It sounds like you want dialectual words and colloquialisms to form the basis of your 'English English' wikipedia.
James
-----Original Message----- From: wikipedia-l-bounces@Wikimedia.org [mailto:wikipedia-l-bounces@Wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Jack & Naree Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 6:12 AM To: node.ue@gmail.com; wikipedia-l@wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Wikipedia-l] Wikipedia English English
I want American English to have a separate Wikipedia from English English - this would mean copying I typed it in a hurry at the end of my shift with a view to responding to any response, later. I've placed a more detailed post on the helpdesk page. I think, however, that it's apt that I should go into even more depth here. I've asked about English on Wikipedia before and been told that they think it's acceptable for English articles to be in a mish-mash of dialects and spellings; but having seen the range of ludicrous languages available - including variant forms of English: Scots English and Middle English etc... I've now decided I must make a request and campaign properly for American English to be given a seperate Wikipedia language from (English) English. It's simply infuriating and offensive for the misspellings of a dialect of English to take precedence over the standard language - I'm sure Spanish, French and Portuguese speakers would feel similarly; it's cultural imperialism. If you have different forms of Chinese Wikipedia (I'm a graduate of Jap & Chi so I'm aware of xyz); if you have Wikipedias for dialects and older forms of English; if you Wikipedias for countries and languages with far smaller populations, economic/political importance and internet presences; then the English of the British Isles and Commonwealth - the standard and original form of English - simply *has* to be the only form of English that can use the term "English" on Wikipedia. Some might say that it is "British English", this term is fallacious (even if you can find it in a dictionary) no English, British, British Isles or even Commonwealth native understands or recognises the term - it is both meaningless and fallacious: there are no "British English" speakers in the world - there are English (nationality) English (language) speakers, Welsh English speakers, Scottish English speakers, Irish English speakers, Cornish
English speakers and so on... Whereas the term "American English" is not. When I go to Wikipedia English, and type a search for "colour" I should not expect to be redirected to "color" which is a recent spelling of a dialect of English that has arisen over the last couple of centuries perhaps - it is
simply *not* *English* it is *American-English*. I'm more than happy for American-English speakers to have an American-English wikipedia and have all
their weird and wonderful spellings and vocabulary - and it may well turn out to be the biggest wiki; but I don't want to select Wikipedia English and
type in "Aubergine" and get "Eggplant"; "Nappy" and get "Diaper"; or "Tap" and get "Faucet", it's simply unacceptable, and against the spirit of multilingualism and accuracy that wikipedia is supposed to strive for. Hence I want to campaign in all seriousness that The English Wikipedia is duplicated, and one is called American-English, the other remaining English,
and the task of correcting spelling, vocab and grammar can begin. The Campaign for an English Wikipedia is not about Britain (the fourth largest economy in the world, a population of about 60m, 55% of whom are online), it's also about a whole host of other countries and regions (over a
billion people) that do not use American-English, but use English instead as
a lingua franca (many with complete fluency): Ireland India Pakistan Bangladesh Sri lanka Nepal Singapore Malaysia Brunei (Hong Kong) (Canada) Australia New Zealand Nigeria Ghana Sierra Leone parts of Cameroon Uganda Kenya Tanzania Sudan Zambia Zimbabwe RSA Lesotho Namibia Botswana Malawi various island nations in the Caribbean plus Belize and Guyana, Indian Ocean
and Pacific British dependencies all over the planet. The term Commonwealth English is therefore also apt, but American-English has no right to usurp the title English, from English! Wikipedia should reflect this. Jack York England The United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Crown Dependencies & Overseas Territories On 19/09/05, Mark Williamson node.ue@gmail.com wrote:
Does your e-mail have a point?
Mark
On 18/09/05, Jack & Naree jack.macdaddy@gmail.com wrote:
Wikipedia Anglo-Saxon?! Wikipedia Middle English?!! Wikipedia Scot's English?!!! I want Wikipedia English English!!! _______________________________________________ Wikipedia-l mailing list Wikipedia-l@Wikimedia.org http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikipedia-l
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