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Subject:Re: "the Queen's English" From:Jennie Achtemichuk <JennieA -at- MSN -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 4 Dec 1995 17:15:14 UT
La di da! I can't believe I'm hearing an Aussie being so stodgy. I've been in
the US now for 12 years, and when I came here as a college student I stood up
and sang the American anthem every time it was played. It's beautiful, so why
not sing it. Doesn't make me less of an Aussie.
I don't know if you noticed while you were living in the US, but I'm sure
others have when they have traveled. I acknowledge that the spellings of
words, such as "colour", can be jarring when you read them. So can "traveled"
to older people who are used to seeing "travelled". What I find most
interesting is that each country, and each region within a country, has a
different way of thinking. This, I think, affects our language more than how
a few words are spelled. One difference I've found is that Americans often
find spellings like "colour" to be charming, not offensive. So maybe our
conclusion should be to use the Queen's English for US made publications, and
then we can focus on more stimulating localization issues (like, how we can
fit a "research" trip in our budget to Sydney or Stockholm or wherever our
target audience is).
