On 2/24/21 10:05 AM, Fernando Gont wrote:
I'd ask that participants be aware that a number of us speak English
as a second language. So, while at times we might be aware that for
some there might be differences (at times subtle) in the meaning of
such words, other times we're not simply aware about them, or may
overlook them (since English is not our native language).
For instance, the word "coder" has no equivalent in Spanish (the
equivalent would be "codificador", but you'd never use that for coder
or programmer). So it shouldn't come as a surprise that a
Spanish-speaking person uses "programmer" to refer to "coder",
"software developer" or "programmer" (itself), or that somehow mixes
up these words.
The same probably applies to other languages.
I guess following Postel's advice might be of use here.
Dave Oran once told me that I should be careful of using idioms where
possible so as not to confuse people for whom English wasn't their first
language. It's frankly amazing to me how many idioms a lot of
non-English-as-first-language get. Heck, it can even be confusing
between American English and UK English. I think the burden should be on
native English speakers to be more plain and not too clever even though
it's extremely tempting at times.
Mike
