What is the language "British"?

[Timothy Murphy]

Mike Wright wrote:

> (Sorry, I was overzealous in cleaning my maildir and can't find the
> beginning of this thread) but I seem to remember that the OP objected to
> the use of "British" as opposed to "English".
> 
> Granted, this is from an American dictionary but it does show that
> "British" is an acceptable American usage.
> 
>  From Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary:
> 
> Briticism, n. ...peculiar to British English.
> British, n.
>    1. British English
>    2. the language of the ancient Britons

As the OP, my objection was to the use of the word "British"
as a synonym for "English", in the FC-5 installation.

It wasn't used in either of the above senses,
since there was no other version of English on offer.

I think it is just wrong, and should be replaced by "English".

A German colleague tells me I am right,
and as we all know Germans know far more about English
than native English speakers do.





-- 
Timothy Murphy  
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
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s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland