UFO:Alien Invasion
Archive => Bugs prior to release 2.4 => Topic started by: MCR on May 14, 2011, 11:34:13 am
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We have those two versions in the game.
Which spelling is the correct one ?
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It depends on what variant of English, I think.
In American (United States) English, which is what I'm most familiar with, "UFOPedia" would be the appropriate spelling. In European English, I'm guessing the other one would make more sense. For Australian, Canadian, "International English" or any other variant, I'm not sure.
This is why some commercial games have multiple entries for "English" under languages/translations. (Example: "English (USA)", "English (UK)", etc.) I personally don't mind too much on this issue, but I've seen some gamers who get *extremely* upset if they are used to "armor" and "color" and see text everywhere in a game in "armour" and "colour", or the other way around, depending on where a gamer is from and where the game was made.
EDIT: That being said, if we stick to only one English translation for UFO AI, I'd suggest remaining consistent with the same variant of English throughout. Mixing them up is a bad idea.
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My opinion is «UFOpaedia», like «Armour».
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I'm in favor of american spelling. It's shorter.
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Well, at some point we'll need to either decide between the two or split the English texts into two forks (which is what most games and many other programs do).
As I said, if we end up sticking with just one and it isn't American, I don't care too much and I won't get upset, but right now we have an ugly mix of more than one variant, and at some point a choice will need to be made.
Should we ask Mattn for a command decision on this one? Or put up a poll?
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In British usage, the spellings encyclopedia and encyclopaedia are both current.[30] Although the latter spelling is considered more "proper" by British speakers, the former is becoming increasingly common in British English, in part due to the spread of American English. In American usage, only the former is commonly used.[31] The spelling encyclopædia—with the æ ligature—was frequently used in the 19th century and is increasingly rare, although it is retained in product titles such as Encyclopædia Britannica and others. The Oxford English Dictionary (1989) records encyclopædia and encyclopaedia as equal alternatives (in that order), and notes the æ would be obsolete except that it is preserved in works that have Latin titles. Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1997–2002) features encyclopedia as the main headword and encyclopaedia as a minor variant. In addition, cyclopedia and cyclopaedia are now rarely-used shortened forms of the word originating in the 17th century.
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I was born in Sweden, learned Queen's English and have been living and working with the Yankees for ...15+ years now.
I still hold on to spellings like armour, neighbour, colour and similar.
But there's something about UFOpaedia that just irks the hell out of me. Can you imagine Wikipedia spelled as Wikipaedia?
Ugh. I can't.
/2c
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Well, as I said, we need to either pick one form and stick with it throughout, or offer both (or more than one) form in the game. Most big games, office suites, and other programs that Ive seen have at *least* two - which tells me that United States English and Euro/British are the most common (though I've seen some software that have several more choices, including some more obscure forms).
Trying to argue or "prove" one form to be "better" than another is totally pointless. No matter how hard one tries to rationalize it or back it up with any supporting argument, someone else can do the same to push it the other way.
If we resort to such back-and-forth debate we might as well argue over the colors red vs. the color blue, and which color in general is "better" than the other.
"Red is better! It is stronger and can look brighter!"
"No, blue is better, it isn't harsh like red is!"
...etc., etc., etc., onwards into total absurdity...
The one difference, where such a comparison doesn't apply, is that with colors the two can be mixed into purple, which is a valid color. In this case though, with the language issue, there isn't any "purple" mix that would really work, it should either be consistent with one or be split for the end-user to choose.
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Well, wikipedia is everything but is not encyclopaedia.
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I'm all for the nostalgia factor. (http://www.google.com/search?q=x-com%20ufopaedia&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1600&bih=721)
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+1 to H-hour and ditto for me
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Third option: Call it UFOPædia.
:P
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I say just stick with the good'ol Americano English. I always thought daemon, paedophile(like honestly, right?) and armour looked kinda whack. Looks like French or something. Although I was raised learning British English, I'm all for dropping the extra letters. Language tends to evolve towards simpler and more efficient forms and having dead letters which we don't even pronounce is kinda silly.
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Well, as I said, we need to either pick one form and stick with it throughout, or offer both (or more than one) form in the game. Most big games, office suites, and other programs that Ive seen have at *least* two - which tells me that United States English and Euro/British are the most common (though I've seen some software that have several more choices, including some more obscure forms).
Trying to argue or "prove" one form to be "better" than another is totally pointless. No matter how hard one tries to rationalize it or back it up with any supporting argument, someone else can do the same to push it the other way.
Well, since this issue is largely a matter of taste, if someone else just absolutely, positively wants to be dead wrong on it, that is their privilege. ;D ;D ;D
Personally, I prefer the American English spelling because I'm more used to it and the shorter words make for less chance of spelling errors. I don't have anything against "armour", "colour" and "neighbour", but a lot of the other ones that add the u are annoying as all hell.
If separate language settings for English US and English UK are not too difficult to do, might as well implement them.
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hi
As a old european native, i like the "æ" effect in UFOPædia, it sound more intellectual. I like it but i guess it will be more easy for everyone to have the modern form "UfoPedia" instead of the neo-classical one.
What i can say is in my own language i will have to check if its UfoPédia or UfoPædia once you're agreed on a spelling.
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Ovniepédie :-)