This blog is written in en-GB • Hacker News Board

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#211

Post by fmajid » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 2:07 PM UTC

freehorse wrote: post #100

umeshunni wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Historically many (predominantly muslim) places in near and middle east have been very diverse, though maybe not exactly the kind of diversity usually conceptualised in the west. If anything, the idea of homogeneous nation states is more like rooted in the enlightenment.

> the idea of homogeneous nation states is more like rooted in the enlightenment.

More precisely the Peace of Westphalia, which was a deal between the crowned heads of Europe to stop rocking the boat, and the absolute opposite of what the Enlightenment wanted since it was designed to consolidate royal political control.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Westphalia

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#212

Post by pepperoni_pizza » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 2:07 PM UTC

ChrisRR wrote: post #92

sgt wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be true, but in practice, US english has no taken over as the de-facto English. All thanks to the Internet. I am glad someone is pushing back on this, though, and I want more multi lingual sites on the Internet in general.

By your logic, chinese english or indian english are the defacto as they massively outnumber american english You just mean that you visit more american sites than other non-US english speaking sites

According to wikipedia, there's 128 millions of en-IN speakers, of which only few hundred thousands are native - while there's 248 million native en-US speakers.

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#213

Post by Vinnl » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 2:07 PM UTC

Symbiote wrote: post #195

dijit wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Sweden (and have for 11 years), a lot of the "charm" in my speech has been filed away, I speak in a very neutral accent (which barely registers as british anymore) and I use americanisms a lot, avoiding "false friends". (IE; I never use the word "chip" to mean crisps or fries - I will instead use "Crisps", despite it being british, and fries, despite it being American; in order to avoid ambiguity.) The more…

I live in Denmark, and for such basic words (crisps, trousers, maths, aluminium, football, quid, couldn't care less, fire engine, motorway, petrol, public transport, railway, tram) I use my native British words. People occasionally comment that it's a British word, but being misunderstood is so unusual I can't remember a recent example. Essentially everyone has read/watched Harry Potter, Dr Who or Midsomer Murders, a…

Wait, "couldn't care less" is British?

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#214

Post by throwaway2037 » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 2:08 PM UTC

TFNA wrote: post #79

graemep wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article strongly implies it is a response to a comment complaining the blog is not inclusive because it uses British English. There is a constant American assumption that their language and culture is the norm and we should all adjust our language to fit their definitions and culture. I intend to keep eating faggots, having a master branch in git, etc.

"There is a constant American assumption that their language and culture is the norm" This is now far more than an American assumption. I have seen younger continental Europeans bristle at UK English because they grew up in a world of social media that is converging on usage that is closer to US English.

Real question: Post 2010, are there any non-English speaking nations that get most of their English language media from the UK? Since everthing went online after 2010, I assume US has the highest influence (linguistically) only because of "mass". Dear UK readers: Please don't interpret my comment that UK language culture is somehow inferior. HN knows and loves UK humor!

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#215

Post by Symbiote » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 2:08 PM UTC

roryirvine wrote: post #113

mghackerlady wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

? I just think british spelling looks better and am a whore for internationalism

Oxford spelling, en-GB-oxendict, is a nice halfway house - it uses the same -ize spellings (where etymologically correct) as American English, but doesn't have the simplifications (eg. colour->color). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_spelling

It's often preferred by academic journals, which might be why the original commenter sees it as "academic".

It's also the official spelling used by the United Nations.

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#216

Post by gnubison » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 2:08 PM UTC

dofm wrote: post #132

blenderob wrote: post #46

I read several blogs that use British English, including this OP's blog. Some of my favourite blogs in my RSS reader are British English blogs, or at least they use British English spellings and grammar. I find their use of the English language very charming and funny in a unique way. It surprises me that anyone would feel entitled to ask a blogger to change the variety of English they use. American English is only o…

Right. As a Brit I am entitled to think we speak the best version (because we do; ISE is a close second) but I am not entitled to believe everyone else's is wrong, because that is ahistorical. They have diverged repeatedly and thus ours is one of the divergences. Much of British English was standardised long after several waves of the US settlers left our shores, so US english has some traits of pre-standardised Engl…

What is ISE?

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#217

Post by Pooge » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC

My_Name wrote: post #203

TimK65 wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So thankful that we use the correct date format (yyyy-mm-dd) in Sweden.

Can I just say that, as someone born and bred in the UK, YYYY-MM-DD is the only correct way to display a date wherever you live. Anything else is as bad as using mm:hh...

> Anything else is as bad as using mm:hh...

Please tell me that's not a thing.

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#218

Post by throwaway2037 » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 2:11 PM UTC

pepperoni_pizza wrote: post #212

ChrisRR wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By your logic, chinese english or indian english are the defacto as they massively outnumber american english You just mean that you visit more american sites than other non-US english speaking sites

According to wikipedia, there's 128 millions of en-IN speakers, of which only few hundred thousands are native - while there's 248 million native en-US speakers.

You raise a great point here. At what point will a non-English speaking country become the nation with the most English speakers? In my mind, surely that is Indian by 2050. If they can become upper middle income by that time (I am sure of it), then I guess more that half of adults will speak English at least at elementary to middle school level. (Dear reader: Please don't read that as a slight against the English language skills of Indians. I know from personal experience: With five grade level language skills, you can get a lot done!) They would way out number the number of English speaking Americans.

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#219

Post by mattlondon » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 2:11 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #97

robin_reala wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blog, from web log, from log (written), from log (wood), from Middle English logge. No French involved, which is where the `ou` phoneme is from.

I've had a weblog since 1999. I know where the word comes from. Try rereading in light of that; if you need more hint consider why the author's spellchecker might put a red wiggly underline under the letters "color".

No, it's always been blog in en-GB.

Try reading in light of basic facts, if you need more hint consider if a spell checker might put a wiggly underline under the letters "loug".

Re: This blog is written in en-GB

#220

Post by MrJohz » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 2:11 PM UTC

prima-facie wrote: post #149

If you are from Europe, even if you're not living in the UK, the en-GB locale will feel a lot more familiar to you than the en-US one. It uses the dd-mm-yyyy date format like the rest of Europe, the start of the week is on Monday (vs Sunday in the US), the default paper size is A4 (vs US letter), measurement defaults are metric (indeed UK roads use imperial, but the default is otherwise metric), the time format uses…

The time format in the UK is mostly 12hr, although people are generally aware of 24hr time. In my experience, while there are usually more similarities between the UK and the rest of Europe, Europeans also have more exposure to American English than to British English, so it ends up being a bit of a wash, particularly when it comes to pronunciation, spelling, or idioms.