I had to do a double-take on the news piece on RTE.ie. Yesterday was April Fool's day, so this has to be either true or badly timed: Local authorities have refused to allow members of the public to use addresses in Irish in the new Register of Electors, which is being compiled at the moment. Come again? You mean that they're rewriting the rules to suit themselves … [Read more...] about Irish Government Anti-Irish
Linguistics
ICANN Lisbon – New gTLDs and IDN
The first session of the day was discussing new gTLDs and IDN. Some of the salient points that came out of the session is that the decision making process is long and complicated. IDN - promote internet usage among non-English speakers (among other things) New gTLDs - avoiding issues - reserved names. An interesting discussion was held about the reserved names and other … [Read more...] about ICANN Lisbon – New gTLDs and IDN
Can You Spell?
Spelling and basic grammar and punctuation drive me mad. This is due in no little part to my grandmother, may she rest in peace, who was a language "nazi". She had zero tolerance for bad spelling, punctuation, grammar and pronunciation. Since I spent so much time in her company as a child it was only inevitable that it would rub off on me to some degree. Other members of the … [Read more...] about Can You Spell?
Clear English – Abuse Desk
Once you have a reasonably sized network you will get abuse complaints. It doesn't matter what's causing the complaints (well it does... ) but you need to be able to react quickly and deal with the issues. I've mentioned my own experiences dealing with abuse desks in the past..... Now for the flipside. Would someone please please please tell people to send clear abuse reports? … [Read more...] about Clear English – Abuse Desk
OED Special Offer
The OED is on special offer until the end of January. You can get the 20 volume set for a "mere" £499 Stg until the end of January. They describe it as: # he 20 volume Oxford English Dictionary is an unrivalled guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words # The Dictionary traces the evolution of over 600,000 words from across the … [Read more...] about OED Special Offer