It will become even more of a Lingua Franca, sure but Primary for everybody, I don't think so. Peoples' pride in their own cultures would not allow it...
If only people's pride in their cultures were the overriding factor in shaping cultural history. I'm pretty sure capitalism & globalization will have no problem with it.
Extinction of half the world languages won't improve global communication for a long time yet. The first languages to go will be ones that people are now bilingual in. Cultures aren't just going to drop one language and move to another; obviously there has to be a transitional period.
But still, it's not like it's wristwatch-size. When I heard the rumors of a small iPod, I shrugged and said "it's already small."
Yeah, this is what I don't get. The article kind of contradicts itself: the Mini is competing with flash-based players, yet it is not a flash-based player. If you're not looking for the advantages of flash media, what would keep you out of the larger-capacity market, when the price difference is so slight? Size? The regular iPod is quite small already; I really can't see sacrificing 75% of storage space to slice off another inch or two.
The summary of this article is a bit loaded...the tracking all cars all the time thing is one possible use of the technology, but many others are detailed in the article. I really like the idea that the streetlamps will eventually drive your cars for you. Like what Homer Simpson wants from cruise control.
I was recently spurred to a rant on this very issue when we got a shipment of roller-ball pens in my office that were called "eGlide." EGlide!! What the hell does the "e" stand for? Is it...an electronic pen?
My problem with this kind of nomenclature is not just that it's unimaginative, but it actually begins to obscure meaning. We've somehow created this meaningless morpheme, a letter that adds zero information to the word to which it's appended.
I feel like this trend began with the iMac, although this may have just been the first such name to come to prominence. Confusion ensued from the start, because everyone thought the "I" was like "me," whereas Apple claimed it stood for "internet." Then they brought out the eMac, for "education," and that was a problematic step, because "e" in this context already stood for "electronic." With the eMac, Apple basically gave their sweeping, influential approval to the wanton appending of letters to names.
I think this kind of practice is bad news for the following reasons:
When the same letter is used to mean two different things, it ceases to have informative content. If you still have to ask, "What does that 'e' stand for?" then the "e" may as well not be there. (For a long time, I thought "I-banking" meant internet stock-trading, or maybe personalized banking.)
We shouldn't have to guess if the letter actually does or doesn't mean anything. I mean, that's absurd, the fact that we would even be at the point where we would naturally question whether certain pieces of language actually symbolize anything at all. It's a bit like if we said "DUH" after every fourth word or something, you know? It's just litter.
The underlying problem this illustrates really is that our culture has come to accept this kind of terminology without thinking about it, without regard to its purpose and the purpose of language in general.
Slashdot Mirror
Extinction of half the world languages won't improve global communication for a long time yet. The first languages to go will be ones that people are now bilingual in. Cultures aren't just going to drop one language and move to another; obviously there has to be a transitional period.
Yeah, this is what I don't get. The article kind of contradicts itself: the Mini is competing with flash-based players, yet it is not a flash-based player. If you're not looking for the advantages of flash media, what would keep you out of the larger-capacity market, when the price difference is so slight? Size? The regular iPod is quite small already; I really can't see sacrificing 75% of storage space to slice off another inch or two.
The summary of this article is a bit loaded...the tracking all cars all the time thing is one possible use of the technology, but many others are detailed in the article. I really like the idea that the streetlamps will eventually drive your cars for you. Like what Homer Simpson wants from cruise control.
My problem with this kind of nomenclature is not just that it's unimaginative, but it actually begins to obscure meaning. We've somehow created this meaningless morpheme, a letter that adds zero information to the word to which it's appended.
I feel like this trend began with the iMac, although this may have just been the first such name to come to prominence. Confusion ensued from the start, because everyone thought the "I" was like "me," whereas Apple claimed it stood for "internet." Then they brought out the eMac, for "education," and that was a problematic step, because "e" in this context already stood for "electronic." With the eMac, Apple basically gave their sweeping, influential approval to the wanton appending of letters to names.
I think this kind of practice is bad news for the following reasons:
The underlying problem this illustrates really is that our culture has come to accept this kind of terminology without thinking about it, without regard to its purpose and the purpose of language in general.