|From: Daniel Mayer <maveric149(a)yahoo.com> |Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 10:26:19 -0800 | |BTW our current primary naming convention is to use what most English |speakers would know and recognize as article titles with a reasonable |minimum of ambiguity and do any usage explanation in the article itself. | |-- Daniel Mayer (aka mav) | Came across this the other day: English is an official language in 71 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, and has been granted special status in six more, also throughout the world. According to this source, Great Britain is in the first group and the US is in the second group. Another source, somewhat older, says GB only gives unofficial status to English. Total English-speaking population, world-wide, 338 million as a first language, 236 million as a second language. Total population of countries granting status to English, 2 billion plus. English is the sole statutory language of Namibia and one of two statutory languages of Canada, and is one of five statutory languages of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (with Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish). In other words, it isn't all American arrogance. The Namibians are with us all the way. Tom Parmenter Ortolan88 1 - The Cambridge Factfinder 2 - The Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language

Daniel Mayer wrote: Emperor "Franz Josef" of Austria: 203,000 Google hits; "Francis Joseph": 24,500 Google hits yet we persist in using Francis Joseph pretending that it is most recognizable by English speakers Eclecticology