[Mailman-Developers] English (USA)

CARTER Anthony a.carter at cordis.lu
Wed Apr 23 13:51:09 EDT 2003


Extremely good point Norbert...

Televisions were invented in Britain...Doesn't mean that every tele has to 
start up with a union jack on its screen...huh?

Besides, for my purpose it wasn't cause we dislike the USA, it is cause it is 
a European Union institution that requires to be distinguished as a seperate 
entity completely to the US. It is politics, nothing more, nothing less...

Anthony

On Wednesday 23 April 2003 12:01, Norbert Bollow wrote:
> > Since John, Ken, and I are all American, I think it's only mildly
> > surprising <wink> that all the source code human readable text, and the
> > en templates are written in American English.
>
> From my European perspective I'd say that that's not a problem for
> most people around here.  Well it's possible that some folks in the
> UK might care enough to do what it takes to "fix" the spelling from
> their perspective, but in the majority of Europe (where English is
> not spoken natively anyway) the locale-dependant details of spelling
> don't matter at all.
>
> > I'm not in favor of changing the label from "English (USA)".
>
> The "English (USA)" label *is* a problem.  Please don't underestimate
> the strong anti-USA feelings in significant parts of the world.  For
> example here in Switzerland, many people feel that US politicians and
> lawyers have blackmailed the Swiss banks for a couple of billion
> dollars a few years ago.  Many other countries have their own historic
> roots for bitter feelings towards the USA.  Then there are *many*
> people in many countries who are upset about more recent events that I
> don't want to mention explicitly in order to avoid sparking a flame
> war.  For example, think of an Arab with a good command of the English
> language who'd like to subscribe to a technical mailing list.
>
> Wouldn't the "English (USA)" label feel like a slap in the face for
> such a user?
>
> Greetings, Norbert.



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