Talk:Mottainai#RFC on article versions

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Wiki Education assignment: INQ 120 What a Waste

{{dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment | course = Wikipedia:Wiki_Ed/Roanoke_College/INQ_120_What_a_Waste_(Summer_2023) | assignments = Trexler369 | start_date = 2023-07-03 | end_date = 2023-07-27 }}

— Assignment last updated by Trexler369 (talk) 00:50, 14 July 2023 (UTC)

Vacuous text removed

Maathai worked to popularize the word {{lang|ja-Latn|mottainai}} in places outside Japan.{{cite book |last=Iwatsuki |first=Kunio |year=2008 |title=Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, with Reference to the Japanese Spirit of Worshipping Nature (in "Conserving Nature, A Japanese Perspective") |pages=4–11 |publisher=Biodiversity Network Japan |isbn=978-4-9901743-1-6 |access-date=July 25, 2013 |url=http://mail.cbd.int/doc/external/cop-09/bnj-nature-en.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109154047/http://mail.cbd.int/doc/external/cop-09/bnj-nature-en.pdf |archive-date=January 9, 2015}} Maathai learned about all the different places and cultures.{{Vague|reason=what different places and cultures?|date={{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}}}

Neither sentence is remotely supported by the reference, which is extremely general and does not mention "Maathai" or "mottainai".

Imaginatorium (talk) 16:44, 19 September 2023 (UTC)

Undue prominence in lead

The lead sentence currently states that mottainai can be used to "state that one does not deserve something because it is too good". While this is indeed a historical/possible use, in modern usage the term means "regret over waste" 99% of time and should be defined as such in the lead. Jpatokal (talk) 02:22, 1 January 2025 (UTC)

:Consider uses such as those shown at https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E3%82%82%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E3%81%84%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84, including:

:* 「彼は私にはもったいない。」 -- "He is too good for me."

:* 「彼女は僕にはとてももったいない。」 -- "She is indispensable to me."

:While such positive usage is less common, it does not appear to be vanishingly rare. ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │^{Tala við mig} 18:41, 16 June 2025 (UTC)