[WikiEN-l] A puzzle of pizzas

[Stevertigo]

>Pizza Puzzle wrote: I would like to note that I agree with you. Prague
should be henceforth >"Praha"; just as the German cities should be written
in German. Two points were made >against you:

>A) The Christopher Columbus issue; one should note that whether Cristoforo
or Cristobal >is used; either one is infinitely more correct that
Christopher since Colombo, himself, used >both the Spanish and Italian
versions BUT NEVER the English version which is wholly >fallacious.

Well, I tend to agree. It does however bring into mind the possibility that
asserting such "policy" as i suggested (aside from contradicting my long
standing dislike for propriety) would not be really practical.  Maybe this
would be a far better argument against.  The argument for really relies on a
change of convention, like I said - namely something that would be somewhat
revolutionary. The question then is implementation - would it be too
confusing? Could it be a way to enhance cross-lingual communication?

I finally realized that this really was about attempting to break down the
language barriers - allowing some easier cross-operability that ignores the
established language barriers, allowing for some compromises in our
much-hailed "standards" -- but also allowing for increased multi-lingual
participation.   This is no doubt the future of wikipedia, but it would
require some heavy assistance from language tools -- technologies that are
barely in their fruition.

It could be after all, that the solution is simply for all these miserable
foreigners to just learn English gooder.

>B) The Los Angeles issue in which one user sarcastically stated that we
should revert to >the Native American name. Such a reversion would not be in
accordance with your more >reasonable suggestion since Los Angeles was
essentially built on top of the older city, in a >like manner, Mexico DF
should not be renamed Tenochtitlan.

All such arguments were red herring attacks, summat.  But GTBOTD* they
attempt to illustrate the fuzzy boundaries inherent to drawing lines to
differentiate changes to how things are done.  In essence I agree with
them - 'dont mess with it if it aint broke.' To a large degree I threw it
out there to see what the climate was, and what the real idea was that I was
trying to materialize.  I had it saved as a draft and decided to send it -
to see if it would stir some braincells. Not that I intent to fight a one
man war for something so stupid and trivial as policy. In short - they were
abolutely correct, though their arguments were a bit convoluted.

The funny thing in that case, is that it actually illustrates my point.
"Los Angeles" isnt changed in American speech to "The Angels" -- nor to
Americans call most other Latin based names by anything different, simply
due to some language similarities. In fact, in most cases the Anglicization
is rather loyal - thus its the minority that are modified, and then usually
only slightly.  To change the minority to their proper local names, would be
to actually enforce the existing *standard. (something again I dont
advocate). "Roma" instead of "Rome" -- 'would be too confusing?' I dont
think so. These are the same arguments against the deprication of the term
"Indians" to refer to American Natives. Tie that in with the Christoforo
Colombo factor, and youll get the joke.

>In secret correspondence with certain unnamed individuals, I have been
informed that you >are now classed as a "true troll" and are walking on
"very thin ice". Good luck, viva la >resistance!

As it should be. I wonder if theyre using Danny's once-stated definition of
a troll - here on the list. "Very thin ice?"  I was on "very thin ice" from
the day I started contributing.  This later became "good job on this" and
"good job on that."  People get pissy, and I dont give out blowjobs - thats
what that means.  All of humanity is on thin ice, so its like the pot
calling the kettle... "nigga!"

BTW, IMHO, "Troll" is almost like the internet equivalent of calling someone
a "terrorist" - 'I saw you marching at a peace rally, you terrorist...'
It's a very slippery slope, and some here have gotten quite quick to use the
T word, (at least in private :]) it seems they never understood the late,
great, Robert Zimmerman when he said... "don't speak too soon for the
wheel's still in spin."

-Wove and trolling,
Steven

*GTBOTD Given the benefit of the doubt.