Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2000 06:07:19 -0700
Reply-To: Zoltan <zol@FOXINTERNET.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Zoltan <zol@FOXINTERNET.NET>
Subject: Re: Movement "Afoot" to Re-order English Alphabet
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I remember when learning to type I was told that the guy who made the first
keyboard arranged the keys in such an order so the hammers of the letter
will less likely meet each other so not to have a tangling up. He put the
most often used keys to the left and mixed them up such a way so you will do
your typing a lot slower. This is how the qwerty keyboard was born. The
last thirty years are no hammers in typewriters yet the power of the first
design still works. It will be changed to be as perfect as it should be,
whether we like it or not. Different countries have different keyboards for
they have many more letters than English to avoid confusions of spelling and
pronouncing. Most have letter for each sound and they speak every letter.
They never heard of "how do you spell it" or "how do you pronounce it".
And I can imagine the far east having their characters on their keyboard...
Change is constant, and even if it is done wrong it's meant to be for the
better, some have to die to give way to new ideas. Dieing is part of
progress. Mistakes are done on the way but they are good friends for they
show you the right way or just let you know it is not good enough.
Zoltan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe L." <mejoe100@EARTHLINK.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2000 5:34 AM
Subject: Re: Movement "Afoot" to Re-order English Alphabet
> Very few of us were ever taught the alphabet per-se. We were
instead taught
> a little tune. When dealing with things alphabetical we do not use the
> alphabet, as such, because hardly anyone really knows it. We instead
> mentally "sing" that little tune. Apart from that little tune the alphabet
> does not exist. Near every man, woman and child in the US has that little
> kindergarten ditty planted deep within our brains and nothing will root it
> out. He has no chance.
> But, perhaps I am missing something here. The human world operates
on a 10
> based number system to accommodate the number of fingers we have while the
> computer world uses a 2 based system to accommodate the two basic digital
> states: on and off. Both worlds have what they want and are satisfied. Why
> cannot a similar arrangement be made concerning the alphabet? If computers
> need the alphabet to be in a certain order why not simply put it in that
> order *within the computer* and leave the rest of the world alone?
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
> Of Marshall Ruskin
> Sent: Saturday, October 28, 2000 12:02 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Movement "Afoot" to Re-order English Alphabet
>
>
> Hi Volks:
>
> I thought that I had heard it all.
>
> Apparently Microsoft is leading some international consortium to set the
> standards for the re-ordering of the English alphabet!
>
> Apparently, computers can work much better, if the most commonly used
> letters are first in line - and the least commonly used ones are pushed
> farther back - it's got something to do with code efficiency and
increasing
> the speed of the internet.
>
> I personally don't want them to do this - what do you think?
>
>
> Marshall Ruskin
> 84 Westy "Leader of the Pack"
> Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
> "It's Friday" Member of "Vanagons Anonymous"
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