RE: What's 1 to do?

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Victoria Wroblewski wrote:
 
> I wouldn't be surprised if it's partly a combo of work by non-native
> speaking writers, work that may go to non-native speaking readers, or
> writing for translations.  I sure can identify the digit "5" better
than
> it's translated form of "five" if I'm going through a mess of
translated
> files and making sure that the translation magic didn't muck up
> anything.  If I'm reading something that is not in my native language,
> I've got a much better shot at proper understanding if I've got digits
> in the text.  The digit and the word are equally accurate, so I can
see
> why some places might decide to change from the old-school style of
"one
> through ten."

That makes sense.
 
> Now we just have to wait for the day, 20 or so years from now, where
"4"
> has become an acceptable replacement for "for" in professional
> writing...

But if translation issues matter, this won't happen. I don't think the
number and the preposition are homophones in very many languages. :-)

Richard


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------






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