[Wikipedia-l] anglicization

Thu Nov 21 08:40:05 UTC 2002

Bridget [name omitted for privacy reasons] wrote:

> First off, in regards to whether anglicization (or rather 
> americinization) is dumbing down...why yes it is. As we all know, the 
> biggest argument against using more foreign names for foreign objects 
> is, "Oh, but its soooooo confusing".
>
It is, for the Americans. ;-)
With redirects, we can catch all common spellings. The idea is that when 
someone who doesn't know the "correct" spelling (if there is such a 
thing) links to a topic, (s)he will use, with some likelyhood, the most 
common spelling. On the English wikipedia, that's the most common one 
*in English*. So, we'd want to put the article under that spelling, as 
to avoid redirects as much as possible when reading the 'pedia.

> As for me apoligizing for my past actions and changing my behavior 
> before I am banned, I would like to state that I am guilty of heresy 
> and I did not vote for the rules or the king
>
You moved into the kingdom, now live by the rules of the king (the 
"establiched community", or Jimbo;-) or leave. That simple.

> and I think every person should have free will, choice, and speech.
>
Yes. But in the kingdom, you're bound by the law. You can't cut throats 
here just because you feel like it.

> I also am opposed to racism and genocide
>
What has that to do with the discussion? [I'll tell you the answer - 
nothing at all]

> and I believe wikipedia should strive to be very very very unamerican 
> culture friendly, especially in this era of militant anti-americanism.
>
So the English wikipedia should use more accents in their article titles 
because you and armed terrorists tell them to? Now that you mention it, 
it *does* fit with your prior actions ;-)

> I demand
>
That alone should get you banned again, IMHO, if said in ernest. 
"Demand" here reminds me too much of mentioned terrorists. You are in no 
position to demand anything from Jimbo (which it boils down to in the 
end); neither am I.

> that the authoritarians recognize the value of other cultures and 
> languages and that while a german katze is most certainly a cat, 
> Dumkopfmeyerstrasse is never Dumbheadmeyerstreet, no matter how many 
> americans say otherwise, unless the local inhabitants decide that the 
> americans are right and go and change the street signs.
>
Let's call it Dummkopfmeyerstrasse in the German wikipedia, and call it 
what ever is common English spelling in the English wikipedia. As 
there's probably no know spelling of this specific street, it would 
likely be the German one.

Magnus