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There is a sweet spot to being the languge underdog. In the UK we've borrowed 'program', 'dialog', 'analog', 'disk' etc for computers, but retain the British fo
by afandian 6y ago
There is a sweet spot to being the languge underdog. In the UK we've borrowed 'program', 'dialog', 'analog', 'disk' etc for computers, but retain the British for non-computer uses. And, amusingly, we can tell the difference between 'router' and 'router' by pronounciation.
It seems software has become far more prescriptive of late. Although had autocorrect in Word 97(?) and smartphones, recently MacOS and Google have been aggressively rewriting text as you type. It's gone from "did you mean the American version?" to "I've changed it, don't worry". And not everyone has the wherewithal to configure their locale properly.
I see this as a significant form of cultural erasure over the coming years. Given what we've forced on the world historically, I don't think the UK can complain! But it's interesting to observe.
- globular-toast 6y agoEven if user locales are set properly, I've often wondered whether automatic spelling and grammar checking, and now auto-completion, will retard the future progression of languages. In France they have l'Académie française which essentially seeks to retard the progression of French, but it's never had the power to automatically correct and "suggest" the content of people's emails. > Given what we've forced on the world historically, I don't think the UK can complain! Actually, Britain was different from many other colonial powers in that it kept many local languages, customs and laws in the colonies. France, to give one example, has been much worse than Britain at prescribing French and effectively wiping out many regional languages. Important to note also that English isn't the official language of the United States. It's only the de facto standard. Nigeria made English the official language after independence, but the country still has over 300 languages. English wasn't forced, it just became an invaluable tool allowing the country to operate more efficiently.
- tasogare 6y ago> France, to give one example, has been much worse than Britain at prescribing French True. > and effectively wiping out many regional languages. Have you any example of this affirmation? While I can cite a bunch a regional language destroyed by the French Republic inside current French borders, I have no idea of what you are referring to concerning former colonies. Native Americans in New France never learnt French and the demise of their languages are due to the English settlers, people in Africa learned French (and still do it) yet retained their own languages, same concerning North-Africa where Berber languages have been in concurrenced by Arabic not French, in Indochina French is not spoken anymore. You affirm something really strong without a bunch of example to back it, that seems to be more French-bashing than anything that really happened. The only exception I can find is in French Polynesia. Also, your description of the Académie Française is really biased too.
- globular-toast 6y agoI was referring to wiping out regional languages within France. But let's not forget that the French did it in Britain. Yeah, it was a long time ago. No I'm not bashing France. I like France for the most part.
- aidos 6y agoFor router do you mean roo-ter for the network gear and row-ter for the woodworking tool? That is useful. Not sure how to best spell out the differences, ironically my phone tried pretty hard to change things around for me.
- afandian 6y agoYes. One is for sending things on routes (journeys). Another is for routing (digging things out). I'm not sure if they etymologies converge, but they are distinctly different words spelled the same.
- CGamesPlay 6y agoI don't know about the etymologies, but your argument isn't compelling. A router (woodworking) is used when the tool is following a specified route (path).
- afandian 6y agoI don't know what to tell you. The facts are settled according to authorities on language which I trust. Your folk-etymology seems to be an intuitive but incorrect back-formation. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/routs https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/routs https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/using-root-route-rout https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/using-root-rou...
- TeMPOraL 6y ago> recently MacOS and Google have been aggressively rewriting text as you type OS-wide autocorrect is dangerous. I remember Scott Alexander pointing out that this happens to medical staff when typing in drug names. Someone out there probably ended up with the wrong prescription because MacOS tried to be "helpful". https://twitter.com/slatestarcodex/status/944739157988974592?lang=en https://twitter.com/slatestarcodex/status/944739157988974592...
- mikro2nd 6y agoAnd, not content with US vs. Brit spellings, my Android phone's autocorrect stubbornly and insistently refuses to spell "fuck", even when I tap the word out a letter at a time. Instead it insists I meant "duck". Imposing American Puritan moralistic filters on my use of the language,... whatever next?
- julianlam 6y agoHave you tried adding the word to the keyboard dictionary?
- capableweb 6y agoOne would think that a very common word would already been added to the dictionary, and not require the users to enter it to their own dictionary. I'm pretty sure "fuck" is in every major dictionary as well, so why the fuck not in the phone dictionary?
- WorldMaker 6y agoBecause phones are still sold to adults that "think of the children" and decided the easiest way to stop swearing is to pretend it doesn't exist.