hi i'm a software engineer and i worked in the web for a good 8 years before i ever realized what the abbreviations i18n and l10n (internationalization and localization) stood for
literally i knew what they were *about*, but thought the numbers had something to do with some funky standards body or some shit
numeronyms of this form are bad so so so so bad don't
just
don't
@tcql I don't understand why anyone ever thought they were a good idea.
@InspectorCaracal @tcql The words have too many letters
@djsundog @InspectorCaracal @tcql
1. USB doesn’t get spelled out
2. There aren’t regional spelling differences in Universal Serial Bus
@USBloveDog @InspectorCaracal @tcql
1. then why do the words exist
2. this argument doesn't apply to accessibility which gets the same shitty abbreviation tactic
@djsundog @InspectorCaracal @tcql
1. Those are three shorter words which are all used fairly often in different contexts. Even if usb has no inherent meaning, we’d still use the words universal, serial, and bus
2. I completely agree the a11y is complete BS. The biggest pros of I18n are that it reminds you that strings lengths can vary wildly between languages and that you can’t make assumptions about what is a valid letter.
@USBloveDog @InspectorCaracal @tcql it doesn't remind me of either of those things. it reminds me we habitually overcomplicate our jargon. :)
@USBloveDog @djsundog @tcql ... then why are you defining the word by its length?? I'm even MORE confused by it existing now.
@USBloveDog @tcql I am not saying abbreviating them doesn't make sense, but the specific choice of abbreviation is terrible and illogical from the angle of actual communication.
@tcql @USBloveDog For example, the fansub community has used TL for translator or translation for years, which is shorter and yet also less opaque than t9n.
@USBloveDog @InspectorCaracal @tcql "internationalization" is no longer than "universal serial bus"