What is en_US ?

[David G. Miller]

Ed Greshko <Ed.Greshko at greshko.com> wrote:

> Tim wrote:
>> > Well, English already does that.  I don't know if others adopt words
>> > from other languages, like it does.  I wasn't aware of there actually
>> > being new languages developed, other than colloquial jargon.
>>     
>
> Sure.  The Japanese do it all the time.  But when they write them out they
> use the Katakan script to indicate that it is an adopted word.
On the other hand, the French fight it tooth and nail.  They even have a 
national government department charged with defending the French 
language.  You can get in trouble if you publish something in French 
that includes forbidden words (e.g., le Big Mac, le weekend).  A rather 
vague memory of an article explaining how difficult technology has made 
the life of those charged with keeping French French has it that 
computers are "le computique" and a program bug is "le bogue".  Lots of 
other official words that are just close enough to the (original) 
English version.  When a new word comes along, the office either decides 
some existing word is the appropriate translation or coins a new word to 
capture the new concept.  It will be interesting to see how well they do 
over time.

Cheers,
Dave

-- 
Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
-- Ambrose Bierce