Re: Fix UK spelling in comments and ChangeLog entries?

[Kenichi Handa]

In article <address@hidden>, Alan Mackenzie <address@hidden> writes:

> Hi, Kenichi,
> On Fri, Jun 27, 2008 at 09:16:25PM +0900, Kenichi Handa wrote:

> > Anyway, for me (a non native English speeker), the more helpful thing
> > is to standardise which word to use (e.g. remove/delete,
> > replace/substitute, accept/permit/allow, preserve/retain,
> > put/set/store, property/attribute, vector/array, go-to/move-to,
> > cancel/undo, etc.) :-p

> NO!!  Different words have different meanings.  For example, if you
> delete something, it's gone.  If you remove something, you can later put
> it back again.

It seems that Emacs doesn't use delete and remove in such a
way; deleted text by delete-region can be yanked, and the
docstring of remove-alist starts as:
             ^^^^^^
Delete an element whose car equals key from the alist bound to symbol.
^^^^^^

> You might substitute a fresh football player for a tired one, but you'd
> replace a broken light bulb (answer, it only takes one Emacs hacker to
> change a light bulb).

The docstring of substitute-key-definition starts as:
                 ^^^^^^^^^^
Replace olddef with newdef for any keys in keymap now defined as olddef.
^^^^^^^

> There a few pairs of words indeed in English in which one means exactly
> the same as the other.  It is surely the same in other languages.  Let us
> strive, always, to use the most fitting word, and to preserve and retain
> the fine control this gives us over our meanings.

I understand that there are cases that only one of those
paired words are suitable.  What helps non-native English
speakers is a guideline of when to use which word.  As we
are applying words to programing codes, normal dictionaries
don't help much in such a case (e.g. the above cases).

---
Kenichi Handa
address@hidden