BL> Packer, Murdoch and Telstra don't give a shit what anyone says.

RG> This may be true, but as we found out last week, Murdoch may
RG> not care what anyone says, but he is doing his utmost to force
RG> everyone to use American spellings of certain words. Seriously,
RG> early last week we decided to update our display advert in the
RG> local paper to include "colour printing" - When the ad came out
RG> we noticed it read "color printing", so I phoned to complain
RG> about it and get it put right, only to be told it was Murdoch's
RG> policy that colour should be spelt without the "u".

 I find it difficult to believe that Rupert gives a shit how a local
paper spells colour. My guess is that the editor decided for himself.

RG> After a bit of bitching, and getting nowhere I eventually told
RG> 'em that there was no way we were gunna have this incorrect
RG> spelling in our ad, and requested that they simply abbreviate
RG> to to "col. printing" instead.

 I fought a battle 25 years ago, to spell colour correctly on Pye
sets, but now I wouldn't bother. The reality is that America dominates
especially in computers, and Britain is preoccupied with Europe. I'd
happily give up color, harbor, disk, theater, and traveling. To me,
it makes more sense to go with the USA and Canada than ratshit
England. What do we owe them anyway, and what the hell does it matter?
Here in Oz we have to learn *both* spellings if we expect a computer
to recognise commands, and we can simplify it by dumping England. I'd
be delighted to use Noah Webster's as my standard dictionary.

RG> Anyway, the point is, if we didn't bitch about it, our advert,
RG> like all the others in this paper, would still have 'colour'
RG> spelt without the 'u'.

 Who cares? 25 years ago that was a hot issue, but we lost that one.
I'm not in love with the USA, but if I have to choose, I'll rate
USA 1, England nowhere. IMO, we should standardise on US English
(oops, standardize).

Regards,
Bob

--- BQWK Alpha 0.5