[Wikipedia-l] technical measures for English variations...

Wed Oct 6 03:26:15 UTC 2004

> If you were reading about the primary exports of a small region of an 
> obscure country and in the list was "rocket", is it possible you could 
> have come away from the article believing that the obscure country is a 
> mjor exporter of rockets? Under ideal conditions, yes, these kinds of 
> dialectical differences can be illuminating, but under equally likely 
> non-ideal conditions, the differences can be confusing and misleading.
>

You can't provide technical measures against poorly-written articles.
An article that listed "rocket" as an export without further definition
needs editing, not some fancy technical solution.

> While I admire the pluck of characterizing inconsistency as richness, I 
> think that "down in the trenches" the reality of the differences in 
> dialect (mostly between en-us and en-gb, but also, for example between 
> pt-pt and pt-br) is a continuous stream of conflict, debate, confusion, 
> and frustration that policy has failed to allieviate.
>
And you think that there wouldn't be massive bunfights as to which word
was most appropriate for each of the dozens of English locales - given
that many people within a locale will use different words for the same 
object or concept?

> There exists a technical solution that would alleviate the problem and 
> not significantly burden editors. Should we reject this solution on the 
> wishful notion that our differences can unite rather than divide us?

No, only a tiny fraction of the many subtle and usually inconsequential 
differences between British and American English (not to mention the many 
other variations of English, some that don't fit neatly on national 
boundaries) are amenable to technical solutions.   

Is any technological measure going to make the following (fictional)
passage accessible to the average American?

Brian Lara scored a double ton at the WACA in the 1997-98 season in a
tour match against the PM's 11.  This was a Bradmanesque effort, the feat 
even more impressive considering Jo Angel's reverse swing and Michael Bevan's
Chinamen, both aided by the Fremantle Doctor.

On the *specific* issue of number names, it might be feasible to provide
a fix there.  Beyond that, however, technical fixes are more trouble
than they're worth.

--
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                                           Robert Merkel
                                     robert.merkel at benambra.org
                                        http://benambra.org

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
                -- Albert Einstein
They laughed at Einstein.  They laughed at the Wright Brothers.  But they
also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
                -- Carl Sagan
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