On dinsdag, mei 6, 2003, at 06:59 PM, David Young wrote:

> On Tue, May 06, 2003 at 04:28:36PM +0200, Reinier Jonker wrote:
>> They are, in fact, the only correct spellings. American is nothing 
>> more
>> than a regional variety. IMHO, the standard spelling and grammar for 
>> an
>> international project should always adhere to British Standard 
>> English.
>
> Reinier, you seem to take the old-fashioned view that language is
> always on decline, so it is desirable to privilege older, "original"
> forms over the new. Thus American is a mere "regional variety" while
> British English is "the Standard." Is your intention different?

It is. English is a single language. There are a lot of people around 
the world who speak English. However, the language isn't called 
American, Australian or South-African. It's called English. England is 
the country where the language originated and where it is still used. 
It seems reasonable to me that the way English people use the language 
should be the standard. Aside from that, there are much more people who 
speak English than American.

It's perfectly normal that Americans use American words, spelling and 
grammar when they speak American. But if you call something English, it 
should be according to standard English. If I remember correctly there 
is a commission in the UK that decides which spelling and grammar are 
recommended, which are allowed and which are conisdered wrong.

I think an international project working in English should adhere to 
British English, just like an international French-language project 
should be according to French and not Canadian standards.

>> It doesn't seem logical to me, since 'and' effectively replaces the 
>> comma.
>> (Actually, it's the other way round. In Latin, where no comma exists,
>> "and" was placed between all members of the list)
>
> I think that I see where you're coming from, now....

No, I don't want to revert to Latin! ;-)

-- 
Best Regards,

Reinier Jonker