. Conjecture sure, but I've never heard the term use the name "abdominal thrusts".--Ortizesp (talk) 23:50, 2 May 2026 (UTC)

  Maybe you need to get out more? The first is apparently an 'official US Government website', which should totally put us off using the current title per WP:OFFICIAL, and force us to use the spelling 'maneuver' per WP:PAROCHIAL. I remember now why I stopped editing -_- YorkshireExpat (talk) 08:07, 3 May 2026 (UTC)

• Support Heimlich maneuver is much more recognizable. Agnieszka653 (talk) 05:04, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

  To whom? YorkshireExpat (talk) 12:54, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

• Comment: This whole debate is really silly, even Ngrams, which I think should be used with great caution, shows that 'Abdominal thrusts is the most commonly used term. This article from Australia suggests that abdominal thrusts are not accepted worldwide, and that there are a variety of abdominal thrusts, which may even suggest a case for a split, because, you know, they speak English in Australia! I could probably write more but really want to not care. ~2026-27054-06 (talk) 13:10, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

  This was me but I logged out. Feel free to ban me now so I don't have to come back. YorkshireExpat (talk) 13:11, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

  You need to de-capitalize "maneuver" on Ngrams, showing "Heimlich maneuver" is the most common. "Abdominal thrusts" is usually specific to Heimlich, not for chest thrusts and back slaps, nonetheless Choking#Basic treatment (first aid) is for all methods. DankJae 19:55, 4 May 2026 (UTC)

• Support move to Heimlich maneuver. A look into the revision history shows a messed-up timeline:
  The British spelling is due to one editor changing it in 2006 though the American spelling had been in place since 2003. When an IP went to change it to the American spelling, the editor reverted it. This makes more sense twenty years ago, as Ngrams data shows far less usage of 'maneuver' in British English back then, but the gap has closed since then.
  The article then became a redirect in 2007 to choking, later brought back in 2014 with American spelling, and stayed that way up until 2025.
  Combined with the Ngrams data showing that Heimlich maneuver is the common term for all English, it almost seems like the British spelling became a standard for this page on accident. Kibblebrain (talk) 21:11, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

  Upon further research, neutral towards move to Heimlich maneuver, however change spelling standard to American English per above. The scholarly term primarily appears to be abdominal thrusts.

  51,500 hits for abdominal thrust on Google Scholar, 2,390 hits for heimlich manoeuvre, 7,830 hits for heimlich maneuver. Kibblebrain (talk) 21:36, 8 May 2026 (UTC)

• Support. This is the name it is known as. Mike Selinker (talk) 02:23, 10 May 2026 (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.