launchpad-dev team mailing list archive

[Julian Edwards <julian.edwards@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tuesday 12 July 2011 12:00:10 Matthew Revell wrote:
> Sort of; by which I mean "yes". For at least two years now the company
> style guide has required British English. As we're aiming to bring
> Launchpad more into line with the Canonical brand, and we're
> undertaking a rebrand project, it seems like the right time for
> Launchpad to also switch to British English.

Spelling differences are probably only 50% of the story here since there's 
many phrases specific to British vs US English, and some of them will grate on 
the foreign ear.  For example, when Americans say "likely will", it makes me 
wince!

I've always advocated that we should strive to be as country/culture agnostic 
as possible.  This means we need input from native speakers of both types to 
make sure it's not awkward English for them.  In my above example, I would 
translate this to "is likely to be".

Hopefully at that point we'll only be left with unavoidable clashes of 
spelling with common words like colour/color where the company style dictates 
precedence.

Cheers.  ;)