Re: A language by any other name
On Wed, Sep 26, 2001 at 05:32:08PM -0700, Bill Wohler wrote:
> I think English should be an alias for en_US.
>
> Having the English think that British English is the lingua franca of
> the computing world is the same as the French thinking that French
> is the lingua franca of the world. It's only wishful thinking.
>
> British English is beautiful where it appears in poems, plays, and
> novels by Shakespeare and Wilde and other brilliant English authors.
> It certainly does NOT belong in the ls man page.
>
> Note that SAP is one of many computing companies who have
> standardized on American English. They have folks from *Great
> Britain* translating the German into American English.
>
> Similarly, I wish that Debian required that documentation and output
> appear in American English as well. Inconsistent styles reduces the
> professional feel of the product.
>
> Therefore, without emotion and with a pragmatic hand to guide me, I
> feel that English should be an alias for en_US.
>
As a Canadian, I find it quite frustrating how Americans find that all English
on the internet should be American. Further, I don't understand why Americans
insist on removing the u in words like colours.
But, putting my own radical beliefs aside, I think that English should
definitely be an alias for en_GB, seeing how "American" really isn't "English"
per se.
I also think it's ridiculous that everybody be forced to write Debian
documentation in American English. Debian is an international project, and
only in the US is American English the standard. There are dozens of
countries that use a dialect closer to British than American.
BTW, you might think that Canadians use American English, after all, we are
neighbours, but that's totally incorrect.
I apologise, I have not been following this thread until now, so if I just
said exactly what someone else said, that please feel free to ignore me.
Duncan Findlay
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