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Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> __/ [ Mark Kent ] on Tuesday 26 December 2006 10:48 \__
>
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>> Handover Phist <jason@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>> On 2006-12-22, John Bailo <jabailo@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.englishenglish.com/english_facts_8.htm
>>>>
>>>> "More than 80% of home pages on the Web are in English, while the next
>>>> greatest, German, has only 4.5% and Japanese 3.1%"
>>>
>>> And this is surprising? The Internet was developed in a primarily
>>> English speaking country and adopted in primarily English speaking
>>> countries before it got bigger than huge.
>>>
>>
>> The web was invented by an Englishman, it's true, but he was working at
>> Cern at the time.
>>
>> If you look at internet adoption, I think you'll find that it had been
>> adopted in many non-English speaking countries long before the web was
>> invented, *but*, look a little deeper and consider this: The internet
>> runs on the telecoms network. The telecoms network provided *global*
>> connectivity before the internet even existed.
>
>
> It's intersting to discover the different version of every story (milestones
> in particular), each adopted by a different person/company/nation for self
> glorification. Often this involves changing definitions, so it becomes a
> subtle verbal 'game'.
>
> Examples from just one side:
>
> -Manchester was the first place which brought Linux (distribution) to the
> public...
> -The (programmable) computer was invented in Manchester...
> -The concepts behind the computer (assuming Turing machines) were developed
> in Manchester...
If you look into the history of flight, you'll see probably the best
ever example of this. The first "flight" as claimed by the wright
brothers had a massive tail-wind, it's doubtful whether the machine
would've got off the ground otherwise. It was no more a flight than had
already been managed in europe, in fact. What was significant about the
wright brothers was their work on wind tunnels, but that just doesn't
sound so sexy, does it :-)?
The US is particularly good at this, though... the light bulb and
television are both interesting examples of British inventions which
yank history books will tell you otherwise.
>
>
>> The dominance of English is a result of a British empire followed by a
>> Yank empire - just follow the money...
>
>
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
"Elvis is my copilot."
-- Cal Keegan
|
|
