Re: <OT> Re: I have a doubt

In article <sKudncwRecZNUOTYnZ2dnUVZ8qvinZ2d@xxxxxx>,
Richard Heathfield <rjh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Alas no. By imposing our language on the world through imperialism,
we lost that right.

I didn't impose my language on anyone (except, arguably, my children). And I
didn't lose any rights whatsoever by so doing. YMMV.

You're right, few of us alive now personally did that. But the
Indians and others who had British rule imposed on them may reasonably
feel that they have the right to call the language they have had to
learn "English", regardless of how it differs from the version spoken
in Britain. So we cannot expect the unqualified term to unambiguously
refer to that version.

[As an aside, there was one of those aren't-Americans-stupid surveys a
few years ago, in which some large proportion of US children were
unable to guess what language was spoken in England.]

If we'd kept ourselves to ourselves we wouldn't have the problem.

If we'd kept ourselves to ourselves, we'd all be speaking German!

If we'd kept ourselves to ourselves, we'd never have invited them
over in 1688...

-- Richard
--
"Consideration shall be given to the need for as many as 32 characters
in some alphabets" - X3.4, 1963.
.

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