From: "Alan Cox" <alan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
First of all, the difference between different variants of English
is negligible, in my opinion.
I never heard of anyone misunderstanding something
because it was in en_US rather than in en_GB.
There have been quite a few bad mistakes caused by this - usually by bad
interpretation of dates.
...
I tested a group of students some years ago,
to see if they knew whether a book was published in the US or the UK,
and none of them had the slightest idea.
Try literate ones in future 8) although Irish English seems to be a mix
of US and UK English with (in some areas) traces of the Gaelic in the
grammar so perhaps it is less clear there.
Then if they are Americans one might get them to recite Terpsichore. It
may even be a significant challenge for British folks, too.
http://www.i18nguy.com/chaos.html
If they can get through it without mistake they are at least somewhat
literate.
(And dangitall - Mary, Marry, and Merry do NOT properly sound the same.)
{^_-}
