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At 01:47 AM 17/01/01 -0600, Eric Bohlman wrote:
>I have to agree here; the first time I saw a numberism ("i18n") I thought it
>was cute, but
Any time a new formulation tries to enter the language, there are
typically cries of outrage. Often they are justified, and in point
of fact most new usages gasp and die like baby sea turtles on the
linguistic beach, never making it into the deep waters of the
language's heart. I spent a couple years once working on
the computerization of the OED, and got to watch the thinking of
the people who specialize in this process. Also, when a new usage
*does* make it into the language, this often produces copycats that
then have to succeed or fail on their own merits. After all, Mr. was
once a sloppy abbreviation for "Mister" and Mrs. of "Mistress".
I kind of suspect that based on the usual standards "i18n" is nearing
the threshold where it becomes part of the language. Reasons: it's
actually a useful word that you have to use a lot, and is just horribly
intractably long. None of the copycat formulations seem to be very
close. -Tim
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