Talk:Quango

Requested move 28 July 2016

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, clear consensus to keep as is, no votes of support. (non-admin closure) Sir Joseph ^(talk) 18:34, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

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Quango → Quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisationQuasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation – Full name, meaningful and easy to understand (see also Talk:GONGO#Requested move 28 July 2016).
Gotea Teago (talk) 15:26, 28 July 2016 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME. Every time the term is used in a news story, it's Quango, not the full title. I disagree that's "easy to understand". Ask the average person if they've heard of the term Quango and then ask the same person to say what the acronym stands for. Compare FIFA and not Fédération Internationale de Football Association as the article title, for example. Lugnuts ^{Dick Laurent is dead} 18:22, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose. Clear common usage per Lugnuts, the full name will be obscure to most people. PC78 (talk) 20:44, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
• Oppose. Thanks to Lugnuts for locating the appropriate rationale at WP:COMMONNAME. This is exactly parallel to the example given for FIFA. Outside the UK, neither version will be familiar; inside the UK, quango is used without clarification. Rupert Clayton (talk) 00:30, 30 July 2016 (UTC)----

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.

Autonomy

I just undid a revision that removed the word "autonomous" from the initialism in the lede. It is clear that the "autonomous" was backronymed in somewhere, but it is a real part of the phenomenon, as attested by searching for "quango is short for"—9/10 of the top results include the "autonomous". It's also a key part of the quango mythos—the purported lack of accountability.

It would perhaps be best to restructure the article such that it adequately describes the history of the term and where each version is emphasized, as well as how it's been used over the years. I do not have bandwidth for such an undertaking at this time, however. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ctbeiser (talk • contribs) 05:23, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

• I've had a go at doing the history as you suggest. It's a pejorative backronym of an originally neutral term JQ (talk) 04:36, 10 January 2021 (UTC)

Error in derivation

"The term was originally a shortening of "quasi NGO""

No, it was not. The original term was "quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization" of which the meaning is quite clear: a non-governmental organization (i.e., not a ministry or equivalent) that is, nevertheless, in effect autonomous – i.e., not reliant on another organization to tell it what to do. The notion of an organization being "quasi-non-governmental" is nonsensical; it would be either governmental or not. See here. Harfarhs (talk) 02:03, 22 December 2024 (UTC)

Merge or distinguish

See Talk:Non-departmental public body#Merge or distinguish. Викидим (talk) 21:44, 5 January 2026 (UTC)

Pejorative

In the UK at least, the term appears to be imprecise and intended as a slight. I have changed the lead to reflect it. Also, very solid sources IMHO are required to classify broad classes of legal entities as "quangos". I have added a cite request for Canada. Викидим (talk) 20:18, 9 January 2026 (UTC)