User talk:Jguk/policy proposal

In summary the proposal is about changing Wikipedia policy to one that permits any standard form of English to be used in an article, provided it is used consistently within that article. There is also a clear preference where an article's subject is closely related to a particular part of the English-speaking world for that article to be written in a form of English standard to that particular part of the world, and there is also an "intelligibilty override".

The proposal itself is on: User:Jguk/policy proposal. However, reference should also be made to User:Jguk/policy proposal/original policy; User:Jguk/policy proposal/table of origins; and User:Jguk/policy proposal/table of destinations. Please note that the tables of origins and destinations will not be entirely up to date as they will not make reference to the more recent tweaks to proposed or current policy.

Explanation for tweaks to Ben's tweaks
First, I should note that I welcome Ben's tweaks that were all useful.

My tweaks to his tweaks are as follows:


 * The "dialects of English" template - I'm not sure this is useful here; though this is a minor point;


 * I prefer "plane" to "aircraft" personally, though both are clearly neutral whereas "aeroplane" or "airplane" are not; I am therefore referring to "plane"as well as "aircraft";


 * As far as I am aware, it is only the US that currently puts punctuation within quotation marks for aesthetic reasons, whereas the rest of the world takes a more logic-based approach. Also, I understand that some Americans (though not the big news agencies) are tended towards the logic-based approach. However, I admit I am not familiar with Canadian practice, so maybe "North American" is better than "American" here.


 * I don't like referring to any form of English as "proper". English changes. If I were born in the early 19th century, my English would be closer than today's American English than it is today! jguk 23:54, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)