- From: Gregor Erbach <gor@dfki.de>
- Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 23:36:59 +0200 (MET DST)
- To: w3-int-list@faerber.muc.de (Claus André Färber)
- Cc: www-international@w3.org
w3-int-list@faerber.muc.de writes:
> "tel" is ambiguous in nearly any Western language:
>
> telephone
> telefax
> television
> teletext
> telex
> teletex
> telecommuncications
> ...
> Therefore I like "phone" better, maybe even "fon" (language independent,
> nearly an acronym like http or ftp) or "pots".
If 'tel' is ambiguous by being a prefix, then so is 'phone' by being
a suffix or head noun in many words
microphone
allophon
homophon
phon
grammophone
xylophone
saxophone
...
As a humble linguist, I would suggest to just accept the
arbitrariness of linguistic signs, and choose 'tel' or 'fon'
and force it on the rest of the world.
My preference is for 'pots', which is much better than
avoctp (analog voice over copper transmission protocol).
regards,
Gregor
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Gregor Erbach gregor.erbach@dfki.de
DFKI GmbH phone: +49 681 302 5288
Stuhlsatzenhausweg 3 fax: +49 681 302 5338
D-66123 Saarbruecken, Germany http://www.dfki.de/~gor
Received on Tuesday, 23 June 1998 17:36:41 UTC