What is en_US ?

[jdow]

From: "Timothy Murphy" <tim at birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie>
> 
> I'd like to enter a small caveat
> about the use of the description "en_US"
> when there is no other version of English on offer,
> eg when installing Fedora.
> 
> First of all, the difference between different variants of English
> is negligible, in my opinion.
> I never heard of anyone misunderstanding something
> because it was in en_US rather than in en_GB.
> 
> Secondly, giving a variant name like this when there is no alternative
> wastes a lot of time going up and down menus
> to see if there is some alternative choice.
> 
> I know Americans spell a few words wrongly, but so what?
> Plenty of people make spelling mistakes,
> and it doesn't affect one's understanding in the slightest.
> 
> I tested a group of students some years ago,
> to see if they knew whether a book was published in the US or the UK,
> and none of them had the slightest idea.

Date and time formats matter. Americans (and other English speakers)
format dates incorrectly. (I happen to prefer YYYYMMDD as numbers.
Note its nice sorting characteristics. Dividers are optional but
could help readability.)

British spell funny. It is Aluminum not Aluminium and so forth. But
then they think I spell funny. It works out. I rather find the differences
charming. It's nice when somebody can't spell because they are British
rather than because they went to American schools.

{^_-}