[Wikipedia-l] Wikipedia English English

[Mark Williamson]

On 19/09/05, Jack & Naree <jack.macdaddy at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Actually, we don't have a Wikipedia in Klingon.
> 
>  that's a surprise

Why?

> > Actually, the policy is (or at least was):
> >
> > * If subject of article is British (or other Commonwealth
> > English)-related, use Commonwealth English.
> > * If subject of article is USian, use US English
> > * If neither applies, majority style (in case both are used) of original
> > author is preferred.
> 
>  And what of "Aubergines" and "Eggplants"? "Colour" and "Color"

See the 3rd rule. However the original author of the article writes
it. Colour and color aren't that big of a deal. Any mention of
"eggplant" or "aubergine" can note the other variant in parentheses,
although I have a sneaking suspicioun that in the commounwealthe the
werde "eggplant" will be understode wel enough.
 
> > I mean there are several issues here: cultural imperialism, ambiguation
> > > (because of the many differences in American-English and English usage),
> > and
> > > English learners learning to spell incorrectly and talk like Americans -
> > why
> > > is it wrong to resist that?
> > >
> >
> > You are welcome to create your own fork of the site in Commonwealth
> > English, provided you comply with the GFDL.
> 
>  Happy to do so, but what I really want is a fork called "American-English".

I hope you realise that a separate American English project wouldn't
instantly lead to the "purification" of the existing Wikipedia.

Let me put it this way:

This issue has been considered very, very, very carefully in the past.
It's always been clear to everyone involved that one Wikipedia rather
than two is the better way, if not the only logical way.

No matter how much you whinge, the chances that there will ever be two
separate English Wikipedias are extremely low, especially given the
current size of the project.

However, you are welcome to start your own encyclopedia in "pure"
English. In fact, you can even use articles from Wikipedia, provided
that you release content under the gfdl.

Mark