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logo    All Technical Babel isn't Technical


I have often been amused by those native Americans, whose mastery of the English language is obviously far less than perfect, who want to require immigrants to learn English. I am equally amused by people who want to reduce the amount of technical Babel who nevertheless babel themselves.

There is, properly, only one Channel, the one between England and Europe. People sail it, swim in it, some drown in it, ride the train under it, and I suppose, in rare circumstances, someone in it may act as a translator. But in all other cases, the word channel has to be modified in some way to be meaningful. We can have tv channels, river channels, even dry channels, but not those in "the channel," unless, that is, they're all wet.

Then there are those "messages that are accessible!" The paraplegic said the door was accessible but locked, and the customer said he could read the text but could make no sense out of it. Perhaps the word should have been "incomprehensible"?

And, oh yes, "blames the vendor language problem [three nouns in a row?] on the increasing level of commoditization in technology." I believe this says "subjecting technology to an increasing level of commodities," but I'd not stake any money on it. Or perhaps, "subjecting commodities to an increasing level of technology"? Likewise, "we are in a commoditized market. "Are we subjecting commodities to the market or the market to commodities? Or does it merely mean, without even coming close to saying so, that we are selling more boxes and fewer services?

And "we have to work to keep it simplified. . . ." What? We have to work to keep it made simple? How about, we have to keep it simple?

Oh, yes! "[T]hey come from a legacy of selling. . . ."They come from having a legal right to inherit selling? Legacy, legal, law all have the same root! Doesnt this just mean that they have had jobs that involved selling products?

And then there is the one that has troubled me for eons, at least: "selling solutions". Al Capone sold those too, and did a better job of it.

At finally, after having climbed this tower, there is "stick with standardized spelling." Spelling subjected to standards? Isn't that what dictionaries are for? How about stick with words commonly spelled?

Ba, ba, bab, bab, babe, babe, Babel! (7/1/2007)