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(about American English in Mageia for British users) + </TITLE> + <LINK REL="Index" HREF="index.html" > + <LINK REL="made" HREF="mailto:mageia-discuss%40mageia.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BMageia-discuss%5D%20What%20is%20your%20motivation%3F%20%28about%20American%0A%20English%20in%20Mageia%20for%20British%20users%29&In-Reply-To=%3Cjuqb13%24hv4%241%40dough.gmane.org%3E"> + <META NAME="robots" CONTENT="index,nofollow"> + <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> + <LINK REL="Previous" HREF="008333.html"> + <LINK REL="Next" HREF="008342.html"> + </HEAD> + <BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"> + <H1>[Mageia-discuss] What is your motivation? (about American English in Mageia for British users)</H1> + <B>TJ</B> + <A HREF="mailto:mageia-discuss%40mageia.org?Subject=Re%3A%20%5BMageia-discuss%5D%20What%20is%20your%20motivation%3F%20%28about%20American%0A%20English%20in%20Mageia%20for%20British%20users%29&In-Reply-To=%3Cjuqb13%24hv4%241%40dough.gmane.org%3E" + TITLE="[Mageia-discuss] What is your motivation? (about American English in Mageia for British users)">andrewsfarm at gmail.com + </A><BR> + <I>Thu Jul 26 04:45:49 CEST 2012</I> + <P><UL> + <LI>Previous message: <A HREF="008333.html">[Mageia-discuss] What is your motivation? (about American English in Mageia for British users) +</A></li> + <LI>Next message: <A HREF="008342.html">[Mageia-discuss] What is your motivation? (about American English in Mageia for British users) +</A></li> + <LI> <B>Messages sorted by:</B> + <a href="date.html#8340">[ date ]</a> + <a href="thread.html#8340">[ thread ]</a> + <a href="subject.html#8340">[ subject ]</a> + <a href="author.html#8340">[ author ]</a> + </LI> + </UL> + <HR> +<!--beginarticle--> +<PRE>On 07/25/2012 02:52 PM, Anne Wilson wrote: +><i> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- +</I>><i> Hash: SHA1 +</I>><i> +</I>><i> On 25/07/12 13:59, Max Quarterpleen wrote: +</I>>><i> I am so glad that Anne said that, because she is one of the few +</I>>><i> people qualified to say what I, and probably several others, were +</I>>><i> thinking. I grew up learning en_US, but due to one thing or another +</I>>><i> was exposed to mainly en_GB in high school. Since I have an open +</I>>><i> mind to these things, I taught myself en_GB spelling, grammar +</I>>><i> (which is slightly different when spoken) and idioms. Of course I +</I>>><i> am most comfortable in en_US, but that's not the point. The point +</I>>><i> is the mindset. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> Long ago I read that US spelling is, in fact, much closer to 18C. +</I>><i> British English spelling, and that the spelling we now feel to be +</I>><i> correct is in fact something that has developed over the recent +</I>><i> centuries. That interested me. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> What really clinched things for me, though, was the concept that +</I>><i> writing is about communication. The one thing that matters above all, +</I>><i> is whether the reader understands you. Because of this, I sometimes +</I>><i> correct grammar, where I think a sentence as it stands leads to some +</I>><i> ambiguity. Beyond that, as long as the meaning is clear and the +</I>><i> sentence not particularly clumsy, I leave well alone. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> Wobo said that his English teacher told him that few people in Britain +</I>><i> speak "official" English. How true that is. I would be very +</I>><i> surprised to find anyone that didn't have some variations, often +</I>><i> showing centuries of ancestral culture. It's not accident that in +</I>><i> Yorkshire there are few French influences and many Norse ones. French +</I>><i> barons in the 11C settled much further south than this, whereas many +</I>><i> Scandinavians settled here. We have beautiful words like "thoil" +</I>><i> which no-one else understands, but for us it expresses something that +</I>><i> has no equivalent in "official" English. You can't thoil it if you +</I>><i> can afford to buy something, but you don't feel it would add +</I>><i> sufficient value to your life. How about all that in one word? +</I>><i> +</I>Might just as well add my two cents, as we say here on our side of the +Pond. But for those who are sensitive to such things, please feel free +to convert that to the currency of your choice. + +I'm a native upstate New Yorker, something very different from those +from that downstate city that bears the same name as our state. Native +in the sense that I was born here, not that I'm a "Native-American." +(Something many of us think is one of our problems - far too many +hyphenated Americans.) I am a farmer by trade. + +The US is a strange place that often makes little sense. We drive on the +parkway, and park on the driveway, and we are arrogant enough to call +ourselves "Americans," as if the US was the only country on the two +continents. (Yes, I'm as guilty of that as the next guy. All part of the +culture.) We have several dialects, each with its own spellings of +certain words, and sometimes those from one part of the country have a +hard time understanding those from another. And add to that all the +words we've integrated from languages from all over the world - our +infamous "melting-pot" at work - and you get a hopeless mess. But it's +our mess, and we like it that way. + +BTW Anne, sorry, but to my ears "thoil" sounds like something someone +with a lisp would say when describing a planting medium. + +><i> T +</I>>><i> As they say in NY, put out or get out. The British translation for +</I>>><i> that would be: get down from your high horse and help out or just +</I>>><i> go away. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> OR "Put up, or shut up" :-) +</I>><i> +</I>I don't remember hearing Max's version in Upstate New York. The high +horse variation is older usage (My grandmother favored it. Oops. Sorry. +*favoured* it.), and Anne's version is the most common here. Another +version is "Put your money where your mouth is." + +>><i> So please, you are welcome to join the Mageia team and provide an +</I>>><i> en_GB translation for what is missing. You are welcome to sit in +</I>>><i> silent defiance and nurse your stubbornness. But this, this +</I>>><i> angst-driven tirade? This is not welcome at all. It only generates +</I>>><i> more angst. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> After a bad start, just relax. You will be welcomed if you do give +</I>><i> your effort. +</I>><i> +</I>><i> Anne +</I>><i> +</I>Lord knows I can't speak for all Americans, but for my own part I could +easily adapt if British were the default language, rather than American. +I have traveled to Canada and have cruised through web sites that used +British spelling, and have felt no offense (Oops again. *offence,* isn't +it?) at seeing it. If it will help international relations, I'm more +than willing to exist with spellings that look odd to me. After a while, +I doubt they'd still look so odd. + +Heck, you can use Cockney if you want. Sounds like fun. + +TJ + + +</PRE> + + +<!--endarticle--> + <HR> + <P><UL> + <!--threads--> + <LI>Previous message: <A HREF="008333.html">[Mageia-discuss] What is your motivation? (about American English in Mageia for British users) +</A></li> + <LI>Next message: <A HREF="008342.html">[Mageia-discuss] What is your motivation? (about American English in Mageia for British users) +</A></li> + <LI> <B>Messages sorted by:</B> + <a href="date.html#8340">[ date ]</a> + <a href="thread.html#8340">[ thread ]</a> + <a href="subject.html#8340">[ subject ]</a> + <a href="author.html#8340">[ author ]</a> + </LI> + </UL> + +<hr> +<a href="https://www.mageia.org/mailman/listinfo/mageia-discuss">More information about the Mageia-discuss +mailing list</a><br> +</body></html> |